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Psalm 10

1  Why stand so far off, O Lord? ♦︎
   Why hide yourself in time of trouble?
2  The wicked in their pride persecute the poor; ♦︎
   let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
3  The wicked boast of their heart’s desire; ♦︎
   the covetous curse and revile the Lord.
4  The wicked in their arrogance say, ‘God will not avenge it’; ♦︎
   in all their scheming God counts for nothing.
5  They are stubborn in all their ways,
      for your judgements are far above out of their sight; ♦︎
   they scoff at all their adversaries.
6  They say in their heart, ‘I shall not be shaken; ♦︎
   no harm shall ever happen to me.’
7  Their mouth is full of cursing, deceit and fraud; ♦︎
   under their tongue lie mischief and wrong.
8  They lurk in the outskirts
      and in dark alleys they murder the innocent; ♦︎
   their eyes are ever watching for the helpless.
9  They lie in wait, like a lion in his den;
      they lie in wait to seize the poor; ♦︎
   they seize the poor when they get them into their net.
10  The innocent are broken and humbled before them; ♦︎
   the helpless fall before their power.
11  They say in their heart, ‘God has forgotten; ♦︎
   he hides his face away; he will never see it.’
12  Arise, O Lord God, and lift up your hand; ♦︎
   forget not the poor.
13  Why should the wicked be scornful of God? ♦︎
   Why should they say in their hearts, ‘You will not avenge it’?
14  Surely, you behold trouble and misery; ♦︎
   you see it and take it into your own hand.
15  The helpless commit themselves to you, ♦︎
   for you are the helper of the orphan.
16  Break the power of the wicked and malicious; ♦︎
   search out their wickedness until you find none.
17  The Lord shall reign for ever and ever; ♦︎
   the nations shall perish from his land.
18  Lord, you will hear the desire of the poor; ♦︎
   you will incline your ear to the fullness of their heart,
19  To give justice to the orphan and oppressed, ♦︎
   so that people are no longer driven in terror from the land.

Psalm 11

1  In the Lord have I taken refuge; ♦︎
   how then can you say to me,
      ‘Flee like a bird to the hills,
2  ‘For see how the wicked bend the bow
      and fit their arrows to the string, ♦︎
   to shoot from the shadows at the true of heart.
3  ‘When the foundations are destroyed, ♦︎
   what can the righteous do?’
4  The Lord is in his holy temple; ♦︎
   the Lord’s throne is in heaven.
5  His eyes behold, ♦︎
   his eyelids try every mortal being.
6  The Lord tries the righteous as well as the wicked, ♦︎
   but those who delight in violence his soul abhors.
7  Upon the wicked he shall rain coals of fire
      and burning sulphur; ♦︎
   scorching wind shall be their portion to drink.
8  For the Lord is righteous;
      he loves righteous deeds, ♦︎
   and those who are upright shall behold his face.

The First Sin and Its Punishment

3Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ ²The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; ³but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; ⁵for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,^* knowing good and evil.’ ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ ¹⁰He said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ ¹¹He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ ¹²The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.’ ¹³Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent tricked me, and I ate.’ ¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent,
‘Because you have done this,
   cursed are you among all animals
   and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
   and dust you shall eat
   all the days of your life.
¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman,
   and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
   and you will strike his heel.’
¹⁶To the woman he said,
‘I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;
   in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
   and he shall rule over you.’
¹⁷And to the man^* he said,
‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
   and have eaten of the tree
about which I commanded you,
   “You shall not eat of it”,
cursed is the ground because of you;
   in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
¹⁸ thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
   and you shall eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your face
   you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
   for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
   and to dust you shall return.’

20 The man named his wife Eve,^* because she was the mother of all who live. ²¹And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man^* and for his wife, and clothed them.

22 Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever’— ²³therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

¹¹For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father.^* For this reason Jesus^* is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,^{* 12}saying,
‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,^*
   in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.’
¹³And again,
‘I will put my trust in him.’
And again,
‘Here am I and the children whom God has given me.’

14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. ¹⁶For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. ¹⁷Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters^* in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.