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Psalm 102

1  O Lord, hear my prayer ♦︎
   and let my crying come before you.
2  Hide not your face from me ♦︎
   in the day of my distress.
3  Incline your ear to me; ♦︎
   when I call, make haste to answer me,
4  For my days are consumed in smoke ♦︎
   and my bones burn away as in a furnace.
5  My heart is smitten down and withered like grass, ♦︎
   so that I forget to eat my bread.
6  From the sound of my groaning ♦︎
   my bones cleave fast to my skin.
7  I am become like a vulture in the wilderness, ♦︎
   like an owl that haunts the ruins.
8  I keep watch and am become like a sparrow ♦︎
   solitary upon the housetop.
9  My enemies revile me all the day long, ♦︎
   and those who rage at me have sworn together against me.
10  I have eaten ashes for bread ♦︎
   and mingled my drink with weeping,
11  Because of your indignation and wrath, ♦︎
   for you have taken me up and cast me down.
12  My days fade away like a shadow, ♦︎
   and I am withered like grass.
13  But you, O Lord, shall endure for ever ♦︎
   and your name through all generations.
14  You will arise and have pity on Zion; ♦︎
   it is time to have mercy upon her;
      surely the time has come.
15  For your servants love her very stones ♦︎
   and feel compassion for her dust.
16  Then shall the nations fear your name, O Lord, ♦︎
   and all the kings of the earth your glory,
17  When the Lord has built up Zion ♦︎
   and shown himself in glory;
18  When he has turned to the prayer of the destitute ♦︎
   and has not despised their plea.
19  This shall be written for those that come after, ♦︎
   and a people yet unborn shall praise the Lord.
20  For he has looked down from his holy height; ♦︎
   from the heavens he beheld the earth,
21  That he might hear the sighings of the prisoner ♦︎
   and set free those condemned to die;
22  That the name of the Lord may be proclaimed in Zion ♦︎
   and his praises in Jerusalem,
23  When peoples are gathered together ♦︎
   and kingdoms also, to serve the Lord.
24  He has brought down my strength in my journey ♦︎
   and has shortened my days.
25  I pray, ‘O my God, do not take me in the midst of my days; ♦︎
   your years endure throughout all generations.
26  ‘In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, ♦︎
   and the heavens are the work of your hands;
27  ‘They shall perish, but you will endure; ♦︎
   they all shall wear out like a garment.
28  ‘You change them like clothing, and they shall be changed; ♦︎
   but you are the same, and your years will not fail.
29  ‘The children of your servants shall continue, ♦︎
   and their descendants shall be established in your sight.’

The Imminence and Horror of the Invasion

6Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin,
   from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
   and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem;
for evil looms out of the north,
   and great destruction.
² I have likened daughter Zion
   to the loveliest pasture.^*
3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her.
   They shall pitch their tents around her;
   they shall pasture, all in their places.
⁴ ‘Prepare war against her;
   up, and let us attack at noon!’
‘Woe to us, for the day declines,
   the shadows of evening lengthen!’
⁵ ‘Up, and let us attack by night,
   and destroy her palaces!’
⁶ For thus says the Lord of hosts:
Cut down her trees;
   cast up a siege-ramp against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be punished;^*
   there is nothing but oppression within her.
⁷ As a well keeps its water fresh,
   so she keeps fresh her wickedness;
violence and destruction are heard within her;
   sickness and wounds are ever before me.
⁸ Take warning, O Jerusalem,
   or I shall turn from you in disgust,
and make you a desolation,
   an uninhabited land.

⁹ Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Glean^* thoroughly as a vine
   the remnant of Israel;
like a grape-gatherer, pass your hand again
   over its branches.

¹⁰ To whom shall I speak and give warning,
   that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed,^*
   they cannot listen.
The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
   they take no pleasure in it.
¹¹ But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
   I am weary of holding it in.

Pour it out on the children in the street,
   and on the gatherings of young men as well;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
   the old folk and the very aged.
¹² Their houses shall be turned over to others,
   their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand
   against the inhabitants of the land,

says the Lord.

¹³ For from the least to the greatest of them,
   everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
   everyone deals falsely.
¹⁴ They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
   saying, ‘Peace, peace’,
   when there is no peace.
¹⁵ They acted shamefully, they committed abomination;
   yet they were not ashamed,
   they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
   at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,

says the Lord.
¹⁶ Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
   and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
   and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
¹⁷ Also I raised up sentinels for you:
   ‘Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not give heed.’
¹⁸ Therefore hear, O nations,
   and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
¹⁹ Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people,
   the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not given heed to my words;
   and as for my teaching, they have rejected it.

The Unbelief of Jesus’ Brothers

7After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish^* to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. ²Now the Jewish festival of Booths^* was near. ³So his brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; ⁴for no one who wants^* to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.’ ⁵(For not even his brothers believed in him.) ⁶Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. ⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil. ⁸Go to the festival yourselves. I am not^* going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.’ ⁹After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

Jesus at the Festival of Booths

10 But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were^* in secret. ¹¹The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, ‘Where is he?’ ¹²And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, ‘He is a good man’, others were saying, ‘No, he is deceiving the crowd.’ ¹³Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.