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Psalm 25

1  To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul;
      O my God, in you I trust; ♦︎
   let me not be put to shame;
      let not my enemies triumph over me.
2  Let none who look to you be put to shame, ♦︎
   but let the treacherous be shamed and frustrated.
3  Make me to know your ways, O Lord, ♦︎
   and teach me your paths.
4  Lead me in your truth and teach me, ♦︎
   for you are the God of my salvation;
      for you have I hoped all the day long.
5  Remember, Lord, your compassion and love, ♦︎
   for they are from everlasting.
6  Remember not the sins of my youth
      or my transgressions, ♦︎
   but think on me in your goodness, O Lord,
      according to your steadfast love.
7  Gracious and upright is the Lord; ♦︎
   therefore shall he teach sinners in the way.
8  He will guide the humble in doing right ♦︎
   and teach his way to the lowly.
9  All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth ♦︎
   to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
10  For your name’s sake, O Lord, ♦︎
   be merciful to my sin, for it is great.
11  Who are those who fear the Lord? ♦︎
   Them will he teach in the way that they should choose.
12  Their soul shall dwell at ease ♦︎
   and their offspring shall inherit the land.
13  The hidden purpose of the Lord is for those who fear him ♦︎
   and he will show them his covenant.
14  My eyes are ever looking to the Lord, ♦︎
   for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
15  Turn to me and be gracious to me, ♦︎
   for I am alone and brought very low.
16  The sorrows of my heart have increased; ♦︎
   O bring me out of my distress.
17  Look upon my adversity and misery ♦︎
   and forgive me all my sin.
18  Look upon my enemies, for they are many ♦︎
   and they bear a violent hatred against me.
19  O keep my soul and deliver me; ♦︎
   let me not be put to shame, for I have put my trust in you.
20  Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, ♦︎
   for my hope has been in you.
21  Deliver Israel, O God, ♦︎
   out of all his troubles.

21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. ²²For on the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices. ²³But this command I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.’ ²⁴Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backwards rather than forwards. ²⁵From the day that your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day; ²⁶yet they did not listen to me, or pay attention, but they stiffened their necks. They did worse than their ancestors did.

27 So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. ²⁸You shall say to them: This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
²⁹ Cut off your hair and throw it away;
   raise a lamentation on the bare heights,^*
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
   the generation that provoked his wrath.

30 For the people of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the Lord; they have set their abominations in the house that is called by my name, defiling it. ³¹And they go on building the high place^* of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire—which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. ³²Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter: for they will bury in Topheth until there is no more room. ³³The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the animals of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. ³⁴And I will bring to an end the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of the bride and bridegroom in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for the land shall become a waste.

The Blind Perversity of the Whole Nation

⁴ You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
When people fall, do they not get up again?
   If they go astray, do they not turn back?
⁵ Why then has this people^* turned away
   in perpetual backsliding?
They have held fast to deceit,
   they have refused to return.
⁶ I have given heed and listened,
   but they do not speak honestly;
no one repents of wickedness,
   saying, ‘What have I done!’
All of them turn to their own course,
   like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
⁷ Even the stork in the heavens
   knows its times;
and the turtle-dove, swallow, and crane^*
   observe the time of their coming;
but my people do not know
   the ordinance of the Lord.

Rivers of Living Water

37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, ³⁸and let the one who believes in me drink. As^* the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart^* shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ ³⁹Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit,^* because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Division among the People

40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ ⁴¹Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’^* But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah^* does not come from Galilee, does he? ⁴²Has not the scripture said that the Messiah^* is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ ⁴³So there was a division in the crowd because of him. ⁴⁴Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The Unbelief of Those in Authority

45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’ ⁴⁶The police answered, ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’ ⁴⁷Then the Pharisees replied, ‘Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? ⁴⁸Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.’ ⁵⁰Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus^* before, and who was one of them, asked, ⁵¹‘Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?’ ⁵²They replied, ‘Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’