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Psalm 73

1  Truly, God is loving to Israel, ♦︎
   to those who are pure in heart.
2  Nevertheless, my feet were almost gone; ♦︎
   my steps had well-nigh slipped.
3  For I was envious of the proud; ♦︎
   I saw the wicked in such prosperity;
4  For they suffer no pains ♦︎
   and their bodies are sleek and sound;
5  They come to no misfortune like other folk; ♦︎
   nor are they plagued as others are;
6  Therefore pride is their necklace ♦︎
   and violence wraps them like a cloak.
7  Their iniquity comes from within; ♦︎
   the conceits of their hearts overflow.
8  They scoff, and speak only of evil; ♦︎
   they talk of oppression from on high.
9  They set their mouth against the heavens, ♦︎
   and their tongue ranges round the earth;
10  And so the people turn to them ♦︎
   and find in them no fault.
11  They say, ‘How should God know? ♦︎
   Is there knowledge in the Most High?’
12  Behold, these are the wicked; ♦︎
   ever at ease, they increase their wealth.
13  Is it in vain that I cleansed my heart ♦︎
   and washed my hands in innocence?
14  All day long have I been stricken ♦︎
   and chastened every morning.
15  If I had said, ‘I will speak as they do,’ ♦︎
   I should have betrayed the generation of your children.
16  Then thought I to understand this, ♦︎
   but it was too hard for me,
17  Until I entered the sanctuary of God ♦︎
   and understood the end of the wicked:
18  How you set them in slippery places; ♦︎
   you cast them down to destruction.
19  How suddenly do they come to destruction, ♦︎
   perish and come to a fearful end!
20  As with a dream when one awakes, ♦︎
   so, Lord, when you arise you will despise their image.
21  When my heart became embittered ♦︎
   and I was pierced to the quick,
22  I was but foolish and ignorant; ♦︎
   I was like a brute beast in your presence.
23  Yet I am always with you; ♦︎
   you hold me by my right hand.
24  You will guide me with your counsel ♦︎
   and afterwards receive me with glory.
25  Whom have I in heaven but you? ♦︎
   And there is nothing upon earth that I desire
      in comparison with you.
26  Though my flesh and my heart fail me, ♦︎
   God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
27  Truly, those who forsake you will perish; ♦︎
   you will put to silence the faithless who betray you.
28  But it is good for me to draw near to God; ♦︎
   in the Lord God have I made my refuge,
      that I may tell of all your works.

Worship Restored at Jerusalem

3When the seventh month came, and the Israelites were in the towns, the people gathered together in Jerusalem. ²Then Jeshua son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel with his kin set out to build the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt-offerings on it, as prescribed in the law of Moses the man of God. ³They set up the altar on its foundation, because they were in dread of the neighbouring peoples, and they offered burnt-offerings upon it to the Lord, morning and evening. ⁴And they kept the festival of booths,^* as prescribed, and offered the daily burnt-offerings by number according to the ordinance, as required for each day, ⁵and after that the regular burnt-offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the sacred festivals of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill-offering to the Lord. ⁶From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt-offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. ⁷So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from King Cyrus of Persia.

Foundations Laid for the Temple

8 In the second year after their arrival at the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their people, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upwards, to have the oversight of the work on the house of the Lord. ⁹And Jeshua with his sons and his kin, and Kadmiel and his sons, Binnui and Hodaviah^* along with the sons of Henadad, the Levites, their sons and kin, together took charge of the workers in the house of God.

10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments were stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, according to the directions of King David of Israel; ¹¹and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,
‘For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures for ever towards Israel.’
And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. ¹²But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away.

Jesus and Beelzebul

22 Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute; and he cured him, so that the one who had been mute could speak and see. ²³All the crowds were amazed and said, ‘Can this be the Son of David?’ ²⁴But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, ‘It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons.’ ²⁵He knew what they were thinking and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. ²⁶If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? ²⁷If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists^* cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁸But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. ²⁹Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property, without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered. ³⁰Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ³¹Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³²Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.