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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.

The Good and the Bad Figs

24The Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. This was after King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the artisans, and the smiths, and had brought them to Babylon. ²One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. ³And the Lord said to me, ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’ I said, ‘Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.’

4 Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁵Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. ⁶I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up. ⁷I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

8 But thus says the Lord: Like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt. ⁹I will make them a horror, an evil thing, to all the kingdoms of the earth—a disgrace, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they are utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.

A Man Born Blind Receives Sight

9As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ³Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. ⁴We^* must work the works of him who sent me^* while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ ⁶When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, ⁷saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. ⁸The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ ⁹Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ ¹⁰But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ ¹¹He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’ ¹²They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ ¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. ¹⁷So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’