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Psalm 92

1  It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord ♦︎
   and to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2  To tell of your love early in the morning ♦︎
   and of your faithfulness in the night-time,
3  Upon the ten-stringed instrument, upon the harp, ♦︎
   and to the melody of the lyre.
4  For you, Lord, have made me glad by your acts, ♦︎
   and I sing aloud at the works of your hands.
5  O Lord, how glorious are your works! ♦︎
   Your thoughts are very deep.
6  The senseless do not know, ♦︎
   nor do fools understand,
7  That though the wicked sprout like grass ♦︎
   and all the workers of iniquity flourish,
8  It is only to be destroyed for ever; ♦︎
   but you, O Lord, shall be exalted for evermore.
9  For lo, your enemies, O Lord,
      lo, your enemies shall perish, ♦︎
   and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
10  But my horn you have exalted
      like the horns of wild oxen; ♦︎
   I am anointed with fresh oil.
11  My eyes will look down on my foes; ♦︎
   my ears shall hear the ruin of the evildoers
      who rise up against me.
12  The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, ♦︎
   and shall spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon.
13  Such as are planted in the house of the Lord ♦︎
   shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14  They shall still bear fruit in old age; ♦︎
   they shall be vigorous and in full leaf;
15  That they may show that the Lord is true; ♦︎
   he is my rock,
      and there is no unrighteousness in him.

¹⁷The king left, followed by all the people; and they stopped at the last house. ¹⁸All his officials passed by him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath, passed on before the king.

19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, ‘Why are you also coming with us? Go back, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile from your home. ²⁰You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, while I go wherever I can? Go back, and take your kinsfolk with you; and may the Lord show^* steadfast love and faithfulness to you.’ ²¹But Ittai answered the king, ‘As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be.’

Duties towards God

2My child, when you come to serve the Lord,
   prepare yourself for testing.^*
2 Set your heart right and be steadfast,
   and do not be impetuous in time of calamity.
³ Cling to him and do not depart,
   so that your last days may be prosperous.
⁴ Accept whatever befalls you,
   and in times of humiliation be patient.
⁵ For gold is tested in the fire,
   and those found acceptable, in the furnace of humiliation.^*
6 Trust in him, and he will help you;
   make your ways straight, and hope in him.

⁷ You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy;
   do not stray, or else you may fall.
⁸ You who fear the Lord, trust in him,
   and your reward will not be lost.
⁹ You who fear the Lord, hope for good things,
   for lasting joy and mercy.^*
10 Consider the generations of old and see:
   has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed?
Or has anyone persevered in the fear of the Lord^* and been forsaken?
   Or has anyone called upon him and been neglected?
¹¹ For the Lord is compassionate and merciful;
   he forgives sins and saves in time of distress.

¹² Woe to timid hearts and to slack hands,
   and to the sinner who walks a double path!
¹³ Woe to the faint-hearted who have no trust!
   Therefore they will have no shelter.
¹⁴ Woe to you who have lost your nerve!
   What will you do when the Lord’s reckoning comes?

¹⁵ Those who fear the Lord do not disobey his words,
   and those who love him keep his ways.
¹⁶ Those who fear the Lord seek to please him,
   and those who love him are filled with his law.
¹⁷ Those who fear the Lord prepare their hearts,
   and humble themselves before him.
¹⁸ Let us fall into the hands of the Lord,
   but not into the hands of mortals;
for equal to his majesty is his mercy,
   and equal to his name are his works.^*

The Death of Lazarus

11Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. ³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus,^* ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ ⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ ⁵Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶after having heard that Lazarus^* was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

7 Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’ ⁸The disciples said to him, ‘Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?’ ⁹Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.’ ¹¹After saying this, he told them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.’ ¹²The disciples said to him, ‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.’ ¹³Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. ¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’ ¹⁶Thomas, who was called the Twin,^* said to his fellow-disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’