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Psalm 88

Prayer for Help in Despondency

A Song. A Psalm of the Korahites. To the leader: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
¹ O Lord, God of my salvation,
   when, at night, I cry out in your presence,
² let my prayer come before you;
   incline your ear to my cry.

³ For my soul is full of troubles,
   and my life draws near to Sheol.
⁴ I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
   I am like those who have no help,
⁵ like those forsaken among the dead,
   like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
   for they are cut off from your hand.
⁶ You have put me in the depths of the Pit,
   in the regions dark and deep.
⁷ Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
   and you overwhelm me with all your waves.
          Selah

⁸ You have caused my companions to shun me;
   you have made me a thing of horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
⁹   my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call on you, O Lord;
   I spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰ Do you work wonders for the dead?
   Do the shades rise up to praise you?
          Selah
¹¹ Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
   or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
¹² Are your wonders known in the darkness,
   or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

¹³ But I, O Lord, cry out to you;
   in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ O Lord, why do you cast me off?
   Why do you hide your face from me?
¹⁵ Wretched and close to death from my youth up,
   I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.^*
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
   your dread assaults destroy me.
¹⁷ They surround me like a flood all day long;
   from all sides they close in on me.
¹⁸ You have caused friend and neighbour to shun me;
   my companions are in darkness.

³⁷ Who can command and have it done,
   if the Lord has not ordained it?
³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
   that good and bad come?
³⁹ Why should any who draw breath complain
   about the punishment of their sins?

⁴⁰ Let us test and examine our ways,
   and return to the Lord.
⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands
   to God in heaven.
⁴² We have transgressed and rebelled,
   and you have not forgiven.

⁴³ You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
   killing without pity;
⁴⁴ you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
   so that no prayer can pass through.
⁴⁵ You have made us filth and rubbish
   among the peoples.

⁴⁶ All our enemies
   have opened their mouths against us;
⁴⁷ panic and pitfall have come upon us,
   devastation and destruction.
⁴⁸ My eyes flow with rivers of tears
   because of the destruction of my people.

⁴⁹ My eyes will flow without ceasing,
   without respite,
⁵⁰ until the Lord from heaven
   looks down and sees.
⁵¹ My eyes cause me grief
   at the fate of all the young women in my city.

⁵² Those who were my enemies without cause
   have hunted me like a bird;
⁵³ they flung me alive into a pit
   and hurled stones on me;
⁵⁴ water closed over my head;
   I said, ‘I am lost.’

⁵⁵ I called on your name, O Lord,
   from the depths of the pit;
⁵⁶ you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear
   to my cry for help, but give me relief!’
⁵⁷ You came near when I called on you;
   you said, ‘Do not fear!’

⁵⁸ You have taken up my cause, O Lord,
   you have redeemed my life.

The Rest That God Promised

4Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. ²For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.^{* 3}For we who have believed enter that rest, just as God^* has said,
‘As in my anger I swore,
“They shall not enter my rest” ’,
though his works were finished at the foundation of the world. ⁴For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.’ ⁵And again in this place it says, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ⁶Since therefore it remains open for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, ⁷again he sets a certain day—‘today’—saying through David much later, in the words already quoted,
‘Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.’
⁸For if Joshua had given them rest, God^* would not speak later about another day. ⁹So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; ¹⁰for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labours as God did from his. ¹¹Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.

12 Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.

Jesus the Great High Priest

14 Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested^* as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Psalm 91

Assurance of God’s Protection

¹ You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
   who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,^*
2 will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress;
   my God, in whom I trust.’
³ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
   and from the deadly pestilence;
⁴ he will cover you with his pinions,
   and under his wings you will find refuge;
   his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night,
   or the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
   or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
   ten thousand at your right hand,
   but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only look with your eyes
   and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹ Because you have made the Lord your refuge,^*
   the Most High your dwelling-place,
¹⁰ no evil shall befall you,
   no scourge come near your tent.

¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways.
¹² On their hands they will bear you up,
   so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the adder,
   the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

¹⁴ Those who love me, I will deliver;
   I will protect those who know my name.
¹⁵ When they call to me, I will answer them;
   I will be with them in trouble,
   I will rescue them and honour them.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy them,
   and show them my salvation.

Good Stewards of God’s Grace

4Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,^* arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), ²so as to live for the rest of your earthly life^* no longer by human desires but by the will of God. ³You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. ⁴They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme.^{* 5}But they will have to give an account to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.

7 The end of all things is near;^* therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. ⁸Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.

The Burial of Jesus

50 Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, ⁵¹had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. ⁵²This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁵³Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. ⁵⁴It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning.^{* 55}The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. ⁵⁶Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.

On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.