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Psalm 10

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

¹ Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
   Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
² In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—
   let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.

³ For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,
   those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.
⁴ In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, ‘God will not seek it out’;
   all their thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’

⁵ Their ways prosper at all times;
   your judgements are on high, out of their sight;
   as for their foes, they scoff at them.
⁶ They think in their heart, ‘We shall not be moved;
   throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.’

⁷ Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
   under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.
⁸ They sit in ambush in the villages;
   in hiding-places they murder the innocent.

Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
⁹   they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert;
they lurk that they may seize the poor;
   they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.

¹⁰ They stoop, they crouch,
   and the helpless fall by their might.
¹¹ They think in their heart, ‘God has forgotten,
   he has hidden his face, he will never see it.’

¹² Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
   do not forget the oppressed.
¹³ Why do the wicked renounce God,
   and say in their hearts, ‘You will not call us to account’?

¹⁴ But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,
   that you may take it into your hands;
the helpless commit themselves to you;
   you have been the helper of the orphan.

¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers;
   seek out their wickedness until you find none.
¹⁶ The Lord is king for ever and ever;
   the nations shall perish from his land.

¹⁷ O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
   you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
¹⁸ to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
   so that those from earth may strike terror no more.^*

Reign and Captivity of Jehoiachin

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. ¹¹King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it; ¹²King Jehoiachin of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself, his mother, his servants, his officers, and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign.

Capture of Jerusalem

13 He carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which King Solomon of Israel had made, all this as the Lord had foretold. ¹⁴He carried away all Jerusalem, all the officials, all the warriors, ten thousand captives, all the artisans and the smiths; no one remained, except the poorest people of the land. ¹⁵He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the elite of the land, he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶The king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valour, seven thousand, the artisans and the smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war. ¹⁷The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Jesus Heals the Gerasene Demoniac

5They came to the other side of the lake, to the country of the Gerasenes.^{* 2}And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. ³He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; ⁴for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. ⁵Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. ⁶When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; ⁷and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ ⁸For he had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ ⁹Then Jesus^* asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’ ¹⁰He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. ¹¹Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; ¹²and the unclean spirits^* begged him, ‘Send us into the swine; let us enter them.’ ¹³So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned in the lake.

14 The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. ¹⁶Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. ¹⁷Then they began to beg Jesus^* to leave their neighbourhood. ¹⁸As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. ¹⁹But Jesus^* refused, and said to him, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.’ ²⁰And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.