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Psalm 18

Royal Thanksgiving for Victory

To the leader. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
¹ I love you, O Lord, my strength.
² The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
   my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
   my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
³ I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
   so I shall be saved from my enemies.

⁴ The cords of death encompassed me;
   the torrents of perdition assailed me;
⁵ the cords of Sheol entangled me;
   the snares of death confronted me.

⁶ In my distress I called upon the Lord;
   to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
   and my cry to him reached his ears.

⁷ Then the earth reeled and rocked;
   the foundations also of the mountains trembled
   and quaked, because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke went up from his nostrils,
   and devouring fire from his mouth;
   glowing coals flamed forth from him.
⁹ He bowed the heavens, and came down;
   thick darkness was under his feet.
¹⁰ He rode on a cherub, and flew;
   he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering around him,
   his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
¹² Out of the brightness before him
   there broke through his clouds
   hailstones and coals of fire.
¹³ The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
   and the Most High uttered his voice.^*
14 And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
   he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.
¹⁵ Then the channels of the sea were seen,
   and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
   at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶ He reached down from on high, he took me;
   he drew me out of mighty waters.
¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy,
   and from those who hated me;
   for they were too mighty for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my calamity;
   but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a broad place;
   he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

¹⁰ My beloved is all radiant and ruddy,
   distinguished among ten thousand.
¹¹ His head is the finest gold;
   his locks are wavy,
   black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves
   beside springs of water,
bathed in milk,
   fitly set.^*
13 His cheeks are like beds of spices,
   yielding fragrance.
His lips are lilies,
   distilling liquid myrrh.
¹⁴ His arms are rounded gold,
   set with jewels.
His body is ivory work,^*
   encrusted with sapphires.^*
15 His legs are alabaster columns,
   set upon bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
   choice as the cedars.
¹⁶ His speech is most sweet,
   and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
   O daughters of Jerusalem.

6Where has your beloved gone,
   O fairest among women?
Which way has your beloved turned,
   that we may seek him with you?

² My beloved has gone down to his garden,
   to the beds of spices,
to pasture his flock in the gardens,
   and to gather lilies.
³ I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
   he pastures his flock among the lilies.

Feeding the Four Thousand

8In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, ²‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. ³If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.’ ⁴His disciples replied, ‘How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?’ ⁵He asked them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ They said, ‘Seven.’ ⁶Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. ⁷They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. ⁸They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. ⁹Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. ¹⁰And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.^*

The Demand for a Sign

11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. ¹²And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.’ ¹³And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod

14 Now the disciples^* had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. ¹⁵And he cautioned them, saying, ‘Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’^{* 16}They said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ ¹⁷And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? ¹⁹When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ They said to him, ‘Twelve.’ ²⁰‘And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ And they said to him, ‘Seven.’ ²¹Then he said to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?’