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²⁰ The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
   according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.
²¹ For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
   and have not wickedly departed from my God.
²² For all his ordinances were before me,
   and his statutes I did not put away from me.
²³ I was blameless before him,
   and I kept myself from guilt.
²⁴ Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
   according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

²⁵ With the loyal you show yourself loyal;
   with the blameless you show yourself blameless;
²⁶ with the pure you show yourself pure;
   and with the crooked you show yourself perverse.
²⁷ For you deliver a humble people,
   but the haughty eyes you bring down.
²⁸ It is you who light my lamp;
   the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
²⁹ By you I can crush a troop,
   and by my God I can leap over a wall.
³⁰ This God—his way is perfect;
   the promise of the Lord proves true;
   he is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

The Bride’s Matchless Beauty

⁴ You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,
   comely as Jerusalem,
   terrible as an army with banners.
⁵ Turn away your eyes from me,
   for they overwhelm me!
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
   moving down the slopes of Gilead.
⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of ewes,
   that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins,
   and not one among them is bereaved.
⁷ Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
   behind your veil.
⁸ There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
   and maidens without number.
⁹ My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
   the darling of her mother,
   flawless to her that bore her.
The maidens saw her and called her happy;
   the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.
¹⁰ ‘Who is this that looks forth like the dawn,
   fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
   terrible as an army with banners?’

¹¹ I went down to the nut orchard,
   to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
   whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
¹² Before I was aware, my fancy set me
   in a chariot beside my prince.^*

^{13 *}Return, return, O Shulammite!
   Return, return, that we may look upon you.

Why should you look upon the Shulammite,
   as upon a dance before two armies?^*

Jesus Cures a Blind Man at Bethsaida

22 They came to Bethsaida. Some people^* brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. ²³He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, ‘Can you see anything?’ ²⁴And the man^* looked up and said, ‘I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.’ ²⁵Then Jesus^* laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. ²⁶Then he sent him away to his home, saying, ‘Do not even go into the village.’^*

Peter’s Declaration about Jesus

27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ ²⁸And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ ²⁹He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’^{* 30}And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel,^* will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words^* in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’ 9¹And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with^* power.’