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Psalm 26

Plea for Justice and Declaration of Righteousness

Of David.
¹ Vindicate me, O Lord,
   for I have walked in my integrity,
   and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
² Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
   test my heart and mind.
³ For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
   and I walk in faithfulness to you.^*

⁴ I do not sit with the worthless,
   nor do I consort with hypocrites;
⁵ I hate the company of evildoers,
   and will not sit with the wicked.

⁶ I wash my hands in innocence,
   and go around your altar, O Lord,
⁷ singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
   and telling all your wondrous deeds.

⁸ O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell,
   and the place where your glory abides.
⁹ Do not sweep me away with sinners,
   nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
¹⁰ those in whose hands are evil devices,
   and whose right hands are full of bribes.

¹¹ But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
   redeem me, and be gracious to me.
¹² My foot stands on level ground;
   in the great congregation I will bless the Lord.

10 You stand assembled today, all of you, before the Lord your God—the leaders of your tribes,^* your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel, ¹¹your children, your women, and the aliens who are in your camp, both those who cut your wood and those who draw your water— ¹²to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, sworn by an oath, which the Lord your God is making with you today; ¹³in order that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ¹⁴I am making this covenant, sworn by an oath, not only with you who stand here with us today before the Lord our God, ¹⁵but also with those who are not here with us today.

The Healing of a Boy with a Spirit

14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. ¹⁶He asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ ¹⁷Someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; ¹⁸and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.’ ¹⁹He answered them, ‘You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.’ ²⁰And they brought the boy^* to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it threw the boy^* into convulsions, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹Jesus^* asked the father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. ²²It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ ²³Jesus said to him, ‘If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes.’ ²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out,^* ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ ²⁵When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You spirit that keep this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!’ ²⁶After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand. ²⁸When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ ²⁹He said to them, ‘This kind can come out only through prayer.’^*