2 Kingdoms 22:1-23:7
1 And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. 2 And he sang:
“O Lord, my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
3 My God will be my guardian, in whom I will trust;
My defender and the horn of my salvation,
My protector and the refuge of my salvation;
You will save me from unrighteousness.
4 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
And I will be saved from my enemies.
5 “When the troubles of death encompassed me,
The floods of wickedness terrified me.
6 The throes of death surrounded me;
The harshness of death confronted me.
7 In my distress I will call upon the Lord
And cry out to my God;
And He will hear my voice from His temple,
And my cry will enter His ears.
8 “Then the earth was shaken and trembled;
And the foundations of heaven were troubled,
Because the Lord was angry with them.
9 From out of His wrath, a smoke went up,
And from His mouth a devouring fire;
Coals were kindled by it.
10 He bowed the heavens and came down,
And there was darkness under His feet.
11 He rode upon the cherubim, and He did fly;
He was seen upon the wings of the wind.
12 He put darkness around Him as a hiding place.
About Him, His tabernacle was the darkness of waters;
And by the clouds of the air, He thickened it.
13 From the brightness of His light
Coals of fire were kindled.
14 “The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.
15 He sent arrows and scattered them;
He confounded them with lightning.
16 The channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered,
With a blast of the wind, His wrath.
17 “He sent from the height and took me,
He drew me out of many waters.
18 He delivered me from my strong enemies,
From those who hated me;
For they were stronger than I.
19 They confronted me in the day of my tribulation,
But the Lord was my support.
20 He brought me to a broad place;
He delivered me because He delighted in me.
21 “The Lord repaid me according to my righteousness;
According to the purity of my hands, He repaid me.
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
23 For all His judgments were before me,
And I did not depart from His statutes.
24 I will be blameless before Him,
And I will guard myself from my iniquity.
25 And the Lord will recompense me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.
26 “With the holy You will be holy;
With a perfect man You will be perfect;
27 With the chosen You will be the choice one;
And with the devious You will be shrewd.
28 You will save the needy people;
But You will humble the eyes of the haughty.
29 “For You, O Lord, are my lamp;
The Lord shall enlighten my darkness.
30 For by You I can run against a band of troops;
By my God I can leap over a wall.
31 As for the Mighty One, His way is blameless;
The word of the Lord is strong, tried by fire;
He is a defender to all who trust in Him.
32 “Who is mighty except the Lord?
And who will be the Creator, except our God?
33 The Mighty One who strengthens me with power,
Who has prepared my way blameless.
34 He makes my feet like the feet of deer
And sets me on my high places.
35 He instructs my hands for war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
36 “You have given me the protection of my salvation;
And Your gentleness fulfills me.
37 My pathway under me is widened,
And my legs are not shaken.
38 I shall pursue my enemies and destroy them,
And I will not turn back until I destroy them.
39 I will break them and they will not rise,
For they will fall under my feet.
40 For You will strengthen me with power for the battle;
You will subdue under me those who rose against me.
41 You have given me the back of my enemy;
So I killed those who hated me.
42 They will cry out, but no one will help;
Even to the Lord, but He did not listen to them.
43 Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth;
I crushed them like dirt in the streets.
44 “You will deliver me from the quarrels of the people;
You have kept me at the head of the nations.
A people I have not known served me.
45 Philistines deceived me;
As soon as they heard, they obeyed me.
46 Philistines shall be cast out,
And they will stumble out from their hideouts.
47 “The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Guardian!
Let my God be exalted,
The Guardian of my salvation!
48 It is the Mighty Lord who avenges me
And chastises the peoples under me;
49 He delivers me from my enemies.
You will lift me above those who rise against me;
You will deliver me from the man of injustice.
50 Therefore, O Lord, I will confess You to the Gentiles
And sing praises to Your name.
51 “He is the one who extols the salvation of His king
And shows mercy to His anointed,
To David and his seed forever.”
David’s Last Words
1 Now these are the last words of David.
“David, the faithful one, the son of Jesse;
The faithful man whom the Lord raised up,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
The sweet psalmist of Israel:
2 “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.
3 The God of Israel says,
A guardian of Israel spoke a parable, saying,
‘Among men, how will you strengthen the fear of God?
4 By God, the sun may arise in the light of early morning;
The early morning does not pass by without light;
So after rain, new growth shows forth out of the earth.’
5 “For my house is not so with the Mighty One;
For He prepared an everlasting covenant with me,
Keeping it prepared for every time.
For my entire salvation and my every desire is
That the lawless may not in any way flourish!
6 All of them are as thorns thrusting outward,
For they cannot be taken by the hand.
7 And a man will not labor among them,
Unless armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,
And to their dishonor, they shall be burned with fire.”
Psalm 95
1 When the house was built after the captivity; an ode by David.
Oh, sing a new song to the Lord,
Sing to the Lord, all the earth;
2 Sing to the Lord; bless His name;
Proclaim His salvation from day to day;
3 Declare His glory among the Gentiles,
His wonders among all peoples.
4 For the Lord is great, and is greatly to be praised;
And He is to be feared above all the gods;
5 For all the gods of the nations are demons,
But the Lord made the heavens;
6 Thanksgiving and beauty are before Him;
Holiness and majesty are in His holy place.
7 Bring to the Lord, O families of the Gentiles,
Bring to the Lord glory and honor;
8 Bring to the Lord the glory of His name;
Take up sacrifices and enter into His courts;
9 Worship the Lord in His holy court;
Let all the earth be shaken before Him.
10 Say among the Gentiles, “The Lord is King,
For He established the world, which shall not be shaken.
He shall judge the peoples with uprightness.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth greatly rejoice;
Let the sea be shaken and all its fullness.
12 Then the fields and everything in them shall rejoice;
Then all the trees of the forest shall greatly rejoice
13 Before the face of the Lord; for He is coming,
For He is coming to judge the earth;
He shall judge the world in righteousness,
And the peoples with His truth.
Proverbs 20:21–25
21 A wise king is a winnower of the ungodly,
And he casts them upon the wheel of torture.
22 The breath of man is the light of the Lord,
Who searches the inner man.
23 Mercy and truth are a guard for the king,
And they will encircle his throne with righteousness.
24 Wisdom is an ornament to young men,
And the glory of old men is their gray hair.
25 Bruises and fractures happen to evil men,
And plagues shall come into their inner man.
Luke 18:1–17
1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.
3 “Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’
4 “And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man,
5 ‘yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ”
6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.
7 “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?
8 “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
12 ‘I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
13 “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
14 “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus Blesses Little Children
(Matt. 19:13–15; Mark 10:13–16)
15 Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.
17 “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”