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ESV — Daily Office Lectionary: Day 667
 
667
First Psalm
Ps. 137:1-6,7-9,Ps. 144

Second Psalm
Ps. 104

Old Testament
Num. 24:12-25

New Testament
Rom. 8:18-25

Gospel
Matt. 22:23-40

How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song?

137 By the waters of Babylon,

there we sat down and wept,

when we remembered Zion.

On the willows1 there

we hung up our lyres.

For there our captors

required of us songs,

and our tormentors, mirth, saying,

“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

sHow shall we sing the Lord's song

in a foreign land?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

tlet my right hand forget its skill!

Let my utongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy!

Footnotes

[1] 137:2 Or poplars

Remember, O Lord, against the vEdomites

wthe day of Jerusalem,

how they said, x“Lay it bare, lay it bare,

down to its foundations!”

O daughter of Babylon, ydoomed to be destroyed,

blessed shall he be who zrepays you

with what you have done to us!

Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones

and adashes them against the rock!

My Rock and My Fortress

Of David.

144 Blessed be the Lord, my grock,

hwho trains my hands for war,

and my fingers for battle;

he is my isteadfast love and my jfortress,

my kstronghold and my deliverer,

my lshield and he in whom I take refuge,

who msubdues peoples1 under me.

O Lord, nwhat is man that you oregard him,

or the son of man that you think of him?

pMan is like a breath;

his days are like qa passing rshadow.

sBow your heavens, O Lord, and come down!

tTouch the mountains so that they smoke!

uFlash forth the lightning and scatter them;

usend out your arrows and rout them!

vStretch out your hand from on high;

wrescue me and deliver me from the many waters,

from the hand xof foreigners,

whose mouths speak ylies

and whose right hand is za right hand of falsehood.

I will sing aa new song to you, O God;

upon aa ten-stringed harp I will play to you,

10 who gives victory to kings,

who brescues David his servant from the cruel sword.

11 Rescue me and deliver me

from the hand xof foreigners,

whose mouths speak ylies

and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

12 May our sons in their youth

be like cplants full grown,

our daughters like dcorner pillars

cut for the structure of a palace;

13 emay our granaries be full,

fproviding all kinds of produce;

may our sheep bring forth thousands

and ten thousands in our fields;

14 may our cattle be heavy with young,

suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;2

may there be no gcry of distress in our streets!

15 hBlessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!

iBlessed are the people whose God is the Lord!

Footnotes

[1] 144:2 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Dead Sea Scroll, Jerome, Syriac, Aquila; most Hebrew manuscripts subdues my people
[2] 144:14 Hebrew with no breaking in or going out

O Lord My God, You Are Very Great

104 lBless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, you are mvery great!

nYou are clothed with splendor and majesty,

covering yourself with light as with a garment,

ostretching out the heavens plike a tent.

He qlays the beams of his rchambers on the waters;

he makes sthe clouds his chariot;

he rides on tthe wings of the wind;

he umakes his messengers winds,

his vministers wa flaming fire.

He xset the earth on its foundations,

so that it should never be moved.

You ycovered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

At zyour rebuke they fled;

at athe sound of your thunder they btook to flight.

The mountains rose, the valleys sank down

to the place that you cappointed for them.

You set da boundary that they may not pass,

so that they emight not again cover the earth.

10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills;

11 they fgive drink to every beast of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;

they sing among the branches.

13 gFrom your lofty abode you hwater the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

14 You cause ithe grass to grow for the livestock

and jplants for man to cultivate,

that he may bring forth kfood from the earth

15 and lwine to gladden the heart of man,

moil to make his face shine

and bread to nstrengthen man's heart.

16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,

othe cedars of Lebanon pthat he planted.

17 In them the birds build their nests;

the stork has her home in the fir trees.

18 The high mountains are for qthe wild goats;

the rocks are a refuge for rthe rock badgers.

19 He made the moon to mark the sseasons;1

the sun knows its time for setting.

20 tYou make darkness, and it is night,

when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

21 uThe young lions roar for their prey,

seeking their food from God.

22 When the sun rises, they steal away

and lie down in their vdens.

23 wMan goes out to his work

and to his labor until the evening.

24 O Lord, how manifold are your works!

In xwisdom have you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25 Here is the sea, great and wide,

ywhich teems with creatures innumerable,

living things both small and great.

26 There go the ships,

and zLeviathan, which you formed to aplay in it.2

27 These ball look to you,

to cgive them their food in due season.

28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;

when you dopen your hand, they are filled with good things.

29 When you ehide your face, they are fdismayed;

when you gtake away their breath, they die

and hreturn to their dust.

30 When you isend forth your Spirit,3 they are created,

and you jrenew the face of the ground.

31 May the glory of the Lord kendure forever;

may the Lord lrejoice in his works,

32 who looks on the earth and it mtrembles,

who ntouches the mountains and they smoke!

33 I will sing to the Lord oas long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

34 May my pmeditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

35 Let qsinners be consumed from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more!

rBless the Lord, O my soul!

sPraise the Lord!

Footnotes

[1] 104:19 Or the appointed times (compare Genesis 1:14)
[2] 104:26 Or you formed to play with
[3] 104:30 Or breath

12 And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, 13 l‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad mof my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’? 14 And now, behold, I am going to my people. Come, nI will let you know what this people will do to your people oin the latter days.”

Balaam's Final Oracle

15 pAnd he took up his discourse and said,

“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,

the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,

16 the oracle of him who hears the words of God,

and knows the knowledge of qthe Most High,

who sees the vision of the Almighty,

rfalling down with his eyes uncovered:

17 sI see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not near:

ta star shall come out of Jacob,

and ua scepter shall rise out of Israel;

it shall vcrush the forehead1 of Moab

and break down all the sons of Sheth.

18 wEdom shall be dispossessed;

xSeir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed.

Israel is doing valiantly.

19 And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion

and destroy the survivors of cities!”

20 Then he looked on Amalek and ytook up his discourse and said,

“Amalek was the first among the nations,

zbut its end is utter destruction.”

21 And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his discourse and said,

“Enduring is your dwelling place,

and your nest is set in the rock.

22 Nevertheless, Kain shall be burned

when Asshur takes you away captive.”

23 And he took up his discourse and said,

“Alas, who shall live when God does this?

24 But ships shall come from aKittim

and shall afflict Asshur and bEber;

and he too cshall come to utter destruction.”

25 Then Balaam rose and dwent back to his place. And Balak also went his way.

Footnotes

[1] 24:17 Hebrew corners [of the head]

Future Glory

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time nare not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for othe revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation pwas subjected to futility, not willingly, but qbecause of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that rthe creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that sthe whole creation thas been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have uthe firstfruits of the Spirit, vgroan inwardly as wwe wait eagerly for adoption as sons, xthe redemption of our bodies. 24 For yin this hope we were saved. Now zhope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we await for it with patience.

Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

23 The same day sSadducees came to him, twho say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, u‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”

29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, vbecause you know neither the Scriptures nor wthe power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither xmarry nor xare given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, yhave you not read what was said to you by God: 32 z‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the crowd heard it, athey were astonished at his teaching.

The Great Commandment

34 bBut when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced cthe Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 dAnd one of them, ea lawyer, asked him a question fto test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, g“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And ha second is like it: iYou shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 jOn these two commandments depend kall the Law and the Prophets.”