Deliverance After Idolatry, Costly Discipleship

1. After Abimelech, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. 2. He judged Israel twenty-three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. 3. After him Jair, the Gileadite arose, and he judged Israel twenty-two years. 4. He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havvoth Jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 5. Jair died, and was buried in Kamon. 6. The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned Yahweh, and didn’t serve him. 7. Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the children of Ammon. 8. They troubled and oppressed the children of Israel that year. For eighteen years, they oppressed all the children of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9. The children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was very distressed. 10. The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, saying, “We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals.” 11. Yahweh said to the children of Israel, “Didn’t I save you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? 12. The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand. 13. Yet you have forsaken me, and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more. 14. Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress!” 15. The children of Israel said to Yahweh, “We have sinned! Do you to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, please, today.” 16. They put away the foreign gods from among them, and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. 17. Then the children of Ammon were gathered together and encamped in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled themselves together and encamped in Mizpah. 18. The people, the princes of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” 1. Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead became the father of Jephthah. 2. Gilead’s wife bore him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You will not inherit in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” 3. Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and lived in the land of Tob. Outlaws joined up with Jephthah, and they went out with him. 4. After a while, the children of Ammon made war against Israel. 5. When the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah out of the land of Tob. 6. They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.” 7. Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me, and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” 8. The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Therefore we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us, and fight with the children of Ammon. You will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” 9. Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon, and Yahweh delivers them before me, will I be your head?” 10. The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Yahweh will be witness between us. Surely we will do what you say.” 11. Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh in Mizpah. 12. Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, “What have you to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” 13. The king of the children of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore restore that territory again peaceably.” 14. Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon; 15. and he said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: Israel didn’t take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon, 16. but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh; 17. then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let me pass through your land;’ but the king of Edom didn’t listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab; but he would not: and Israel stayed in Kadesh. 18. Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; but they didn’t come within the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. 19. Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to my place.’ 20. But Sihon didn’t trust Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21. Yahweh, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. 22. They possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan. 23. So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them? 24. Won’t you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever Yahweh our God has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess. 25. Now are you anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them? 26. While Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of the Arnon, three hundred years; why didn’t you recover them within that time? 27. I therefore have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me. May Yahweh the Judge be judge today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.” 28. However the king of the children of Ammon didn’t listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him. 29. Then Yahweh’s Spirit came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon. 30. Jephthah vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, “If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand, 31. then it shall be, that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be Yahweh’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” 32. So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and Yahweh delivered them into his hand. 33. He struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. 34. Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35. When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are one of those who trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to Yahweh, and I can’t go back.” 36. She said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to Yahweh; do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, because Yahweh has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon.” 37. She said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me. Leave me alone two months, that I may depart and go down on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.” 38. He said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity on the mountains. 39. At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed. She was a virgin. It was a custom in Israel 40. that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year. 1. The men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, “Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn’t call us to go with you? We will burn your house around you with fire!” 2. Jephthah said to them, “I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, you didn’t save me out of their hand. 3. When I saw that you didn’t save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and Yahweh delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me today, to fight against me?” 4. Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim. The men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the middle of Ephraim, and in the middle of Manasseh.” 5. The Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. When the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No”; 6. then they said to him, “Now say ‘Shibboleth;’” and he said “Sibboleth”; for he couldn’t manage to pronounce it right: then they seized him, and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time, forty-two thousand of Ephraim fell. 7. Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in the cities of Gilead. 8. After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9. He had thirty sons; and thirty daughters he sent outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside his clan for his sons. He judged Israel seven years. 10. Ibzan died, and was buried at Bethlehem. 11. After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years. 12. Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. 13. After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14. He had forty sons and thirty sons’ sons, who rode on seventy donkey colts. He judged Israel eight years. 15. Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

1. When Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2. Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there. 3. Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?” 4. He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, 5. and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’ 6. So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.” 7. They asked him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a bill of divorce, and divorce her?” 8. He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so. 9. I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.” 10. His disciples said to him, “If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.” 11. But he said to them, “Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given. 12. For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.” 13. Then little children were brought to him, that he should lay his hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. 14. But Jesus said, “Allow the little children, and don’t forbid them to come to me; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to ones like these.” 15. He laid his hands on them, and departed from there. 16. Behold, one came to him and said, “Good teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” 17. He said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18. He said to him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder.’ ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ‘You shall not steal.’ ‘You shall not offer false testimony.’ 19. ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ And, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” 20. The young man said to him, “All these things I have observed from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21. Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22. But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sad, for he was one who had great possessions. 23. Jesus said to his disciples, “Most certainly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with difficulty. 24. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.” 25. When the disciples heard it, they were exceedingly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26. Looking at them, Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27. Then Peter answered, “Behold, we have left everything, and followed you. What then will we have?” 28. Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on the throne of his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29. Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life. 30. But many will be last who are first; and first who are last. 1. “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3. He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. 4. He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. 5. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. 6. About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ 7. “They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’ 8. When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ 9. “When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. 10. When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. 11. When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, 12. saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ 13. “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? 14. Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. 15. Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ 16. So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.” 17. As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18. “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, 19. and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up.” 20. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him. 21. He said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Command that these, my two sons, may sit, one on your right hand, and one on your left hand, in your Kingdom.” 22. But Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23. He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24. When the ten heard it, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25. But Jesus summoned them, and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26. It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 27. Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant, 28. even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 29. As they went out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. 30. Behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!” 31. The multitude rebuked them, telling them that they should be quiet, but they cried out even more, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!” 32. Jesus stood still, and called them, and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33. They told him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.” 34. Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him. 1. When they came near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethsphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2. saying to them, “Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them, and bring them to me. 3. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and immediately he will send them.” 4. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, 5. “Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” 6. The disciples went, and did just as Jesus commanded them, 7. and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their clothes on them; and he sat on them. 8. A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees, and spread them on the road. 9. The multitudes who went in front of him, and those who followed, kept shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10. When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11. The multitudes said, “This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” 12. Jesus entered into the temple of God, and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables and the seats of those who sold the doves. 13. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!” 14. The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son of David!” they were indignant, 16. and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Did you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing babies you have perfected praise?’” 17. He left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and camped there. 18. Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry. 19. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, “Let there be no fruit from you forever!” Immediately the fig tree withered away. 20. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree immediately wither away?” 21. Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done. 22. All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” 23. When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?” 24. Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25. The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26. But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.” 27. They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. 28. But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ 29. He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went. 30. He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I’ m going, sir,’ but he didn’t go. 31. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you. 32. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him. 33. “Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country. 34. When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit. 35. The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way. 37. But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38. But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance.’ 39. So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40. When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?” 41. They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season.” 42. Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?’ 43. “Therefore I tell you, God’s Kingdom will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing its fruit. 44. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.” 45. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them. 46. When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet. 1. Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son, 3. and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come. 4. Again he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage feast!”’ 5. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise, 6. and the rest grabbed his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7. When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8. “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited weren’t worthy. 9. Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the marriage feast.’ 10. Those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. The wedding was filled with guests. 11. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn’t have on wedding clothing, 12. and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’ He was speechless. 13. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’ 14. For many are called, but few chosen.” 15. Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk. 16. They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you aren’t partial to anyone. 17. Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18. But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? 19. Show me the tax money.” They brought to him a denarius. 20. He asked them, “Whose is this image and inscription?” 21. They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22. When they heard it, they marveled, and left him, and went away. 23. On that day Sadducees (those who say that there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him, 24. saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26. In the same way, the second also, and the third, to the seventh. 27. After them all, the woman died. 28. In the resurrection therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her.” 29. But Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. 30. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like God’s angels in heaven. 31. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read that which was spoken to you by God, saying, 32. ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” 33. When the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. 34. But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together. 35. One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. 36. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” 37. Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38. This is the first and great commandment. 39. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” 41. Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42. saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.” 43. He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, 44. ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’ 45. “If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46. No one was able to answer him a word, neither did any man dare ask him any more questions from that day forward.

1. Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. 2. Let Israel now say that his loving kindness endures forever. 3. Let the house of Aaron now say that his loving kindness endures forever. 4. Now let those who fear Yahweh say that his loving kindness endures forever. 5. Out of my distress, I called on Yah. Yah answered me with freedom. 6. Yahweh is on my side. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? 7. Yahweh is on my side among those who help me. Therefore I will look in triumph at those who hate me. 8. It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to put confidence in man. 9. It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to put confidence in princes. 10. All the nations surrounded me, but in Yahweh’s name, I cut them off. 11. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. In Yahweh’s name I indeed cut them off. 12. They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like the burning thorns. In Yahweh’s name I cut them off. 13. You pushed me back hard, to make me fall, but Yahweh helped me. 14. Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. 15. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. “The right hand of Yahweh does valiantly. 16. The right hand of Yahweh is exalted! The right hand of Yahweh does valiantly!” 17. I will not die, but live, and declare Yah’s works. 18. Yah has punished me severely, but he has not given me over to death. 19. Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will enter into them. I will give thanks to Yah. 20. This is the gate of Yahweh; the righteous will enter into it. 21. I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation. 22. The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23. This is Yahweh’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. 24. This is the day that Yahweh has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it! 25. Save us now, we beg you, Yahweh! Yahweh, we beg you, send prosperity now. 26. Blessed is he who comes in Yahweh’s name! We have blessed you out of Yahweh’s house. 27. Yahweh is God, and he has given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar. 28. You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God, I will exalt you. 29. Oh give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.