Bible Reading Plan – Day 113

₁We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks to you!

We proclaim how great you are

and tell of the wonderful things you have done.

₂“I have set a time for judgement,” says God,

“and I will judge with fairness.

₃Though every living creature tremble

and the earth itself be shaken,

I will keep its foundations firm.

₄I tell the wicked not to be arrogant;

₅I tell them to stop their boasting.”

₆Judgement does not come from the east or from the west,

from the north or from the south;

₇it is God who is the judge,

condemning some and acquitting others.

₈The LORD holds a cup in his hand,

filled with the strong wine of his anger.

He pours it out, and all the wicked drink it;

they drink it down to the last drop.

₉But I will never stop speaking of the God of Jacob

or singing praises to him.

₁₀He will break the power of the wicked,

but the power of the righteous will be increased.

₁God is known in Judah;

his name is honoured in Israel.

₂He has his home in Jerusalem;

he lives on Mount Zion.

₃There he broke the arrows of the enemy,

their shields and swords, yes, all their weapons.

₄How glorious you are, O God!

How majestic, as you return from the mountains

where you defeated your foes.

₅Their brave soldiers have been stripped of all they had

and now are sleeping the sleep of death;

all their strength and skill was useless.

₆When you threatened them, O God of Jacob,

the horses and their riders fell dead.

₇But you, LORD, are feared by all.

No one can stand in your presence

when you are angry.

₈You made your judgement known from heaven;

the world was afraid and kept silent,

₉when you rose up to pronounce judgement,

to save all the oppressed on earth.

₁₀Human anger only results in more praise for you;

those who survive the wars will keep your festivals.

₁₁Give the LORD your God what you promised him;

bring gifts to him, all you nearby nations.

God makes everyone fear him;

₁₂he humbles proud princes

and terrifies great kings.

₁I cry aloud to God;

I cry aloud, and he hears me.

₂In times of trouble I pray to the Lord;

all night long I lift my hands in prayer,

but I cannot find comfort.

₃When I think of God, I sigh;

when I meditate, I feel discouraged.

₄He keeps me awake all night;

I am so worried that I cannot speak.

₅I think of days gone by

and remember years of long ago.

₆I spend the night in deep thought;

I meditate, and this is what I ask myself:

₇“Will the Lord always reject us?

Will he never again be pleased with us?

₈Has he stopped loving us?

Does his promise no longer stand?

₉Has God forgotten to be merciful?

Has anger taken the place of his compassion?”

₁₀Then I said, “What hurts me most is this —

that God is no longer powerful.”

₁₁I will remember your great deeds, LORD;

I will recall the wonders you did in the past.

₁₂I will think about all that you have done;

I will meditate on all your mighty acts.

₁₃Everything you do, O God, is holy.

No god is as great as you.

₁₄You are the God who works miracles;

you showed your might among the nations.

₁₅By your power you saved your people,

the descendants of Jacob and of Joseph.

₁₆When the waters saw you, O God, they were afraid,

and the depths of the sea trembled.

₁₇The clouds poured down rain;

thunder crashed from the sky,

and lightning flashed in all directions.

₁₈The crash of your thunder rolled out,

and flashes of lightning lit up the world;

the earth trembled and shook.

₁₉You walked through the waves;

you crossed the deep sea,

but your footprints could not be seen.

₂₀You led your people like a shepherd,

with Moses and Aaron in charge.

₁Listen, my people, to my teaching,

and pay attention to what I say.

₂I am going to use wise sayings

and explain mysteries from the past,

₃things we have heard and known,

things that our ancestors told us.

₄We will not keep them from our children;

we will tell the next generation

about the LORD's power and his great deeds

and the wonderful things he has done.

₅He gave laws to the people of Israel

and commandments to the descendants of Jacob.

He instructed our ancestors

to teach his laws to their children,

₆so that the next generation might learn them

and in turn should tell their children.

₇In this way they also would put their trust in God

and not forget what he has done,

but always obey his commandments.

₈They would not be like their ancestors,

a rebellious and disobedient people,

whose trust in God was never firm

and who did not remain faithful to him.

₉The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows,

ran away on the day of battle.

₁₀They did not keep their covenant with God;

they refused to obey his law.

₁₁They forgot what he had done,

the miracles they had seen him perform.

₁₂While their ancestors watched, God performed miracles

in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

₁₃He divided the sea and took them through it;

he made the waters stand like walls.

₁₄By day he led them with a cloud

and all night long with the light of a fire.

₁₅He split rocks open in the desert

and gave them water from the depths.

₁₆He caused a stream to come out of the rock

and made water flow like a river.

₁₇But they continued to sin against God,

and in the desert they rebelled against the Most High.

₁₈They deliberately put God to the test

by demanding the food they wanted.

₁₉They spoke against God and said,

“Can God supply food in the desert?

₂₀It is true that he struck the rock,

and water flowed out in a torrent;

but can he also provide us with bread

and give his people meat?”

₂₁And so the LORD was angry when he heard them;

he attacked his people with fire,

and his anger against them grew,

₂₂because they had no faith in him

and did not believe that he would save them.

₂₃But he spoke to the sky above

and commanded its doors to open;

₂₄he gave them grain from heaven,

by sending down manna for them to eat.

₂₅So they ate the food of angels,

and God gave them all they wanted.

₂₆He also caused the east wind to blow,

and by his power he stirred up the south wind;

₂₇and to his people he sent down birds,

as many as the grains of sand on the shore;

₂₈they fell in the middle of the camp

all round the tents.

₂₉So the people ate and were satisfied;

God gave them what they wanted.

₃₀But they had not yet satisfied their craving

and were still eating,

₃₁when God became angry with them

and killed their strongest men,

the best young men of Israel.

₃₂In spite of all this the people kept sinning;

in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.

₃₃So he ended their days like a breath

and their lives with sudden disaster.

₃₄Whenever he killed some of them,

the rest would turn to him;

they would repent and pray earnestly to him.

₃₅They remembered that God was their protector,

that the Almighty came to their aid.

₃₆But their words were all lies;

nothing they said was sincere.

₃₇They were not loyal to him;

they were not faithful to their covenant with him.

₃₈But God was merciful to his people.

He forgave their sin

and did not destroy them.

Many times he held back his anger

and restrained his fury.

₃₉He remembered that they were only mortal beings,

like a wind that blows by and is gone.

₄₀How often they rebelled against him in the desert;

how many times they made him sad!

₄₁Again and again they put God to the test

and brought pain to the Holy God of Israel.

₄₂They forgot his great power

and the day when he saved them from their enemies

₄₃and performed his mighty acts and miracles

in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

₄₄He turned the rivers into blood,

and the Egyptians had no water to drink.

₄₅He sent flies among them, that tormented them,

and frogs that ruined their land.

₄₆He sent locusts to eat their crops

and to destroy their fields.

₄₇He killed their grapevines with hail

and their fig trees with frost.

₄₈He killed their cattle with hail

and their flocks with lightning.

₄₉He caused them great distress

by pouring out his anger and fierce rage,

which came as messengers of death.

₅₀He did not restrain his anger

or spare their lives,

but killed them with a plague.

₅₁He killed the firstborn sons

of all the families of Egypt.

₅₂Then he led his people out like a shepherd

and guided them through the desert.

₅₃He led them safely, and they were not afraid;

but the sea came rolling over their enemies.

₅₄He brought them to his holy land,

to the mountains which he himself conquered.

₅₅He drove out the inhabitants as his people advanced;

he divided their land among the tribes of Israel

and gave their homes to his people.

₅₆But they rebelled against Almighty God

and put him to the test.

They did not obey his commandments,

₅₇but were rebellious and disloyal like their ancestors,

unreliable as a crooked arrow.

₅₈They angered him with their heathen places of worship,

and with their idols they made him furious.

₅₉God was angry when he saw it,

so he rejected his people completely.

₆₀He abandoned his tent in Shiloh,

the home where he had lived among us.

₆₁He allowed our enemies to capture the Covenant Box,

the symbol of his power and glory.

₆₂He was angry with his own people

and let them be killed by their enemies.

₆₃Young men were killed in war,

and young women had no one to marry.

₆₄Priests died by violence,

and their widows were not allowed to mourn.

₆₅At last the Lord woke up as though from sleep;

he was like a strong man excited by wine.

₆₆He drove his enemies back

in lasting and shameful defeat.

₆₇But he rejected the descendants of Joseph;

he did not select the tribe of Ephraim.

₆₈Instead he chose the tribe of Judah

and Mount Zion, which he dearly loves.

₆₉There he built his Temple

like his home in heaven;

he made it firm like the earth itself,

secure for all time.

₇₀He chose his servant David;

he took him from the pastures,

₇₁where he looked after his flocks,

and he made him king of Israel,

the shepherd of the people of God.

₇₂David took care of them with unselfish devotion

and led them with skill.