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God’s Steadfast Love Endures
3 I am one who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s[a] wrath;(A)
2 he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light;
3 against me alone he turns his hand,
again and again, all day long.(B)
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
he has broken my bones;(C)
5 he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
6 he has made me sit in darkness
like the dead of long ago.(D)
7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has put heavy chains on me;(E)
8 though I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;(F)
9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;(G)
11 he led me off my way and tore me to pieces;
he has made me desolate;
12 he bent his bow and set me
as a mark for his arrow.(H)
13 He shot into my vitals
the arrows of his quiver;
14 I have become the laughingstock of all my people,
the object of their taunt songs all day long.(I)
15 He has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with wormwood.
16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel;
he has made me cower in ashes;
17 my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
18 so I say, “Gone is my glory
and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.”
19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness
is wormwood and gall!(J)
20 My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.(K)
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,[b]
his mercies never come to an end;(L)
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.(M)
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”(N)
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.(O)
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.(P)
27 It is good for one to bear
the yoke in youth,(Q)
28 to sit alone in silence
when the Lord[c] has imposed it,(R)
29 to put one’s mouth to the dust
(there may yet be hope),
30 to give one’s cheek to the smiter
and be filled with insults.(S)
31 For the Lord will not
reject forever.(T)
32 Although he causes grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;(U)
33 for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve anyone.(V)
34 When all the prisoners of the land
are crushed under foot,
35 when justice is perverted
in the presence of the Most High,(W)
36 when one’s case is subverted—
does the Lord not see it?(X)
37 Who can command and have it done,
if the Lord has not ordained it?(Y)
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that evil and good come?(Z)
39 Why should any who draw breath complain
about the punishment of their sins?(AA)
40 Let us test and examine our ways
and return to the Lord.(AB)
41 Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands
to God in heaven.(AC)
42 We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.(AD)
43 You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
killing without pity;(AE)
44 you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us filth and rubbish
among the peoples.(AF)
46 All our enemies
have opened their mouths against us;(AG)
47 panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction.(AH)
48 My eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of my people.[d]
49 My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,(AI)
50 until the Lord from heaven
looks down and sees.(AJ)
51 My eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the young women in my city.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause
have hunted me like a bird;(AK)
53 they flung me alive into a pit
and hurled stones on me;(AL)
54 water closed over my head;
I said, “I am lost.”(AM)
55 I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;(AN)
56 you heard my plea, “Do not close your ear
to my cry for help, but give me relief!”(AO)
57 You came near when I called on you;
you said, “Do not fear!”(AP)
58 You have taken up my cause, O Lord;
you have redeemed my life.(AQ)
59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their malice,
all their plots against me.(AR)
61 You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
62 The whispers and murmurs of my assailants
are against me all day long.
63 Whether they sit or rise—see,
I am the object of their taunt songs.
64 Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord,
according to the work of their hands!
65 Give them anguish of heart;
your curse be on them!
66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under the Lord’s heavens.(AS)
God Has Spoken by His Son
1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,[a] whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.(A) 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains[b] all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for[c] sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,(B) 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.(C)
The Son Is Superior to Angels
5 For to which of the angels did God[d] ever say,
“You are my Son;
today I have begotten you”?
Or again,
“I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son”?(D)
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
7 Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds
and his servants flames of fire.”(E)
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is[e] forever and ever,
and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your[f] kingdom.(F)
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;[g]
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”(G)
10 And,
“In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;(H)
11 they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like clothing;(I)
12 like a cloak you will roll them up,
and like clothing[h] they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will never end.”
13 And to which of the angels has he ever said,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?(J)
14 Are not all angels[i] spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?(K)
Psalm 102
Prayer to the Eternal King for Help
A prayer of one afflicted, when faint and pleading before the Lord.
1 Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to you.(A)
2 Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day when I call.(B)
3 For my days pass away like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.(C)
4 My heart is stricken and withered like grass;
I am too wasted to eat my bread.(D)
5 Because of my loud groaning,
my bones cling to my skin.(E)
6 I am like a desert owl[a] of the wilderness,
like a little owl of the waste places.(F)
7 I lie awake;
I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.(G)
8 All day long my enemies taunt me;
those who deride me use my name for a curse.(H)
9 Indeed, I eat ashes like bread
and mingle tears with my drink,(I)
10 because of your indignation and anger,
for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside.
11 My days are like a lengthening shadow;
I wither away like grass.(J)
12 But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;
your name endures to all generations.(K)
13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to favor it;
the appointed time has come.(L)
14 For your servants hold its stones dear
and have pity on its dust.
15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord
and all the kings of the earth your glory.(M)
16 For the Lord will build up Zion;
he will appear in his glory.(N)
17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute
and will not despise their prayer.(O)
18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:(P)
19 that he looked down from his holy height,
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,(Q)
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,(R)
21 so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem,(S)
22 when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to serve the Lord.(T)
23 He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he has shortened my days.(U)
24 “O my God,” I say, “do not take me away
at the midpoint of my life,
you whose years endure
throughout all generations.”(V)
25 Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.(W)
26 They will perish, but you endure;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You change them like clothing, and they pass away,(X)
27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.(Y)
28 The children of your servants shall live secure;
their offspring shall be established in your presence.(Z)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.