My Soul Waits for God Alone

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

Blessings for Obedience

28 “And ^(A)if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you ^(B)high above all the nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(C)overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. ³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and ^(D)blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴ Blessed shall be ^(E)the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ⁵ Blessed shall be your basket and your ^(F)kneading bowl. ⁶ Blessed shall you be ^(G)when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷ “The Lord ^(H)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. ⁸ The Lord ^(I)will command the blessing on you in your barns and ^(J)in all that you undertake. ^(K)And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ^9 (L)The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ And ^(M)all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(N)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(O)afraid of you. ¹¹ And ^(P)the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in ^(Q)the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, ^(R)to give the rain to your land in its season and ^(S)to bless all the work of your hands. And ^(T)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make you ^(U)the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, ^14 (V)and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ “But ^(W)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and ^(X)overtake you. ¹⁶ Cursed shall you be ^(Y)in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰ “The Lord ^(Z)will send on you curses, confusion, and ^(AA)frustration in all that you undertake to do, ^(AB)until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. ²¹ The Lord will make ^(AC)the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ^22 (AD)The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought^[a] and with ^(AE)blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And ^(AF)the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

^25 (AG)“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you ^(AH)shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And ^(AI)your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and ^(AJ)there shall be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you ^(AK)with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and ^(AL)scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with ^(AM)madness and blindness and confusion of mind, ²⁹ and you shall ^(AN)grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways.^[b] And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. ^30 (AO)You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. ^(AP)You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. ^(AQ)You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. ^32 (AR)Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, ^(AS)but you shall be helpless. ³³ A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, ³⁴ so that you are driven mad ^(AT)by the sights that your eyes see. ³⁵ The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs ^(AU)with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

18 When Jesus had spoken these words, ^(A)he went out with his disciples across ^(B)the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. ² Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew ^(C)the place, for ^(D)Jesus often met there with his disciples. ^3 (E)So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. ⁴ Then Jesus, ^(F)knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, ^(G)“Whom do you seek?” ⁵ They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.”^[a] Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. ^6 (H)When Jesus^[b] said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. ⁷ So he asked them again, ^(I)“Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁸ Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” ^9 (J)This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” ¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, ^(K)having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant^[c] and cut off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) ¹¹ So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; ^(L)shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

Jesus Faces Annas and Caiaphas

¹² So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews^[d] arrested Jesus and bound him. ¹³ First they ^(M)led him to ^(N)Annas, for he was the father-in-law of ^(O)Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. ¹⁴ It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews ^(P)that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.

Peter Denies Jesus

^15 (Q)Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, ^16 (R)but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. ^17 (S)The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” ¹⁸ Now the servants^[e] and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. ^(T)Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

The High Priest Questions Jesus

^19 (U)The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. ²⁰ Jesus answered him, “I have spoken ^(V)openly ^(W)to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. ^(X)I have said nothing in secret. ²¹ Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” ²² When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, ^(Y)“Is that how you answer the high priest?” ²³ Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” ^24 (Z)Annas then sent him bound to ^(AA)Caiaphas the high priest.

Peter Denies Jesus Again

^25 (AB)Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” ²⁶ One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of ^(AC)the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you ^(AD)in the garden with him?” ²⁷ Peter again denied it, and ^(AE)at once a rooster crowed.