My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.

Let Us Go to the House of the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents. Of David.

Our Eyes Look to the Lord Our God

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.

⁸ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, ^9 (A)behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(B)my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, ^(C)and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. ¹⁰ Moreover, ^(D)I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^(E)the grinding of the millstones and ^(F)the light of the lamp. ^11 (G)This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and ^(H)these nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^(I)seventy years. ¹² Then after ^(J)seventy years are completed, ^(K)I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, ^(L)the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, ^(M)making the land an everlasting waste. ¹³ I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written ^(N)in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ^14 (O)For many nations ^(P)and great kings shall make slaves even of them, ^(Q)and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of the Lord's Wrath

¹⁵ Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ^(R)“Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. ¹⁶ They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of ^(S)the sword that I am sending among them.”

¹⁷ So I took the cup from the Lord's hand, ^(T)and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it:

10 Brothers,^[a] my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. ² For I bear them witness that ^(A)they have a zeal for God, ^(B)but not according to knowledge. ³ For, being ignorant of ^(C)the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. ⁴ For ^(D)Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.^[b]

The Message of Salvation to All

⁵ For ^(E)Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that ^(F)the person who does the commandments shall live by them. ⁶ But ^(G)the righteousness based on faith says, ^(H)“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the ^(I)abyss?’” (that is, ^(J)to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? ^(K)“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹ because, if ^(L)you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and ^(M)believe in your heart ^(N)that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, ^(O)“Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ^12 (P)For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; ^(Q)for the same Lord is Lord of all, ^(R)bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³ For ^(S)“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

^18 (A)The Jews^[a] did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. ²¹ But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” ²² (His parents said these things ^(B)because they feared the Jews, for ^(C)the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should ^(D)confess Jesus^[b] to be Christ, ^(E)he was to be put out of the synagogue.) ²³ Therefore his parents said, ^(F)“He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, ^(G)“Give glory to God. We know that ^(H)this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I ^(I)was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered them, ^(J)“I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” ²⁸ And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but ^(K)we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, ^(L)we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰ The man answered, “Why, this is ^(M)an amazing thing! ^(N)You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that ^(O)God does not listen to sinners, but ^(P)if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. ³² Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. ^33 (Q)If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered him, ^(R)“You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they ^(S)cast him out.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in ^(T)the Son of Man?”^{[c] 36} He answered, ^(U)“And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and ^(V)it is he who is speaking to you.” ³⁸ He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. ³⁹ Jesus said, ^(W)“For judgment I came into this world, ^(X)that those who do not see may see, and ^(Y)those who see may become blind.” ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, ^(Z)“Are we also blind?” ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, ^(AA)you would have no guilt;^[d] but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.