Psalm 41

English Standard Version

O Lord, Be Gracious to Me

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

41 ^(A)Blessed is the one who considers the poor!^[a]
    ^(B)In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
²the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
    he is called blessed in the land;
    you ^(C)do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
³The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
    in his illness you restore him to full health.^[b]

⁴As for me, I said, “O Lord, ^(D)be gracious to me;
    ^(E)heal me,^[c] for I have sinned against you!”
⁵My enemies say of me in malice,
    “When will he die, and his name perish?”
⁶And when one comes to see me, ^(F)he utters empty words,
    while his heart gathers iniquity;
    when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
⁷All who hate me whisper together about me;
    they imagine the worst for me.^[d]

⁸They say, “A deadly thing is poured out^[e] on him;
    he will not rise again from where he lies.”
⁹Even my ^(G)close friend in whom I trusted,
    who ^(H)ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
¹⁰But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
    and raise me up, that I may repay them!

¹¹By this I know that ^(I)you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
¹²But ^(J)you have upheld me because of ^(K)my integrity,
and ^(L)set me in your presence ^(M)forever.

¹³^(N)Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.

Footnotes

Psalm 41:1 Or weak
Psalm 41:3 Hebrew you turn all his bed
Psalm 41:4 Hebrew my soul
Psalm 41:7 Or they devise evil against me
Psalm 41:8 Or has fastened

Psalm 52

English Standard Version

The Steadfast Love of God Endures

To the choirmaster. A Maskil^[a] of David, when ^(A)Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

52 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
    The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
²Your ^(B)tongue plots destruction,
    like ^(C)a sharp razor, you ^(D)worker of deceit.
³You love evil more than good,
    and ^(E)lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
⁴You love all words that devour,
    O deceitful tongue.

⁵But God will break you down forever;
    he will snatch and ^(F)tear you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from ^(G)the land of the living. Selah
⁶The righteous shall ^(H)see and fear,
    and shall ^(I)laugh at him, saying,
⁷“See the man who would not make
    God his refuge,
but ^(J)trusted in the abundance of his riches
    and sought refuge in his own destruction!”^[b]

⁸But I am like ^(K)a green olive tree
    in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
    forever and ever.
⁹I will thank you forever,
    because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, ^(L)for it is good,
    in the presence of the ^(M)godly.

Footnotes

Psalm 52:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 52:7 Or in his work of destruction

Genesis 37:1-11

English Standard Version

Joseph's Dreams

37 Jacob lived in ^(A)the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan.

²These are the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought ^(B)a bad report of them to their father. ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was ^(C)the son of his old age. And he made him ^(D)a robe of many colors.^[a] ⁴But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

⁵Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. ⁶He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: ⁷Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, ^(E)my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and ^(F)bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and ^(G)your mother and your brothers indeed come ^(H)to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” ¹¹And ^(I)his brothers were jealous of him, ^(J)but his father kept the saying in mind.

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Footnotes

Genesis 37:3 See Septuagint, Vulgate; or (with Syriac) a robe with long sleeves. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain; also verses 23, 32

1 Corinthians 1:1-19

English Standard Version

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)called ^(B)by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

²To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those ^(C)sanctified in Christ Jesus, ^(D)called to be saints together with all those who in every place ^(E)call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

³^(F)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

⁴I ^(G)give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵that in every way ^(H)you were enriched in him in all ^(I)speech and all knowledge— ⁶even as ^(J)the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you ^(K)wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸^(L)who will sustain you to the end, ^(M)guiltless ^(N)in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹^(O)God is faithful, by whom you were called into the ^(P)fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

¹⁰I appeal to you, brothers,^[a] by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no ^(Q)divisions among you, but that you be united ^(R)in the same mind and the same judgment. ¹¹For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is ^(S)quarreling among you, my brothers. ¹²What I mean is that ^(T)each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow ^(U)Apollos,” or “I follow ^(V)Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” ¹³^(W)Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you ^(X)baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴I thank God that I baptized none of you except ^(Y)Crispus and ^(Z)Gaius, ¹⁵so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶(I did baptize also ^(AA)the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and ^(AB)not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸For the word of the cross is ^(AC)folly to ^(AD)those who are perishing, but to us ^(AE)who are being saved it is ^(AF)the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written,

^(AG)“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

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Footnotes

1 Corinthians 1:10 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verses 11, 26

Mark 1:1-13

English Standard Version

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, ^(A)the Son of God.^[a]

²^(B)As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,^[b]

^(C)“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way,
³^(D)the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
    ^(E)‘Prepare^[c] the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight,’”

⁴^(F)John appeared, baptizing in ^(G)the wilderness and proclaiming ^(H)a baptism of ^(I)repentance ^(J)for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, ^(K)confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was ^(L)clothed with camel's hair and ^(M)wore a leather belt around his waist and ate ^(N)locusts and ^(O)wild honey. ⁷And he preached, saying, ^(P)“After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸^(Q)I have baptized you with water, but ^(R)he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism of Jesus

⁹^(S)In those days Jesus ^(T)came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And when he came up out of the water, immediately he ^(U)saw ^(V)the heavens being torn open ^(W)and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹And ^(X)a voice came from heaven, ^(Y)“You are my beloved Son;^[d] with you I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

¹²^(Z)The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³^(AA)And he was in the wilderness forty days, being ^(AB)tempted by ^(AC)Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and ^(AD)the angels were ministering to him.