Psalm 71

English Standard Version

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

71 ^(A)In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame!
²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
    incline your ear to me, and save me!
³Be to me a rock of ^(B)refuge,
    to which I may continually come;
you have ^(C)given the command to save me,
    for you are my ^(D)rock and my fortress.

⁴^(E)Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
⁵For you, O Lord, are my ^(F)hope,
    my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
⁶Upon you I have leaned ^(G)from before my birth;
    you are he who ^(H)took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.

⁷I have been as ^(I)a portent to many,
    but you are my strong refuge.
⁸My ^(J)mouth is filled with your praise,
    and with your glory all the day.
⁹^(K)Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
    forsake me not when my strength is spent.
¹⁰For my enemies speak concerning me;
    those who ^(L)watch for my life ^(M)consult together
¹¹and say, “God has forsaken him;
    pursue and seize him,
    for there is none to deliver him.”

¹²O God, be not ^(N)far from me;
    O my God, ^(O)make haste to help me!
¹³May my accusers be ^(P)put to shame and consumed;
    ^(Q)with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
    who ^(R)seek my hurt.
¹⁴But I will ^(S)hope continually
    and will ^(T)praise you yet more and more.
¹⁵My ^(U)mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
    of your deeds of salvation all the day,
    for ^(V)their number is past my knowledge.
¹⁶With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
    I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷O God, from my youth you have taught me,
    and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
¹⁸So even to ^(W)old age and gray hairs,
    O God, ^(X)do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
    your power to all those to come.
¹⁹Your ^(Y)righteousness, O God,
    reaches the high heavens.
You who have done ^(Z)great things,
    O God, ^(AA)who is like you?
²⁰You who have ^(AB)made me see many troubles and calamities
    will ^(AC)revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will bring me up again.
²¹You will increase my greatness
    and comfort me again.

²²I will also praise you with ^(AD)the harp
    for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
    O ^(AE)Holy One of Israel.
²³My lips will shout for joy,
    when I sing praises to you;
    my soul also, which you have ^(AF)redeemed.
²⁴And my ^(AG)tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been ^(AH)put to shame and disappointed
    who sought to do me hurt.

2 Chronicles 24

English Standard Version

Joash Repairs the Temple

24 ^(A)Joash^[a] was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. ²^(B)And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³Jehoiada got for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.

⁴After this Joash ^(C)decided to ^(D)restore the house of the Lord. ⁵And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of ^(E)Judah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you act quickly.” But the Levites did not act quickly. ⁶So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem ^(F)the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the congregation of Israel for ^(G)the tent of testimony?” ⁷For ^(H)the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God, and had also used all ^(I)the dedicated things of the house of the Lord for the Baals.

⁸So the king commanded, and they made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord. ⁹And ^(J)proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord ^(K)the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until they had finished.^[b] ¹¹And whenever the chest was brought to the king's officers by the Levites, when they saw that there was much money in it, the king's secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and take it and return it to its place. Thus they did day after day, and collected money in abundance. ¹²And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of the Lord, and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord. ¹³So those who were engaged in the work labored, and the repairing went forward in their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it. ¹⁴And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and with it ^(L)were made utensils for the house of the Lord, both for the service and for the burnt offerings, and dishes for incense and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord regularly all the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵But Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and died. He was 130 years old at his death. ¹⁶And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house.

¹⁷Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them. ¹⁸And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served ^(M)the Asherim and the idols. And ^(N)wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. ¹⁹^(O)Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. ^(P)These testified against them, but they would not pay attention.

Joash's Treachery

²⁰^(Q)Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah ^(R)the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ^(S)‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? ^(T)Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’” ²¹But ^(U)they conspired against him, ^(V)and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. ²²Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see ^(W)and avenge!”^[c]

Joash Assassinated

²³At the end of the year ^(X)the army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. ²⁴Though the army of the Syrians had come with few men, ^(Y)the Lord delivered into their hand a very great army, ^(Z)because Judah^[d] had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. Thus they ^(AA)executed judgment on Joash.

²⁵When they had departed from him, leaving him ^(AB)severely wounded, ^(AC)his servants conspired against him because of the blood of ^(AD)the son^[e] of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, ^(AE)but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. ²⁶Those who conspired against him were Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabite. ²⁷Accounts of his sons and of the many oracles against him and of ^(AF)the rebuilding^[f] of the house of God are written in the ^(AG)Story^[g] of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 24:1 Spelled Jehoash in 2 Kings 12:1
2 Chronicles 24:10 Or until it was full
2 Chronicles 24:22 Or and require it
2 Chronicles 24:24 Hebrew they
2 Chronicles 24:25 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew sons
2 Chronicles 24:27 Hebrew founding
2 Chronicles 24:27 Or Exposition

Hebrews 8

English Standard Version

Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant

8 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, ^(A)one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ²a minister in the holy places, in ^(B)the true tent^[a] that the Lord ^(C)set up, not man. ³For ^(D)every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus ^(E)it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. ⁴Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. ⁵They serve ^(F)a copy and ^(G)shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ^(H)“See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” ⁶But as it is, Christ^[b] has obtained a ministry that is ^(I)as much more excellent than the old as ^(J)the covenant ^(K)he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. ⁷^(L)For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

⁸For he finds fault with them when he says:^[c]

^(M)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
    and with the house of Judah,
⁹not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
    on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
    and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
¹⁰^(N)For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
    after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
    and ^(O)write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
¹¹And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
    and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall ^(P)all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
¹²For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
    ^(Q)and I will remember their sins no more.”