Psalm 118

Psalm 145^[a]

A psalm of praise. Of David.

The Bronze Snake

⁴ They traveled from Mount Hor^(A) along the route to the Red Sea,^[a](B) to go around Edom.^(C) But the people grew impatient on the way;^{(D) 5} they spoke against God^(E) and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt^(F) to die in the wilderness?^(G) There is no bread! There is no water!^(H) And we detest this miserable food!”^(I)

⁶ Then the Lord sent venomous snakes^(J) among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.^{(K) 7} The people came to Moses^(L) and said, “We sinned^(M) when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord^(N) will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed^(O) for the people.

⁸ The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole;^(P) anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze snake^(Q) and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.^(R)

Defeat of Sihon and Og

²¹ Israel sent messengers^(A) to say to Sihon^(B) king of the Amorites:^(C)

²³ But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory.^(E) He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz,^(F) he fought with Israel.^{(G) 24} Israel, however, put him to the sword^(H) and took over his land^(I) from the Arnon to the Jabbok,^(J) but only as far as the Ammonites,^(K) because their border was fortified. ²⁵ Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites^(L) and occupied them,^(M) including Heshbon^(N) and all its surrounding settlements. ²⁶ Heshbon was the city of Sihon^(O) king of the Amorites,^(P) who had fought against the former king of Moab^(Q) and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.^(R)

²⁷ That is why the poets say:

³¹ So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.^(AC)

³² After Moses had sent spies^(AD) to Jazer,^(AE) the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there. ³³ Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan^(AF),^(AG) and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.^(AH)

³⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.^(AI)”

³⁵ So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors.^(AJ) And they took possession of his land.^(AK)

¹² As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.^(A)

¹³ But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea,^(B) some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. ¹⁴ The believers^(C) immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas^(D) and Timothy^(E) stayed at Berea. ¹⁵ Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens^(F) and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.^(G)

In Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he reasoned in the synagogue^(H) with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸ A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news^(I) about Jesus and the resurrection.^{(J) 19} Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus,^(K) where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching^(L) is that you are presenting? ²⁰ You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” ²¹ (All the Athenians^(M) and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

²² Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus^(N) and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.^{(O) 23} For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship^(P)—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it^(Q) is the Lord of heaven and earth^(R) and does not live in temples built by human hands.^{(S) 25} And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.^{(T) 26} From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.^{(U) 27} God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.^{(V) 28} ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[a](W) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[b]

²⁹ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.^{(X) 30} In the past God overlooked^(Y) such ignorance,^(Z) but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.^{(AA) 31} For he has set a day when he will judge^(AB) the world with justice^(AC) by the man he has appointed.^(AD) He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”^(AE)

³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead,^(AF) some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ³³ At that, Paul left the Council. ³⁴ Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus,^(AG) also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath

¹⁰ On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,^{(A) 11} and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.^(B) She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” ¹³ Then he put his hands on her,^(C) and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

¹⁴ Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath,^(D) the synagogue leader^(E) said to the people, “There are six days for work.^(F) So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

¹⁵ The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?^{(G) 16} Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham,^(H) whom Satan^(I) has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

¹⁷ When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated,^(J) but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.