For thus says the Lord God: Look! I myself will search for my sheep and examine them. 12 As a shepherd examines his flock while he himself is among his scattered sheep, so will I examine my sheep. I will deliver them from every place where they were scattered on the day of dark clouds. 13 I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and every inhabited place in the land. 14 In good pastures I will pasture them; on the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down on good grazing ground; in rich pastures they will be pastured on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest—oracle of the Lord God. 16 The lost I will search out, the strays I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, and the sick I will heal; but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them i...

Do not reprove me in your anger, Lord, nor punish me in your wrath. 3 Have pity on me, Lord, for I am weak; heal me, Lord, for my bones are shuddering. 4 My soul too is shuddering greatly—and you, Lord, how long…? 5 Turn back, Lord, rescue my soul; save me because of your mercy. 6 For in death there is no remembrance of you. Who praises you in Sheol? Psalm 6:2–6, one of the seven traditional Penitential Psalms, is a heartfelt plea for mercy from one who suffers not only physically but also spiritually and emotionally.  It is a prayer of the just who, though afflicted, place their trust entirely in God's mercy.  The fear of death expressed here is not merely for its pain, but because—under the Old Covenant understanding—Sheol was viewed as a realm of silence, cut off from the worship and praise of God (cf. Ps. 30:10; Is. 38:18–19).  There is an urgent eschatological longing for God’s saving intervention, not based on personal merit, but on His steadfast love (chesed) and d...

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. 2 In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me; 3 he restores my soul. He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me. 5 You set a table before me in front of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the Lord for endless days. Psalm 23 is a psalm of trust in the Lord’s providential care, expressed in the imagery of a shepherd and a gracious host.  The psalmist, traditionally identified as David, proclaims his confidence in God’s guidance, provision, and protection even in the face of danger and suffering.  The familiar opening, “ The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack ” (v.1), evokes the intimate, personal relationship between God an...

This rather is what I commanded them: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk exactly in the way I command you, so that you may prosper. 24 But they did not listen to me, nor did they pay attention. They walked in the stubbornness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me. 25 From the day that your ancestors left the land of Egypt even to this day, I kept on sending all my servants the prophets to you. 26 Yet they have not listened to me nor have they paid attention; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their ancestors. 27 When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either. When you call to them, they will not answer you. 28 Say to them: This is the nation which does not listen to the voice of the Lord, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech. From the earliest days of Israel’s history, God has been speaking to His people...

Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him. 3 He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain, Like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. 4 Yet it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured. We thought of him as stricken, struck down by God and afflicted, 5 But he was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed. 6 We had all gone astray like sheep, all following our own way; But the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all. 7 Though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth; Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Seized and condemned, he was taken away. Who would have thought any more of his ...

There he came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the Lord came to him: Why are you here, Elijah? 10 He answered: “I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant. They have destroyed your altars and murdered your prophets by the sword. I alone remain, and they seek to take my life.” 11 Then the Lord said: Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will pass by. There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord—but the Lord was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 after the earthquake, fire—but the Lord was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound. 13 When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, Why are you here, Elijah? 14  He replied, “I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, but the Israelite...

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done—that he had murdered all the prophets by the sword. 2 Jezebel then sent a messenger to Elijah and said, “May the gods do thus to me and more, if by this time tomorrow I have not done with your life what was done to each of them.” 3 Elijah was afraid and fled for his life, going to Beer-sheba of Judah. He left his servant there 4 and went a day’s journey into the wilderness, until he came to a solitary broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: “Enough, Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 He lay down and fell asleep under the solitary broom tree, but suddenly a messenger touched him and said, “Get up and eat!” 6 He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, 7 but the angel of the Lord came back a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat or the journey will be too much for you!” 8 He got up, ate, and drank; then strengthened by that fo...

Now then, speak thus to my servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to become ruler over my people Israel. 9 I was with you wherever you went, and I cut down all your enemies before you. And I will make your name like that of the greatest on earth. 10 I will assign a place for my people Israel and I will plant them in it to dwell there; they will never again be disturbed, nor shall the wicked ever again oppress them, as they did at the beginning, 11 and from the day when I appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you: 12 when your days have been completed and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He it is who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever. 14 I will be a father to him, a...

With his shield-bearer marching before him, the Philistine advanced closer and closer to David. 42 When he sized David up and saw that he was youthful, ruddy, and handsome in appearance, he began to deride him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with a staff?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods 44 and said to him, “Come here to me, and I will feed your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.” 45 David answered him: “You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have insulted. 46 Today the Lord shall deliver you into my hand; I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will feed your dead body and the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field; thus the whole land shall learn that Israel has a God. 47 All this multitude, too, shall learn that it is not by sword or spear...

When the rest of that generation were also gathered to their ancestors, and a later generation arose that did not know the Lord or the work he had done for Israel, 11 the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They served the Baals, 12 and abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the one who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods, the gods of the peoples around them, and bowed down to them, and provoked the Lord. 13 Because they had abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Astartes, 14 the anger of the Lord flared up against Israel, and he delivered them into the power of plunderers who despoiled them. He sold them into the power of the enemies around them, and they were no longer able to withstand their enemies. 15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord turned against them, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them; and they were in great distress. 16 But the Lord raised up judges to save them from the power ...

Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 He is like a barren bush in the wasteland that enjoys no change of season, But stands in lava beds in the wilderness, a land, salty and uninhabited. 7 Blessed are those who trust in the Lord; the Lord will be their trust. 8 They are like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It does not fear heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still produces fruit. 9 More tortuous than anything is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it? 10 I, the Lord, explore the mind and test the heart, Giving to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their deeds. This passage contrasts the fate of those who place their trust in human strength with those who trust in God.  The former is likened to a barren bush in the desert, dwelling in desolation (vv. 5-...