November 13: Psalms 66–67; Psalm 19; Psalm 46; Habakkuk 1–2:1; Philippians 3:13–4:1; Matthew 23:13–24

Proper 28

First Psalm:

Psalms 66–67

Psalms 66–67 (Listen)
How Awesome Are Your Deeds
To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.

66   Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
2     sing the glory of his name;
    give to him glorious praise!
3   Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
    So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
4   All the earth worships you
    and sings praises to you;
    they sing praises to your name.” Selah

5   Come and see what God has done:
    he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
6   He turned the sea into dry land;
    they passed through the river on foot.
  There did we rejoice in him,
7     who rules by his might forever,
  whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
    let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

8   Bless our God, O peoples;
    let the sound of his praise be heard,
9   who has kept our soul among the living
    and has not let our feet slip.
10   For you, O God, have tested us;
    you have tried us as silver is tried.
11   You brought us into the net;
    you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
12   you let men ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and through water;
  yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

13   I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
    I will perform my vows to you,
14   that which my lips uttered
    and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15   I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
    with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
  I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

16   Come and hear, all you who fear God,
    and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
17   I cried to him with my mouth,
    and high praise was on1 my tongue.2
18   If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.
19   But truly God has listened;
    he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20   Blessed be God,
    because he has not rejected my prayer
    or removed his steadfast love from me!

Make Your Face Shine upon Us
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

67   May God be gracious to us and bless us
    and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
2   that your way may be known on earth,
    your saving power among all nations.
3   Let the peoples praise you, O God;
    let all the peoples praise you!

4   Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
    for you judge the peoples with equity
    and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
5   Let the peoples praise you, O God;
    let all the peoples praise you!

6   The earth has yielded its increase;
    God, our God, shall bless us.
7   God shall bless us;
    let all the ends of the earth fear him!

Footnotes

[1] 66:17 Hebrew under


[2] 66:17 Or and he was exalted with my tongue

(ESV)

Second Psalm:

Psalm 19; Psalm 46

Psalm 19 (Listen)
The Law of the Lord Is Perfect
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

19   The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above1 proclaims his handiwork.
2   Day to day pours out speech,
    and night to night reveals knowledge.
3   There is no speech, nor are there words,
    whose voice is not heard.
4   Their voice2 goes out through all the earth,
    and their words to the end of the world.
  In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5     which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
    and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6   Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
    and its circuit to the end of them,
    and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

7   The law of the LORD is perfect,3
    reviving the soul;
  the testimony of the LORD is sure,
    making wise the simple;
8   the precepts of the LORD are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
  the commandment of the LORD is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
9   the fear of the LORD is clean,
    enduring forever;
  the rules4 of the LORD are true,
    and righteous altogether.
10   More to be desired are they than gold,
    even much fine gold;
  sweeter also than honey
    and drippings of the honeycomb.
11   Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.

12   Who can discern his errors?
    Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13   Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
    let them not have dominion over me!
  Then I shall be blameless,
    and innocent of great transgression.

14   Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
    be acceptable in your sight,
    O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Footnotes

[1] 19:1 Hebrew the expanse; compare Genesis 1:6–8


[2] 19:4 Or Their measuring line


[3] 19:7 Or blameless


[4] 19:9 Or just decrees

(ESV)

Psalm 46 (Listen)
God Is Our Fortress
To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth.1 A Song.

46   God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present2 help in trouble.
2   Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3   though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

4   There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy habitation of the Most High.
5   God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
    God will help her when morning dawns.
6   The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
    he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7   The LORD of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

8   Come, behold the works of the LORD,
    how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9   He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
    he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the chariots with fire.
10   “Be still, and know that I am God.
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth!”
11   The LORD of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Footnotes

[1] 46:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term


[2] 46:1 Or well proved

(ESV)

Old Testament:

Habakkuk 1–2:1

Habakkuk 1–2:1 (Listen)

1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

2   O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not hear?
  Or cry to you “Violence!”
    and you will not save?
3   Why do you make me see iniquity,
    and why do you idly look at wrong?
  Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
4   So the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never goes forth.
  For the wicked surround the righteous;
    so justice goes forth perverted.

The Lord’s Answer

5   “Look among the nations, and see;
    wonder and be astounded.
  For I am doing a work in your days
    that you would not believe if told.
6   For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
    that bitter and hasty nation,
  who march through the breadth of the earth,
    to seize dwellings not their own.
7   They are dreaded and fearsome;
    their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8   Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    more fierce than the evening wolves;
    their horsemen press proudly on.
  Their horsemen come from afar;
    they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9   They all come for violence,
    all their faces forward.
    They gather captives like sand.
10   At kings they scoff,
    and at rulers they laugh.
  They laugh at every fortress,
    for they pile up earth and take it.
11   Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
    guilty men, whose own might is their god!”

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12   Are you not from everlasting,
    O LORD my God, my Holy One?
    We shall not die.
  O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment,
    and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
13   You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
    and cannot look at wrong,
  why do you idly look at traitors
    and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
    the man more righteous than he?
14   You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
    like crawling things that have no ruler.
15   He1 brings all of them up with a hook;
    he drags them out with his net;
  he gathers them in his dragnet;
    so he rejoices and is glad.
16   Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and makes offerings to his dragnet;
  for by them he lives in luxury,2
    and his food is rich.
17   Is he then to keep on emptying his net
    and mercilessly killing nations forever?

2   I will take my stand at my watchpost
    and station myself on the tower,
  and look out to see what he will say to me,
    and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

Footnotes

[1] 1:15 That is, the wicked foe


[2] 1:16 Hebrew his portion is fat

(ESV)

New Testament:

Philippians 3:13–4:1

Philippians 3:13–4:1 (Listen)

13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

4 Therefore, my brothers,1 whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

Footnotes

[1] 4:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 8, 21

(ESV)

Gospel:

Matthew 23:13–24

Matthew 23:13–24 (Listen)

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.1 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell2 as yourselves.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Footnotes

[1] 23:13 Some manuscripts add here (or after verse 12) verse 14: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation


[2] 23:15 Greek Gehenna; also verse 33

(ESV)