1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath. 2 Your arrows have pierced me,
and your hand has come down on me. 3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. 4 My guilt has overwhelmed me
like a burden too heavy to bear.
5 My
wounds fester and are loathsome
because of my sinful folly. 6 I am bowed down and brought very low;
all day long I go about mourning. 7 My back is filled with searing pain;
there is no health in my body. 8 I am feeble and utterly crushed;
I groan in anguish of heart.
9 All
my longings lie open before you, Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you. 10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
even the light has gone from my eyes. 11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
my neighbors stay far away. 12 Those who want to kill me set their traps,
those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
all day long they scheme and lie.
13 I am
like the deaf, who cannot hear,
like the mute, who cannot speak; 14 I have become like one who does not hear,
whose mouth can offer no reply. 15 Lord, I wait
for you;
you will answer, Lord my God. 16 For I said, “Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”
17 For
I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me. 18 I confess my iniquity;
I am troubled by my sin. 19 Many have become my enemies without cause;
those who hate me without reason are numerous. 20 Those who repay my good with evil
lodge accusations against me,
though I seek only to do what is good.
21 Lord, do not forsake me;
do not be far from me, my God. 22 Come quickly to help me,
my Lord and my Savior.
While
Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality
with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to
their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these
gods. 3 So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the
Lord’s anger burned against them.
4 The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the
leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the
Lord, so that the Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from
Israel.”
5 So
Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your
people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”
6 Then
an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes
of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the
entrance to the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of
Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a
spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent.
He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into
the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; 9 but
those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
10 The Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas
son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the
Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not
put an end to them in my zeal. 12 Therefore tell him I am
making my covenant of peace with him. 13 He and his descendants
will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the
honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”
14 The
name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of
Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family. 15 And the name of the
Midianite woman who was put to death was Kozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief
of a Midianite family.
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “Treat
the Midianites as enemies and kill them. 18 They treated you as
enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident involving their sister
Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the
plague came as a result of that incident.”
1 Do
not fret because of those who are evil
or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.
3 Trust
in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit
your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.
7 Be
still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
8 Refrain
from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil. 9 For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
10 A
little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found. 11 But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy peace and prosperity.
12 The wicked
plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them; 13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he knows their day is coming.
14 The
wicked draw the sword
and bend the bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose ways are upright. 15 But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
16 Better
the little that the righteous have
than the wealth of many wicked; 17 for the power of the wicked will be broken,
but the Lord
upholds the righteous.
18 The
blameless spend their days under the Lord’s
care,
and their inheritance will endure forever. 19 In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.
20 But
the wicked will perish:
Though the Lord’s
enemies are like the flowers of the field,
they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.
21 The
wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously; 22 those the Lord
blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be destroyed.
23 The Lord makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him; 24 though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the Lord
upholds him with his hand.
25 I
was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread. 26 They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be a blessing.[b]
27 Turn
from evil and do good;
then you will dwell in the land forever. 28 For the Lord
loves the just
and will not forsake his faithful ones.
Wrongdoers
will be completely destroyed[c];
the offspring of the wicked will perish. 29 The righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever.
30 The
mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
and their tongues speak what is just. 31 The law of their God is in their hearts;
their feet do not slip.
32 The
wicked lie in wait for the righteous,
intent on putting them to death; 33 but the Lord
will not leave them in the power of the wicked
or let them be condemned when brought to trial.
34 Hope
in the Lord
and keep his way.
He will exalt you to inherit the land;
when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.
35 I
have seen a wicked and ruthless man
flourishing like a luxuriant native tree, 36 but he soon passed away and was no more;
though I looked for him, he could not be found.
37 Consider
the blameless, observe the upright;
a future awaits those who seek peace.[d] 38 But all sinners will be destroyed;
there will be no future[e] for the
wicked.
39 The
salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble. 40 The Lord helps
them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.