11Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them! 12Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth. 13You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea; 14You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert. 15You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers. 16The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun. 17You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter. 18Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name. 19Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever. 20Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. 21Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name. 22Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long. 23Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
New Testament·Luke 20:1–28
1One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the gospel, the chief priests and scribes, together with the elders, came up to Him. 2“Tell us,” they said, “by what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” 3“I will also ask you a question,” Jesus replied. “Tell Me: 4John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?” 5They deliberated among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will ask, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7So they answered that they did not know where it was from. 8And Jesus replied, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” 9Then He proceeded to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it out to some tenants, and went away for a long time. 10At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. 11So he sent another servant, but they beat him and treated him shamefully, sending him away empty-handed. 12Then he sent a third, but they wounded him and threw him out. 13‘What shall I do?’ asked the owner of the vineyard. ‘I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’ 14But when the tenants saw the son, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16He will come and kill those tenants, and will give the vineyard to others.” And when the people heard this, they said, “May such a thing never happen!” 17But Jesus looked directly at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? 18Everyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” 19When the scribes and chief priests realized that Jesus had spoken this parable against them, they sought to arrest Him that very hour. But they were afraid of the people. 20So they watched Him closely and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They were hoping to catch Him in His words in order to hand Him over to the rule and authority of the governor. 21“Teacher,” they inquired, “we know that You speak and teach correctly. You show no partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” 23But Jesus saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24“Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they answered. 25So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” 26And they were unable to trap Him in His words before the people; and amazed at His answer, they fell silent. 27Then some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to question Him. 28“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.
Old Testament·Judges 2–3
1Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I had promised to your fathers, and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, 2and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done? 3So now I tell you that I will not drive out these people before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.” 4When the angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5So they called that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the LORD. 6After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelites went out to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. 7And the people served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had seen all the great works that the LORD had done for Israel. 8And Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. 9They buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10After that whole generation had also been gathered to their fathers, another generation rose up who did not know the LORD or the works that He had done for Israel. 11And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. 12Thus they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and provoked the LORD to anger, 13for they forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15Wherever Israel marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them to bring calamity, just as He had sworn to them. So they were greatly distressed. 16Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them. 17Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done. 18Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, He was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed them and afflicted them. 19But when the judge died, the Israelites became even more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They would not give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. 20So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed the covenant I laid down for their fathers and has not heeded My voice, 21I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22In this way I will test whether Israel will keep the way of the LORD by walking in it as their fathers did.” 23That is why the LORD had left those nations in place and had not driven them out immediately by delivering them into the hand of Joshua.
3These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan, 2if only to teach warfare to the subsequent generations of Israel, especially to those who had not known it formerly: 3the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. 4These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out whether they would keep the commandments of the LORD, which He had given their fathers through Moses. 5Thus the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 6And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. 7So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years. 9But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them. 10The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge and went out to war. And the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into the hand of Othniel, who prevailed against him. 11So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died. 12Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. 13After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms. 14The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. 15And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. 16Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak 17and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man. 18After Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ushered out those who had carried it. 19But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” “Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him. 20Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat. 21And Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. 22Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied. 23Then Ehud went out through the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upper room behind him. 24After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said. 25So they waited until they became worried and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upper room. Then they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor. 26Ehud, however, had escaped while the servants waited. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. 27On arriving in Seirah, he blew the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hills, and he became their leader. 28“Follow me,” he told them, “for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. 29At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men. Not one of them escaped. 30So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years. 31After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.
Reflect
Where do you see Jesus — or a promise pointing to Him — in today’s passages?