The Daily Practice

3 [a]I am the man who has seen affliction     by the rod of the Lord’s wrath. 2 He has driven me away and made me walk     in darkness rather than light; 3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me     again and again, all day long.

4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old     and has broken my bones. 5 He has besieged me and surrounded me     with bitterness and hardship. 6 He has made me dwell in darkness     like those long dead.

7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;     he has weighed me down with chains. 8 Even when I call out or cry for help,     he shuts out my prayer. 9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone;     he has made my paths crooked.

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,     the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them,     and my soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this I call to mind     and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,     for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning;     great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;     therefore I will wait for him.”

25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,     to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly     for the salvation of the Lord. 27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke     while he is young.

28 Let him sit alone in silence,     for the Lord has laid it on him. 29 Let him bury his face in the dust—     there may yet be hope. 30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,     and let him be filled with disgrace.

31 For no one is cast off     by the Lord forever. 32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,     so great is his unfailing love. 33 For he does not willingly bring affliction     or grief to anyone.

11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[a]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[b] because the Almighty[c] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[d] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

12 People, despite their wealth, do not endure;     they are like the beasts that perish.

13 This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,     and of their followers, who approve their sayings.[a] 14 They are like sheep and are destined to die;     death will be their shepherd     (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning). Their forms will decay in the grave,     far from their princely mansions. 15 But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;     he will surely take me to himself. 16 Do not be overawed when others grow rich,     when the splendor of their houses increases; 17 for they will take nothing with them when they die,     their splendor will not descend with them. 18 Though while they live they count themselves blessed—     and people praise you when you prosper— 19 they will join those who have gone before them,     who will never again see the light of life.

20 People who have wealth but lack understanding     are like the beasts that perish.

1 Hear this, all you peoples;     listen, all who live in this world, 2 both low and high,     rich and poor alike: 3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom;     the meditation of my heart will give you understanding. 4 I will turn my ear to a proverb;     with the harp I will expound my riddle:

5 Why should I fear when evil days come,     when wicked deceivers surround me— 6 those who trust in their wealth     and boast of their great riches? 7 No one can redeem the life of another     or give to God a ransom for them— 8 the ransom for a life is costly,     no payment is ever enough— 9 so that they should live on forever     and not see decay. 10 For all can see that the wise die,     that the foolish and the senseless also perish,     leaving their wealth to others. 11 Their tombs will remain their houses[b] forever,     their dwellings for endless generations,     though they had[c] named lands after themselves.

38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[a] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

4 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.[a] 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,     ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”[b]

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”[c] 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,     do not harden your hearts.”[d]

1 In the days when the judges ruled,[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

10 The elders of Daughter Zion     sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads     and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem     have bowed their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes fail from weeping,     I am in torment within; my heart is poured out on the ground     because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint     in the streets of the city.

12 They say to their mothers,     “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like the wounded     in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away     in their mothers’ arms.

13 What can I say for you?     With what can I compare you,     Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you,     that I may comfort you,     Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea.     Who can heal you?

14 The visions of your prophets     were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin     to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you     were false and misleading.

15 All who pass your way     clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads     at Daughter Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called     the perfection of beauty,     the joy of the whole earth?”

16 All your enemies open their mouths     wide against you; they scoff and gnash their teeth     and say, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for;     we have lived to see it.”

17 The Lord has done what he planned;     he has fulfilled his word,     which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity,     he has let the enemy gloat over you,     he has exalted the horn[a] of your foes.

18 The hearts of the people     cry out to the Lord. You walls of Daughter Zion,     let your tears flow like a river     day and night; give yourself no relief,     your eyes no rest.

1 Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise,     in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

2 Beautiful in its loftiness,     the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon[b] is Mount Zion,     the city of the Great King. 3 God is in her citadels;     he has shown himself to be her fortress.

4 When the kings joined forces,     when they advanced together, 5 they saw her and were astounded;     they fled in terror. 6 Trembling seized them there,     pain like that of a woman in labor. 7 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish     shattered by an east wind.

8 As we have heard,     so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty,     in the city of our God: God makes her secure     forever.[c]

9 Within your temple, O God,     we meditate on your unfailing love. 10 Like your name, O God,     your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;     your right hand is filled with righteousness. 11 Mount Zion rejoices,     the villages of Judah are glad     because of your judgments.

12 Walk about Zion, go around her,     count her towers, 13 consider well her ramparts,     view her citadels, that you may tell of them     to the next generation.

14 For this God is our God for ever and ever;     he will be our guide even to the end.

36 Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”

Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”

37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

38 Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!