Luke 18:1-14
English Standard Version
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
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Psalm 58
English Standard Version
God Who Judges the Earth
To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David.
58 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!7 Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!
10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.11 Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”
Psalm 88
English Standard Version
I Cry Out Day and Night Before You
A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
88 O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you.2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!
3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength,5 like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave,like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep.7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them.I am shut in so that I cannot escape;9 my eye grows dim through sorrow.Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you.10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon?12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.14 O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.16 Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me.17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together.18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
Isaiah 58
English Standard Version
True and False Fasting
58 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet;declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways,as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God;they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist.Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself?Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke,to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house;when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily;your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.11 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong;and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.
13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day,and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable;if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;14 then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”