February 5: Psalm 35; Genesis 32; 2 Chronicles 9; Acts 1 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalm 35(Listen)

Great Is theLord

Of David.

35   Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
    fight against those who fight against me!
2   Take hold of shield and buckler
    and rise for my help!
3   Draw the spear and javelin¹
    against my pursuers!
  Say to my soul,
    “I am your salvation!”
4   Let them be put to shame and dishonor
    who seek after my life!
  Let them be turned back and disappointed
    who devise evil against me!
5   Let them be like chaff before the wind,
    with the angel of the LORD driving them away!
6   Let their way be dark and slippery,
    with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!
7   For without cause they hid their net for me;
    without cause they dug a pit for my life.²
8   Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
  And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
    let him fall into it—to his destruction!
9   Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD,
    exulting in his salvation.
10   All my bones shall say,
    “O LORD, who is like you,
  delivering the poor
    from him who is too strong for him,
    the poor and needy from him who robs him?”
11   Malicious³witnesses rise up;
    they ask me of things that I do not know.
12   They repay me evil for good;
    my soul is bereft.⁴
13   But I, when they were sick—
    I wore sackcloth;
    I afflicted myself with fasting;
  I prayed with head bowed⁵on my chest.
14     I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
  as one who laments his mother,
    I bowed down in mourning.
15   But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
    they gathered together against me;
  wretches whom I did not know
    tore at me without ceasing;
16   like profane mockers at a feast,⁶
    they gnash at me with their teeth.
17   How long, O Lord, will you look on?
    Rescue me from their destruction,
    my precious life from the lions!
18   I will thank you in the great congregation;
    in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19   Let not those rejoice over me
    who are wrongfully my foes,
  and let not those wink the eye
    who hate me without cause.
20   For they do not speak peace,
    but against those who are quiet in the land
    they devise words of deceit.
21   They open wide their mouths against me;
    they say, “Aha, Aha!
    Our eyes have seen it!”
22   You have seen, O LORD; be not silent!
    O Lord, be not far from me!
23   Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication,
    for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24   Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,
    according to your righteousness,
    and let them not rejoice over me!
25   Let them not say in their hearts,
    “Aha, our heart’s desire!”
  Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”
26   Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether
    who rejoice at my calamity!
  Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
    who magnify themselves against me!
27   Let those who delight in my righteousness
    shout for joy and be glad
    and say evermore,
  “Great is the LORD,
    who delights in the welfare of his servant!”
28   Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
    and of your praise all the day long.

(ESV)

Genesis 32(Listen)

Jacob Fears Esau

32 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.¹

3 And Jacob sent²messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now.5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”

6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.”7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps,8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”

13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau,14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.”17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’”19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him,20 and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him³with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”⁴21 So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,⁵and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,⁶for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,⁷saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.

(ESV)

2 Chronicles 9(Listen)

The Queen of Sheba

9 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, having a very great retinue and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.2 And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from Solomon that he could not explain to her.3 And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,4 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing, his cupbearers, and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the LORD, there was no more breath in her.

5 And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom,6 but I did not believe the¹reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not told me; you surpass the report that I heard.7 Happy are your wives!²Happy are these your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!8 Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and set you on his throne as king for the LORD your God! Because your God loved Israel and would establish them forever, he has made you king over them, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”9 Then she gave the king 120 talents³of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. There were no spices such as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

10 Moreover, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum wood and precious stones.11 And the king made from the algum wood supports for the house of the LORD and for the king’s house, lyres also and harps for the singers. There never was seen the like of them before in the land of Judah.

12 And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked besides what she had brought to the king. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.

Solomon’s Wealth

13 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,14 besides that which the explorers and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon.15 King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels⁴of beaten gold went into each shield.16 And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; 300 shekels of gold went into each shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.17 The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold.18 The throne had six steps and a footstool of gold, which were attached to the throne, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests,19 while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. Nothing like it was ever made for any kingdom.20 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon.21 For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.⁵

22 Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.24 Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and of gold, garments, myrrh,⁶spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.25 And Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.26 And he ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates⁷to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.27 And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah.28 And horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.

Solomon’s Death

29 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?30 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.31 And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

(ESV)

Acts 1(Listen)

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

4 And while staying¹with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said,“you heard from me;5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with²the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The Ascension

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”7 He said to them,“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.³

15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said,16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong⁴he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

  “‘May his camp become desolate,
    and let there be no one to dwell in it’;

and

  “‘Let another take his office.’

21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

(ESV)