The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, fthe servant of the Lord, gwho addressed the words of this hsong to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my irock and my jfortress and my deliverer,
my God, my irock, in kwhom I take refuge,
my lshield, and mthe horn of my salvation, my nstronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is oworthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
4 pThe cords of death encompassed me;
qthe torrents of destruction assailed me;1
5 pthe cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 rIn my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his stemple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth treeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,2
and devouring ufire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He vbowed the heavens and wcame down;
xthick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on zthe wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his acanopy around him,
thick clouds bdark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
chailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
13 The Lord also dthundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his evoice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out his farrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and grouted them.
15 Then hthe channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your irebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of jthe breath of your nostrils.
16 He ksent from on high, he took me;
he ldrew me out of mmany waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were ntoo mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into oa broad place;
he rescued me, because he pdelighted in me.
20 The Lord dealt with me qaccording to my righteousness;
according to rthe cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
21 For I have skept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For tall his rules3 were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was ublameless before him,
and I kept myself from my guilt.
24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 With vthe merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
26 with the purified you show yourself pure;
and with wthe crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
27 For you save xa humble people,
but ythe haughty eyes you bring down.
28 For it is you who light my zlamp;
the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
29 For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can aleap over ba wall.
30 This God—his way is cperfect;4
the word of the Lord dproves true;
31 For gwho is God, but the Lord?
And who is ha rock, except our God?—
32 the God who iequipped me with strength
and made my way jblameless.
33 He made my feet like the feet of a kdeer
and set me secure on lthe heights.
34 He mtrains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand nsupported me,
and your ogentleness made me great.
36 You pgave a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were consumed.
38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.
39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.
40 You made my enemies qturn their backs to me,5
and those who hated me I destroyed.
41 rThey cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them fine as sdust before the wind;
I cast them out like tthe mire of the streets.
43 You delivered me from ustrife with the people;
you made me vthe head of the nations;
wpeople whom I had not known served me.
44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
xforeigners ycame cringing to me.
45 xForeigners lost heart
and zcame trembling out of their fortresses.
46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
47 the God who gave me vengeance
and asubdued peoples under me,
48 who rescued me from my enemies;
yes, you bexalted me above those who rose against me;
you delivered me from cthe man of violence.
49 dFor this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
and esing to your name.
50 Great fsalvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his ganointed,
to hDavid and his offspring forever.
The Temptation of Jesus
1 sAnd Jesus, tfull of the Holy Spirit, ureturned from the Jordan and was led vby the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for wforty days, xbeing tempted by the devil. wAnd he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, yhe was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are zthe Son of God, command athis stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, b“It is written, c‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 dAnd the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you eI will give all this authority and their glory, efor it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, f“It is written,
g“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and hhim only shall you serve.’”
9 iAnd he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are jthe Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
k“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’
11 and
k“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, l‘You shall not mput the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him nuntil an opportune time.
Jesus Begins His Ministry
14 oAnd Jesus returned pin the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and qa report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And rhe taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
16 sAnd he came to tNazareth, where he had been brought up. And uas was his custom, vhe went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up wto read. 17 And xthe scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 y“The Spirit of the Lord zis upon me,
because he has anointed me
to aproclaim good news to the poor.
bHe has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and crecovering of sight to the blind,
dto set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 eto proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and fsat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were gfixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today hthis Scripture ihas been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at jthe gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, k“Is not this lJoseph’s son?” 23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, m‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did nat Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, ono prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when pthe heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them qbut only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And rthere were many lepers1 in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, sbut only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and tdrove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But upassing through their midst, he went away.
Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Demon
31 vAnd he wwent down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And xhe was teaching them yon the Sabbath, 32 and zthey were astonished at his teaching, zfor his word possessed authority. 33 And xin the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha!2 aWhat have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? bI know who you are—cthe Holy One of God.” 35 But Jesus drebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. 36 And ethey were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? eFor with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 And freports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
Jesus Heals Many
38 gAnd he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now hSimon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. 39 And he stood over her and irebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and jhe laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 kAnd demons also came out of many, lcrying, “You are mthe Son of God!” But he rebuked them and kwould not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was nthe Christ.
Jesus Preaches in Synagogues
42 oAnd when it was day, he departed and went pinto a desolate place. And qthe people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, r“I must spreach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 And he was preaching tin the synagogues of Judea.3
