321 Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth! 2 My doctrine shall drop as rain, My speech flow down as dew, As small rain upon the tender herb, And as showers on the grass. 3 For the name of Jehovah will I proclaim: Ascribe greatness unto our God! 4 [He is] the Rock, his work is perfect, For all his ways are righteousness; A God of faithfulness without deceit, Just and right is he. 5 They have dealt corruptly with him; Not his children's is their spot:—A crooked and perverted generation! 6 Do ye thus requite Jehovah, Foolish and unwise people? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee and established thee?
7 Remember the days of old, Consider the years of generation to generation; Ask thy father, and he will shew thee; Thine elders, and they will tell thee. 8 When the Most High assigned to the nations their inheritance, When he separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. 9 For Jehovah's portion is his people; Jacob the lot of his inheritance. 10 He found him in a desert land, And in the waste, howling wilderness; He compassed him about, he watched over him, He preserved him as the apple of his eye. 11 As the eagle stirreth up its nest, Hovereth over its young, Spreadeth out its wings, Taketh them, beareth them on its feathers, 12 So Jehovah alone did lead him, And no strange ·god [was] with him. 13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, And he ate the produce of the field; And he made him suck honey out of the crag, And oil out of the flinty rock; 14 Cream of kine, and milk of sheep, With the fat of lambs, And rams of the breed of Bashan, and he-goats, With the fat of kidneys of wheat; And thou didst drink pure wine, the blood of the grape.
15 Then Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked—Thou art waxen fat, Thou art grown thick, And thou art covered with fatness;—He gave up +God who made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16 They moved him to jealousy with strange gods, With abominations did they provoke him to anger. 17 They sacrificed unto demons who are not +God; To gods whom they knew not, To new ones, who came newly up, Whom your fathers revered not. 18 Of the Rock that begot thee wast thou unmindful, And thou hast forgotten God who brought thee forth.
19 And Jehovah saw it, and despised them, Because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters. 20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be; For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faithfulness. 21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is no God; They have exasperated me with their vanities; And I will move them to jealousy with that which is not a people; With a foolish nation will I provoke them to anger. 22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, And it shall burn into the lowest Sheol, And shall consume the earth and its produce, And set fire to the foundations of the mountains. 23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; Mine arrows will I spend against them. 24 They shall be consumed with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, And with poisonous pestilence; And the teeth of beasts will I send against them, With the poison of what crawleth in the dust. 25 From without shall the sword bereave them, and in the chambers, terror—Both the young man and the virgin, The suckling with the man of gray hairs.
26 I would say, I will scatter, I will make the remembrance of them to cease from among men, 27 If I did not fear provocation from the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misunderstand it, Lest they should say, Our hand is high, and Jehovah has not done all this. 28 For they are a nation void of counsel, And understanding is not in them. 29 Oh that they had been wise! they would have understood this, They would have considered their latter end! 30 How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Were it not that their Rock had sold them, And Jehovah had delivered them up? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock: Let our enemies themselves be judges. 32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, And of the fields of Gomorrah: Their grapes are grapes of poison, Bitter are their clusters; 33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, And the cruel venom of vipers. 34 Is not this hidden with me, Sealed up among my treasures? 35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, For the time when their foot shall slip. For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that shall come upon them make haste. 36 For Jehovah will judge his people, And shall repent in favour of his servants; When he seeth that power is gone, And there is none shut up or left. 37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, Their rock in whom they trusted, 38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, [And] drank the wine of their drink-offering? Let them rise up and help you, That there may be a protection over you.
39 See now that I, I am HE, And there is no god with me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal, And there is none that delivereth out of my hand, 40 For I lift up my hand to the heavens, and say, I live for ever! 41 If I have sharpened my gleaming sword, And my hand take hold of judgment, I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, And will recompense them that hate me. 42 Mine arrows will I make drunk with blood, And my sword shall devour flesh; [I will make them drunk] with the blood of the slain and of the captives, With the head of the princes of the enemy. 43 Shout for joy, ye nations, with his people, For he avengeth the blood of his servants, And rendereth vengeance to his enemies, And maketh atonement for his land, for his people.
44 And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea the son of Nun. 45 And when Moses had ended speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words that I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to take heed to do, all the words of this law. 47 For it is no vain word for you, but it is your life, and through this word ye shall prolong your days on the land whereunto ye pass over the Jordan to possess it.
48 And Jehovah spoke to Moses that same day, saying, 49 Go up into this mountain Abarim, mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is opposite Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession, 50 and die on the mountain whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy peoples, as Aaron thy brother died on mount Hor, and was gathered unto his peoples; 51 because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye hallowed me not in the midst of the children of Israel. 52 For thou shalt see the land before [thee]; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.
331 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2 And he said, Jehovah came from Sinai, And rose up from Seir unto them; He shone forth from mount Paran, And he came from the myriads of the sanctuary; From his right hand [went forth] a law of fire for them. 3 Yea, he loveth the peoples, All his saints are in thy hand, And they sit down at thy feet; Each receiveth of thy words. 4 Moses commanded us a law, The inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. 5 And he was king in Jeshurun, When the heads of the people And the tribes of Israel were gathered together.
6 Let Reuben live, and not die; And let his men be few. 7 And this of Judah; and he said, Hear, Jehovah, the voice of Judah, And bring him unto his people; May his hands strive for them; And be thou a help to him against his oppressors.
8 And of Levi he said, Thy Thummim and thy Urim are for thy godly one, Whom thou didst prove at Massah, With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; 9 Who said to his father and to his mother, I see him not, And he acknowledged not his brethren, And knew not his own children; For they have observed thy word, And kept thy covenant. 10 They shall teach Jacob thine ordinances, And Israel thy law: They shall put incense before thy nostrils, And whole burnt-offering upon thine altar. 11 Bless, Jehovah, his substance! And let the work of his hands please thee; Crush the loins of his adversaries, And of them that hate him, that they may never rise again!
12 Of Benjamin he said, The beloved of Jehovah,—he shall dwell in safety by him; He will cover him all the day long, And dwell between his shoulders. 13 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of Jehovah be his land! By the precious things of the heavens, By the dew, and by the deep that lieth beneath, 14 And by the precious fruits of the sun, And by the precious things put forth by the months, 15 And by the best things of the ancient mountains, And by the precious things of the everlasting hills, 16 And by the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof. And let the good will of him that dwelt in the bush Come upon the head of Joseph, Upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. 17 His majesty is as the firstling of his ox; And his horns are as the horns of a buffalo. With them shall he push the peoples Together to the ends of the earth. These are the myriads of Ephraim, And these are the thousands of Manasseh.
18 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; And thou, Issachar, in thy tents! 19 They shall invite [the] peoples to the mountain; There they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness; For they will suck the abundance of the seas, And the hidden treasures of the sand. 20 And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad! As a lion doth he dwell, and teareth the arm, even the top of the head. 21 And he provided the first part for himself, For there was reserved the portion of the lawgiver; And he came with the heads of the people; The justice of Jehovah and his judgments Hath he executed with Israel.
22 And of Dan he said, Dan is a young lion; He shall spring forth from Bashan. 23 And of Naphtali he said, Naphtali, satisfied with favour, And full of the blessing of Jehovah, Possess thou the west and the south. 24 And of Asher he said, Asher shall be blessed with sons; Let him be acceptable to his brethren, And let him dip his foot in oil. 25 Iron and brass shall be thy bolts; And thy rest as thy days.
26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, Who rideth upon the heavens to thy help, And in his majesty, upon the clouds. 27 [Thy] refuge is the God of old, And underneath are the eternal arms; And he shall drive out the enemy from before thee, And shall say, Destroy [them]! 28 And Israel shall dwell in safety alone, The fountain of Jacob, in a land of corn and new wine; Also his heavens shall drop down dew. 29 Happy art thou, Israel! Who is like unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah, The shield of thy help, And the sword of thine excellency? And thine enemies shall come cringing to thee; And thou shalt tread upon their high places.
341 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And Jehovah shewed him the whole land, Gilead to Dan, 2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the hindmost sea, 3 and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, to Zoar. 4 And Jehovah said unto him, This is the land that I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.
5 And Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Jehovah. 6 And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-Peor; and no man knows his sepulchre to this day. 7 And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. 8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; and the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as Jehovah had commanded Moses. 10 And there arose no prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom Jehovah had known face to face; 11 according to all the signs and wonders that Jehovah had sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land; 12 and according to all that mighty hand; and according to all the great terribleness that Moses had wrought in the sight of all Israel.
26 And the superscription of what he was accused of was written up: The King of the Jews. 27 And with him they crucify two robbers, one on his right hand, and one on his left. 28 [And the scripture was fulfilled which says, And he was reckoned with the lawless.] 29 And they that passed by reviled him, shaking their heads, and saying, Aha, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, 30 save thyself, and descend from the cross. 31 In like manner the chief priests also, with the scribes, mocking with one another, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. 32 Let the Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and may believe. And they that were crucified with him reproached him.
33 And when [the] sixth hour was come, there came darkness over the whole land until [the] ninth hour; 34 and at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, [saying], Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 35 And some of those who stood by, when they heard [it], said, Behold, he calls for Elias. 36 And one, running and filling a sponge with vinegar, fixed it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone, let us see if Elias comes to take him down. 37 And Jesus, having uttered a loud cry, expired. 38 And the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom. 39 And the centurion who stood by over against him, when he saw that he had expired having thus cried out, said, Truly this man was Son of God. 40 And there were women also looking on from afar off, among whom were both Mary of Magdala, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; 41 who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him and ministered to him; and many others who came up with him to Jerusalem.
42 And when it was already evening, since it was [the] preparation, that is, [the day] before a sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable councillor, who also himself was awaiting the kingdom of God, coming, emboldened himself and went in to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. 44 And Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and having called to [him] the centurion, he inquired of him if he had long died. 45 And when he knew from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. 46 And having bought fine linen, [and] having taken him down, he swathed him in the fine linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was cut out of rock, and rolled a stone to the door of the sepulchre. 47 And Mary of Magdala and Mary the [mother] of Joses saw where he was put.
(Read Mark 15:22-32)
The place where our Lord Jesus was crucified, was called the place of a scull; it was the common place of execution; for he was in all respects numbered with the transgressors. Whenever we look unto Christ crucified, we must remember what was written over his head; he is a King, and we must give up ourselves to be his subjects, as Israelites indeed. They crucified two thieves with him, and him in the midst; they thereby intended him great dishonour. But it was foretold that he should be numbered with the transgressors, because he was made sin for us. Even those who passed by railed at him. They told him to come down from the cross, and they would believe; but they did not believe, though he gave them a more convincing sign when he came up from the grave. With what earnestness will the man who firmly believes the truth, as made known by the sufferings of Christ, seek for salvation! With what gratitude will he receive the dawning hope of forgiveness and eternal life, as purchased for him by the sufferings and death of the Son of God! and with what godly sorrow will he mourn over the sins which crucified the Lord of glory!
(Read Mark 15:33-41)
There was a thick darkness over the land, from noon until three in the afternoon. The Jews were doing their utmost to extinguish the Sun of Righteousness. The darkness signified the cloud which the human soul of Christ was under, when he was making it an offering for sin. He did not complain that his disciples forsook him, but that his Father forsook him. In this especially he was made sin for us. When Paul was to be offered as a sacrifice for the service saints, he could joy and rejoice, Philippians 2:17; but it is another thing to be offered as a sacrifice for the sin of sinners. At the same instant that Jesus died, the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom. This spake terror to the unbelieving Jews, and was a sign of the destruction of their church and nation. It speaks comfort to all believing Christians, for it signified the laying open a new and living way into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The confidence with which Christ had openly addressed God as his Father, and committed his soul into his hands, seems greatly to have affected the centurion. Right views of Christ crucified will reconcile the believer to the thought of death; he longs to behold, love, and praise, as he ought, that Saviour who was wounded and pierced to save him from the wrath to come.
(Read Mark 15:42-47)
We are here attending the burial of our Lord Jesus. Oh that we may by grace be planted in the likeness of it! Joseph of Arimathea was one who waited for the kingdom of God. Those who hope for a share in its privileges, must own Christ's cause, when it seems to be crushed. This man God raised up for his service. There was a special providence, that Pilate should be so strict in his inquiry, that there might be no pretence to say Jesus was alive. Pilate gave Joseph leave to take down the body, and do what he pleased with it. Some of the women beheld where Jesus was laid, that they might come after the sabbath to anoint the dead body, because they had not time to do it before. Special notice was taken of Christ's sepulchre, because he was to rise again. And he will not forsake those who trust in him, and call upon him. Death, deprived of its sting, will soon end the believer's sorrows, as it ended those of the Saviour.
