I am a laughingstock to my friends, I, who called on God and whom he answered – a righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock!

His anger has torn me and persecuted me; he has gnashed at me with his teeth; my adversary locks his eyes on me.

He lifted me out of the watery pit, out of the slimy mud. He placed my feet on a rock and gave me secure footing.

I am not angry. I wish I could confront some thorns and briers! Then I would march against them for battle; I would set them all on fire,

“I thought, ‘I will no longer see the Lord in the land of the living, I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world.

A wind lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly, my spirit full of fury, and the hand of the Lord rested powerfully on me.

“Or suppose I were to send a plague into that land, and pour out my rage on it with bloodshed, killing both people and animals.

I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put fine leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk.

Slanderous men shed blood within you. Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; they commit obscene acts among you.

“This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Edom has taken vengeance against the house of Judah; they have made themselves fully culpable by taking vengeance on them.

On that day, when Gog invades the land of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, my rage will mount up in my anger.

I will call for a sword to attack Gog on all my mountains, declares the sovereign Lord; every man’s sword will be against his brother.

I saw a dream that frightened me badly. The things I imagined while lying on my bed – these visions of my mind – were terrifying me.

They do not pray to me, but howl in distress on their beds; They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from me.

“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely on account of me.

For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,

Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest!

Now after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left on another. All will be torn down!”

Some time afterward he went on through towns and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him,