The Berean Pursuit
Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Let my teaching fall like rain
and my speech settle like dew,
like gentle rain on new grass,
like showers on tender plants.
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Ascribe greatness to our God!
He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
all His ways are just.
A God of faithfulness without injustice,
righteous and upright is He.
His people have acted corruptly toward Him;
the spot on them is not that of His children,
but of a perverse and crooked generation.
Is this how you repay the LORD,
O foolish and senseless people?
Is He not your Father and Creator?
Has He not made you and established you?
Remember the days of old;
consider the years long past.
Ask your father, and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will inform you.
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
when He divided the sons of man,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
But the LORD's portion is His people,
Jacob His allotted inheritance.
He found him in a desert land,
in a barren, howling wilderness;
He surrounded him, He instructed him,
He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
As an eagle stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
He spread His wings to catch them
and carried them on His pinions.
The LORD alone led him,
and no foreign god was with him.
He made him ride on the heights of the land
and fed him the produce of the field.
He nourished him with honey from the rock
and oil from the flinty crag,
with curds from the herd and milk from the flock,
with the fat of lambs,
with rams from Bashan, and goats,
with the choicest grains of wheat.
From the juice of the finest grapes
you drank the wine.
But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked-
becoming fat, bloated, and gorged.
He abandoned the God who made him
and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods;
they enraged Him with abominations.
They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
to gods they had not known,
to newly arrived gods,
which your fathers did not fear.
You ignored the Rock who brought you forth;
you forgot the God who gave you birth.
When the LORD saw this, He rejected them,
provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
He said: "I will hide My face from them;
I will see what will be their end.
For they are a perverse generation-
children of unfaithfulness.
They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God;
they have enraged Me with their worthless idols.
So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people;
I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.
For a fire has been kindled by My anger,
and it burns to the depths of Sheol;
it consumes the earth and its produce,
and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
I will heap disasters upon them;
I will spend My arrows against them.
They will be wasted from hunger
and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague;
I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them,
with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.
Outside, the sword will take their children,
and inside, terror will strike
the young man and the young woman,
the infant and the gray-haired man.
I would have said that I would cut them to pieces
and blot out their memory from mankind,
if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy,
lest their adversaries misunderstand and say:
'Our own hand has prevailed;
it was not the LORD who did all this.'?"
Israel is a nation devoid of counsel,
with no understanding among them.
If only they were wise, they would understand it;
they would comprehend their fate.
How could one man pursue a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the LORD had given them up?
For their rock is not like our Rock,
even our enemies concede.
But their vine is from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poisonous;
their clusters are bitter.
Their wine is the venom of serpents,
the deadly poison of cobras.
"Have I not stored up these things,
sealed up within My vaults?
Vengeance is Mine; I will repay.
In due time their foot will slip;
for their day of disaster is near,
and their doom is coming quickly."
For the LORD will vindicate His people
and have compassion on His servants
when He sees that their strength is gone
and no one remains, slave or free.
He will say: "Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
which ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up and help you;
let them give you shelter!
See now that I am He;
there is no God besides Me.
I bring death and I give life;
I wound and I heal,
and there is no one
who can deliver from My hand.
For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare:
As surely as I live forever,
when I sharpen My flashing sword,
and My hand grasps it in judgment,
I will take vengeance on My adversaries
and repay those who hate Me.
I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
while My sword devours flesh-
the blood of the slain and captives,
the heads of the enemy leaders."
Rejoice, O heavens, with Him,
and let all God's angels worship Him.
Rejoice, O nations, with His people;
for He will avenge the blood of His children.
He will take vengeance on His adversaries
and repay those who hate Him;
He will cleanse His land
and His people.
Then Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, "Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law. For they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess."
On that same day the LORD said to Moses, "Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.
And there on the mountain that you climb, you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.
For at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence. Although you shall see from a distance the land that I am giving the Israelites, you shall not enter it."
This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death. He said:
"The LORD came from Sinai
and dawned upon us from Seir;
He shone forth from Mount Paran
and came with myriads of holy ones,
with flaming fire at His right hand.
Surely You love the people;
all the holy ones are in Your hand,
and they sit down at Your feet;
each receives Your words-
the law that Moses gave us,
the possession of the assembly of Jacob.
So the LORD became King in Jeshurun
when the leaders of the people gathered,
when the tribes of Israel came together.
Let Reuben live and not die,
nor his men be few."
And concerning Judah he said:
"O LORD, hear the cry of Judah
and bring him to his people.
With his own hands he defends his cause,
but may You be a help against his foes."
Concerning Levi he said:
"Give Your Thummim to Levi
and Your Urim to Your godly one,
whom You tested at Massah
and contested at the waters of Meribah.
He said of his father and mother,
'I do not consider them.'
He disregarded his brothers
and did not know his own sons,
for he kept Your word
and maintained Your covenant.
He will teach Your ordinances to Jacob
and Your law to Israel;
he will set incense before You
and whole burnt offerings on Your altar.
Bless his substance, O LORD,
and accept the work of his hands.
Smash the loins of those who rise against him,
and of his foes so they can rise no more."
Concerning Benjamin he said:
"May the beloved of the LORD
rest secure in Him;
God shields him all day long,
and upon His shoulders he rests."
Concerning Joseph he said:
"May his land be blessed by the LORD
with the precious dew from heaven above
and the deep waters that lie beneath,
with the bountiful harvest from the sun
and the abundant yield of the seasons,
with the best of the ancient mountains
and the bounty of the everlasting hills,
with the choice gifts of the land and everything in it,
and with the favor of Him who dwelt in the burning bush.
May these rest on the head of Joseph
and crown the brow of the prince of his brothers.
His majesty is like a firstborn bull,
and his horns are like those of a wild ox.
With them he will gore the nations,
even to the ends of the earth.
Such are the myriads of Ephraim,
and such are the thousands of Manasseh."
Concerning Zebulun he said:
"Rejoice, Zebulun, in your journeys,
and Issachar, in your tents.
They will call the peoples to a mountain;
there they will offer sacrifices of righteousness.
For they will feast on the abundance of the seas
and the hidden treasures of the sand."
Concerning Gad he said:
"Blessed is he who enlarges
the domain of Gad!
He lies down like a lion
and tears off an arm or a head.
He chose the best land for himself,
because a ruler's portion was reserved for him there.
He came with the leaders of the people;
he administered the LORD's justice
and His ordinances for Israel."
Concerning Dan he said:
"Dan is a lion's cub,
leaping out of Bashan."
Concerning Naphtali he said:
"Naphtali is abounding with favor,
full of the blessing of the LORD;
he shall take possession
of the sea and the south."
And concerning Asher he said:
"May Asher be the most blessed of sons;
may he be the most favored among his brothers
and dip his foot in oil.
May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze,
and may your strength match your days."
"There is none like the God of Jeshurun,
who rides the heavens to your aid,
and the clouds in His majesty.
The eternal God is your dwelling place,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
He drives out the enemy before you,
giving the command, 'Destroy him!'
So Israel dwells securely;
the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled
in a land of grain and new wine,
where even the heavens drip with dew.
Blessed are you, O Israel!
Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD?
He is the shield that protects you,
the sword in which you boast.
Your enemies will cower before you,
and you shall trample their high places."
Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho. And the LORD showed him the whole land-from Gilead as far as Dan, all of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negev, and the region from the Valley of Jericho (the City of Palms) all the way to Zoar.
And the LORD said to him, "This is the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross into it."
So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, as the LORD had said. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab facing Beth-peor, and no one to this day knows the location of his grave.
Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished. The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.
Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites obeyed him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. Since that time, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face- no prophet who did all the signs and wonders that the LORD sent Moses to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his officials and all his land, and no prophet who performed all the mighty acts of power and awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
How long, O LORD?
Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long must I wrestle in my soul,
with sorrow in my heart each day?
How long will my enemy dominate me?
Consider me and respond, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death,
lest my enemy say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes rejoice when I fall.
But I have trusted in Your loving devotion;
my heart will rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
for He has been good to me.
At that time some of those present told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. To this He replied, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this fate? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
Then Jesus told this parable: "A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the keeper of the vineyard, 'Look, for the past three years I have come to search for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Therefore cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'
'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone again this year, until I dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine. But if not, you can cut it down.'?"
One Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman there had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was hunched over and could not stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your disability." Then He placed His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and began to glorify God.
But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. "There are six days for work," he told the crowd. "So come and be healed on those days and not on the Sabbath."
"You hypocrites!" the Lord replied. "Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water? Then should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be released from her bondage on the Sabbath day?"
When Jesus said this, all His adversaries were humiliated. And the whole crowd rejoiced at all the glorious things He was doing.
Then Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man tossed into his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches."
Again He asked, "To what can I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened."
Then Jesus traveled throughout the towns and villages, teaching as He made His way toward Jerusalem. "Lord," someone asked Him, "will only a few people be saved?"
Jesus answered, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, 'Lord, open the door for us.'
But he will reply, 'I do not know where you are from.'
Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'
And he will answer, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.'
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. And indeed, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last."
At that very hour, some Pharisees came to Jesus and told Him, "Leave this place and get away, because Herod wants to kill You."
But Jesus replied, "Go tell that fox, 'Look, I will keep driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach My goal.' Nevertheless, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day, for it is not admissible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! Look, your house is left to you desolate. And I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'"