The Berean Pursuit
"Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
May my teaching trickle like the dew,
my words like rain showers on tender grass,
and like spring showers on new growth.
For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh;
ascribe greatness to our God!
The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are just;
he is a faithful God, and without injustice;
righteous and upright is he.
They have behaved corruptly toward him;
they are not his children; this is their flaw,
a generation crooked and perverse.
Like this do you treat Yahweh,
foolish and unwise people?
Has he not, your father, created you?
He made you, and he established you.
Remember the old days, the years long past;
ask your father, and he will inform you,
your elders and they will tell you.
When the Most High apportioned the nations,
at his dividing up of the sons of humankind,
he fixed the boundaries of the peoples,
according to the number of the children of Israel.
For Yahweh’s portion was his people,
Jacob the share of his inheritance.
He found him in a desert land,
and in a howling, desert wasteland;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he protected him like the apple of his eye.
As an eagle stirs up its nest,
hovers over its young,
spreads out its wings, takes them,
carries them on its pinions,
so Yahweh alone guided him,
and there was no foreign god accompanying him.
And he set him on the high places of the land,
and he fed him the crops of the field,
and he nursed him with honey from crags,
and with oil from flinty rock,
With curds from the herd,
and with milk from the flock,
with the fat of young rams,
and rams, the offspring of Bashan,
and with goats along with the finest kernels of wheat,
and from the blood of grapes you drank fermented wine.
And Jeshurun grew fat, and he kicked;
you grew fat, you bloated, and you became obstinate;
and he abandoned God, his maker,
and he scoffed at the rock of his salvation.
They made him jealous with strange gods;
with detestable things they provoked him.
They sacrificed to the demons, not God,
to gods whom they had not known,
new gods who came from recent times;
their ancestors had not known them.
The rock who bore you, you neglected,
and you forgot God, the one giving you birth.
Then Yahweh saw, and he spurned them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
So he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
I will see what will be their end,
for they are a generation of perversity,
children in whom there is no faithfulness.
They annoyed me with what is not a god;
they provoked me with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those not a people,
with a foolish nation I will provoke them.
For a fire was kindled by my anger,
and it burned up to the depths of Sheol,
and it devoured the earth and its produce,
and it set afire the foundation of the mountains.
I will heap disasters upon them;
my arrows I will spend on them.
They will become weakened by famine,
and consumed by plague and bitter pestilence;
and the teeth of wild animals I will send against them,
with the poison of the creeping things in the dust;
From outside her boundaries the sword will make her childless,
and from inside, terror;
both for the young man and also the young woman,
the infant along with the gray-headed man.
I thought, "I will wipe them out;
I will make people forget they ever existed."
If I had not feared a provocation of the enemy,
lest their foes might misunderstand,
lest they should say, "Our hand is
triumphant, and Yahweh did not do all this."’
For they are a nation void of sense,
and there is not any understanding in them.
If only they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern for themselves their end.
How could one chase a thousand
and two could cause a myriad to flee,
if their Rock had not sold them,
and Yahweh had not given them up?
For the fact of the matter is,
their rock is not like our Rock,
and our enemies recognize this.
For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
and from the terraces of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters are bitter.
Their wine is the poison of snakes,
and the deadly poison of horned vipers.
‘Is not this stored up with me,
sealed in my treasuries?’
Vengeance belongs to me and also recompense,
for at the time their foot slips,
because the day of their disaster is near,
and fate comes quickly for them.’
For Yahweh will judge on behalf of his people,
and concerning his servants;
he will change his mind when he sees that their power has disappeared,
and there is no one left, confined or free.
And he will say, ‘Where are their gods,
their rock in whom they took refuge?
Who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their libations?
Let them rise up, and let them help you;
Let them be to you a refuge.
See, now, that I, even I am he,
and there is not a god besides me;
I put to death and I give life;
I wound and I heal;
there is not one who delivers from my hand!
For indeed I lift up my hand to heaven,
And I promise as I live forever,
When I sharpen my flashing sword,
and my hand takes hold of it in judgment,
I will take reprisals against my foes,
and my haters I will repay.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain,
and captives from the heads of the leaders of the enemy.’
Call for songs of joy, O nations, concerning his people,
for the blood of his servants he will avenge,
and he will take reprisals against his foes,
and he will make atonement for his land, his people."
And Moses came, and he spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people; that is, he and Joshua the son of Nun. And when Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, then he said to them, "Take to heart all the words that I am admonishing against you today concerning which you should instruct them with respect to your children so that they will observe diligently all the words of this law, for it is not a trifling matter among you, but it is your life, and through this word you will live long in the land that you are about to cross the Jordan to get there to take possession of it."
And Yahweh said to Moses on exactly this day, saying, "Go up to this mountain of the Abarim range, Mount Nebo, which is opposite Jericho, and see the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites as a possession. You shall die on that mountain that you are about to go up there, and you will be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and he was gathered to his people, because of the fact that you broke faith with me in the midst of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the desert of Zin, because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the Israelites. Yes, from afar you may view the land, but there you shall not enter there, that is, into the land that I am giving to the Israelites."
Now this is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before his death.
Then he said,
"Yahweh came from Sinai,
and he dawned upon them from Seir;
he shone forth from Mount Paran,
and he came with myriads of holy ones,
at his right hand a fiery law for them.
Moreover, he loves his people,
all the holy ones were in your hand,
and they bowed down to your feet,
each one accepted directions from you.
A law Moses instructed for us,
as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
And then a king arose in Jeshurun,
at the gathering of the leaders of the people,
united were the tribes of Israel.
"May Reuben live, and may he not die,
and let his number not be few."
And he said this of Judah,
"Hear, O Yahweh, the voice of Judah,
and bring him to his people;
his own hands strive for him,
and may you be a help against his foes."
And of Levi he said,
"Your Thummim and your Urim
are for your faithful one,
whom you tested at Massah;
you contended with him
at the waters of Meribah.
The one saying of his father and of his mother,
‘I have not regarded them,’
and his brothers he did not acknowledge,
and his children he did not know,
but rather they observed your word,
and your covenant they kept.
They taught your regulations to Jacob,
and your law to Israel;
they placed incense smoke before you,
and whole burnt offerings on your altar.
Bless, O Yahweh, his substance,
and with the work of his hands you must be pleased;
smite the loins of those who attack him,
and those hating him, so that they cannot arise."
Of Benjamin he said,
"The beloved of Yahweh dwells securely,
the Most High shields all around him,
all the day,
and between his shoulders he dwells."
And of Joseph he said,
"Blessed by Yahweh is his land,
with the choice things of heaven,
with dew, and with the deep lying down beneath,
and with the choice things of the fruits of the the sun,
and with the choice things of the yield of the seasons,
and with the finest things of the ancient mountains,
and with the choice things of the eternal hills,
and with the choice things of the earth and its fullness,
and the favor of the one who dwelt in the bush.
Let them come to the head of Joseph,
and to the crown of the prince among his brothers.
As the firstborn of his ox, majesty belongs to him,
and his horns are the horns of a wild ox;
with them he drives people together,
and they are the myriads of Ephraim,
and they are the thousands of Manasseh."
And of Zebulun he said,
"Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
and rejoice, Issachar, in your tents;
They summon people to the mountains;
there they sacrifice the sacrifices of righteousness,
because the affluence of the seas they suck out,
and the most hidden treasures of the sand."
And of Gad he said,
"Blessed be the one who enlarges Gad;
like a lion he dwells,
and he tears an arm as well as a scalp.
And he selected the best part for himself,
for there the portion of a ruler is included,
and he came with the heads of the people;
he did the righteousness of Yahweh,
and his regulations for Israel."
And of Dan he said,
"Dan is a cub of a lion;
he leaps from Bashan."
And of Naphtali, he said,
"Oh, Naphtali, sated of favor,
and full of the blessing of Yahweh;
take possession of the lake,
and the land to the south."
And of Asher he said,
"Blessed more than sons is Asher;
may he be the favorite of his brothers,
dipping his feet in the oil.
Your bars are iron and bronze,
and as your days, so is your strength."
"There is no one like God, O, Jeshurun,
who rides through the heavens to your help,
and with his majesty through the skies.
The God of ancient time is a hiding place,
and underneath are the arms of eternity,
and he drove out from before you your enemy,
and he said, ‘Destroy them!’
So Israel dwells alone and carefree,
the spring of Jacob in a land of grain and wine;
his heavens even drip dew.
Blessed are you, O Israel.
Who is like you, a people who is saved by Yahweh,
the shield of your help,
and who is the sword of your triumph,
and your enemies, they shall fawn before you,
and you shall tread on their backs."
Then Moses went up from the desert plateau of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and Yahweh showed him all of the land, Gilead all the way up to Dan, and all of Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and all of the land of Judah, up to the western sea, and the Negev and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palms, on up to Zoar. And Yahweh said to him, "This is the land that I swore to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross into it." Then Moses, the servant of Yahweh, died there in the land of Moab according to the command of Yahweh. And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor. But until this day no one knows his burial site. Now Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his sight was not impaired and his vigor had not abated. And the Israelites wept concerning Moses thirty days; finally the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were completed.
Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had placed his hands on him, and the Israelites listened to him, and they did as Yahweh had commanded Moses. And not again has a prophet arisen in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face, as far as all the signs and the wonders Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all of his servants and against all of his land, and as far as all of the mighty deeds and as far as the great awesome wonders Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.
How long, O Yahweh? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul,
and sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O Yahweh my God.
Give light to my eyes
lest I sleep the sleep of death,
and lest my enemy should say, "I have overcome him,"
lest my enemies rejoice because I am shaken.
But as for me, I have trusted in your steadfast love.
My heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
I will sing to Yahweh
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Now at the same time some had come to tell him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And he answered and said to them, "Do you think that these Galileans were sinners worse than all the Galileans, because they suffered these things? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as well! Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you think that they were sinners worse than all the people who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!"
And he told this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. So he said to the gardener, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and did not find any. Cut it down! Why should it even exhaust the soil?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put manure on it. And if indeed it produces fruit in the coming year, so much the better, but if not, you can cut it down.’"
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, a woman was there who had a spirit that had disabled her for eighteen years, and she was bent over and not able to straighten herself up completely. And when he saw her, Jesus summoned her and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your disability!" And he placed his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, answered and said to the crowd, "There are six days on which it is necessary to work. Therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the day of the Sabbath!" But the Lord answered and said to him, "Hypocrites! Does not each one of you untie his ox or his donkey from the feeding trough on the Sabbath and lead it away to water it? And this woman, who is a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound eighteen long years—is it not necessary that she be released from this bond on the day of the Sabbath?" And when he said these things, all those who opposed him were humiliated, and the whole crowd was rejoicing at all the splendid things that were being done by him.
Therefore he said, "What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his own garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches."
And again he said, "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened."
And he was going throughout towns and villages, teaching and making his journey toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, "Lord, are there only a few who are saved?" And he said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able to, when once the master of the house has gotten up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ And he will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from!’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets!’ And he will reply, saying to you, ‘I do not know where you are from! Go away from me, all you evildoers!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown outside! And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."
At that same hour some Pharisees came up and said to him, "Go out and depart from here, because Herod wants to kill you!" And he said to them, "Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I am expelling demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work.’ Nevertheless, it is necessary for me to be on the way today and tomorrow and on the next day, because it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside Jerusalem.
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How many times I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house has been left to you! And I tell you, you will never see me until the time will come when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’"