Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Jehovah and make mention of the God of Israel (but not in truth nor in righteousness;

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.

i1 [To the Chief Musician. Sheminith. A Psalm of David.] i0 par Help, Jehovah, for the godly man ceases; for the faithful have vanished from among the sons of men.

They speak vanity each one with his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her open places, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon her.

And though they say, As Jehovah lives; surely they swear falsely.

But you shall say to them, This is a nation which does not obey the voice of Jehovah their God, nor receives instruction; truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

Hear the Word of Jehovah, you sons of Israel, for Jehovah has a complaint against the inhabitants of the land; for there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

Swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and the committing of adultery burst forth. And blood touches against blood.

The good man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind. All of them lie in wait for blood; each one hunts his brother with a net.

You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and You are not able to look upon vexation. Why do you look on those who deal deceitfully? Will You be silent when the wicked swallows one more righteous than he?

For You make man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things with no ruler over them.

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder toward the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to do away with him.

As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Still others had trial of mockings and floggings, yes, and of bonds and imprisonment.

of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,

not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous.

Then Jehu came out to the servants of his master, and one of them said to him, Is all well? Why did this madman come to you? And he said to them, You know the man and his talk.

Jehovah has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be officers in the house of Jehovah over every madman who prophesies, that you should put him in prison and in the stocks.

The days of visitation have come; the days of retribution have come. Israel shall know. The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and your great hatred.

But when His next of kin heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, He is beside Himself.

Then the Jews said to Him, Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and You say, If anyone keeps My Word he shall never ever taste death.

And many of them said, He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?

Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

And the thing which he did made the eye of Jehovah quiver; therefore He killed him also.

And when her mourning was passed, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done caused the eyes of Jehovah to quiver.

Yet Jehovah would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever.