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For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Nathan the prophet came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
      because of your unfailing love.
  Because of your great compassion,
      blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt.
      Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion;
      it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
      I have done what is evil in your sight.
  You will be proved right in what you say,
      and your judgment against me is just.[a]
5 For I was born a sinner—
      yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb,[b]
      teaching me wisdom even there.

7 Purify me from my sins,[c] and I will be clean;
      wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again;
      you have broken me—
      now let me rejoice.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.
      Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.
      Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence,
      and don’t take your Holy Spirit[d] from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
      and make me willing to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels,
      and they will return to you.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;
      then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord,
      that my mouth may praise you.

16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
      You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
      You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
18 Look with favor on Zion and help her;
      rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit—
      with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.
      Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.

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Comfort for God’s People
1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
      says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
  Tell her that her sad days are gone
      and her sins are pardoned.
  Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over
      for all her sins.”

3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
  “Clear the way through the wilderness
      for the Lord!
  Make a straight highway through the wasteland
      for our God!
4 Fill in the valleys,
      and level the mountains and hills.
  Straighten the curves,
      and smooth out the rough places.
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
      and all people will see it together.
      The Lord has spoken!”[a]

6 A voice said, “Shout!”
      I asked, “What should I shout?”

  “Shout that people are like the grass.
      Their beauty fades as quickly
      as the flowers in a field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fade
      beneath the breath of the Lord.
      And so it is with people.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fade,
      but the word of our God stands forever.”

9 O Zion, messenger of good news,
      shout from the mountaintops!
  Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.[b]
      Shout, and do not be afraid.
  Tell the towns of Judah,
      “Your God is coming!”
10 Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power.
      He will rule with a powerful arm.
      See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
      He will carry the lambs in his arms,
  holding them close to his heart.
      He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.
The Lord Has No Equal
12 Who else has held the oceans in his hand?
      Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers?
  Who else knows the weight of the earth
      or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?
13 Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord?[c]
      Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?
14 Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice?
      Does he need instruction about what is good?
  Did someone teach him what is right
      or show him the path of justice?

15 No, for all the nations of the world
      are but a drop in the bucket.
  They are nothing more
      than dust on the scales.
  He picks up the whole earth
      as though it were a grain of sand.
16 All the wood in Lebanon’s forests
      and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough
      to make a burnt offering worthy of our God.
17 The nations of the world are worth nothing to him.
      In his eyes they count for less than nothing—
      mere emptiness and froth.

18 To whom can you compare God?
      What image can you find to resemble him?
19 Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold,
      overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
20 Or if people are too poor for that,
      they might at least choose wood that won’t decay
  and a skilled craftsman
      to carve an image that won’t fall down!

21 Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand?
      Are you deaf to the words of God—
  the words he gave before the world began?
      Are you so ignorant?
22 God sits above the circle of the earth.
      The people below seem like grasshoppers to him!
  He spreads out the heavens like a curtain
      and makes his tent from them.
23 He judges the great people of the world
      and brings them all to nothing.
24 They hardly get started, barely taking root,
      when he blows on them and they wither.
      The wind carries them off like chaff.

25 “To whom will you compare me?
      Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

26 Look up into the heavens.
      Who created all the stars?
  He brings them out like an army, one after another,
      calling each by its name.
  Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
      not a single one is missing.
27 O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
      O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
28 Have you never heard?
      Have you never understood?
  The Lord is the everlasting God,
      the Creator of all the earth.
  He never grows weak or weary.
      No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
      and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
      and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
      They will soar high on wings like eagles.
  They will run and not grow weary.
      They will walk and not faint.

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Daniel in the Lions’ Den
1 [a]Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. 2 The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. 3 Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire.

4 Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. 5 So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”

6 So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! 7 We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions. 8 And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” 9 So King Darius signed the law.

10 But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. 11 Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help. 12 So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. “Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions?”

  “Yes,” the king replied, “that decision stands; it is an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.”

13 Then they told the king, “That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.”

14 Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament.

15 In the evening the men went together to the king and said, “Your Majesty, you know that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed.”

16 So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.”

17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night.

19 Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. 20 When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?”

21 Daniel answered, “Long live the king! 22 My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.”

23 The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God.

24 Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den.

25 Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world:

  “Peace and prosperity to you!
26 “I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel.

  For he is the living God,
      and he will endure forever.
  His kingdom will never be destroyed,
      and his rule will never end.
27 He rescues and saves his people;
      he performs miraculous signs and wonders
      in the heavens and on earth.
  He has rescued Daniel
      from the power of the lions.”

28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.[b]

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Israel’s Failure to Learn
1 Listen to me, you fat cows[a]
      living in Samaria,
  you women who oppress the poor
      and crush the needy,
  and who are always calling to your husbands,
      “Bring us another drink!”
2 The Sovereign Lord has sworn this by his holiness:
  “The time will come when you will be led away
      with hooks in your noses.
  Every last one of you will be dragged away
      like a fish on a hook!
3 You will be led out through the ruins of the wall;
      you will be thrown from your fortresses,[b]”
      says the Lord.

4 “Go ahead and offer sacrifices to the idols at Bethel.
      Keep on disobeying at Gilgal.
  Offer sacrifices each morning,
      and bring your tithes every three days.
5 Present your bread made with yeast
      as an offering of thanksgiving.
  Then give your extra voluntary offerings
      so you can brag about it everywhere!
  This is the kind of thing you Israelites love to do,”
      says the Sovereign Lord.

6 “I brought hunger to every city
      and famine to every town.
  But still you would not return to me,”
      says the Lord.

7 “I kept the rain from falling
      when your crops needed it the most.
  I sent rain on one town
      but withheld it from another.
  Rain fell on one field,
      while another field withered away.
8 People staggered from town to town looking for water,
      but there was never enough.
  But still you would not return to me,”
      says the Lord.

9 “I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew.
      Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees.
  But still you would not return to me,”
      says the Lord.

10 “I sent plagues on you
      like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago.
  I killed your young men in war
      and led all your horses away.[c]
      The stench of death filled the air!
  But still you would not return to me,”
      says the Lord.

11 “I destroyed some of your cities,
      as I destroyed[d] Sodom and Gomorrah.
  Those of you who survived
      were like charred sticks pulled from a fire.
  But still you would not return to me,”
      says the Lord.

12 “Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced.
      Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”

13 For the Lord is the one who shaped the mountains,
      stirs up the winds, and reveals his thoughts to mankind.
  He turns the light of dawn into darkness
      and treads on the heights of the earth.
      The Lord God of Heaven’s Armies is his name!

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Genesis 2
    So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested[a] from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

4 This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.
The Man and Woman in Eden
  When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. 6 Instead, springs[b] came up from the ground and watered all the land. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man[c] to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs[d] and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

23 “At last!” the man exclaimed.

  “This one is bone from my bone,
      and flesh from my flesh!
  She will be called ‘woman,’
      because she was taken from ‘man.’”

24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.