Luke 19:28-48; Genesis 34; Psalms 26

Luke 19:28-48

28 When He had said these things, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

29 As He approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, He sent two of the disciples

30 and said, "Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a young donkey tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here.

31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say this: 'The Lord needs it.' "

32 So those who were sent left and found it just as He had told them.

33 As they were untying the young donkey, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the donkey?"

34 "The Lord needs it," they said.

35 Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their robes on the donkey, they helped Jesus get on it.

36 As He was going along, they were spreading their robes on the road.

37 Now He came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:

38 Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!

39 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples."

40 He answered, "I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out!"

41 As He approached and saw the city, He wept over it,

42 saying, "If you knew this day what [would bring] peace-but now it is hidden from your eyes.

43 For the days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.

44 They will crush you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."

45 He went into the temple complex and began to throw out those who were selling,

46 and He said, "It is written, My house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves !"

47 Every day He was teaching in the temple complex. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people were looking for a way to destroy Him,

48 but they could not find a way to do it, because all the people were captivated by what they heard.

Genesis 34

1 Dinah, Leah's daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see some of the young women of the area.

2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the region, saw her, he took her and raped her.

3 He became infatuated with Dinah, daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke tenderly to her.

4 "Get me this girl as a wife," he told his father Hamor.

5 Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his cattle in the field, he remained silent until they returned.

6 Meanwhile, Shechem's father Hamor came to speak with Jacob.

7 Jacob's sons returned from the field when they heard [about the incident] and were deeply grieved and angry. For Shechem had committed an outrage against Israel by sleeping with Jacob's daughter, and such a thing should not be done.

8 Hamor said to Jacob's sons, "My son Shechem is strongly attracted to your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.

9 Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

10 Live with us. The land is before you. Settle here, move about, and acquire property in it."

11 Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, "Grant me this favor, and I'll give you whatever you say.

12 Set for me the compensation and the gift; I'll give you whatever you ask me. Just give the girl to be my wife!"

13 But Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully because he had defiled their sister Dinah.

14 "We cannot do this thing," they said to them. "Giving our sister to an uncircumcised man is a disgrace to us.

15 We will agree with you only on this condition: if all your males are circumcised as we are.

16 Then we will give you our daughters, take your daughters for ourselves, live with you, and become one people.

17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go."

18 Their words seemed good in the eyes of Hamor and his son Shechem.

19 The young man did not delay doing this, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most important in all his father's house.

20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men there.

21 "These men are peaceful toward us," they said. "Let them live in our land and move about in it, for indeed, the region is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as our wives and give our daughters to them.

22 But the men will agree to live with us and be one people only on this condition: if all our men are circumcised as they are.

23 Won't their herds, their possessions, and all their livestock become ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will live with us."

24 All the able-bodied men listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and all the able-bodied men were circumcised.

25 On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and killed every male.

26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went away.

27 Jacob's [other] sons came to the slaughter and plundered the city because their sister had been defiled.

28 They took their sheep, cattle, donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field.

29 They captured all their possessions, children, and wives, and plundered everything in the houses.

30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me, making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed."

31 But they answered, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?"

Psalms 26

1 Vindicate me, Lord, because I have lived with integrity and have trusted in the Lord without wavering.

2 Test me, Lord, and try me; examine my heart and mind.

3 For Your faithful love is before my eyes, and I live by Your truth.

4 I do not sit with the worthless or associate with hypocrites.

5 I hate a crowd of evildoers, and I do not sit with the wicked.

6 I wash my hands in innocence and go around Your altar, Lord,

7 raising my voice in thanksgiving and telling about Your wonderful works.

8 Lord, I love the house where You dwell, the place where Your glory resides.

9 Do not destroy me along with sinners, or my life along with men of bloodshed

10 in whose hands are evil schemes, and whose right hands are filled with bribes.

11 But I live with integrity; redeem me and be gracious to me.

12 My foot stands on level ground; I will praise the Lord in the assemblies.