Psalm 102:1–28 (NIV84)

¹ Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry for help come to you. ² Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly. ³ For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. ⁴My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. ⁵ Because of my loud groaning I am reduced to skin and bones. ⁶ I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. ⁷ I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof. ⁸All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse. ⁹ For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears ¹⁰ because of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside. ¹¹ My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass. ¹² But you, O Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations. ¹³ You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come. ¹⁴ For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity. ¹⁵ The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory. ¹⁶ For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory. ¹⁷ He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. ¹⁸ Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord: ¹⁹ “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, ²⁰ to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.” ²¹ So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem ²² when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord. ²³ In the course of my life he broke my strength; he cut short my days. ²⁴ So I said: “Do not take me away, O my God, in the midst of my days; your years go on through all generations. ²⁵ In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. ²⁶ They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. ²⁷ But you remain the same, and your years will never end. ²⁸ The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.”

Hebrews 11:1–22 (NIV84)

¹ Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. ² This is what the ancients were commended for. ³ By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. ⁴ By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. ⁵ By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. ⁷By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. ⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. ¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. ¹⁴ People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. ¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸ even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” ¹⁹ Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. ²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. ²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. ²² By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.