Nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall keep thee from all evil;
He shall keep thy soul.
The Lord shall keep thy going out and thy coming in,
From this time forth and for evermore.

The shortest song of all those in the book is a song of praise:--

O praise the Lord, all ye nations:
Praise him, all ye peoples.
For his merciful kindness is great toward us:
And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.
Praise ye the Lord.

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A STORY WHICH JESUS TOLD

Straightway
At once.

Tribulation
Trouble.

Persecution
Injury done one by an enemy.

Jesus often told the people little stories when he was
teaching them to be good. These little stories he called
parables. Here is one of the parables:--

THE STORY OF THE SOWER

And Jesus said, "Behold the sower went forth to sow; and, as he sowed,
some seeds fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them:
and others fell upon the rocky places, where they had not much earth;
and straightway they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth,
and when the sun was risen, they were scorched; and because they had no
root, they withered away. And others fell among the thorns; and the
thorns grew up and choked them: and others fell upon the good ground,
and yielded fruit, some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty."

{127}{128}
[Illustration]
THRESHING IN THE LANDS OF THE BIBLE:

From a photograph taken by Mrs. Louise Seymour Houghton,
and used by her kind permission.

What a strange company of animals we have here! A camel, two oxen,
and a little white donkey! And is this not a hard way to thresh out
the grain? This field, with its beasts at work, does not much
resemble a great wheat field in the western states of America, with
its wonderful machinery. It shows how little progress has been made
in the East, to find the same methods employed now as in Bible times.
[End illustration]

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Then Jesus explained the story to his disciples in this way. He said,
"When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not,
then cometh the evil one, and snatcheth away that which hath been sown
in his heart. This is he that was sown by the wayside. And he that was
sown upon the rocky places, this is he that heareth the word, and
straightway with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but
endureth for a while; and when tribulation or persecution ariseth
because of the word, str