Psalms 100–102
A Psalm of thanksgiving.
1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise;
be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good; His mercy endures forever,
and His faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 101
A Psalm of David.
1 I will sing of mercy and justice;
to You, O Lord, I will sing.
2 I will consider the path that is blameless.
When will You come to me?
I will walk within my house
with a perfect heart.
3 I will set no wicked thing
before my eyes.
I hate the work of those who turn aside;
it shall not have part of me.
4 A perverted heart shall be far from me;
I will not know anything wicked.
5 Whoever privately slanders his neighbor,
him I will destroy;
whoever has a haughty look and a proud heart
I will not endure.
6 My eyes shall be favorable to the faithful in the land,
that they may live with me;
he who walks in a blameless manner,
he shall serve me.
7 He who practices deceit
shall not dwell within my house;
he who tells lies
shall not remain in my sight.
8 Every morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
that I may cut off all wicked doers
from the city of the Lord.
Psalm 102
A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the Lord.
1 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and let my cry come unto You.
2 Do not hide Your face from me
in the day when I am in trouble;
incline Your ear to me;
in the day when I call answer me quickly.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke,
and my bones are burned as a furnace.
4 My heart is struck down and withered like grass,
so that I forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of the sound of my groaning
my bones cling to my skin.
6 I am like an owl of the wilderness,
like a screech owl of the desert.
7 I stay awake and am
as a sparrow alone upon the housetop.
8 My enemies reproach me all the day,
and those who taunt me curse my name.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread
and mixed my drink with weeping,
10 because of Your indignation and Your wrath,
for You have lifted me up, and cast me down.
11 My days are like an evening shadow that vanishes,
and I wither away like grass.
12 But You, O Lord, shall endure forever enthroned
and Your reputation to all generations.
13 You shall arise, and have mercy upon Zion,
for the time to favor her,
indeed, the appointed time has come.
14 For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
and have pity on her dust.
15 So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth Your glory.
16 For the Lord shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory.
17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute
and will not despise their prayer.
18 Let this be written for the generation to come,
that a people who shall be created shall praise the Lord.
19 For He has looked down from the height of His sanctuary;
from heaven the Lord looked down on the earth,
20 to hear the groaning of the prisoners
and to set free those who are appointed to death,
21 that they may declare the name of the Lord in Zion
and His praise in Jerusalem;
22 when the peoples are gathered together,
and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.
23 He has weakened my strength in my midlife;
He has shortened my days.
24 I said,
“O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days—
Your years endure throughout all generations.”
25 From before You have laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 They shall perish, but You shall endure;
indeed, all of them shall wear out like a garment;
like a robe You shall change them,
and they shall pass away,
27 but You are the same,
and Your years shall have no end.
28 The children of Your servants shall be secure,
and their offspring shall be established before You.
1 Corinthians 1
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother,
2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which has been given to you through Jesus Christ. 5 By Him you are enriched in everything, in all speech and in all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift while waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, and by Him you were called to the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I ask you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak in agreement and that there be no divisions among you. But be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now this is what I mean: Every one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.”
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16 I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides them, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with eloquent words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
18 For to those who are perishing, the preaching of the cross is foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and will bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of this world foolish? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. 22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. 23 But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. 24 But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, we preach Christ as the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For observe your calling, brothers. Among you, not many wise men according to the flesh, not many mighty men, and not many noble men were called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. 28 And God has chosen the base things of the world and things which are despised. Yes, and He chose things which did not exist to bring to nothing things that do, 29 so that no flesh should boast in His presence. 30 But because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, whom God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”