Psalms 105–106

1 Oh, give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name;

make known His deeds among the peoples.

2 Sing unto Him, sing praises unto Him;

proclaim all His wondrous works.

3 Glory in His holy name;

let the heart rejoice for those who seek the Lord.

4 Seek the Lord and His strength;

seek His presence continuously.

5 Remember His marvelous works that He has done;

His wonders and the judgments from His mouth,

6 O offspring of Abraham, His servant,

O children of Jacob, His chosen ones.

7 He is the Lord our God;

His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He remembers His covenant forever,

the word that He commanded, to a thousand generations,

9 that covenant He made with Abraham,

and His oath to Isaac,

10 and confirmed to Jacob as a decree,

and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,

11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan

as the portion of your inheritance.”

12 When they were but a few people in number,

indeed, very few, and strangers in it,

13 when they went from one nation to another,

from one kingdom to another people,

14 He did not permit anyone to do them wrong;

indeed, He reproved kings on their behalf,

15 saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones,

and do no harm to my prophets.”

16 Moreover He called for a famine upon the land;

He broke the whole supply of bread.

17 He sent a man before them,

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

18 They hurt his feet with fetters;

his neck was put in an iron collar.

19 Until the time that his word came to pass,

the word of the Lord tested him.

20 The king sent and released him;

the ruler of the people let him go free.

21 He made Joseph lord of his house

and ruler of all his possessions,

22 to imprison his princes at Joseph’s pleasure

and to teach his elders wisdom.

23 Then Israel came into Egypt,

and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.

24 The Lord increased His people greatly

and made them stronger than their enemies.

25 He turned their hearts to hate His people,

to deal cleverly with His servants.

26 He sent Moses, His servant,

and Aaron whom He had chosen.

27 They showed His signs among them

and wonders in the land of Ham.

28 He sent darkness and made the land dark,

and Moses and Aaron did not rebel against His word.

29 He turned their waters into blood

and caused their fish to die.

30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance,

even in the chambers of their kings.

31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies

and gnats in all their country.

32 He gave them hail for rain

and flaming lightning in their land.

33 He struck their vines and their fig trees

and shattered the trees of their country.

34 He spoke, and the locusts came,

and caterpillars without number,

35 that devoured all the vegetation in their land,

and ate all the fruit of their ground.

36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the first fruits of all their strength.

37 Then He brought them out with silver and gold,

and no one among their tribes faltered.

38 Egypt was glad when they left,

for the fear of Israel fell upon them.

39 He spread a cloud for a covering,

and fire to give light in the night.

40 The people asked, and He brought quail,

and satisfied them with abundant bread of heaven.

41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out;

they ran in the desert like a river.

42 For he recalled His holy promise

to Abraham His servant.

43 He brought forth His people with joy,

and His chosen ones with gladness,

44 and gave them the lands of the nations,

and they took possession of the fruitful labor of the people,

45 that they might observe His statutes

and keep His laws.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 106

1 Praise the Lord!

Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good,

for His mercy endures forever.

2 Who can recount the mighty acts of the Lord

or declare all His praise?

3 Blessed are those who keep justice

and who do righteousness at all times.

4 Remember me, O Lord, when You give favor to Your people;

visit me with Your deliverance,

5 that I may see the goodness over Your chosen ones,

that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,

that I may glory with Your inheritance.

6 We have sinned with our fathers;

we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedly.

7 Our fathers did not consider

Your wonders in Egypt;

they did not remember the greatness of Your mercy,

but rebelled against Him at the sea, by the Red Sea.

8 Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake,

that He might make His mighty power known.

9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up,

so He led them through the depths as through the wilderness.

10 He saved them from the hand of him who hated them

and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

11 The waters covered their enemies;

there was not one of them left.

12 Then they believed His words;

they sang His praise.

13 But they soon forgot His works;

they did not wait for His counsel,

14 but they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness

and tested God in the desert.

15 He gave them their request,

but He sent a wasting disease on them.

16 They envied in the camp Moses

and Aaron, the holy priest of the Lord.

17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan

and engulfed those led by Abiram.

18 A fire broke out among their company;

the flame burned up the wicked.

19 They made a calf at Horeb,

and worshipped the molded image.

20 Thus they changed the glory of God

for the image of an ox that eats grass.

21 They forgot God, their Deliverer,

who had done great things in Egypt,

22 wondrous works in the land of Ham,

and marvelous deeds by the Red Sea.

23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them,

had not Moses, His chosen one,

stood before Him to intercede,

to turn away His wrath from destroying them.

24 Then they despised the pleasant land;

they did not believe His promise,

25 but they grumbled in their tents,

and did not listen to the voice of the Lord.

26 Therefore He lifted up His hand against them

and swore to overthrow them in the wilderness,

27 and to overthrow their offspring among the nations,

and to scatter them in the lands.

28 They joined themselves to Baal of Peor

and ate the sacrifices given for the dead.

29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their acts,

and a plague broke out upon them.

30 Then Phinehas stood up and interceded,

and so the plague ceased.

31 That was counted unto him for righteousness

unto all generations forever.

32 They angered Him also at the waters of Meribah,

so that Moses suffered because of them,

33 because they provoked his temper,

so that he spoke impulsively with his lips.

34 They did not destroy the nations

as the Lord commanded them,

35 but they mixed among the nations

and learned their deeds;

36 they served their idols,

which were a snare to them.

37 Yes, they sacrificed their sons

and their daughters to demons,

38 and poured out innocent blood,

even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,

and the land was polluted with blood.

39 Thus were they defiled by their acts

and acted like whores with these actions.

40 Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people,

and He abhorred His own inheritance.

41 He gave them into the hand of the nations,

and those who hated them ruled over them.

42 Their enemies also oppressed them,

and Israel was brought into subjection under their powerful hand.

43 Many times He delivered them,

but they were rebellious against Him with their counsel,

and were afflicted for their iniquity.

44 Nevertheless, He regarded their affliction,

when He heard their cry:

45 and He remembered on their behalf His covenant

and relented according to the greatness of His mercies.

46 He made them pitied

among all those who held them captive.

47 Save us, O Lord our God,

and gather us from among the nations,

to give thanks unto Your holy name

and to boast in Your praise.

48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting,

and let all the people say, “Amen!”

Praise the Lord!

1 Corinthians 3

1 Brothers, I could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to worldly, even as to babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk and not with solid food. For to this day you were not able to endure it. Nor are you able now, 3 for you are still worldly. Since there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not worldly and behaving as mere men? 4 For while one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not worldly?

5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he who plants nor he who waters anything, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are laborers together with God: You are God’s vineyard; you are God’s building.

10 According to the grace of God which has been given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, but another builds on it. Now let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay another foundation than that which was laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble, 13 each one’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on the foundation endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss. But he himself will be saved, still going through the fire.

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy. And you are His temple.

18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness,” 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.” 21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours, 23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.