Psalms 107–109
1 Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good,
for His mercy endures forever!
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord speak out,
whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
3 and gathered them from the lands,
from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness on a deserted path;
they found no city to dwell in.
5 Hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble,
and He delivered them out of their distresses.
7 He led them on a level road,
that they might go to a city to live in.
8 Let them praise the Lord for His goodness
and for His wonderful works to the people!
9 For He satisfies the longing soul
and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
10 Some sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
being prisoners in affliction and irons,
11 because they rebelled against the words of God
and rejected the counsel of the Most High.
12 Therefore He brought down their hearts with hard labor;
they fell down, and there was none to help.
13 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble,
and He delivered them out of their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death
and broke apart their bonds.
15 Let them praise the Lord for His goodness
and for His wonderful works to the people!
16 For He has broken the gates of bronze
and cut the bars of iron in two.
17 Some were fools because of their transgressions,
and because of their iniquities they are afflicted.
18 They loathed all manner of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble,
and He saved them out of their distress.
20 He sent His word and healed them
and delivered them from their destruction.
21 Let them praise the Lord for His goodness
and for His wonderful works to the people!
22 And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving
and declare His works with rejoicing.
23 Some went down to the sea in ships,
to do business in the vast waters;
24 they saw the works of the Lord
and His wonders in the deep water.
25 For He commands and raises the stormy wind,
which lifts up the sea waves.
26 The sailors went up to the sky, they came down to the depths;
their strength melted because of the great danger.
27 They reeled to and fro and staggered like drunken men,
and were completely confused.
28 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and He saved them out of their distress.
29 He made the storm calm,
and the sea waves were still.
30 They were glad because the waters were quiet,
so He brought them to their desired harbor.
31 Let them praise the Lord for His goodness
and for His wonderful works to the people!
32 Let them exalt Him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a desert,
water springs into dry ground,
34 a fruitful land into salty wasteland,
because of the wickedness of those living there.
35 He turns a wilderness into pools of water,
a parched ground into springs of water.
36 There He makes the hungry dwell,
and they prepare a city to live in;
37 they sow fields and plant vineyards,
and yield a fruitful harvest.
38 He blesses them, so that they are greatly multiplied,
and He does not let their livestock decrease.
39 But when they are diminished and brought down
through oppression, affliction, and sorrow,
40 He pours contempt upon princes,
and causes them to wander in a wilderness with no road;
41 yet He raises up the poor from affliction
and cares for their families like flocks of sheep.
42 The righteous shall see it and rejoice,
and all evil people shall stop their mouth.
43 Whoever is wise let him observe these things;
let them consider the lovingkindness of the Lord.
Psalm 108
A Song. A Psalm of David.
1 O God, my heart is determined;
I will sing and give praise with my whole heart.
2 Awake, O lyre and harp!
I will awake at dawn!
3 I will praise you, O Lord, among the peoples,
and I will sing praises unto You among the nations.
4 For Your mercy is great above the heavens;
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
may Your glory be above all the earth.
6 That Your beloved ones may be delivered,
provide salvation with Your right hand and answer me.
7 God has spoken in His sanctuary:
“I will triumph and will divide up Shechem
and portion out the Valley of Sukkoth.
8 Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim is My helmet;
Judah is My royal scepter;
9 Moab is My washbasin;
on Edom I throw My shoe;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
10 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me into Edom?
11 Have You not rejected us, O God?
You surely do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12 Grant us help against the foe,
for the help of man is worthless.
13 Through God we shall be valiant,
for He shall tread down our enemies.
Psalm 109
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 Do not remain silent,
O God of my praise!
2 For the mouth of the wicked and deceitful
are opened against me;
they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They encircled me with words of hatred
and fought against me without cause.
4 In return for my love they are my adversaries,
but I give myself to prayer.
5 They have rewarded me evil for good
and hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man against him,
and let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned,
and let his prayer be reckoned as sin.
8 Let his days be few,
and let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be wandering beggars;
let them seek their bread far from their desolate places.
11 Let the creditor seize all that he has;
let the strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him,
neither let there be any to pity his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off,
and in the generation following let his name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord,
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the Lord continually,
that the Lord may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 For he did not remember to show kindness,
but pursued the poor and needy and broken-hearted
to their death.
17 As he loved cursing,
so let it come over him;
as he did not delight in blessing,
so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing like a garment,
so let it soak into him like water,
and like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be unto him as the garment that covers him,
and a belt that he continually wears.
20 Let this be the reward of my adversaries from the Lord,
and of those who speak evil against my soul.
21 But You, O God my Lord,
work on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your mercy is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone like a shadow in the evening;
I am tossed as the locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting,
and my body is thin with no fat.
25 I am a reproach to my accusers;
when they look upon me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Save me according to Your mercy,
27 that they may know that this is by Your hand,
that You, O Lord, have done it.
28 Let them curse, but You will bless;
when they arise, let them be ashamed,
but let Your servant rejoice.
29 Let my adversaries be clothed with shame,
and let them cover themselves with their own disgrace like a cloak.
30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
indeed, I will praise Him among the multitude.
31 For He stands at the right hand of the poor,
to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.
1 Corinthians 4
1 Let a man so regard us as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by man’s judgment. I do not even judge myself. 4 For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this. But He who judges me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will reveal the purposes of the hearts. Then everyone will have commendation from God.
6 Brothers, I have figuratively applied these things to myself and to Apollos for your sakes, so that you may learn from us not to think of men above that which is written, and that not one of you would be arrogant for one against another. 7 For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
8 Now you are full, now you are rich; you have begun reigning as kings without us, and I wish to God you reigned, so that we also might reign with you. 9 For I think that God has exhibited us, the apostles, last, as if we were sentenced to death. For we have been made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are despised. 11 Even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless. 12 We labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. 13 Being slandered, we encourage. We are made as the filth of the world, and are the refuse of all things to this day.
14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. 15 For if you were to have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. In Christ Jesus I have become a father to you through the gospel. 16 So I implore you, be followers of me. 17 Therefore I have sent Timothy to you. He is my beloved son and is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
18 Now some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you shortly if the Lord wills. And I will know not only what those who are arrogant are saying, but also their power. 20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 21 What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and in the spirit of meekness?