BOOK I

Psalms 1–41

Psalm 1

² Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:

Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land.^{(A) 3} With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders.^{(B) 4} But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.^{(C) 5} Yet the Lord says, “During the forty years that I led^(D) you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.^{(E) 6} You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink.^(F) I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.”^(G)

⁷ When you reached this place, Sihon^(H) king of Heshbon^(I) and Og king of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them.^{(J) 8} We took their land and gave it as an inheritance^(K) to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.^(L)

⁹ Carefully follow^(M) the terms of this covenant,^(N) so that you may prosper in everything you do.^{(O) 10} All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, ¹¹ together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water.^{(P) 12} You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, ¹³ to confirm you this day as his people,^(Q) that he may be your God^(R) as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ¹⁴ I am making this covenant,^(S) with its oath, not only with you ¹⁵ who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today.^(T)

¹⁶ You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. ¹⁷ You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold.^{(U) 18} Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns^(V) away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.^(W)

¹⁹ When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing^(X) on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,”^(Y) they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. ²⁰ The Lord will never be willing to forgive^(Z) them; his wrath and zeal^(AA) will burn^(AB) against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot^(AC) out their names from under heaven.

³⁴ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to turn

³⁷ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.^{(C) 38} Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.^{(D) 39} Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.^(E)

⁴⁰ “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me,^(F) and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.^{(G) 41} Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. ⁴² And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”^(H)