BOOK I

Psalms 1–41

Psalm 1

²⁵ I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights^(A) because the Lord had said he would destroy you.^{(B) 26} I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people,^(C) your own inheritance^(D) that you redeemed^(E) by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.^{(F) 27} Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness^(G) of this people, their wickedness and their sin. ²⁸ Otherwise, the country^(H) from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them,^(I) he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’^{(J) 29} But they are your people,^(K) your inheritance^(L) that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.^(M)”

Tablets Like the First Ones

10 At that time the Lord said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets^(N) like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark.^{[a] 2} I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”^(O)

³ So I made the ark out of acacia wood^(P) and chiseled^(Q) out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. ⁴ The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments^(R) he had proclaimed^(S) to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.^(T) And the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I came back down the mountain^(U) and put the tablets in the ark^(V) I had made,^(W) as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now.^(X)

⁷ In everything set them an example^(A) by doing what is good.^(B) In your teaching show integrity, seriousness ⁸ and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.^(C)

¹¹ For the grace^(A) of God has appeared^(B) that offers salvation to all people.^{(C) 12} It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions,^(D) and to live self-controlled,^(E) upright and godly lives^(F) in this present age, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing^(G) of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,^{(H) 14} who gave himself for us^(I) to redeem us from all wickedness^(J) and to purify^(K) for himself a people that are his very own,^(L) eager to do what is good.^(M)

¹⁵ These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.