Psalm 56

New International Version

Psalm 56^[a]

For the director of music. To the tune of “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” Of David. A miktam.^[b] When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.

¹Be merciful to me,^(A) my God,
    for my enemies are in hot pursuit;^(B)
    all day long they press their attack.^(C)
²My adversaries pursue me all day long;^(D)
    in their pride many are attacking me.^(E)

³When I am afraid,^(F) I put my trust in you.^(G)
⁴ In God, whose word I praise—^(H)
in God I trust and am not afraid.^(I)
What can mere mortals do to me?^(J)

⁵All day long they twist my words;^(K)
    all their schemes are for my ruin.
⁶They conspire,^(L) they lurk,
    they watch my steps,^(M)
    hoping to take my life.^(N)
⁷Because of their wickedness do not^[c] let them escape;^(O)
    in your anger, God, bring the nations down.^(P)

⁸Record my misery;
    list my tears on your scroll^[d]^(Q)—
    are they not in your record?^(R)
⁹Then my enemies will turn back^(S)
    when I call for help.^(T)
    By this I will know that God is for me.^(U)

¹⁰In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise—
¹¹in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?

¹²I am under vows^(V) to you, my God;
    I will present my thank offerings to you.
¹³For you have delivered me from death^(W)
    and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
    in the light of life.^(X)

Footnotes

Psalm 56:1 In Hebrew texts 56:1-13 is numbered 56:2-14.
Psalm 56:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 56:7 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text does not have do not.
Psalm 56:8 Or misery; / put my tears in your wineskin

1 Kings 17:8-16

New International Version

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹“Go at once to Zarephath^(A) in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow^(B) there to supply you with food.” ¹⁰So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?”^(C) ¹¹As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

¹²“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil^(D) in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

¹³Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain^(E) on the land.’”

¹⁵She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. ¹⁶For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

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1 Corinthians 2:6-16

New International Version

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

⁶We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature,^(A) but not the wisdom of this age^(B) or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.^(C) ⁷No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery^(D) that has been hidden^(E) and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸None of the rulers of this age^(F) understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.^(G) ⁹However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”^[a]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—^(H)

¹⁰these are the things God has revealed^(I) to us by his Spirit.^(J)

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts^(K) except their own spirit^(L) within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²What we have received is not the spirit^(M) of the world,^(N) but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom^(O) but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.^[b] ¹⁴The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God^(P) but considers them foolishness,^(Q) and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. ¹⁵The person with the Spirit^(R) makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, ¹⁶for,