Psalm 92^[a]

A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.

³ “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey^(A) my commands, ⁴ I will send you rain^(B) in its season,^(C) and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.^{(D) 5} Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want^(E) and live in safety in your land.^(F)

⁶ “‘I will grant peace in the land,^(G) and you will lie down^(H) and no one will make you afraid.^(I) I will remove wild beasts^(J) from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. ⁷ You will pursue your enemies,^(K) and they will fall by the sword before you. ⁸ Five^(L) of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.^(M)

⁹ “‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers,^(N) and I will keep my covenant^(O) with you. ¹⁰ You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.^{(P) 11} I will put my dwelling place^[a](Q) among you, and I will not abhor you.^{(R) 12} I will walk^(S) among you and be your God,^(T) and you will be my people.^{(U) 13} I am the Lord your God,^(V) who brought you out of Egypt^(W) so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke^(X) and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Punishment for Disobedience

¹⁴ “‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,^{(Y) 15} and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws^(Z) and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,^{(AA) 16} then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever^(AB) that will destroy your sight and sap your strength.^(AC) You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.^{(AD) 17} I will set my face^(AE) against you so that you will be defeated^(AF) by your enemies;^(AG) those who hate you will rule over you,^(AH) and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.^(AI)

¹⁸ “‘If after all this you will not listen to me,^(AJ) I will punish^(AK) you for your sins seven times over.^{(AL) 19} I will break down your stubborn pride^(AM) and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.^{(AN) 20} Your strength will be spent in vain,^(AO) because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.^(AP)

Living to Please God

4 As for other matters, brothers and sisters,^(A) we instructed you how to live^(B) in order to please God,^(C) as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. ² For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

³ It is God’s will^(D) that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;^{(E) 4} that each of you should learn to control your own body^[a](F) in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵ not in passionate lust^(G) like the pagans,^(H) who do not know God;^{(I) 6} and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.^[b](J) The Lord will punish^(K) all those who commit such sins,^(L) as we told you and warned you before. ⁷ For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.^{(M) 8} Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.^(N)