Psalm 146

English Standard Version

Put Not Your Trust in Princes

146 ^(A)Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
²I will praise the Lord ^(B)as long as I live;
^(C)I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

³^(D)Put not your trust in princes,
^(E)in a son of man, in whom there is ^(F)no salvation.
⁴When ^(G)his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.

⁵^(H)Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose ^(I)hope is in the Lord his God,
⁶^(J)who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them,
^(K)who keeps faith forever;
⁷    ^(L)who executes justice for the oppressed,
    ^(M)who gives food to the hungry.

^(N)The Lord sets the prisoners free;
⁸    ^(O)the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
^(P)The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    ^(Q)the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹^(R)The Lord watches over the sojourners;
    ^(S)he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but ^(T)the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰^(U)The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
^(V)Praise the Lord!

Isaiah 42:14-21

English Standard Version

¹⁴For a long time I have held my peace;
    I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out ^(A)like a woman in labor;
    I will gasp and pant.
¹⁵^(B)I will lay waste mountains and hills,
    and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands,^[a]
    and dry up the pools.
¹⁶^(C)And I will lead the blind
    in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
    I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
    ^(D)the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
    and I do not forsake them.
¹⁷^(E)They are turned back and utterly put to shame,
    who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
    “You are our gods.”

Israel's Failure to Hear and See

¹⁸Hear, you deaf,
    and look, you blind, that you may see!
¹⁹Who is blind but my servant,
    or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,^[b]
    or blind as the servant of the Lord?
²⁰^(F)He sees many things, but does not observe them;
    ^(G)his ears are open, but he does not hear.
²¹The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
    to magnify his law and make it glorious.

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Footnotes

Isaiah 42:15 Or into coastlands
Isaiah 42:19 Or as the one at peace with me

Colossians 1:9-14

English Standard Version

⁹And so, ^(A)from the day we heard, ^(B)we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that ^(C)you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all ^(D)spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so as ^(E)to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, ^(F)fully pleasing to him: ^(G)bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹^(H)being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for ^(I)all endurance and patience ^(J)with joy; ¹²^(K)giving thanks^[a] to the Father, who has qualified you^[b] to share in ^(L)the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³He ^(M)has delivered us from ^(N)the domain of darkness and transferred us to ^(O)the kingdom of ^(P)his beloved Son, ¹⁴^(Q)in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.