Psalm 104

New International Version

Psalm 104

¹Praise the Lord, my soul.^(A)

Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.^(B)

²The Lord wraps^(C) himself in light^(D) as with a garment;
    he stretches^(E) out the heavens^(F) like a tent^(G)
³    and lays the beams^(H) of his upper chambers on their waters.^(I)
He makes the clouds^(J) his chariot^(K)
    and rides on the wings of the wind.^(L)
⁴He makes winds his messengers,^[a]^(M)
    flames of fire^(N) his servants.

⁵He set the earth^(O) on its foundations;^(P)
    it can never be moved.
⁶You covered it^(Q) with the watery depths^(R) as with a garment;
    the waters stood^(S) above the mountains.
⁷But at your rebuke^(T) the waters fled,
    at the sound of your thunder^(U) they took to flight;
⁸they flowed over the mountains,
    they went down into the valleys,
    to the place you assigned^(V) for them.
⁹You set a boundary^(W) they cannot cross;
    never again will they cover the earth.

¹⁰He makes springs^(X) pour water into the ravines;
    it flows between the mountains.
¹¹They give water^(Y) to all the beasts of the field;
    the wild donkeys^(Z) quench their thirst.
¹²The birds of the sky^(AA) nest by the waters;
    they sing among the branches.^(AB)
¹³He waters the mountains^(AC) from his upper chambers;^(AD)
    the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.^(AE)
¹⁴He makes grass grow^(AF) for the cattle,
    and plants for people to cultivate—
    bringing forth food^(AG) from the earth:
¹⁵wine^(AH) that gladdens human hearts,
    oil^(AI) to make their faces shine,
    and bread that sustains^(AJ) their hearts.
¹⁶The trees of the Lord^(AK) are well watered,
    the cedars of Lebanon^(AL) that he planted.
¹⁷There the birds^(AM) make their nests;
    the stork has its home in the junipers.
¹⁸The high mountains belong to the wild goats;^(AN)
    the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.^(AO)

¹⁹He made the moon to mark the seasons,^(AP)
    and the sun^(AQ) knows when to go down.
²⁰You bring darkness,^(AR) it becomes night,^(AS)
    and all the beasts of the forest^(AT) prowl.
²¹The lions roar for their prey^(AU)
    and seek their food from God.^(AV)
²²The sun rises, and they steal away;
    they return and lie down in their dens.^(AW)
²³Then people go out to their work,^(AX)
    to their labor until evening.^(AY)

²⁴How many are your works,^(AZ) Lord!
    In wisdom you made^(BA) them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.^(BB)
²⁵There is the sea,^(BC) vast and spacious,
    teeming with creatures beyond number—
    living things both large and small.^(BD)
²⁶There the ships^(BE) go to and fro,
    and Leviathan,^(BF) which you formed to frolic^(BG) there.^(BH)

²⁷All creatures look to you
    to give them their food^(BI) at the proper time.
²⁸When you give it to them,
    they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
    they are satisfied^(BJ) with good things.
²⁹When you hide your face,^(BK)
    they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
    they die and return to the dust.^(BL)
³⁰When you send your Spirit,^(BM)
    they are created,
    and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹May the glory of the Lord^(BN) endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works^(BO)—
³²he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,^(BP)
who touches the mountains,^(BQ) and they smoke.^(BR)

³³I will sing^(BS) to the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    as I rejoice^(BT) in the Lord.
³⁵But may sinners vanish^(BU) from the earth
    and the wicked be no more.^(BV)

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.^[b]^(BW)

Footnotes

Psalm 104:4 Or angels
Psalm 104:35 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; in the Septuagint this line stands at the beginning of Psalm 105.

Jeremiah 37:3-21

New International Version

³King Zedekiah, however, sent^(A) Jehukal^(B) son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah^(C) son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray^(D) to the Lord our God for us.”

⁴Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison.^(E) ⁵Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt,^(F) and when the Babylonians^[a] who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew^(G) from Jerusalem.^(H)

⁶Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: ⁷“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire^(I) of me, ‘Pharaoh’s army, which has marched^(J) out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt.^(K) ⁸Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture^(L) it and burn^(M) it down.’

⁹“This is what the Lord says: Do not deceive^(N) yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not! ¹⁰Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian^[b] army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn^(O) this city down.”

¹¹After the Babylonian army had withdrawn^(P) from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, ¹²Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property^(Q) among the people there. ¹³But when he reached the Benjamin Gate,^(R) the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”^(S)

¹⁴“That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested^(T) Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. ¹⁵They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten^(U) and imprisoned^(V) in the house^(W) of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.

¹⁶Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. ¹⁷Then King Zedekiah sent^(X) for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked^(Y) him privately,^(Z) “Is there any word from the Lord?”

“Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be delivered^(AA) into the hands of the king of Babylon.”

¹⁸Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime^(AB) have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? ¹⁹Where are your prophets^(AC) who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? ²⁰But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.”^(AD)

²¹King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread^(AE) in the city was gone.^(AF) So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.^(AG)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Jeremiah 37:5 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 8, 9, 13 and 14
Jeremiah 37:10 Or Chaldean; also in verse 11

1 Corinthians 14:13-25

New International Version

¹³For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say.^(A) ¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays,^(B) but my mind is unfruitful. ¹⁵So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit,^(C) but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing^(D) with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. ¹⁶Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer,^[a] say “Amen”^(E) to your thanksgiving,^(F) since they do not know what you are saying? ¹⁷You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified.^(G)

¹⁸I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. ¹⁹But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.^(H)

²⁰Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children.^(I) In regard to evil be infants,^(J) but in your thinking be adults. ²¹In the Law^(K) it is written:

“With other tongues
and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me,^(L)
says the Lord.”^[b]

²²Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy,^(M) however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. ²³So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?^(N) ²⁴But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, ²⁵as the secrets^(O) of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”^(P)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

1 Corinthians 14:16 The Greek word for inquirer is a technical term for someone not fully initiated into a religion; also in verses 23 and 24.
1 Corinthians 14:21 Isaiah 28:11,12

Matthew 10:24-33

New International Version

²⁴“The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master.^(A) ²⁵It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul,^(B) how much more the members of his household!

²⁶“So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.^(C) ²⁷What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. ²⁸Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One^(D) who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.^[a] ³⁰And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.^(E) ³¹So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.^(F)

³²“Whoever acknowledges me before others,^(G) I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. ³³But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.^(H)

Read full chapter