3 However, brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual [men], but as to nonspiritual [men of the flesh, in whom the carnal nature predominates], as to mere infants [in the new life] in Christ [^[a]unable to talk yet!]

² I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough [to be ready for it]; but even yet you are not strong enough [to be ready for it],

³ For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?

⁴ For when one says, I belong to Paul, and another, I belong to Apollos, are you not [proving yourselves] ordinary (unchanged) men?

⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Ministering servants [not heads of parties] through whom you believed, even as the Lord appointed to each his task:

⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was making it grow and [He] gave the increase.

⁷ So neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters, but [only] God Who makes it grow and become greater.

⁸ He who plants and he who waters are equal (one in aim, of the same importance and esteem), yet each shall receive his own reward (wages), according to his own labor.

⁹ For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers together) with and for God; you are God’s ^[b]garden and vineyard and field under cultivation, [you are] God’s building.^(A)

¹⁰ According to the grace (the special endowment for my task) of God bestowed on me, like a skillful architect and master builder I laid [the] foundation, and now another [man] is building upon it. But let each [man] be careful how he builds upon it,

¹¹ For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

¹² But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

¹³ The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.

¹⁴ If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward.

¹⁵ But if any person’s work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire.^(B)

¹⁶ Do you not discern and understand that you [the whole church at Corinth] are God’s temple (His sanctuary), and that God’s Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you [to be at home in you, ^[c]collectively as a church and also individually]?

¹⁷ If anyone ^[d]does hurt to God’s temple or corrupts it [^[e]with false doctrines] or destroys it, God will ^[f]do hurt to him and bring him to the corruption of death and destroy him. For the temple of God is holy (sacred to Him) and that [temple] you [^[g]the believing church and its individual believers] are.

¹⁸ Let no person deceive himself. If anyone among you supposes that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool [let him discard his worldly discernment and recognize himself as dull, stupid, and foolish, without true learning and scholarship], that he may become [really] wise.^(C)

¹⁹ For this world’s wisdom is foolishness (absurdity and stupidity) with God, for it is written, He lays hold of the wise in their [own] craftiness;^(D)

²⁰ And again, The Lord knows the thoughts and reasonings of the [humanly] wise and recognizes how futile they are.^(E)

²¹ So let no one exult proudly concerning men [boasting of having this or that man as a leader], for all things are yours,

²² Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas (Peter), or the universe or life or death, or the immediate and ^[h]threatening present or the [subsequent and uncertain] future—all are yours,

²³ And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Psalm 109

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹ O God of my praise! Keep not silence,

² For the mouths of the wicked and the mouth of deceit are opened against me; they have spoken to me and against me with lying tongues.

³ They have compassed me about also with words of hatred and have fought against me without a cause.

⁴ In return for my love they are my adversaries, but I resort to prayer.

⁵ And they have rewarded and laid upon me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

⁶ Set a wicked man over him [as a judge], and let [a malicious] accuser stand at his right hand.

⁷ When [the wicked] is judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer [for leniency] be turned into a sin.

⁸ Let his days be few; and let another take his office and charge.^(A)

⁹ Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

¹⁰ Let his children be continual vagabonds [as was Cain] and beg; let them seek their bread and be driven far from their ruined homes.^(B)

¹¹ Let the creditor and extortioner seize all that he has; and let strangers (barbarians and foreigners) plunder the fruits of his labor.

¹² Let there be none to extend or continue mercy and kindness to him, neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children.

¹³ Let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following let their names be blotted out.

¹⁴ Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

¹⁵ Let them be before the Lord continually, that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth!—

¹⁶ Because the man did not [earnestly] remember to show mercy, but pursued and persecuted the poor and needy man, and the broken in heart [he was ready] to slay.

¹⁷ Yes, he loved cursing, and it came [back] upon him; he delighted not in blessing, and it was far from him.

¹⁸ He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment, and it seeped into his inward [life] like water, and like oil into his bones.

¹⁹ Let it be to him as the raiment with which he covers himself and as the girdle with which he is girded continually.

²⁰ Let this be the reward of my adversaries from the Lord, and of those who speak evil against my life.

²¹ But You deal with me and act for me, O God the Lord, for Your name’s sake; because Your mercy and loving-kindness are good, O deliver me.

²² For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded and stricken within me.

²³ I am gone like the shadow when it lengthens and declines; I toss up and down and am shaken off as the locust.

²⁴ My knees are weak and totter from fasting; and my body is gaunt and has no fatness.

²⁵ I have become also a reproach and a taunt to others; when they see me, they shake their heads.^(C)

²⁶ Help me, O Lord my God; O save me according to Your mercy and loving-kindness!—

²⁷ That they may know that this is Your hand, that You, Lord, have done it.

²⁸ Let them curse, but do You bless. When adversaries arise, let them be put to shame, but let Your servant rejoice.

²⁹ Let my adversaries be clothed with shame and dishonor, and let them cover themselves with their own disgrace and confusion as with a robe.

³⁰ I will give great praise and thanks to the Lord with my mouth; yes, and I will praise Him among the multitude.

³¹ For He will stand at the right hand of the poor and needy, to save him from those who condemn his life.

Psalm 110

A Psalm of David.

¹ The Lord (God) says to my Lord (the Messiah), Sit at My right hand, until I make Your adversaries Your footstool.^(D)

² The Lord will send forth from Zion the scepter of Your strength; rule, then, in the midst of Your foes.^(E)

³ Your people will offer themselves willingly in the day of Your power, in the beauty of holiness and in holy array out of the womb of the morning; to You [will spring forth] Your young men, who are as the dew.

⁴ The Lord has sworn and will not revoke or change it: You are a priest forever, after the manner and order of Melchizedek.^(F)

⁵ The Lord at Your right hand will shatter kings in the day of His indignation.

⁶ He will execute judgment [in overwhelming punishment] upon the nations; He will fill the valleys with the dead bodies, He will crush the [chief] heads over lands many and far extended.^(G)

⁷ He will drink of the brook by the way; therefore will He lift up His head [triumphantly].

Psalm 111

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) I will praise and give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart in the council of the upright and in the congregation.

² The works of the Lord are great, sought out by all those who have delight in them.

³ His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever.

⁴ He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious, merciful, and full of loving compassion.

⁵ He has given food and provision to those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever and imprint it [on His mind].^(H)

⁶ He has declared and shown to His people the power of His works in giving them the heritage of the nations [of Canaan].

⁷ The works of His hands are [absolute] truth and justice [faithful and right]; and all His decrees and precepts are sure (fixed, established, and trustworthy).

⁸ They stand fast and are established forever and ever and are done in [absolute] truth and uprightness.

⁹ He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant to be forever; holy is His name, inspiring awe, reverence, and godly fear.

¹⁰ The reverent fear and worship of the Lord is the beginning of ^[a]Wisdom and skill [the preceding and the first essential, the prerequisite and the alphabet]; a good understanding, wisdom, and meaning have all those who do [the will of the Lord]. Their praise of Him endures forever.^(I)

Psalm 112

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who fears (reveres and worships) the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments.^(J)

² His [spiritual] offspring shall be mighty upon earth; the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

³ Prosperity and welfare are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.

⁴ Light arises in the darkness for the upright, gracious, compassionate, and just [who are in right standing with God].

⁵ It is well with the man who deals generously and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice.^(K)

⁶ He will not be moved forever; the [uncompromisingly] righteous (the upright, in right standing with God) shall be in everlasting remembrance.^(L)

⁷ He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is firmly fixed, trusting (leaning on and being confident) in the Lord.

⁸ His heart is established and steady, he will not be afraid while he waits to see his desire established upon his adversaries.

⁹ He has distributed freely [he has given to the poor and needy]; his righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God) endures forever; his horn shall be exalted in honor.^(M)

¹⁰ The wicked man will see it and be grieved and angered, he will gnash his teeth and disappear [in despair]; the desire of the wicked shall perish and come to nothing.