Psalm 116

New King James Version

Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death

116 I ^(A)love the Lord, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
²Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.

³^(B)The ^[a]pains of death surrounded me,
And the ^[b]pangs of Sheol ^[c]laid hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
⁴Then I called upon the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!”

⁵^(C)Gracious is the Lord, and ^(D)righteous;
Yes, our God is merciful.
⁶The Lord preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
⁷Return to your ^(E)rest, O my soul,
For ^(F)the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

⁸^(G)For You have delivered my soul from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from falling.
⁹I will walk before the Lord
^(H)In the land of the living.
¹⁰^(I)I believed, therefore I spoke,
“I am greatly afflicted.”
¹¹^(J)I said in my haste,
^(K)“All men are liars.”

¹²What shall I render to the Lord
For all His benefits toward me?
¹³I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the Lord.
¹⁴^(L)I will pay my vows to the Lord
Now in the presence of all His people.

¹⁵^(M)Precious in the sight of the Lord
Is the death of His saints.

¹⁶O Lord, truly ^(N)I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, ^(O)the son of Your maidservant;
You have loosed my bonds.
¹⁷I will offer to You ^(P)the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the Lord.

¹⁸I will pay my vows to the Lord
Now in the presence of all His people,
¹⁹In the ^(Q)courts of the Lord’s house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

^[d]Praise the Lord!

Footnotes

Psalm 116:3 Lit. cords
Psalm 116:3 distresses
Psalm 116:3 Lit. found me
Psalm 116:19 Heb. Hallelujah

1 John 3

New King James Version

The Command to Love

3 Behold ^(A)what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that ^(B)we should be called children of ^[a]God! Therefore the world does not know ^[b]us, ^(C)because it did not know Him. ²Beloved, ^(D)now we are children of God; and ^(E)it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, ^(F)we shall be like Him, for ^(G)we shall see Him as He is. ³^(H)And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Sin and the Child of God

⁴Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and ^(I)sin is lawlessness. ⁵And you know ^(J)that He was manifested ^(K)to take away our sins, and ^(L)in Him there is no sin. ⁶Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

⁷Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. ⁸^(M)He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, ^(N)that He might destroy the works of the devil. ⁹Whoever has been ^(O)born of God does not sin, for ^(P)His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

The Imperative of Love^(Q)

¹⁰In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. ¹¹For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, ^(R)that we should love one another, ¹²not as ^(S)Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

¹³Do not marvel, my brethren, if ^(T)the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love ^[c]his brother abides in death. ¹⁵^(U)Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that ^(V)no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

The Outworking of Love

¹⁶^(W)By this we know love, ^(X)because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷But ^(Y)whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

¹⁸My little children, ^(Z)let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹And by this we ^[d]know ^(AA)that we are of the truth, and shall ^[e]assure our hearts before Him. ²⁰^(AB)For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ²¹Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, ^(AC)we have confidence toward God. ²²And ^(AD)whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments ^(AE)and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ ^(AF)and love one another, as He gave ^[f]us commandment.

The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error

²⁴Now ^(AG)he who keeps His commandments ^(AH)abides in Him, and He in him. And ^(AI)by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.