Psalm 23

The Divine Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

Restoration and Protection Promised

Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,^[a] or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?^{(A) 26} Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?^{(B) 27} And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?^{[b] 28} And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³² For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God^[c] and his^[d] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.^(C)

³⁴ “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Jesus the Way to the Father

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe^[a] in God; believe also in me.^{(A) 2} In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?^{[b] 3} And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.^{(B) 4} And you know the way to the place where I am going.”^{[c] 5} Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.^{(C) 7} If you know me, you will know^[d] my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?^{(D) 10} Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.^{(E) 11} Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe^[e] because of the works themselves.^{(F) 12} Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If in my name you ask me^[f] for anything, I will do it.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep^[g] my commandments.^{(G) 16} And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,^[h] to be with you forever.^{(H) 17} This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be^[i] in^[j] you.^(I)

¹⁸ “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.^{(J) 21} They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”^{(K) 22} Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.^{(L) 24} Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.^(M)

²⁵ “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate,^[k] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.^{(N) 27} Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.^{(O) 28} You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.^{(P) 29} And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me,^{(Q) 31} but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us be on our way.^(R)

Life in the Spirit

8 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.^{(A) 2} For the law of the Spirit^[a] of life in Christ Jesus has set you^[b] free from the law of sin and of death.^{(B) 3} For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin,^[c] he condemned sin in the flesh,^{(C) 4} so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.^{[d](D) 5} For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit^[e] set their minds on the things of the Spirit.^{[f](E) 6} To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit^[g] is life and peace.^{(F) 7} For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot,^{(G) 8} and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit,^[h] since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.^{(H) 10} But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit^[i] is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus^[j] from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through^[k] his Spirit that dwells in you.^(I)

¹² So then, brothers and sisters, we are obligated, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.^{(J) 14} For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.^{(K) 15} For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba!^[l] Father!”^{(L) 16} it is that very Spirit bearing witness^[m] with our spirit that we are children of God,^{(M) 17} and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.^(N)

Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God, ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor, ²³ and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.^{(O) 24} For in^[n] hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes^[o] with groanings too deep for words.^{(P) 27} And God,^[p] who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit^[q] intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.^(Q)

²⁸ We know that all things work together^[r] for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.^{(R) 29} For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.^{[s](S) 30} And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.^(T)

God’s Love in Christ Jesus

³¹ What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?^{(U) 32} He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? ³³ Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.^{(V) 34} Who is to condemn? It is Christ^[t] who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.^{(W) 35} Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us.^{(Y) 38} For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,^{(Z) 39} nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.^{(A) 7} And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.^(B)

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.^(A)