Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

²¹ “And ^(A)I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see ^(B)my judgment that I have executed, and ^(C)my hand that I have laid on them. ^22 (D)The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. ²³ And ^(E)the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that ^(F)I hid my face from them and ^(G)gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. ²⁴ I dealt with them ^(H)according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.

The Lord Will Restore Israel

²⁵ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now ^(I)I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on ^(J)the whole house of Israel, and ^(K)I will be jealous for my holy name. ²⁶ They shall ^(L)forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when ^(M)they dwell securely in their land with ^(N)none to make them afraid, ^27 (O)when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies' lands, ^(P)and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. ^28 (Q)Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. ^29 (R)And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when ^(S)I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”

The Certainty of God's Promise

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, ^(A)he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, ^(B)“Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵ And thus Abraham,^{[a] (C)}having patiently waited, obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes ^(D)an oath is final for confirmation. ¹⁷ So when God desired to show more convincingly to ^(E)the heirs of the promise ^(F)the unchangeable character of his purpose, ^(G)he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things, in which ^(H)it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope ^(I)set before us. ¹⁹ We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into ^(J)the inner place behind the curtain, ²⁰ where Jesus has gone ^(K)as a forerunner on our behalf, ^(L)having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.