Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
    your faithfulness(A) to the skies.(B)
Your righteousness(C) is like the highest mountains,(D)
    your justice like the great deep.(E)
    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.(F)
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!(G)
    People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.(H)
They feast on the abundance of your house;(I)
    you give them drink from your river(J) of delights.(K)
For with you is the fountain of life;(L)
    in your light(M) we see light.

10 Continue your love(N) to those who know you,(O)
    your righteousness to the upright in heart.(P)

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19 “I myself said,

“‘How gladly would I treat you like my children
    and give you a pleasant land,(A)
    the most beautiful inheritance(B) of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’(C)
    and not turn away from following me.
20 But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
    so you, Israel, have been unfaithful(D) to me,”
declares the Lord.

21 A cry is heard on the barren heights,(E)
    the weeping(F) and pleading of the people of Israel,
because they have perverted their ways
    and have forgotten(G) the Lord their God.

22 “Return,(H) faithless people;
    I will cure(I) you of backsliding.”(J)

“Yes, we will come to you,
    for you are the Lord our God.
23 Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills(K)
    and mountains is a deception;
surely in the Lord our God
    is the salvation(L) of Israel.
24 From our youth shameful(M) gods have consumed
    the fruits of our ancestors’ labor—
their flocks and herds,
    their sons and daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame,(N)
    and let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned(O) against the Lord our God,
    both we and our ancestors;(P)
from our youth(Q) till this day
    we have not obeyed(R) the Lord our God.”

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Concerning Married Life

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”(A) But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife,(B) and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time,(C) so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan(D) will not tempt you(E) because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command.(F) I wish that all of you were as I am.(G) But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.(H)

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