¹² Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His heritage.

¹³ The Lord looks from heaven, He beholds all the sons of men;

¹⁴ From His dwelling place He looks [intently] upon all the inhabitants of the earth—

¹⁵ He Who fashions the hearts of them all, Who considers all their doings.

¹⁶ No king is saved by the great size and power of his army; a mighty man is not delivered by [his] much strength.

¹⁷ A horse is devoid of value for victory; neither does he deliver any by his great power.

¹⁸ Behold, the Lord’s eye is upon those who fear Him [who revere and worship Him with awe], who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness,

¹⁹ To deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.

²⁰ Our inner selves wait [earnestly] for the Lord; He is our Help and our Shield.

²¹ For in Him does our heart rejoice, because we have trusted (relied on and been confident) in His holy name.

²² Let Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, in proportion to our waiting and hoping for You.

37 Indeed, [at His thunderings] my heart also trembles and leaps out of its place.

² Hear, oh, hear the roar of His voice and the sound of rumbling that goes out of His mouth!

³ Under the whole heaven He lets it loose, and His lightning to the ends of the earth.

⁴ After it His voice roars; He thunders with the voice of His majesty, and He restrains not [His lightnings against His adversaries] when His voice is heard.

⁵ God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.

⁶ For He says to the snow, Fall on the earth; likewise He speaks to the showers and to the downpour of His mighty rains.

⁷ God seals up (stops, brings to a standstill by severe weather) the hand of every man [and now under His seal their hands are forced to inactivity], that all men whom He has made may know His doings (His sovereign power and their subjection to it).

⁸ Then the beasts go into dens and remain in their lairs.

⁹ Out of its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds.

¹⁰ By the breath of God ice is given, and the breadth of the waters is frozen over.^(A)

¹¹ He loads the thick cloud with moisture; He scatters the cloud of His lightning.

¹² And it is turned round about by His guidance, that they may do whatever He commands them upon the face of the habitable earth.

¹³ Whether it be for correction or for His earth [generally] or for His mercy and loving-kindness, He causes it to come.^(B)

⁵⁰ But I tell you this, brethren, flesh and blood cannot [become partakers of eternal salvation and] inherit or share in the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable (that which is decaying) inherit or share in the imperishable (the immortal).

⁵¹ Take notice! I tell you a mystery (a secret truth, an event decreed by the hidden purpose or counsel of God). We shall not all fall asleep [in death], but we shall all be changed (transformed)

⁵² In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the [sound of the] last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound, and the dead [in Christ] will be raised imperishable (free and immune from decay), and we shall be changed (transformed).

⁵³ For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable [nature], and this mortal [part of us, this nature that is capable of dying] must put on immortality (freedom from death).

⁵⁴ And when this perishable puts on the imperishable and this that was capable of dying puts on freedom from death, then shall be fulfilled the Scripture that says, Death is swallowed up (utterly vanquished ^[a]forever) in and unto victory.^(A)

⁵⁵ O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?^(B)

⁵⁶ Now sin is the sting of death, and sin exercises its power ^[b][upon the soul] through ^[c][the abuse of] the Law.

⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory [making us conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.