Psalm 58

English Standard Version

God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David.

58 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?^[b]
Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
²No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands ^(C)deal out violence on earth.

³The wicked are ^(D)estranged from the womb;
    they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
⁴^(E)They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
    like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
⁵so that it ^(F)does not hear the voice of charmers
    or of the cunning enchanter.

⁶O God, ^(G)break the teeth in their mouths;
    tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
⁷Let them ^(H)vanish like water that runs away;
    when he ^(I)aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
⁸Let them be like the snail ^(J)that dissolves into slime,
    like ^(K)the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
⁹Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of ^(L)thorns,
    whether green or ablaze, may he ^(M)sweep them away!^[c]

¹⁰^(N)The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will ^(O)bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹Mankind will say, “Surely there is ^(P)a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who ^(Q)judges on earth.”

Footnotes

Psalm 58:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 58:1 Or you mighty lords (by revocalization; Hebrew in silence)
Psalm 58:9 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain

Revelation 1

English Standard Version

Prologue

1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God ^(A)gave him ^(B)to show to his servants^[a] the things that must soon take place. ^(C)He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, ²^(D)who bore witness to the word of God and to ^(E)the testimony of Jesus Christ, even ^(F)to all that he saw. ³^(G)Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, ^(H)for the time is near.

Greeting to the Seven Churches

⁴John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from ^(I)him ^(J)who is and ^(K)who was and who is to come, and from ^(L)the seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵and from Jesus Christ ^(M)the faithful witness, ^(N)the firstborn of the dead, and ^(O)the ruler of kings on earth.

To ^(P)him who loves us and ^(Q)has freed us from our sins by his blood ⁶and made us ^(R)a kingdom, ^(S)priests to ^(T)his God and Father, to him be ^(U)glory and ^(V)dominion forever and ever. Amen. ⁷Behold, ^(W)he is coming with the clouds, and ^(X)every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail^[b] on account of him. Even so. Amen.

⁸^(Y)“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, ^(Z)“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Vision of the Son of Man

⁹I, John, your brother and ^(AA)partner in ^(AB)the tribulation and ^(AC)the kingdom and ^(AD)the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos ^(AE)on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰^(AF)I was in the Spirit ^(AG)on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice ^(AH)like a trumpet ¹¹saying, ^(AI)“Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

¹²Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw ^(AJ)seven golden lampstands, ¹³and in the midst of the lampstands ^(AK)one like ^(AL)a son of man, ^(AM)clothed with a long robe and ^(AN)with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴^(AO)The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. ^(AP)His eyes were like a flame of fire, ¹⁵^(AQ)his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and ^(AR)his voice was like the roar of many waters. ¹⁶^(AS)In his right hand he held seven stars, ^(AT)from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and ^(AU)his face was like the sun shining ^(AV)in full strength.

¹⁷^(AW)When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But ^(AX)he laid his right hand on me, ^(AY)saying, “Fear not, ^(AZ)I am the first and the last, ¹⁸and the living one. ^(BA)I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and ^(BB)I have the keys of Death and Hades. ¹⁹^(BC)Write therefore ^(BD)the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. ²⁰As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and ^(BE)the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and ^(BF)the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Footnotes

Revelation 1:1 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; likewise for servant later in this verse
Revelation 1:7 Or mourn

Proverbs 22:5-6

English Standard Version

⁵^(A)Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;
whoever ^(B)guards his soul will keep far from them.
⁶^(C)Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.