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Psalm 7

A song[a] of David to the Eternal regarding Cush, the Benjaminite.

O Eternal my God, in You I seek refuge.
    Save me from those who are chasing me. Rescue me,
Or else they will tear me to pieces as a lion devours his prey;
    they will carry me off with no one to snatch me from their jaws.

O Eternal my God, if I have done anything wrong to deserve this,
    if there is blood on my hands,
If I have mistreated a friend,
    or if I have stolen from an adversary without just cause,
Then let my enemy come after me and catch me,
    stomping me into the ground, ending my life,
    and grinding my honor into the dirt.

[pause][b]

Arise, O Eternal One, inflamed by Your anger.
    Come and counter the rage of my adversaries;
    open Your eyes, my God; hear my plea for justice once and for all.

Let the people gather around You.
    Return to Your rightful place above them in the high court.
The Eternal will judge the nations.
    Judge me now, Eternal One, according to my virtue and integrity.

Please, bring the evil actions of these wicked, wicked people to an end!
    But secure the righteous,
For You, righteous God,
    examine our hearts and minds.
10 God is my defender;
    He rescues those who have a pure heart.
11 God is a just judge;
    He passes judgment daily against the person who does evil.

12 If the wicked do not turn from their evil deeds, God will sharpen His sword;
    He will bend His bow, stringing it in readiness.
13 Yes, He has prepared His deadly weapons
    with His arrows flaming hot.
14 See, my enemies are fertile with evil.
    They conceive trouble
    and give birth to deception.
15 They prepare a trap, digging a deep pit,
    and fall into the snare they have made.
16 The trouble they plan will return to punish them,
    and their violent acts will come back to haunt them.

17 As a result, I will thank the Eternal for His justice
    and sing praises in honor of the Eternal, Most High.

Footnotes

  1. 7:title Hebrew, shiggaion, meaning is uncertain.
  2. 7:5 Literally, selah, likely a musical direction from a Hebrew root meaning “to lift up”

Eternal One: I kept your teeth clean and your stomachs empty
        when famine struck all your cities and no food could be found in your towns,
    But still you did not come back to Me.

    I held back the rain from your fields
        when there were still three months left until harvest.
    I would send rain on one city
        but not on another.
    I would send rain on one field
        but not on another, so the dry field withered.
    So people from two or three towns stumbled to one
        that had water to drink, but they were still thirsty.
    And still you did not return to Me.

    I struck your crops with disease and mildew.
        Whatever survived in your gardens and vineyards,
    Whatever remained of your fig and olive trees, the locusts devoured;
        and still you did not return to Me.

10     I sent plagues on you like the plagues I unleashed upon Egypt.
        I slaughtered your young men in battle,
    Stole away your horses, and sent the stench
        of those bodies rotting in your camps reeking into your nostrils;
    And still you did not return to Me.

11     I destroyed some of you as I destroyed the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
        and those who survived were like a smoking branch plucked from the fire;
    And still you did not return to Me.

12     So this is what I am going to do to you, Israel.
        Because of what I am planning, prepare to meet your God, people of Israel!

13 Witness the One who shapes the mountains and fashions the wind,
    who reveals His thoughts to human beings,
Who changes dawn to darkness
    and treads upon the high places of the earth.
The Eternal God, Commander of heavenly armies, is His name.

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11 The central truth—the one you have heard since the beginning of your faith—is that we must love one another. 12 Please do not act like Cain, who was of the evil one. He brutally murdered his own brother.[a] Why would he do something so despicable? Because his life was devoted to evil and selfishness, and his brother chose to do what is right.

13 Brothers and sisters, don’t be shocked if the corrupt world despises you. 14 We know that we have crossed over from death to real life because we are devoted to true love for our brothers and sisters. Anyone who does not love lives among corpses.

Do you ever wonder if you are just silently sleeping through days, months, and years? There is one indicator of real life: true love for others.

15 Everyone who hates other members of God’s family is a murderer. Does a murderer possess the beautiful life that never ends? No. 16 We know what true love looks like because of Jesus. He gave His life for us, and He calls us to give our lives for our brothers and sisters.

17 If a person owns the kinds of things we need to make it in the world but refuses to share with those in need, is it even possible that God’s love lives in him?

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Footnotes

  1. 3:12 Genesis 4:8

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