Psalm 39-41
New American Standard Bible 1995
The Vanity of Life.
For the choir director, for [a]Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
39 I said, “I will (A)guard my ways
That I (B)may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard (C)my mouth as with a muzzle
While the wicked are in my presence.”
2 I was (D)mute [b]and silent,
I [c]refrained even from good,
And my [d]sorrow grew worse.
3 My (E)heart was hot within me,
While I was musing the fire burned;
Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, make me to know (F)my end
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how (G)transient I am.
5 “Behold, You have made (H)my days as handbreadths,
And my (I)lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man [e]at his best is [f]a mere (J)breath. [g]Selah.
6 “Surely every man (K)walks about as [h]a phantom;
Surely they make an (L)uproar for nothing;
He (M)amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.
7 “And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
My (N)hope is in You.
8 “(O)Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Make me not the (P)reproach of the foolish.
9 “I have become (Q)mute, I do not open my mouth,
Because it is (R)You who have done it.
10 “(S)Remove Your plague from me;
Because of (T)the opposition of Your hand I am [i]perishing.
11 “With (U)reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity;
You (V)consume as a moth what is precious to him;
Surely (W)every man is a mere breath. Selah.
12 “(X)Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry;
Do not be silent (Y)at my tears;
For I am (Z)a stranger with You,
A (AA)sojourner like all my fathers.
13 “(AB)Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may [j]smile again
Before I depart and am no more.”
God Sustains His Servant.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
40 I (AC)waited [k]patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and (AD)heard my cry.
2 He brought me up out of the (AE)pit of destruction, out of the [l]miry clay,
And (AF)He set my feet upon a rock (AG)making my footsteps firm.
3 He put a (AH)new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will (AI)see and fear
And will trust in the Lord.
4 How (AJ)blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust,
And (AK)has not [m]turned to the proud, nor to those who (AL)lapse into falsehood.
5 Many, O Lord my God, are (AM)the wonders which You have done,
And Your (AN)thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They (AO)would be too numerous to count.
6 [n](AP)Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;
My ears You have [o]opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is [p]written of me.
8 (AQ)I delight to do Your will, O my God;
(AR)Your Law is within my heart.”
9 I have (AS)proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;
Behold, I will (AT)not restrain my lips,
O Lord, (AU)You know.
10 I have (AV)not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have (AW)spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.
11 You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me;
[q]Your (AX)lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
12 For evils beyond number have (AY)surrounded me;
My (AZ)iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see;
They are (BA)more numerous than the hairs of my head,
And my (BB)heart has [r]failed me.
13 (BC)Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
Make (BD)haste, O Lord, to help me.
14 Let those be (BE)ashamed and humiliated together
Who (BF)seek my [s]life to destroy it;
Let those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight [t]in my hurt.
15 Let those (BG)be [u]appalled because of their shame
Who (BH)say to me, “Aha, aha!”
16 (BI)Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let those who love Your salvation (BJ)say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
17 Since (BK)I am afflicted and needy,
[v](BL)Let the Lord be mindful of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.
The Psalmist in Sickness Complains of Enemies and False Friends.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
41 How blessed is he who (BM)considers the [w]helpless;
The Lord will deliver him (BN)in a day of [x]trouble.
2 The Lord will (BO)protect him and keep him alive,
And he shall [y]be called (BP)blessed upon the earth;
And (BQ)do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.
3 The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed;
In his illness, You [z]restore him to health.
4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
(BR)Heal my soul, for (BS)I have sinned against You.”
5 My enemies (BT)speak evil against me,
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And [aa]when he comes to see me, he (BU)speaks [ab]falsehood;
His heart gathers wickedness to itself;
When he goes outside, he tells it.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they (BV)devise my hurt, saying,
8 “A wicked thing is poured out [ac]upon him,
That when he lies down, he will (BW)not rise up again.”
9 Even my (BX)close friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.
10 But You, O Lord, be gracious to me and (BY)raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11 By this I know that (BZ)You are pleased with me,
Because (CA)my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.
12 As for me, (CB)You uphold me in my integrity,
And You set me (CC)in Your presence forever.
13 (CD)Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
Footnotes
- Psalm 39:1 1 Chr 16:41
- Psalm 39:2 Lit with silence
- Psalm 39:2 Lit kept silence
- Psalm 39:2 Lit pain
- Psalm 39:5 Lit standing firm
- Psalm 39:5 Or altogether vanity
- Psalm 39:5 Selah may mean: Pause, Crescendo or Musical interlude
- Psalm 39:6 Lit an image
- Psalm 39:10 Or wasting away
- Psalm 39:13 Or become cheerful
- Psalm 40:1 Or intently
- Psalm 40:2 Lit mud of the mire
- Psalm 40:4 Lit regard
- Psalm 40:6 I.e. Blood sacrifice
- Psalm 40:6 Lit dug; or possibly pierced
- Psalm 40:7 Or prescribed for
- Psalm 40:11 Or May...preserve
- Psalm 40:12 Lit forsaken
- Psalm 40:14 Or soul
- Psalm 40:14 Or to injure me
- Psalm 40:15 Or desolated
- Psalm 40:17 Or The Lord is mindful
- Psalm 41:1 Or poor
- Psalm 41:1 Or evil
- Psalm 41:2 Or be blessed
- Psalm 41:3 Lit turn all his bed
- Psalm 41:6 Or if he
- Psalm 41:6 Or emptiness
- Psalm 41:8 Or within
Ephesians 5
New American Standard Bible 1995
Be Imitators of God
5 (A)Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and (B)walk in love, just as Christ also (C)loved [a]you and (D)gave Himself up for us, an (E)offering and a sacrifice to God [b]as a (F)fragrant aroma.
3 But (G)immorality [c]or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among [d]saints; 4 and there must be no (H)filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which (I)are not fitting, but rather (J)giving of thanks. 5 For this you know with certainty, that (K)no [e]immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom (L)of Christ and God.
6 (M)Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things (N)the wrath of God comes upon (O)the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be (P)partakers with them; 8 for (Q)you were formerly (R)darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as (S)children of Light 9 (for (T)the fruit of the Light consists in all (U)goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 [f](V)trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 (W)Do not participate in the unfruitful (X)deeds of (Y)darkness, but instead even [g](Z)expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible (AA)when they are [h]exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14 For this reason [i]it says,
15 Therefore [j]be careful how you (AE)walk, not (AF)as unwise men but as wise, 16 [k](AG)making the most of your time, because (AH)the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but (AI)understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And (AJ)do not get drunk with wine, [l]for that is (AK)dissipation, but be (AL)filled with the Spirit, 19 (AM)speaking to [m]one another in (AN)psalms and (AO)hymns and spiritual (AP)songs, (AQ)singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 (AR)always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to [n](AS)God, even the Father; 21 [o](AT)and be subject to one another in the [p](AU)fear of Christ.
Marriage Like Christ and the Church
22 (AV)Wives, (AW)be subject to your own husbands, (AX)as to the Lord. 23 For (AY)the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the (AZ)head of the church, He Himself (BA)being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
25 (BB)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and (BC)gave Himself up for her, 26 (BD)so that He might sanctify her, having (BE)cleansed her by the (BF)washing of water with (BG)the word, 27 that He might (BH)present to Himself the church [q]in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be (BI)holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to (BJ)love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are (BK)members of His (BL)body. 31 (BM)For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to (BN)love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she [r](BO)respects her husband.
Footnotes
- Ephesians 5:2 One early ms reads us
- Ephesians 5:2 Lit for an odor of fragrance
- Ephesians 5:3 Lit and all
- Ephesians 5:3 Or holy ones
- Ephesians 5:5 I.e. one who commits sexual immorality
- Ephesians 5:10 Lit proving what
- Ephesians 5:11 Or reprove
- Ephesians 5:13 Or reproved
- Ephesians 5:14 Or He
- Ephesians 5:15 Lit look carefully
- Ephesians 5:16 Lit redeeming the time
- Ephesians 5:18 Lit in which is
- Ephesians 5:19 Or yourselves
- Ephesians 5:20 Lit the God and Father
- Ephesians 5:21 Lit being subject
- Ephesians 5:21 Or reverence
- Ephesians 5:27 Lit glorious
- Ephesians 5:33 Lit fear
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
