12 I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.

² Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

³ For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him.

⁴ For as in one physical body we have many parts (organs, members) and all of these parts do not have the same function or use,

⁵ So we, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ (the Messiah) and individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on one another].

⁶ Having gifts (faculties, talents, qualities) that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them: [He whose gift is] prophecy, [let him prophesy] according to the proportion of his faith;

⁷ [He whose gift is] practical service, let him give himself to serving; he who teaches, to his teaching;

⁸ He who exhorts (encourages), to his exhortation; he who contributes, let him do it in simplicity and liberality; he who gives aid and superintends, with zeal and singleness of mind; he who does acts of mercy, with genuine cheerfulness and joyful eagerness.

⁹ [Let your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good.

¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honor to one another.

¹¹ Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.

¹² Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer.

¹³ Contribute to the needs of God’s people [sharing in the necessities of the saints]; pursue the practice of hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you [who are cruel in their attitude toward you]; bless and do not curse them.

¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others’ joy], and weep with those who weep [sharing others’ grief].

¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty (snobbish, high-minded, exclusive), but readily adjust yourself to [people, things] and give yourselves to humble tasks. Never overestimate yourself or be wise in your own conceits.^(A)

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Psalm 85

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

¹ Lord, You have [at last] been favorable and have dealt graciously with Your land [of Canaan]; You have brought back [from Babylon] the captives of Jacob.

² You have forgiven and taken away the iniquity of Your people, You have covered all their sin. Selah [pause, and calmly realize what that means]!

³ You have withdrawn all Your wrath and indignation, You have turned away from the blazing anger [which You had let loose].

⁴ Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease [forever].

⁵ Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger [and disfavor] and spread it out to all generations?

⁶ Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?

⁷ Show us Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation.

⁸ I will listen [with expectancy] to what God the Lord will say, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints (those who are in right standing with Him)—but let them not turn again to [self-confident] folly.

⁹ Surely His salvation is near to those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, [and is ready to be appropriated] that [the manifest presence of God, His] glory may tabernacle and abide in our land.

¹⁰ Mercy and loving-kindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

¹¹ Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

¹² Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.

¹³ Righteousness shall go before Him and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk.

Psalm 86

A Prayer of David.

¹ Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and distressed, needy and desiring.

² Preserve my life, for I am godly and dedicated; O my God, save Your servant, for I trust in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, without fear or doubt].

³ Be merciful and gracious to me, O Lord, for to You do I cry all the day.

⁴ Make me, Your servant, to rejoice, O Lord, for to You do I lift myself up.

⁵ For You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive [our trespasses, sending them away, letting them go completely and forever]; and You are abundant in mercy and loving-kindness to all those who call upon You.

⁶ Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and listen to the cry of my supplications.

⁷ In the day of my trouble I will call on You, for You will answer me.

⁸ There is none like unto You among the gods, O Lord, neither are their works like unto Yours.

⁹ All nations whom You have made shall come and fall down before You, O Lord; and they shall glorify Your name.

¹⁰ For You are great and work wonders! You alone are God.

¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your name.^(A)

¹² I will confess and praise You, O Lord my God, with my whole (united) heart; and I will glorify Your name forevermore.

¹³ For great is Your mercy and loving-kindness toward me; and You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol [from the exceeding depths of affliction].

¹⁴ O God, the proud and insolent are risen against me; a rabble of violent and ruthless men has sought and demanded my life, and they have not set You before them.

¹⁵ But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy and loving-kindness and truth.

¹⁶ O turn to me and have mercy and be gracious to me; grant strength (might and inflexibility to temptation) to Your servant and save the son of Your handmaiden.

¹⁷ Show me a sign of [Your evident] goodwill and favor, that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because You, Lord, [will show Your approval of me when You] help and comfort me.

Psalm 87

A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A song.

¹ On the holy hills stands the city [of Jerusalem and the temple] God founded.

² The Lord loves the gates of Zion [through which the crowds of pilgrims enter from all nations] more than all the dwellings of Jacob (Israel).

³ Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah [pause, and calmly realize what that means]!

⁴ I will make mention of Rahab [the poetic name for Egypt] and Babylon as among those who know [the city of God]—behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia (Cush)—[saying], This man was born there.

⁵ Yes, of Zion it shall be said, This man and that man were born in her, for the Most High Himself will establish her.

⁶ The Lord shall count, when He registers the peoples, that this man was born there. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁷ The singers as well as the players on instruments shall say, All my springs (my sources of life and joy) are in you [city of our God].

Psalm 88

A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician; set to chant mournfully. A didactic or reflective poem of Heman the Ezrahite.

¹ O Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried to You for help by day; at night I am in Your presence.^(B)

² Let my prayer come before You and really enter into Your presence; incline Your ear to my cry!

³ For I am full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol (the place of the dead).

⁴ I am counted among those who go down into the pit (the grave); I am like a man who has no help or strength [a mere shadow],

⁵ Cast away among the dead, like the slain that lie in a [nameless] grave, whom You [seriously] remember no more, and they are cut off from Your hand.

⁶ You have laid me in the depths of the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

⁷ Your wrath lies hard upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!^(C)

⁸ You have put my [familiar] friends far from me; You have made me an abomination to them. I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

⁹ My eye grows dim because of sorrow and affliction. Lord, I have called daily on You; I have spread forth my hands to You.

¹⁰ Will You show wonders to the dead? Shall the departed arise and praise You? Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

¹¹ Shall Your steadfast love be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in Abaddon (Sheol, as a place of ruin and destruction)?

¹² Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the place of forgetfulness [where the dead forget and are forgotten]?

¹³ But to You I cry, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer come to meet You.

¹⁴ Lord, why do You cast me off? Why do You hide Your face from me?^(D)

¹⁵ I was afflicted and close to death from my youth up; while I suffer Your terrors I am distracted [I faint].

¹⁶ Your fierce wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me.

¹⁷ They surround me like a flood all day long; together they have closed in upon me.

¹⁸ Lover and friend have You put far from me; my familiar friends are darkness and the grave.