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The Lord Can Be Trusted

(A) Praise the Lord
    and pray in his name!
Tell everyone
    what he has done.
Sing praises to the Lord!
    Tell about his miracles.
Celebrate and worship
his holy name
    with all your heart.

Trust the Lord
    and his mighty power.
Remember his miracles
and all his wonders
    and his fair decisions.
You belong to the family
    of Abraham, his servant;
you are his chosen ones,
    the descendants of Jacob.

The Lord is our God,
bringing justice
    everywhere on earth.
He will never forget
his agreement or his promises,
    not in thousands of years.
* (B) God made an eternal promise
10     (C) to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
11 when he said, “I'll give you
    the land of Canaan.”

12 At the time there were
only a few of us,
    and we were homeless.
13 We wandered from nation
to nation, from one country
    to another.
14 (D) God did not let anyone
    mistreat our people.
Instead he protected us
    by punishing rulers
15 and telling them,
“Don't touch my chosen leaders
    or harm my prophets!”

16 (E) God kept crops from growing
until food was scarce
    everywhere in the land.
17 (F) But he had already sent Joseph,
    sold as a slave into Egypt,
18 (G) with chains of iron
    around his legs and neck.

19 Joseph remained a slave
until his own words
    had come true,
and the Lord had finished
    testing him.
20 (H) Then the king of Egypt
    set Joseph free
21 (I) and put him in charge
    of everything he owned.
22 Joseph was in command
    of the officials,
and he taught the leaders
    how to use wisdom.

23 (J) Jacob and his family
came and settled in Egypt
    as foreigners.
24 (K) They were the Lord's people,
so he let them grow stronger
    than their enemies.
25 They served the Lord,
and he made the Egyptians plan
    hateful things against them.
26 (L) God sent his servant Moses.
He also chose and sent Aaron
27     to his people in Egypt,
and they worked miracles
    and wonders there.
28 (M) Moses and Aaron obeyed God,
and he sent darkness
    to cover Egypt.
29 (N) God turned their rivers
into streams of blood,
    and the fish all died.
30 (O) Frogs were everywhere,
    even in the royal palace.
31 (P) When God gave the command,
flies and gnats
    swarmed all around.

32 (Q) In place of rain,
God sent hailstones
    and flashes of lightning.
33 He destroyed their grapevines
    and their fig trees,
and he made splinters
    of all the other trees.
34 (R) God gave the command,
and more grasshoppers came
    than could be counted.
35 They ate every green plant
and all the crops that grew
    in the land of Egypt.
36 (S) Then God took the life
    of every first-born son.

37 (T) When God led Israel from Egypt,
they took silver and gold,
    and no one was left behind.
38 The Egyptians were afraid
    and gladly let them go.
39 (U) God hid them under a cloud
and guided them by fire
    during the night.

40 (V) When they asked for food,
he sent more birds
    than they could eat.
41 (W) God even split open a rock,
and streams of water
    gushed into the desert.
42 God never forgot
his sacred promise
    to his servant Abraham.

43 When the Lord rescued
his chosen people from Egypt,
    they celebrated with songs.
44 (X) The Lord gave them the land
and everything else
    the nations had worked for.
45 He did this so that his people
would obey all his laws.
    Shout praises to the Lord!

A Nation Asks for Forgiveness

(Y) We will celebrate
    and praise you, Lord!
You are good to us,
    and your love never fails.
No one can praise you enough
for all the mighty things
    you have done.
You bless those people
who are honest and fair
    in everything they do.

Remember me, Lord,
when you show kindness
    by saving your people.
Let me prosper with the rest
    of your chosen ones,
as they celebrate with pride
    because they belong to you.

We and our ancestors
    have sinned terribly.
(Z) When they were in Egypt,
    they paid no attention
to your marvelous deeds
    or your wonderful love.
And they turned against you
    at the Red Sea.[a]

But you were true to your name,
and you rescued them to prove
    how mighty you are.
(AA) You said to the Red Sea,[b]
    “Dry up!”
Then you led your people across
    on land as dry as a desert.
10 You saved all of them
11 and drowned every one
    of their enemies.
12 (AB) Then your people trusted you
    and sang your praises.

13 But they soon forgot
what you had done
    and rejected your advice.
14 (AC) They became greedy for food
and tested you there
    in the desert.
15 So you gave them
    what they wanted,
but later you destroyed them
    with a horrible disease.

16 (AD) Everyone in camp was jealous
of Moses and of Aaron,
    your chosen priest.
17 Dathan and Abiram rebelled,
and the earth opened up
    and swallowed them.
18 Then fire broke out
and destroyed all
    of their followers.

19 (AE) At Horeb your people
made and worshiped the statue
20     of a bull, instead of you,
    their glorious God.
21 You worked powerful miracles
    to save them from Egypt,
but they forgot about you
22 and the fearsome things
    you did at the Red Sea.[c]
23 You were angry and started
    to destroy them,
but Moses, your chosen leader,
    begged you not to do it.

24 (AF) They would not trust
    you, Lord,
and they did not like
    the promised land.
25 They would not obey you,
and they grumbled
    in their tents.
26 So you threatened them
by saying, “I'll kill you
    out here in the desert!
27 (AG) I'll scatter your children
    everywhere in the world.”

28 (AH) Your people became followers
    of a god named Baal Peor,
and they ate sacrifices
    offered to the dead.[d]
29 They did such terrible things
that you punished them
    with a deadly disease.
30 But Phinehas[e] helped them,
    and the sickness stopped.
31 Now he will always
    be highly honored.

32 (AI) At Meribah Spring[f]
they turned against you
    and made you furious.
33 Then Moses got into trouble
    for speaking in anger.

34 (AJ) Our Lord, they disobeyed you
by refusing to destroy
    the nations.
35 Instead they were friendly
with those foreigners
    and followed their customs.
36 Then they fell into the trap
    of worshiping idols.
37 (AK) They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons
38     (AL) and to the gods of Canaan.
Then they poured out the blood
of these innocent children
    and made the land filthy.
39 By doing such gruesome things,
    they also became filthy.

40 (AM) Finally, Lord, you were angry
and terribly disgusted
    with your people.
41 So you put them in the power
    of nations that hated them.
42 They were mistreated and abused
    by their enemies,
43 but you saved them
    time after time.
They were determined to rebel,
and their sins caused
    their downfall.

44 You answered their prayers
    when they were in trouble.
45 You kept your agreement
    and were so merciful
46 that their enemies
    had pity on them.

47 (AN) Save us, Lord God!
Bring us back
    from among the nations.
Let us celebrate and shout
    in praise of your holy name.

48 Lord God of Israel,
you deserve to be praised
    forever and ever.
Let everyone say, “Amen!
    Shout praises to the Lord!”

Footnotes

  1. 106.7 Red Sea: Hebrew yam suph, “Sea of Reeds,” one of the marshes or fresh water lakes near the eastern part of the Nile Delta. This identification is based on Exodus 13.17—14.9, which lists the towns on the route of the Israelites before crossing the sea. In the Greek translation of the Scriptures made about 200 b.c., the “Sea of Reeds” was named “Red Sea.”
  2. 106.9 Red Sea: See the note at 106.7.
  3. 106.22 Red Sea: See the note at 106.7.
  4. 106.28 the dead: Or “lifeless idols.”
  5. 106.30 Phinehas: The grandson of Aaron, who put two people to death and kept the Lord from being angry with the rest of his people (see Numbers 25.1-13).
  6. 106.32 Meribah Spring: See the note at 81.7.

Working Together for God

My friends, you are acting like the people of this world. That's why I could not speak to you as spiritual people. You are like babies as far as your faith in Christ is concerned. (A) So I had to treat you like babies and feed you milk. You could not take solid food, and you still cannot, because you are not yet spiritual. You are jealous and argue with each other. This proves you are not spiritual and you are acting like the people of this world.

(B) Some of you say you follow me, and others claim to follow Apollos. Isn't this how ordinary people behave? Apollos and I are merely servants who helped you to have faith. It was the Lord who made it all happen. (C) I planted the seeds, Apollos watered them, but God made them sprout and grow. What matters isn't those who planted or watered, but God who made the plants grow. The one who plants is just as important as the one who waters. And each one will be paid for what they do. Apollos and I work together for God, and you are God's garden and God's building.

Only One Foundation

10 God treated me with undeserved grace and let me become an expert builder. I laid a foundation on which others have built. But we must each be careful how we build, 11 because Christ is the only foundation. 12-13 Whatever we build on this foundation will be tested by fire on the day of judgment. Then everyone will find out if we have used gold, silver, and precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw. 14 We will be rewarded if our building is left standing. 15 But if it is destroyed by the fire, we will lose everything. Yet we ourselves will be saved, like someone escaping from flames.

16 (D) All of you surely know you are God's temple and his Spirit lives in you. 17 Together you are God's holy temple, and God will destroy anyone who destroys his temple.

18 Don't fool yourselves! If any of you think you are wise in the things of this world, you will have to become foolish before you can be truly wise. 19 (E) This is because God considers the wisdom of this world to be foolish. It is just as the Scriptures say, “God catches the wise when they try to outsmart him.” 20 (F) The Scriptures also say, “The Lord knows that the plans made by wise people are useless.” 21-22 So stop bragging about what anyone has done. Paul and Apollos and Peter[a] all belong to you. In fact, everything is yours, including the world, life, death, the present, and the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Footnotes

  1. 3.21,22 Peter: See the note at 1.12.

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