Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 118
1 Give thanks to the Eternal because He is always good.
He never ceases to be loving and kind.
2 Let the people of Israel proclaim:
“He never ceases to be loving and kind.”
3 Let the priests of Aaron’s line proclaim:
“He never ceases to be loving and kind.”
4 Let the people who fear the Eternal proclaim:
“He never ceases to be loving and kind.”
5 When trouble surrounded me, I cried out to the Eternal;
He answered me and brought me to a wide, open space.
6 The Eternal is with me,
so I will not be afraid of anything.
If God is on my side, how can anyone hurt me?
7 The Eternal is on my side, a champion for my cause;
so when I look at those who hate me, victory will be in sight.
8 It is better to put your faith in the Eternal for your security
than to trust in people.
9 It is better to put your faith in Him for your security
than to trust in princes.
10 All these nations surround me, squeezing me from all sides;
with the name of the Eternal, I will destroy them.
11 They rose up against me, squeezed me from all sides, yes, from all sides;
with the name of the Eternal, I will destroy them.
12 They surrounded me like a swarm of bees;
they were destroyed quickly and thoroughly—
Flaring up like a pile of thorns—
with the name of the Eternal, I will destroy them.
13 I was pushed back, attacked so that I was about to fall,
but the Eternal was there to help me keep my balance.
14 He is my strength, and He is the reason I sing;
He has been there to save me in every situation.
15 In the tents of the righteous soldiers of God,
there are shouts of joy and victory. They sing:
“The right hand of the Eternal has shown His power.
16 The mighty arm of the Eternal is raised in victory;
the right hand of His has shown His power.”
17 I will not die. I will live.
I will live to tell about all the Eternal has done.
18 The Eternal has taught me many lessons;
He has been strict and severe,
but even in His discipline, He has not allowed me to die.
Early Christians found in the words of this psalm a wonderful way of describing the significance of Jesus. He was the rejected stone whom God made the cornerstone of a brand-new temple (verses 22–24).
19 Open wide to me the gates of justice
so that I may walk through them
and offer praise and worship to the Eternal.
20 This is the gate of the Eternal;
the righteous children of God will go through it.
21 I will praise You because You answered me when I was in trouble.
You have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very stone that holds together the entire foundation.
23 This is the work of the Eternal,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.[a]
24 This is the day the Eternal God has made;
let us celebrate and be happy today.
25 O Eternal One, save us, we beg You.
O Eternal One, we beg You, bring us success!
26 He who comes in the name of the Eternal will be blessed;[b]
we have blessed You from the house of the Eternal.
27 The Eternal is the True God;
He shines His light on us.
Let the feast begin.
Bring the sacrifice, and tie it to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I give You thanks;
You are my God, and I praise You.
29 Give thanks to our Eternal Lord; He is always good.
He never ceases to be loving and kind.
Psalm 145[a]
A song of praise by David.
1 I will lift my praise above everything to You, my God and King!
I will continually bless Your name forever and always.
2 My praise will never cease—
I will praise You every day;
I will lift up Your name forever.
3 The Eternal is great and deserves endless praise;
His greatness knows no limit, recognizes no boundary.
No one can measure or comprehend His magnificence.
4 One generation after another will celebrate Your great works;
they will pass on the story of Your powerful acts to their children.
5 Your majesty and glorious splendor have captivated me;
I will meditate on Your wonders, sing songs of Your worth.
6 We confess—there is nothing greater than You, God, nothing mightier than Your awesome works.
I will tell of Your greatness as long as I have breath.
7 The news of Your rich goodness is no secret—
Your people love to recall it
and sing songs of joy to celebrate Your righteousness.
8 The Eternal is gracious.
He shows mercy to His people.
For Him anger does not come easily, but faithful love does—and it is rich and abundant.
9 But the Eternal’s goodness is not exclusive—it is offered freely to all.
His mercy extends to all His creation.
10 All creation will stand in awe of You, O Eternal One.
Thanks will pour from the mouths of every one of Your creatures;
Your holy people will bless You.
11 They will not be silent; they will talk of the grandeur of Your kingdom
and celebrate the wonder of Your power
12 Until everyone on earth who has ears to hear knows Your valiant acts
and the splendor of Your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom will never end;
Your rule will endure forever.
[You are faithful to Your promise,
and Your acts are marked with grace.][b]
14 The Eternal sustains all who stumble on their way.
For those who are broken down, God is near. He raises them up in hope.
15 All eyes have turned toward You, waiting in expectation;
when they are hungry, You feed them right on time.
16 The desires of every living thing
are met by Your open hand.
17 The Eternal is right in all His ways,
and He is kind in all His acts.
18 The Eternal stays close to those who call on Him,
those who pray sincerely.
19 All of you who revere Him—
God will satisfy your desires.
He hears the cries for help, and He brings salvation.
20 All of you who love God—
He will watch out for you,
but total destruction is around the corner for all the wicked.
21 My lips will sing the praise of the Eternal.
Let every creature join me and praise the holy name of God—forever and always!
17 Ahithophel had a strategy for victory over David and advised Absalom.
Ahithophel: Let me choose 12,000 men, and tonight we will pursue David 2-3 while he is weak and weary. We’ll throw him into a panic; then all of the people will run away from him, come back to you, and be safe. I will strike down the king. If we take only the life of this one man here—your father—then everyone else can return to you.
4 This advice appealed to Absalom and to Israel’s elders.
Absalom: 5 Call in Hushai the Archite, and see what he thinks.
6 When Hushai arrived, Absalom told him what Ahithophel had advised.
Absalom: What do you think? Should we do as he suggests? If not, tell us what you’d advise.
Hushai: 7 I don’t think the advice from Ahithophel is good this time, and I’ll tell you why: 8 You know that your father and his men are hardened soldiers. Right now they’re angry, like a bear that’s been robbed of her cubs in the field. Also your father is such a wise warrior that he’ll know he’s our target. He won’t sleep in the same camp with his people. 9 He’s probably hidden in a cave or some other hole where he will be hard to find. When our troops start dying in the first attack, everyone will say, “Absalom’s men are being slaughtered.” 10 Then even the courageous warriors, the ones with the courage of lions, will disintegrate in fear. Everyone in Israel knows that your father is a true warrior, and those with him are hardened veterans.
11 No, my counsel is to take your time. Gather the people of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, so that you have a large army, like the grains of sand on the beach, and lead them into battle yourself. 12 Wherever David is, we will fall on him like the dew on the ground. We’ll kill him and all who defend him. No one will remain. 13 And if he slips into a fortified city, we’ll have so many men of Israel that we could lasso that city and pull it down into the valley, so that not even a stone would be left in place.
14 Absalom and his counselors decided that Hushai’s plan was better than Ahithophel’s, not knowing that the Eternal One had determined to thwart Ahithophel’s good advice and bring about Absalom’s destruction.
15 After Hushai advised Absalom, he went to the priests Zadok and Abiathar. He wasn’t certain what Absalom would do, so he told them Ahithopel’s plan and his own.
Hushai: 16 Quickly now, send a messenger to David. Tell the king to move deeper into the wilderness, across the river but away from the fords! If he remains where he is tonight, then he and all his followers will be swallowed by Absalom’s forces.
17 The priests’ sons, Jonathan and Ahimaaz, were waiting at En-rogel for news. A servant girl would bring them messages because they couldn’t risk being seen entering the city. When they had something to report, they would go tell King David. 18 But this time they were careless, and a boy saw them and reported it to Absalom. So the two men fled to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in the courtyard, and they lowered themselves into it. 19 The man’s wife put the cover over the well and spread out grain on top of it, so no one could see it was there. 20 When Absalom’s soldiers arrived, they questioned her.
Soldiers: Where are the traitors Ahimaaz and Jonathan?
Wife: Oh, they’ve crossed to the other side of the stream.
The soldiers looked for them, but when they couldn’t find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
21 After the soldiers left, they climbed out of the well and went to speak to King David.
Ahimaaz and Jonathan: Get ready to cross over the river into the wilderness quickly, because here is Ahithophel’s plan of action.
22 And knowing about the danger, David and everyone with him crossed over the Jordan River and moved deep into the wilderness. By daybreak not a single man loyal to David was left on the near side of the Jordan.
23 When Ahithophel saw that his plan was ignored, he knew the best hope for victory was lost. He saddled his donkey and went home; and after setting his affairs in order, he hanged himself and died. He was buried within his father’s tomb.
Paul primarily focuses on the efficacy of the death and resurrection of Jesus as the foundation of the church and of a right relationship with God, but he also correlates this with the presence of the Spirit. If the Spirit is working among the outsiders, it shows that they aren’t really “outsiders” when it comes to membership in the people of God. Paul supports this by showing how the presence of the Spirit is none other than the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham. However, the Spirit only came through Abraham’s descendant, that is, the new covenant with God is mediated by Jesus and the Spirit, not the law.
6 You remember Abraham. Scripture tells us, “Abraham believed God and trusted in His promises, so God counted it to his favor as righteousness.”[a] 7 Know this: people who trust in God are the true sons and daughters of Abraham. 8 For it was foretold to us in the Scriptures that God would set the Gentile nations right by faith when He told Abraham, “I will bless all nations through you.”[b] 9 So those who have faith in Him are blessed along with Abraham, our faithful ancestor.
10 Listen, whoever seeks to be righteous by following certain works of the law actually falls under the law’s curse. I’m giving it to you straight from Scripture because it is as true now as when it was written: “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t live by and do all that is written in the law.”[c] 11 Now it is absolutely clear that no one is made right with God through the law because the prophet Habakkuk told us, “By faith the just will obtain life.”[d] 12 The law is not the same thing as life formed by faith. In fact, you are warned against this when God says, “The one who observes My laws will live by them.”[e] I am trying to tell you that 13 the Anointed One, the Liberating King, has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. It was stated in the Scriptures, “Everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed by God.”[f] 14 This is what God had in mind all along: the blessing He gave to Abraham might extend to all nations through the Anointed One, Jesus; and we are the beneficiaries of this promise of the Spirit that comes only through faith.
30 I have not ever acted, and will not in the future act, on My own. I listen to the directions of the One who sent Me and act on these divine instructions. For this reason, My judgment is always fair and never self-serving. I’m committed to pursuing God’s agenda and not My own.
31 If I stand as the lone witness to My true identity, then I can be dismissed as a liar. 32 But if you listen, you will hear another testify about Me, and I know what He says about Me is genuine and true. 33 You sent messengers to John, and he told the truth to everyone who would listen. 34 Still his message about Me originated in heaven, not in mortal man. I am telling you these things for one reason—so that you might be rescued. 35 The voice of John the Baptist, the wandering prophet, is like a light in the darkness; and for a time, you took great joy and pleasure in the light he offered.
36 There’s another witness standing in My corner who is greater than John or any other man. The mission that brings Me here, and the things I am called to do, demonstrate the authenticity of My calling which comes directly from the Father. 37 In the act of sending Me, the Father has endorsed Me. None of you really knows the Father. You have never heard His voice or seen His profile. 38 His word does not abide in you because you do not believe in the One sent by the Father.
39 Here you are scouring through the Scriptures, hoping that you will find eternal life among a pile of scrolls. What you don’t seem to understand is that the Scriptures point to Me. 40 Here I am with you, and still you reject the truth contained in the law and prophets by refusing to come to Me so that you can have life.
Jesus is the source of life, the animating energy of creation that humanity desperately lacks.
41 This kind of glory does not come from mortal men. 42 And I see that you do not possess the love of God. 43 I have pursued you, coming here in My Father’s name, and you have turned Me away. If someone else were to approach you with a different set of credentials, you would welcome him. 44 That’s why it is hard to see how true faith is even possible for you: you are consumed by the approval of other men, longing to look good in their eyes; and yet you disregard the approval of the one true God. 45 Don’t worry that I might bring you up on charges before My Father. Moses is your accuser even though you’ve put your hope in him 46 because if you believed what Moses had to say, then you would believe in Me because he wrote about Me. 47 But if you ignore Moses and the deeper meaning of his writings, then how will you ever believe what I have to say?
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.