Old/New Testament
A song to praise God
26 At that time, people will sing this song in Judah:
We have a strong city, where we are safe.
The Lord has made it safe,
like strong walls that protect us all round.[a]
2 Open the gates of the city,
so that the righteous nation can come in.
They are the people who continue to be faithful.
3 Lord, you keep those people safe
who continue to trust in you.
You give them peace in their minds,
because they believe in you.
4 Trust in the Lord now and for ever!
The Almighty Lord will always be our strong Rock.
5 He brings down low the proud people who live in high places.
He destroys their cities.
He knocks down their cities
so that they fall to the ground and become dust.
6 The poor people and the helpless people
will walk all over it.
Trust in the Lord
7 Righteous people walk on a path that is flat. You make their path straight, Lord.
8 Yes, Lord, as we follow the path of your justice, we wait for you to help us. We really want people to know that you are great. We want them to praise your name.
9 During the night, I think about you a lot. When morning arrives, I want to be near to you in my spirit. When you come to judge people on the earth, then people will understand your justice.
10 If you are kind to wicked people, they will never learn to do what is right. They continue to do wrong things, even in a land where people are honest. They do not see that you are great, Lord.
11 Lord, you are ready to punish them, but they do not realize that. Make them see that you love your own people. Then they will become ashamed. In your anger, punish them with fire, as your enemies deserve.
12 Lord, you will give us peace. Everything that we have done, you have done on our behalf.
13 Lord, our God, other lords have ruled over us. But you are the only one that we worship.
14 Those other lords are dead. They will not live again. Their spirits will not rise up again. You punished them and you destroyed them. Nobody remembers them any more.
15 Lord, you have made our nation larger. You have made our nation larger and you have shown how great you are. You have made all the borders of our land grow bigger.
A sad prayer
16 Lord, when your people had trouble, they came to you for help. When you punished them, they turned to you and they prayed.
17 Because of your punishment, Lord, we had much pain. We were like a woman who is giving birth and she cries out with pain. 18 Yes, it seemed like we were pregnant and ready to give birth. But we could only give birth to wind! We could not do anything to make the land safe. We have no descendants who will bring new life to the world.
19 But Lord, your people who have died will live again. Their bodies will rise up from their graves. You people who live in the ground, wake up! Shout because you are happy. You bring new life to the earth, like dew that comes in the morning. Dead people will come up from the earth and they will live again.
20 My people, go into your homes. Shut the doors and hide yourselves for a short time. Wait there until the Lord is not angry any more. 21 Look! Now the Lord is coming from the place where he lives. He is coming to punish the people who live on the earth for their sins. The earth will clearly show the blood that murderers poured out on it. Murderers will no longer be able to hide the people that they have killed.
27 At that time, the Lord will punish Leviathan. The Lord will use his great and powerful sword to destroy that monster. Leviathan is a snake that moves very fast in the sea and it turns in every direction. But the Lord will kill it.
God will take care of his people
2 At that time, sing a song about a beautiful vineyard!
3 I, the Lord, keep it safe. I will continue to put water on it. I will guard it night and day, so that nobody can hurt it.
4 I am not angry now. If there were thorn bushes or weeds in my vineyard, I would attack them. I would burn them all. 5 But my enemies should turn to me for help. They should agree to live in peace with me. Yes, that is what they should do.
6 The time will come when Jacob will grow well, like a strong plant in the ground. Yes, Israel will make flowers and branches. Their fruit will fill all the world.
7 The Lord did not punish Israel's people as much as he punished their enemies. He did not kill them as much as he killed their enemies. 8 But Lord you sent your people to a land far away. That is how you punished them. You blew them away with a storm that came from the east. 9 In that way the Lord punished Jacob's descendants for their sins. They are no longer guilty. This will be the result when God has taken away Jacob's sin completely: All the stones in their altars will become small pieces of chalk. There will be no Asherah pole or altars for incense that continue to stand.
10 The strong city will become empty. Nobody will live there any more. It will be like an empty desert. Young cows will eat the grass there, and they will lie down there. They will eat all the leaves on the branches of the tree. 11 When the branches become dry, they break off the tree. Women will take the sticks and they will make fires with them. That is what these people are like. They do not understand anything. So their Maker will not help them or be kind to them.
12 At that time, the Lord will shake the tree! He will do that to his people everywhere from the River Euphrates to the Stream of Egypt.[b] Then he will bring together all of you, one by one, you Israelite people.
13 At that time, they will hear the sound of a loud trumpet. Then people who were dying in exile in Assyria will come. People who went away into Egypt will also come. They will worship the Lord on his holy hill in Jerusalem.[c]
Be more like Christ
2 You belong to Christ, and he makes you brave. His love makes you strong. You are able to help one another because his Spirit is in you. You can be kind to each other, and you can forgive each other. 2 Because of that, this is how you can make me completely happy: In your mind, think about things in the same way as one another. Love one another completely. In your spirit, agree with one another. And work together for the same purpose. 3 In the way that you live, do not just try to help yourself. Do not be proud. Instead, respect other people. Think about other people as more important than yourself. 4 Do not think only about the things that you want to do for yourself. Each of you should think also about how you can help other people.
5 You should think about things in the same way that Christ Jesus thought:
6 Christ had the same nature as God.
He was completely equal with God.
But he did not try to keep hold of that.
7 Instead, he chose to leave heaven.
He took for himself the nature of a slave.
He became like a human.
8 And when he lived as a man,
he made himself even less important.
He obeyed God completely, so that he died.
He even died on a cross![a]
9 Because of that, God then raised Jesus Christ to the most important place.
God gave him the name that is greater than every other name.
10 As a result, when people hear Jesus' name, they must worship him.
Everyone will have to go down on their knees in front of him.
That includes everything that is in heaven,
everything on the earth and everything under the earth.
11 Everyone will have to agree that Jesus Christ is Lord.
When they say that aloud, they will show that God the Father is very great.[b]
Christians must be like lights in the world
12 So, my friends, you must continue to obey God.[c] When I was with you, you always obeyed. Now that I am not with you, that is even more important. God has saved you. You must always live in a way which shows that is true. Respect God and obey him. Remember that he is great and powerful. 13 It is God himself who is working in you. Now you want to obey him, and he makes you strong to do that. When you obey him, that makes him very happy.
14 Whatever you are doing, do not complain. And do not argue. 15 Then you will not be guilty of anything that is wrong. You will be clean inside yourselves. You will be living in a completely good way, as God's children should. In this world, you are living among bad people who have turned away from what is good. But you must bring light into this dark place, like stars that shine in the night. 16 Tell people the true message that can give them life with God. Then I will know that my work among you had good results. Because of that, I will be very happy on the day when Christ returns.
17 You believe in Christ, and you are his servants. That is like you are offering yourselves as a sacrifice to God. Perhaps I will soon have to die. Then my blood would be like drink that I am pouring on your sacrifice, to please God. So, if I have to die now, I will be happy. And we should all be happy together. 18 Yes, it is right that you should be happy, and I will also be happy with you.
Timothy and Epaphroditus
19 I want to send Timothy to come to you soon. I hope that the Lord Jesus will let me do that. Then, when Timothy returns to me, he can tell me news about you. And that will make me happy. 20 Timothy really loves you, as I do. There is nobody else here with me like him. 21 Everyone else thinks only about themselves. They have no interest in the things that are important to Jesus Christ. 22 But you know what Timothy is like. He has worked with me like a son works to help his father. Together we have taught people God's good news. 23 That is why I hope to send him to you soon. But first, I want to know what will happen to me here. 24 The Lordhas helped me to hope that I will soon come to you myself.
25 Whatever happens, I think I must send Epaphroditus to come back to you.[d] He is our true Christian brother. He has worked with me to serve God together. We have worked hard, like soldiers. When I needed help, you sent him to me. He has helped me on your behalf. 26 Now he wants very much to see all of you again. He became very sad, because you heard the message that he was ill. 27 Certainly, he was very ill, and he almost died. But God was kind to him. And God was kind to me too. If Epaphroditus had died, I would have become even more sad. 28 So I want even more to send him back to you. Then you can be really happy, and I will not feel sad any more.
29 Receive Epaphroditus well when he comes, and be happy. Like you, he belongs to the Lord's people. You should respect people like him and be kind to them. 30 He nearly died because he was working to serve Christ. He came to help me, because you could not help me yourselves. He was even ready to die so that he could do that on your behalf.[e]
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.