Old/New Testament

Psalm 113

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord!

² Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever

³ From the rising of the sun to the going down of it and from east to west, the name of the Lord is to be praised!

⁴ The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens!

⁵ Who is like the Lord our God, Who has His seat on high,

⁶ Who humbles Himself to regard the heavens and the earth!^(A)

⁷ [The Lord] raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap and the dung hill,

⁸ That He may seat them with princes, even with the princes of His people.

⁹ He makes the barren woman to be a homemaker and a joyful mother of [spiritual] children. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

Psalm 114

¹ When Israel came forth out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,

² Judah became [God’s] sanctuary (the Holy Place of His habitation), and Israel His dominion.^(B)

³ The [Red] Sea looked and fled; the Jordan [River] was turned back.^(C)

⁴ The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.

⁵ What ails you, O [Red] Sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?

⁶ You mountains, that you skip like rams, and you little hills, like lambs?

⁷ Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,

⁸ Who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters.^(D)

Psalm 115

¹ Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your name give glory, for Your mercy and loving-kindness and for the sake of Your truth and faithfulness!

² Why should the nations say, Where is now their God?

³ But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.

⁴ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

⁵ They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;

⁶ They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not;

⁷ They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither can they make a sound with their throats.

⁸ They who make idols are like them; so are all who trust in and lean on them.^(E)

⁹ O Israel, trust and take refuge in the Lord! [Lean on, rely on, and be confident in Him!] He is their Help and their Shield.

¹⁰ O house of Aaron [the priesthood], trust in and lean on the Lord! He is their Help and their Shield.

¹¹ You who [reverently] fear the Lord, trust in and lean on the Lord! He is their Help and their Shield.

¹² The Lord has been mindful of us, He will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, He will bless the house of Aaron [the priesthood],

¹³ He will bless those who reverently and worshipfully fear the Lord, both small and great.^(F)

¹⁴ May the Lord give you increase more and more, you and your children.

¹⁵ May you be blessed of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth!

¹⁶ The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth has He given to the children of men.

¹⁷ The dead praise not the Lord, neither any who go down into silence.

¹⁸ But we will bless (affectionately and gratefully praise) the Lord from this time forth and forever. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

6 Does any of you dare, when he has a matter of complaint against another [brother], to go to law before unrighteous men [men neither upright nor right with God, laying it before them] instead of before the saints (the people of God)?

² Do you not know that the saints (the believers) will [one day] judge and govern the world? And if the world [itself] is to be judged and ruled by you, are you unworthy and incompetent to try [such petty matters] of the smallest courts of justice?

³ Do you not know also that we [Christians] are to judge the [very] angels and pronounce opinion between right and wrong [for them]? How much more then [as to] matters pertaining to this world and of this life only!

⁴ If then you do have such cases of everyday life to decide, why do you appoint [as judges to lay them before] those who [from the standpoint] of the church count for least and are without standing?

⁵ I say this to move you to shame. Can it be that there really is not one man among you who [in action is governed by piety and integrity and] is wise and competent enough to decide [the private grievances, disputes, and quarrels] between members of the brotherhood,

⁶ But brother goes to law against brother, and that before [Gentile judges who are] unbelievers [without faith or trust in the Gospel of Christ]?

⁷ Why, the very fact of your having lawsuits with one another at all is a defect (a defeat, an evidence of positive moral loss for you). Why not rather let yourselves suffer wrong and be deprived of what is your due? Why not rather be cheated (defrauded and robbed)?

⁸ But [instead it is you] yourselves who wrong and defraud, and that even your own brethren [by so treating them]!

⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality,

¹⁰ Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.

¹¹ And such some of you were [once]. But you were washed clean (purified by a complete atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin), and you were consecrated (set apart, hallowed), and you were justified [pronounced righteous, by trusting] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God.

¹² Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power.

¹³ Food [is intended] for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will finally end [the functions of] both and bring them to nothing. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but [is intended] for the Lord, and the Lord [is intended] for the body [^[a]to save, sanctify, and raise it again].

¹⁴ And God both raised the Lord to life and will also raise us up by His power.

¹⁵ Do you not see and know that your bodies are members (bodily parts) of Christ (the Messiah)? Am I therefore to take the parts of Christ and make [them] parts of a prostitute? Never! Never!

¹⁶ Or do you not know and realize that when a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? The two, it is written, shall become one flesh.^(A)

¹⁷ But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.

¹⁸ Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,

²⁰ You were bought with a price [purchased with a ^[b]preciousness and paid for, ^[c]made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.