Old/New Testament
A song of praise from the Korah family.
87 The Lord built his city on the holy hills.
2 He loves the gates of Zion more than any other place in Israel.
3 Wonderful things are said about you, City of God. Selah
4 God says, “Some of my people live in Egypt[a] and Babylon.
Some of them were born in Philistia, Tyre, and even Ethiopia.”
5 But about Zion he says,
“I know each and every person born there.”
It is the city built by God Most High.
6 The Lord keeps a list of all his people,
and he knows where each of them was born. Selah
7 At the festivals, people will dance and sing,
“All good things come from Zion.”
A song from the Korah family. To the director: About a painful sickness. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
88 Lord God, you are my Savior.
I have been praying to you day and night.
2 Please pay attention to my prayers.
Listen to my prayers for mercy.
3 My soul has had enough of this pain!
I am ready to die.
4 People already treat me like a dead man,
like someone too weak to live.
5 Look for me among the dead,
like a body in the grave.
I am one of those you have forgotten,
cut off from you and your care.
6 You put me in that hole in the ground.
Yes, you put me in that dark place.
7 Your anger presses down on me like a heavy weight.
It’s like one wave after another pounding against me. Selah
8 You made my friends leave me.
They all avoid me like someone no one wants to touch.
Like a prisoner in my house, I cannot go out.
9 My eyes hurt from crying.
Lord, I pray to you constantly!
I lift my arms in prayer to you.
10 Do you do miracles for the dead?
Do ghosts rise up and praise you? No! Selah
11 The dead in their graves cannot talk about your faithful love.
People in the world of the dead[b] cannot talk about your faithfulness.
12 The dead who lie in darkness cannot see the amazing things you do.
Those in the world of the forgotten cannot talk about your goodness.
13 Lord, I am asking you to help me!
Early each morning I pray to you.
14 Lord, why have you abandoned me?
Why do you refuse to listen to me?
15 I have been sick and weak since I was young.
I have suffered your anger, and I am helpless.
16 Your anger covers me like a flood.
Your attacks are killing me.
17 They surround me on every side.
I feel like a drowning man.
18 You caused my friends and loved ones to leave me.
Now darkness is my closest friend.
Obey Your Government Rulers
13 All of you must obey the government rulers. Everyone who rules was given the power to rule by God. And all those who rule now were given that power by God. 2 So anyone who is against the government is really against something God has commanded. Those who are against the government bring punishment on themselves. 3 People who do right don’t have to fear the rulers. But those who do wrong must fear them. Do you want to be free from fearing them? Then do only what is right, and they will praise you.
4 Rulers are God’s servants to help you. But if you do wrong, you have reason to be afraid. They have the power to punish, and they will use it. They are God’s servants to punish those who do wrong. 5 So you must obey the government, not just because you might be punished, but because you know it is the right thing to do.
6 And this is why you pay taxes too. Those rulers are working for God, and they give all their time to the work of ruling. 7 Give everyone what you owe them. If you owe them any kind of tax, then pay it. Show respect to those you should respect. And show honor to those you should honor.
Loving Others Is the Only Law
8 You should owe nothing to anyone, except that you will always owe love to each other. The person who loves others has done all that the law commands. 9 The law says, “You must not commit adultery, you must not murder anyone, you must not steal, you must not want what belongs to someone else.”[a] All these commands and all other commands are really only one rule: “Love your neighbor[b] the same as you love yourself.”[c] 10 Love doesn’t hurt others. So loving is the same as obeying all the law.
11 I say this because you know that we live in an important time. Yes, it is now time for you to wake up from your sleep. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost finished. The day is almost here. So we should stop doing whatever belongs to darkness. We should prepare ourselves to fight evil with the weapons that belong to the light. 13 We should live in a right way, like people who belong to the day. We should not have wild parties or be drunk. We should not be involved in sexual sin or any kind of immoral behavior. We should not cause arguments and trouble or be jealous. 14 But be like the Lord Jesus Christ, so that when people see what you do, they will see Christ. Don’t think about how to satisfy the desires of your sinful self.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International