Old/New Testament
A Song About God’s Loyalty
A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will always sing about the Lord’s love;
I will tell of his loyalty from now on.
2 I will say, “Your love continues forever;
your loyalty goes on and on like the sky.”
3 You said, “I made an agreement with the man of my choice;
I made a promise to my servant David.
4 I told him, ‘I will make your family continue forever.
Your kingdom will go on and on.’” Selah
5 Lord, the heavens praise you for your miracles
and for your loyalty in the meeting of your holy ones.
6 Who in heaven is equal to the Lord?
None of the angels is like the Lord.
7 When the holy ones meet, it is God they fear.
He is more frightening than all who surround him.
8 Lord God All-Powerful, who is like you?
Lord, you are powerful and completely trustworthy.
9 You rule the mighty sea
and calm the stormy waves.
10 You crushed the sea monster Rahab;
by your power you scattered your enemies.
11 The skies and the earth belong to you.
You made the world and everything in it.
12 You created the north and the south.
Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon sing for joy at your name.
13 Your arm has great power.
Your hand is strong; your right hand is lifted up.
14 Your kingdom is built on what is right and fair.
Love and truth are in all you do.
15 Happy are the people who know how to praise you.
Lord, let them live in the light of your presence.
16 In your name they rejoice
and continually praise your goodness.
17 You are their glorious strength,
and in your kindness you honor our king.
18 Our king, our shield, belongs to the Lord,
to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Once, in a vision, you spoke
to those who worship you.
You said, “I have given strength to a warrior;
I have raised up a young man from my people.
20 I have found my servant David;
I appointed him by pouring holy oil on him.
21 I will steady him with my hand
and strengthen him with my arm.
22 No enemy will make him give forced payments,
and wicked people will not defeat him.
23 I will crush his enemies in front of him;
I will defeat those who hate him.
24 My loyalty and love will be with him.
Through me he will be strong.
25 I will give him power over the sea
and control over the rivers.
26 He will say to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my Savior.’
27 I will make him my firstborn son,
the greatest king on earth.
28 My love will watch over him forever,
and my agreement with him will never end.
29 I will make his family continue,
and his kingdom will last as long as the skies.
30 “If his descendants reject my teachings
and do not follow my laws,
31 if they ignore my demands
and disobey my commands,
32 then I will punish their sins with a rod
and their wrongs with a whip.
33 But I will not hold back my love from David,
nor will I stop being loyal.
34 I will not break my agreement
nor change what I have said.
35 I have promised by my holiness,
I will not lie to David.
36 His family will go on forever.
His kingdom will last before me like the sun.
37 It will continue forever, like the moon,
like a dependable witness in the sky.” Selah
38 But now you have refused and rejected your appointed king.
You have been angry with him.
39 You have abandoned the agreement with your servant
and thrown his crown to the ground.
40 You have torn down all his city walls;
you have turned his strong cities into ruins.
41 Everyone who passes by steals from him.
His neighbors insult him.
42 You have given strength to his enemies
and have made them all happy.
43 You have made his sword useless;
you did not help him stand in battle.
44 You have kept him from winning
and have thrown his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut his life short
and covered him with shame. Selah
46 Lord, how long will this go on?
Will you ignore us forever?
How long will your anger burn like a fire?
47 Remember how short my life is.
Why did you create us? For nothing?
48 What person alive will not die?
Who can escape the grave? Selah
49 Lord, where is your love from times past,
which in your loyalty you promised to David?
50 Lord, remember how they insulted your servant;
remember how I have suffered the insults of the nations.
51 Lord, remember how your enemies insulted you
and how they insulted your appointed king wherever he went.
52 Praise the Lord forever!
Amen and amen.
God Is Eternal, and We Are Not
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90 Lord, you have been our home
since the beginning.
2 Before the mountains were born
and before you created the earth and the world,
you are God.
You have always been, and you will always be.
3 You turn people back into dust.
You say, “Go back into dust, human beings.”
4 To you, a thousand years
is like the passing of a day,
or like a few hours in the night.
5 While people sleep, you take their lives.
They are like grass that grows up in the morning.
6 In the morning they are fresh and new,
but by evening they dry up and die.
7 We are destroyed by your anger;
we are terrified by your hot anger.
8 You have put the evil we have done right in front of you;
you clearly see our secret sins.
9 All our days pass while you are angry.
Our years end with a moan.
10 Our lifetime is seventy years
or, if we are strong, eighty years.
But the years are full of hard work and pain.
They pass quickly, and then we are gone.
11 Who knows the full power of your anger?
Your anger is as great as our fear of you should be.
12 Teach us how short our lives really are
so that we may be wise.
13 Lord, how long before you return
and show kindness to your servants?
14 Fill us with your love every morning.
Then we will sing and rejoice all our lives.
15 We have seen years of trouble.
Now give us as much joy as you gave us sorrow.
16 Show your servants the wonderful things you do;
show your greatness to their children.
17 Lord our God, treat us well.
Give us success in what we do;
yes, give us success in what we do.
Do Not Criticize Other People
14 Accept into your group someone who is weak in faith, and do not argue about opinions. 2 One person believes it is right to eat all kinds of food.[a] But another, who is weak, believes it is right to eat only vegetables. 3 The one who knows that it is right to eat any kind of food must not reject the one who eats only vegetables. And the person who eats only vegetables must not think that the one who eats all foods is wrong, because God has accepted that person. 4 You cannot judge another person’s servant. The master decides if the servant is doing well or not. And the Lord’s servant will do well because the Lord helps him do well.
5 Some think that one day is more important than another, and others think that every day is the same. Let all be sure in their own mind. 6 Those who think one day is more important than other days are doing that for the Lord. And those who eat all kinds of food are doing that for the Lord, and they give thanks to God. Others who refuse to eat some foods do that for the Lord, and they give thanks to God. 7 We do not live or die for ourselves. 8 If we live, we are living for the Lord, and if we die, we are dying for the Lord. So living or dying, we belong to the Lord.
9 The reason Christ died and rose from the dead to live again was so he would be Lord over both the dead and the living. 10 So why do you judge your brothers or sisters in Christ? And why do you think you are better than they are? We will all stand before God to be judged, 11 because it is written in the Scriptures:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘Everyone will bow before me;
everyone will say that I am God.’” Isaiah 45:23
12 So each of us will have to answer to God.
Do Not Cause Others to Sin
13 For that reason we should stop judging each other. We must make up our minds not to do anything that will make another Christian sin. 14 I am in the Lord Jesus, and I know that there is no food that is wrong to eat. But if a person believes something is wrong, that thing is wrong for him. 15 If you hurt your brother’s or sister’s faith because of something you eat, you are not really following the way of love. Do not destroy someone’s faith by eating food he thinks is wrong, because Christ died for him. 16 Do not allow what you think is good to become what others say is evil. 17 In the kingdom of God, eating and drinking are not important. The important things are living right with God, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Anyone who serves Christ by living this way is pleasing God and will be accepted by other people.
19 So let us try to do what makes peace and helps one another. 20 Do not let the eating of food destroy the work of God. All foods are all right to eat, but it is wrong to eat food that causes someone else to sin. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that will cause your brother or sister to sin.
22 Your beliefs about these things should be kept secret between you and God. People are happy if they can do what they think is right without feeling guilty. 23 But those who eat something without being sure it is right are wrong because they did not believe it was right. Anything that is done without believing it is right is a sin.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.