Old/New Testament
The Song of Redeemed Judah
“We have a strong city;
God crafts victory,
its walls and ramparts.[c]
2 Open your[d] gates,
so the righteous nation that safeguards its faith may enter.
3 You will keep perfectly peaceful[e]
the one whose mind remains focused on you,
because he remains[f] in you.
4 “Trust in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord God[g] you have an everlasting rock.
5 For he has made drunk[h]
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low[i] to the ground
casting it down to the dust,
6 by the feet of the oppressed who trample it,[j]
by the footsteps of the needy.[k]
7 “The path of the righteous is level;
O Upright One,[l]
you make safe[m] the way of justice.[n]
8 Yes, Lord, in the path of your judgments we wait;[o]
your name and your Law[p] are the[q] soul’s desire.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me searches for you.
For when your judgments come upon the earth,
the world’s inhabitants learn righteousness.
10 If favor is shown to the wicked,
they don’t learn righteousness;
even in a land of uprightness they act perversely
and do not perceive the majesty of the Lord.
11 “Lord, your hand is lifted up,
but they do not see it.
And[r] let them see your zeal for your[s] people
and be put to shame—
yes, let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them!
12 Lord, you will decide[t] peace for us,
for you have indeed accomplished
all our achievements for us.
13 O Lord our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but through you alone
we acknowledge your name.
14 The dead won’t live,
and[u] the departed spirits won’t rise—
to that end, you punished and destroyed them,
then locked away[v] all memory of them.
15 “But you have enlarged the nation,[w] Lord;
you have enlarged the nation.[x]
You have gained honor;
you have extended all the borders of the land.
16 Lord, they[y] came to you in distress;
they poured out their secret[z] prayer
when your chastenings were[aa] afflicting[ab] them.
17 Just as a pregnant woman writhes
and cries out during her labor
when she is about to give birth,
so were we because of you, Lord.
18 We were pregnant, writhing in pain,
but we gave birth only to wind.
We have not won your[ac] victory on earth,
nor have the inhabitants of the world been born.”
The Resurrection of the Dead
19 “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise.
Those who live in the dust will wake up and shout for joy![ad]
For your dew is like the dew of dawn,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter your rooms
and shut your doors[ae] behind you.
Hide yourselves[af] for a little while
until the fury has passed by.
21 For see, the Lord is coming from his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their sins;
the earth will reveal the blood that has been shed on it,
and will no longer conceal its slain.”
Israel’s Deliverance
27 At that time,[ag] with his fierce, mighty, and powerful sword, the Lord will punish the gliding serpent Leviathan—the coiling serpent Leviathan—and he will kill the dragon that’s in the sea.
2 At that time,[ah]
“A fermenting[ai] vineyard—
sing about it!
3 I, the Lord, watch over it
And I water it continuously.
I guard it night and day
so no one can harm it.
4 I am not angry.
If only the vineyard[aj] could give me briers and thorns[ak] to battle,
I would march against it,
and[al] I would burn it all up.
5 Or else let it lay claim to my protection;
let it make peace with me,
yes, let it make peace with me.”
6 In times to come, Jacob will take root,
and[am] Israel will blossom, sprout shoots,
and fill the whole world with fruit.
7 Has the Lord[an] struck them down,
just as he struck down those who struck them?
Or have they been killed,
just as their killers were killed?
8 Measure by measure,[ao]
in their exile you contended with them;
with his fierce blast he removed them,
as on a day when the east wind blows.
9 By this, then, Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for,
and this will be the full harvest
that comes from the removal of his sin:
when he makes all the altar stones
like pulverized chalkstones,
no Asherah[ap] poles or incense altars will be left standing.
10 For the fortified city stands desolate,
a settlement abandoned and forsaken like the desert;
calves graze there,
and there they lie down
and strip bare its branches.
11 When its branches are dry,
they are broken off,
and women come and kindle fires with them,
since this is a people who show no consideration.
That is why the One who made them shows them no compassion;
the One who created them shows them no mercy.
Assyria and Egypt Exiles Redeemed
12 At that time,[aq] the Lord will winnow grain from the Euphrates River[ar] channel to the Wadi[as] of Egypt,[at] and you will be gathered in one by one, O people of Israel. 13 Furthermore, at that time,[au] a great trumpet will be sounded, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and those who had been expelled[av] to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on his holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Unity through Humility
2 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in the Messiah,[a] if there is any comfort of love, if there is any fellowship in the Spirit, if there is any compassion and sympathy, 2 then fill me with joy by having the same attitude, sharing the same love, being united in spirit, and keeping one purpose in mind. 3 Do not act out of selfish ambition or conceit, but with humility think of others as being better than yourselves. 4 Do not be concerned about your own interests, but also be concerned about[b] the interests of others. 5 Have the same attitude among yourselves[c] that was also in the Messiah[d] Jesus:[e]
6 In God’s own form existed he,
and shared with God equality,
deemed nothing needed grasping.
7 Instead, poured out in emptiness,
a servant’s form did he possess,
a mortal man becoming.
In human form he chose to be,
8 and lived in all humility,
death on a cross obeying.
9 Now lifted up by God to heaven,
a name above all others given,
this matchless name possessing.
10 And so, when Jesus’ name is called,
the knees of everyone should fall,[f]
wherever they’re residing.[g]
11 Then every tongue in one accord,
will say that Jesus the Messiah[h] is Lord,
while God the Father praising.
Blameless Living
12 And so, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only when I was with you but even more now that I am absent, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who is producing in you both the desire and the ability to do what pleases him. 14 Do everything without complaining or arguing 15 so that you may be blameless and innocent, God’s children without any faults among a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. Then I will be proud when the Messiah[i] returns[j] that I did not run in vain or work hard in vain.
17 Yet even if I am being poured out like an offering as part of the sacrifice and service I offer[k] for your faith, I rejoice, and I share my joy with all of you. 18 In the same way, you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.
News about Paul’s Companions
19 Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I can be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 I do not have anyone else like him who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. 21 For all the others look after their own interests, not after those of Jesus the Messiah.[l] 22 But you know his proven worth—how like a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. 23 Therefore, I hope to send him as soon as I see how things are going to turn out for me. 24 Indeed, I am confident in the Lord that I will come to visit you[m] soon.
25 Meanwhile, I thought it best to send Epaphroditus—my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and minister to my need—back to you. 26 For he has been longing for[n] all of you and is troubled because you heard that he was sick. 27 Indeed, he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow on top of another.[o] 28 Therefore, I am especially eager to send him so that you may have the joy of seeing him again, and so that I may feel relieved. 29 So joyfully welcome him in the Lord and make sure you honor such people highly, 30 because he came close to death for the work of the Messiah[p] by risking his life to complete what remained unfinished in your service to me.
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