Old/New Testament
Judah Will Celebrate
26 At that time[a] this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city!
The Lord’s[b] deliverance, like walls and a rampart, makes it secure.[c]
2 Open the gates so a righteous nation can enter—
one that remains trustworthy.
3 You keep completely safe the people who maintain their faith,
for they trust in you.[d]
4 Trust in the Lord from this time forward,[e]
even in Yah, the Lord, an enduring protector![f]
5 Indeed,[g] the Lord knocks down those who live in a high place,
he brings down an elevated town;
he brings it down to the ground,[h]
he throws it down to the dust.
6 It is trampled underfoot
by the feet of the oppressed,
by the soles of the poor.”
God’s People Anticipate Vindication
7 [i] The way of the righteous is level,
the path of the righteous that you prepare is straight.[j]
8 Yes, as your judgments unfold,[k]
O Lord, we wait for you.
We desire your fame and reputation to grow.[l]
9 I[m] look for[n] you during the night;
my spirit within me seeks you at dawn,
for when your judgments come upon the earth,
those who live in the world learn about justice.[o]
10 If the wicked are shown mercy,
they do not learn about justice.[p]
Even in a land where right is rewarded, they act unjustly;[q]
they do not see the Lord’s majesty revealed.
11 O Lord, you are ready to act,[r]
but they don’t even notice.
They will see and be put to shame by your angry judgment against humankind;[s]
yes, fire will consume your enemies.[t]
12 O Lord, you make us secure,[u]
for even all we have accomplished, you have done for us.[v]
13 O Lord, our God,
masters other than you have ruled us,
but we praise your name alone.
14 The dead do not come back to life,
the spirits of the dead do not rise.[w]
That is because[x] you came in judgment[y] and destroyed them,
you wiped out all memory of them.
15 You have made the nation larger,[z] O Lord;
you have made the nation larger and revealed your splendor;[aa]
you have extended all the borders of the land.
16 O Lord, in distress they looked for you;
they uttered incantations because of your discipline.[ab]
17 As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver
and strains and cries out because of her labor pains,
so were we because of you, O Lord.
18 We were pregnant, we strained,
we gave birth, as it were, to wind.[ac]
We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;
no people are born to populate the world.[ad]
19 [ae] Your dead will come back to life;
your corpses will rise up.
Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground![af]
For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew,[ag]
and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits.[ah]
20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!
Close your doors behind you!
Hide for a little while,
until his angry judgment is over.[ai]
21 For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives,[aj]
to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.
The earth will display the blood shed on it;
it will no longer cover up its slain.[ak]
27 At that time[al] the Lord will punish
with his destructive,[am] great, and powerful sword
Leviathan the fast-moving[an] serpent,
Leviathan the squirming serpent;
he will kill the sea monster.[ao]
2 When that time comes,[ap]
sing about a delightful vineyard![aq]
3 “I, the Lord, protect it;[ar]
I water it regularly.[as]
I guard it night and day,
so no one can harm it.[at]
4 I am not angry.
I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!
Then I would march against them[au] for battle;
I would set them[av] all on fire,
5 unless they became my subjects[aw]
and made peace with me;
let them make peace with me.”[ax]
6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root;[ay]
Israel will blossom and grow branches.
The produce[az] will fill the surface of the world.[ba]
7 Has the Lord struck down Israel as he did their oppressors?[bb]
Has Israel been killed like their enemies?[bc]
8 When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her;[bd]
he drives her away[be] with his strong wind in the day of the east wind.[bf]
9 So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven,[bg]
and this is how they will show they are finished sinning:[bh]
They will make all the stones of the altars[bi]
like crushed limestone,
and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand.[bj]
10 For the fortified city[bk] is left alone;
it is a deserted settlement
and abandoned like the wilderness.
Calves[bl] graze there;
they lie down there
and eat its branches bare.[bm]
11 When its branches get brittle,[bn] they break;
women come and use them for kindling.[bo]
For these people lack understanding,[bp]
therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;
the one who formed them has no mercy on them.
12 At that time[bq] the Lord will shake the tree,[br] from the Euphrates River[bs] to the Stream of Egypt. Then you will be gathered up one by one, O Israelites.[bt] 13 At that time[bu] a large[bv] trumpet will be blown, and the ones lost[bw] in the land of Assyria will come, as well as the refugees in[bx] the land of Egypt. They will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Christian Unity and Christ’s Humility
2 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit,[a] any affection or mercy,[b] 2 complete my joy and be of the same mind,[c] by having the same love, being united in spirit,[d] and having one purpose. 3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition[e] or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. 4 Each of you should be concerned[f] not only[g] about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well.[h] 5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,[i]
6 [j] who though he existed in the form of God[k]
did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself
by taking on the form of a slave,[l]
by looking like other men,[m]
and by sharing in human nature.[n]
8 He humbled himself,
by becoming obedient to the point of death
—even death on a cross!
9 As a result God highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow
—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—
11 and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
Lights in the World
12 So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence,[o] 13 for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God. 14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world[p] 16 by holding on to[q] the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice together with all of you. 18 And in the same way you also should be glad and rejoice together with me.
Models for Ministry
19 Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be encouraged by hearing news about you. 20 For there is no one here like him who will readily demonstrate his deep concern for you.[r] 21 Others are busy with their own concerns, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know his qualifications, that like a son working with his father, he served with me in advancing the gospel. 23 So I hope to send him as soon as I know more about my situation, 24 though I am confident in the Lord that I too will be coming to see you[s] soon.
25 But for now[t] I have considered it necessary to send Epaphroditus to you. For he is my brother,[u] coworker and fellow soldier, and your messenger[v] and minister[w] to me in my need.[x] 26 Indeed, he greatly missed all of you and was distressed because you heard that he had been ill. 27 In fact he became so ill that he nearly died.[y] But God showed mercy to him—and not to him only, but also to me—so that I would not have grief on top of grief. 28 Therefore I am all the more eager to send him,[z] so that when you see him again you can rejoice[aa] and I can be free from anxiety. 29 So welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him, 30 since it was because of the work of Christ that he almost died. He risked his life so that he could make up for your inability to serve me.[ab]
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