Old/New Testament
BOOK V (Psalms 107-150)
Gratitude for God’s Deliverance
107 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His gracious love exists forever.
2 Let those who have been redeemed by the Lord declare it—
those whom he redeemed
from the power[a] of the enemy,
3 those whom he gathered from other lands—
from the east, west, north, and south.[b]
4 They wandered in desolate wilderness;
they found no road to a city where they could live.
5 Hungry and thirsty,
their spirits[c] failed.
6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He led them in a straight way
to find a city where they could live.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his gracious love
and his awesome deeds for mankind.
9 He has satisfied the one who thirsts,
filling the hungry with what is good.
10 Some sat in deepest darkness,
shackled with cruel iron,
11 because they had rebelled against the command of God,
despising the advice of the Most High.
12 He humbled them[d] through suffering,
as they stumbled without a helper.
13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
he delivered them from their distress.
14 And he[e] brought them out from darkness and the shadow of death,[f]
shattering their chains.
15 Let them give[g] thanks to the Lord for his gracious love,
and for his awesome deeds to mankind.
16 For he shattered bronze gates
and cut through iron bars.
17 Because of their rebellious ways,
fools suffered for their iniquities.
18 They[h] loathed all food,
and even reached the gates of death.
19 Yet when they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
he delivered them from certain destruction.
20 He issued his command[i] and healed them;
he delivered them from their destruction.
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his gracious love,
and for his awesome deeds for mankind.
22 Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
and talk about his works with shouts of joy.
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships,
who work in the great waters,
24 witnessed the works of the Lord—
his awesome deeds in the ocean’s depth.
25 He spoke and stirred up a windstorm
that made its waves surge.
26 The people[j] ascended skyward and descended to the depths,
their courage[k] melting away in their peril.
27 They reeled and staggered like a drunkard,
as all their wisdom became useless.
28 Yet when they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
the Lord brought them out of their distress.
29 He calmed the storm
and its waves[l] quieted down.
30 So they rejoiced that the waves[m] became quiet,
and he led them to their desired haven.
31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his gracious love
and for his awesome deeds on behalf of mankind.
32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the counsel of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into dry ground,
34 and a fruitful land into a salty waste,
due to the wickedness of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water,
dry land into springs of water.
36 There he settled the hungry,
where they built a city to live in.
37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards
that yielded a productive harvest.
38 Then he blessed them, and they became numerous;
he multiplied their cattle.[n]
39 But they became few in number, and humiliated
by continued oppression, agony, and sorrow.
40 Having poured contempt on their nobles,
causing them to err aimlessly in the way.
41 Yet he lifted the needy from affliction
and made them families like a flock.
42 The upright see it and rejoice,
but the mouth of an evil person is shut.
43 Let whoever is wise observe these things,
that they may comprehend the gracious love of the Lord.
A song. A Davidic psalm.
A Plea for Victory
108 My heart is firm, God;
I will sing and praise you with my whole being.
2 Awake, harp and lyre!
I will wake up at dawn.
3 I will give thanks to you among the peoples, Lord!
I will sing praise to you among the nations.
4 For your gracious love extends to the sky,[o]
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 May you be exalted above the heavens, God,
and your glory be over all the earth.
6 In order that those you love may be rescued,
deliver with your power[p] and answer me!
7 God had promised in his sanctuary:
“I will triumph and divide Shechem,
then I will measure the valley of Succoth!
8 Gilead and Manasseh belong to me,
while Ephraim is my chief stronghold
and Judah is my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin;
I will fling my shoe on Edom
and shout over Philistia.”
10 Who will lead me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me as far as Edom?
11 God, you have rejected us, have you not,
since you did not march out with our army, God?
12 Give us help against the enemy,
because human help is useless.[q]
13 I will find strength in God,
for he will trample on our foes.
To the Director. A Davidic psalm.
A Prayer against the Evil One
109 God, whom I praise,
do not be silent,
2 for the mouths of wicked and deceitful people
are opened against me;
they speak against me with lying tongues.
3 They surround me with hate-filled words,
attacking me for no reason.
4 Instead of receiving[r] my love, they accuse me,
though I continue in prayer.
5 They devise evil against me instead of good,
and hatred in place of my love.
6 Appoint an evil person over him;
may an accuser stand at his right side.[s]
7 When he is judged, may he be found guilty;
may his prayer be regarded as sin.
8 May his days be few;
may another take over his position.[t]
9 May his children become fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children roam around begging,
seeking food[u] while driven far[v] from their ruined homes.
11 May creditors seize all his possessions,
and may foreigners loot the property he has acquired.[w]
12 May no one extend gracious love to him,
or show favor to his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants[x] be eliminated,
and their memory[y] be erased from the next generation.
14 May his ancestors’ guilt be remembered in the Lord’s presence,
and may his mother’s guilt not be erased.
15 May what[z] they have done[aa] be continually in the Lord’s presence;
and may their memory be excised from the earth.
16 For he didn’t think to extend gracious love;
he harassed to death the poor, the needy, and the broken hearted.[ab]
17 He loved to curse—may his curses[ac] return upon him!
He took no delight in blessing others[ad]—
so may blessings[ae] be far from him.
18 He wore curses like a garment—
may they[af] enter his inner being like water
and his bones like oil.
19 May those curses[ag] wrap around him like a garment,
or like a belt that one always wears.
20 May this be the way the Lord repays my accuser,
those who speak evil against me.
21 Now you, Lord my God, defend[ah] me for your name’s sake;
because your gracious love is good, deliver me!
22 Indeed, I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am fading[ai] away like a shadow late in the day;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees give way[aj] from fasting,
and my skin is lean, deprived of oil.
25 I have become an object of derision to them—
they shake their heads whenever they see me.
26 Help me, Lord my God!
Deliver me in accord with your gracious love!
27 Then they will realize that your hand is in this—
that you, Lord, have accomplished it.
28 They will curse,
but you will bless.
When they attack,[ak] they will[al] be humiliated,
while your servant rejoices.
29 May my accusers be clothed with shame
and wrapped in their humiliation as with a robe.
Faithful Servants of the Messiah
4 Think of us as servants of the Messiah[a] and as servant managers entrusted with God’s secrets. 2 Now it is required of servant managers that each one should prove to be trustworthy.[b] 3 It is a very small thing to me that I should be examined by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even evaluate myself. 4 For my conscience is clear,[c] but that does not vindicate me. It is the Lord who examines me. 5 Therefore, stop judging prematurely, before the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is now hidden in darkness and reveal the motives of our hearts. Then each person will receive his praise from God.
Fools for the Messiah’s Sake
6 Brothers, I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what the Scriptures say.[d] Then you will stop boasting about one person at the expense of another.
7 For who makes you superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not receive it? 8 You already have all you want! You have already become rich! You have become kings without us! I wish you really were kings so that we could be kings with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display in last place, like men condemned to death. We have become a spectacle for the world, for angels, and for people to stare at. 10 We are fools for the Messiah’s[e] sake, but you are wise in the Messiah.[f] We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. 11 We are hungry, thirsty, dressed in rags, brutally treated, and homeless, right up to the present. 12 We wear ourselves out from working with our own hands. When insulted, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. 13 When slandered, we answer with kind words. Even now we have become the filth of the world, the scum of the universe.
Fatherly Advice
14 I’m not writing this to make you feel ashamed, but to warn you as my dear children. 15 You may have 10,000 mentors who work for the Messiah,[g] but not many fathers. For in the Messiah[h] Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 So I urge you to imitate me. 17 That’s why I sent Timothy to you. He is my dear and dependable son in the Lord and will help you remember how I live for the Messiah[i] Jesus as I teach everywhere in every church.
18 Some of you have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to evaluate[j] you. 19 But I will come to you soon if it’s the Lord’s will. Then I’ll discover not only what these arrogant people are saying but also what power they have, 20 for the kingdom of God isn’t just talk, but also power. 21 Which do you prefer? Should I come to you with a stick, or with love and a gentle spirit?
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