Old/New Testament

Giving Thanks to God

63 O God, You are my God. I will look for You with all my heart and strength. My soul is thirsty for You. My flesh is weak wanting You in a dry and tired land where there is no water. ² So I have seen You in the holy place. And I have seen Your power and Your shining-greatness. ³ My lips will praise You because Your loving-kindness is better than life. ⁴ So I will give honor to You as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in Your name. ⁵ My soul will be filled as with rich foods. And my mouth praises You with lips of joy.

⁶ On my bed I remember You. I think of You through the hours of the night. ⁷ For You have been my help. And I sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings. ⁸ My soul holds on to You. Your right hand holds me up.

⁹ But those who want to take my life and destroy it will go deep into the earth. ¹⁰ They will be given over to the power of the sword. They will become food for foxes. ¹¹ But the king will be full of joy in God. All who are faithful to God will be full of joy. For the mouth of those who speak lies will be stopped.

Prayer for a Safe Place

64 O God, hear my voice when I complain. Keep my life safe from the fear of those who hate me. ² Hide me from the secret plans of the sinful and from the noise of those who do bad things. ³ They have made their tongues sharp like a sword. They use poison words like arrows. ⁴ They shoot at the man without blame from their hiding place. They are quick to shoot at him and are not afraid. ⁵ They talk each other into doing sinful things. They talk about setting hidden traps. They say, “Who will see them?” ⁶ They think of ways to do bad things, and say, “We have made a perfect plan!” For the inside thoughts and the heart of a man are deep.

⁷ But God will shoot at them with an arrow. They will be hurt very soon. ⁸ They will be made to trip and fall. Their own tongue is against them. All who see them will shake their heads. ⁹ Then all men will be afraid. They will tell about the work of God. And they will think about what He has done. ¹⁰ The man who is right and good will be glad in the Lord and go to Him to be safe. All those whose hearts are right will give Him praise.

God’s Favor to Earth and Man

65 All will be quiet before You, and praise belongs to You, O God, in Zion. And our promise to You will be kept. ² O You Who hears prayer, to You all men come. ³ My sins are strong against me. But You forgive our sins. ⁴ Happy is the man You choose and bring near to You to live in Your holy place. We will be filled with the good things of Your house, Your holy house.

⁵ O God Who saves us, You answer us in the way that is right and good by Your great works that make people stand in fear. You are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. ⁶ You have built the mountains by Your strength. You are dressed with power. ⁷ You quiet the storm of the seas, the sound of their waves, and the noise of the people. ⁸ Those who live far away are afraid of Your great works. You make morning and evening call out for joy.

⁹ You visit the earth and water it. You make it very rich. The river of God is full of water. You give the people grain when You have made the earth ready. ¹⁰ You water where the plow has been used. You cover the seeds with earth. You make it soft with rain. And You make the plants grow well. ¹¹ You crown the year with Your good gifts. There is more than enough where You have been. ¹² The fields of the desert are filled with water. And the hills dress themselves with joy. ¹³ The grass lands are covered with birds. And the valleys are covered with grain. They call out for joy and sing.

6 What does this mean? Are we to keep on sinning so that God will give us more of His loving-favor? ² No, not at all! We are dead to sin. How then can we keep on living in sin? ³ All of us were baptized to show we belong to Christ. We were baptized first of all to show His death. ⁴ We were buried in baptism as Christ was buried in death. As Christ was raised from the dead by the great power of God, so we will have new life also. ⁵ If we have become one with Christ in His death, we will be one with Him in being raised from the dead to new life.

⁶ We know that our old life, our old sinful self, was nailed to the cross with Christ. And so the power of sin that held us was destroyed. Sin is no longer our boss. ⁷ When a man is dead, he is free from the power of sin. ⁸ And if we have died with Christ, we believe we will live with Him also. ⁹ We know that Christ was raised from the dead. He will never die again. Death has no more power over Him. ¹⁰ He died once but now lives. He died to break the power of sin, and the life He now lives is for God. ¹¹ You must do the same thing! Think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But now you have new life because of Jesus Christ our Lord. You are living this new life for God.

¹² So do not let sin have power over your body here on earth. You must not obey the body and let it do what it wants to do. ¹³ Do not give any part of your body for sinful use. Instead, give yourself to God as a living person who has been raised from the dead. Give every part of your body to God to do what is right. ¹⁴ Sin must not have power over you. You are not living by the Law. You have life because of God’s loving-favor.

¹⁵ What are we to do then? Are we to sin because we have God’s loving-favor and are not living by the Law? No, not at all! ¹⁶ Do you not know that when you give yourself as a servant to be owned by someone, that one becomes your owner? If you give yourself to sin, the end is death. If you give yourself to God, the end is being right with Him. ¹⁷ At one time you were held by the power of sin. But now you obey with all your heart the teaching that was given to you. Thank God for this! ¹⁸ You were made free from the power of sin. Being right with God has power over you now. ¹⁹ I speak with words easy to understand because your human thinking is weak. At one time you gave yourselves over to the power of sin. You kept on sinning all the more. Now give yourselves over to being right with God. Set yourself apart for God-like living and to do His work.

²⁰ When sin had power over your life, you were not right with God. ²¹ What good did you get from the things you are ashamed of now? Those things bring death. ²² But now you are free from the power of sin. You have become a servant for God. Your life is set apart for God-like living. The end is life that lasts forever. ²³ You get what is coming to you when you sin. It is death! But God’s free gift is life that lasts forever. It is given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ.