Old/New Testament

A Prayer for Help

140 O Lord, take me away from sinful men. Keep me safe from men who want to hurt others. ² They make sinful plans in their hearts. They always start wars. ³ They make their tongues sharp like a snake’s. And the poison of a snake is under their lips.

⁴ O Lord, keep me from the hands of the sinful. Keep me safe from men who want to hurt others and have planned to trip my feet. ⁵ The proud have hidden a trap for me. With ropes they have spread a net. They have set traps for me beside the road. ⁶ I said to the Lord, “You are my God. Listen to the voice of my prayers, O Lord. ⁷ O God the Lord, the strength that saves me, You have covered my head in the day of battle. ⁸ O Lord, do not give the sinful what they want. Do not let their plans work, or they will be honored.

⁹ “As for those who gather around me, may the wrong-doing of their lips come upon their heads. ¹⁰ May burning coals fall upon them. May they be thrown into the fire, into deep holes, and rise no more. ¹¹ Do not let the man whose talking hurts people stand in the land. May trouble hurry to catch and destroy the man who wants to hurt others.”

¹² I know that the Lord will stand by those who suffer and do what is right for the poor. ¹³ For sure those who are right and good will give thanks to Your name. Those who are right will live with You.

An Evening Prayer

141 I call upon You, O Lord. Hurry to me! Hear my voice when I call to You! ² May my prayer be like special perfume before You. May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening gift given on the altar in worship. ³ O Lord, put a watch over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. ⁴ Do not let my heart turn to any sinful thing, to do wrong with men who sin. And do not let me eat their fine food.

⁵ Let those who are right with God punish me and speak strong words to me in kindness. It is oil upon my head. Do not let my head turn away from it. Yet my prayer is always against the sinful works of those who sin. ⁶ When their rulers are thrown down from high rocks, they will hear my words, for they are true. ⁷ Our bones have been spread around the mouth of the grave like the broken ground behind the plow.

⁸ For my eyes are toward You, O God the Lord. In You I have a safe place. Do not leave me without help. ⁹ Keep me from the trap they have set for me. Keep me from the nets of those who do wrong. ¹⁰ Let the sinful fall into their own nets, while I pass by and am safe.

A Prayer for Help

142 I cry with a loud voice to the Lord. I pray with my voice to the Lord. ² I talk and complain to Him. I tell Him all my trouble. ³ When my spirit had grown weak within me, You knew my path. They have hidden a trap for me in the way where I walk. ⁴ Look to the right and see. For there is no one who thinks about me. There is no place for me to go to be safe. No one cares about my soul.

⁵ I cried out to You, O Lord. I said, “You are my safe place, my share in the land of the living. ⁶ Listen to my cry, for I am brought down. Save me from those who make it hard for me. For they are too strong for me. ⁷ Bring my soul out of prison, so that I may give thanks to Your name. Those who are right and good will gather around me. For You will give much to me.”

Speaking in Special Sounds Is Not the Greatest Gift

14 You should want to have this love. You should want the gifts of the Holy Spirit and most of all to be able to speak God’s Word. ² The man who speaks in special sounds speaks to God. He is not speaking to men. No one understands. He is speaking secret things through the power of the Holy Spirit. ³ The man who speaks God’s Word speaks to men. It helps them to learn and understand. It gives them comfort. ⁴ The man who speaks in special sounds receives strength. The man who speaks God’s Word gives strength to the church. ⁵ I wish all of you spoke in special sounds. But more than that, I wish all of you spoke God’s Word. The one who speaks God’s Word has a more important gift than the one who speaks in special sounds. But if he can tell what he is speaking, the church will be helped. ⁶ Christian brothers, if I come to you speaking in special sounds, what good is it to you? But if I tell you something God has shown me or something I have learned or what God’s Word says will happen in the future or teach you God’s Word, it will be for your good.

⁷ There are things on which people play music. If strange sounds are made on these, how will others know which one is played? ⁸ If a horn does not make a good sound, how will men know they are to get ready to fight? ⁹ It is the same if you speak to a person in special sounds. How will he know what you say? Your sounds will be lost in the air. ¹⁰ There are many languages in the world. All of them have meaning to the people who understand them. ¹¹ But if I do not understand the language someone uses to speak to me, the man who speaks is a stranger to me. I am a stranger to him. ¹² Since you want gifts from the Holy Spirit, ask for those that will build up the whole church. ¹³ So the man who speaks in special sounds should pray for the gift to be able to tell what they mean.

¹⁴ If I pray in special sounds, my spirit is doing the praying. My mind does not understand. ¹⁵ What should I do? I will pray with my spirit and I will pray with my mind also. I will sing with my spirit and I will sing with my mind also. ¹⁶ If you honor and give thanks to God with your spirit in sounds nobody understands, how can others honor and give thanks also if they do not know what you are saying? ¹⁷ You are honoring and giving thanks to God, but it is not helping other people.

¹⁸ I thank God that I speak in special sounds more than all of you. ¹⁹ But in a meeting of the church, it is better if I say five words that others can understand and be helped by than 10,000 words in special sounds.

²⁰ Christian brothers, do not be like children in your thinking. Be full-grown, but be like children in not knowing how to sin.