Old/New Testament

A Song of Trust in God

26 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city. The Lord saves us and puts up walls to keep us safe. ² Open the gates, that the nation that is right with God may come in, the one that keeps faithful. ³ You will keep the man in perfect peace whose mind is kept on You, because he trusts in You. ⁴ Trust in the Lord forever. For the Lord God is a Rock that lasts forever. ⁵ For He has brought down low those who live on a high place, the high city. He lays it low. He lays it low to the ground. He throws it to the dust. ⁶ It will be crushed under foot, under the feet of those who have suffered and the steps of those who cannot help themselves.”

⁷ The way of the man who is right with God is smooth. O Upright One, make the path straight of those who are right with You. ⁸ While following in Your ways, O Lord, we have waited for You. To remember You and Your name is the desire of our souls. ⁹ My soul has a desire for You in the night. Yes, my spirit within me looks for You in the morning. For when you punish the earth, the people of the world learn what is right and good. ¹⁰ When favor is shown to the sinful, he does not learn what is right and good. He goes on doing what is wrong in the land of those who are right. He does not see the wonderful power of the Lord.

¹¹ O Lord, Your hand is lifted up but they do not see it. Let them see Your care for Your people and be ashamed. Let fire destroy those who hate You. ¹² O Lord, You will give us peace, for You have done all our works for us. ¹³ O Lord our God, other lords than You have ruled us, but Your name alone is the One we honor. ¹⁴ They are dead, and will not live. Their spirits will not return. So You have punished and destroyed them. You have caused them all to be forgotten. ¹⁵ You have made the nation great, O Lord. You have made the nation great. You have received much praise. You have made the land larger. ¹⁶ O Lord, they looked for You in their trouble. They could only say a quiet prayer while You were punishing them. ¹⁷ As the woman who is going to have a baby comes close to the time to give birth, she suffers and cries out in her pains. This is how we were before You, O Lord. ¹⁸ We suffered in pain. We gave birth, as it were, only to wind. We could not bring the world out of its trouble. And no people of the earth were born. ¹⁹ Your dead will live. Their dead bodies will rise. You who lie in the dust, wake up and call out for joy. For as the water on the grass in the morning brings new life, the earth will bring back to life those who have been dead.

Punishment of Sinners

²⁰ Come, my people, go into your rooms. Close your doors behind you. Hide for a little while until God’s anger is past. ²¹ For see, the Lord is about to come out from His place to punish the people of the earth for their sin. And the earth will let the blood be seen that has poured on her. She will no longer cover her dead.

Israel Set Free

27 In that day the Lord will punish Leviathan, the large snake-like sea animal, with His sharp and great and powerful sword. He will punish Leviathan the turning snake, and kill the big dragon that lives in the sea.

² In that day it will be said: “Sing about a grape-field of wine! ³ I, the Lord, am its keeper. I water it all the time. I watch over it day and night so no one will hurt it. ⁴ I am not angry. If someone were to give Me thistles and thorns in battle, I would step on them. I would burn them together. ⁵ Or let him trust in Me to keep him safe. Let him make peace with Me. Yes, let him make peace with Me.” ⁶ In the days to come Jacob will take root. Israel will flower and begin to grow, and fill the whole world with fruit.

⁷ Has the Lord punished Israel as He punished those who went against Israel? Or have as many people of Israel been killed as their killers were killed? ⁸ You showed Your anger towards them by driving them out of the land. You moved them out with Your strong wind on the day of the east wind. ⁹ So by this Jacob’s sin will be forgiven. This will be the full price of taking his sin away: When he crushes all the altar stones into fine pieces, so the wooden female goddess Asherah and the altars of special perfume will not stand. ¹⁰ The city made strong for battle is empty and alone, a place left alone like the desert. The calves eat there, and they lie down and eat from its branches. ¹¹ When its branches are dry, they are broken off. Women come and make a fire with them. They are not a people of understanding, so their Maker will not have pity on them. The One Who made them will not show kindness to them.

¹² In that day the Lord will beat out His grain from the flowing river of the Euphrates to the river of Egypt. And you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. ¹³ In that day a great horn will be blown. Those who were dying in the land of Assyria and those who were sent everywhere through the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

A Christian Should Not Be Proud

2 Are you strong because you belong to Christ? Does His love comfort you? Do you have joy by being as one in sharing the Holy Spirit? Do you have loving-kindness and pity for each other? ² Then give me true joy by thinking the same thoughts. Keep having the same love. Be as one in thoughts and actions. ³ Nothing should be done because of pride or thinking about yourself. Think of other people as more important than yourself. ⁴ Do not always be thinking about your own plans only. Be happy to know what other people are doing.

Christ Was Not Proud

⁵ Think as Christ Jesus thought. ⁶ Jesus has always been as God is. But He did not hold to His rights as God. ⁷ He put aside everything that belonged to Him and made Himself the same as a servant who is owned by someone. He became human by being born as a man. ⁸ After He became a man, He gave up His important place and obeyed by dying on a cross. ⁹ Because of this, God lifted Jesus high above everything else. He gave Him a name that is greater than any other name. ¹⁰ So when the name of Jesus is spoken, everyone in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow down before Him. ¹¹ And every tongue will say Jesus Christ is Lord. Everyone will give honor to God the Father.

¹² My Christian friends, you have obeyed me when I was with you. You have obeyed even more when I have been away. You must keep on working to show you have been saved from the punishment of sin. Be afraid that you may not please God. ¹³ He is working in you. God is helping you obey Him. God is doing what He wants done in you. ¹⁴ Be glad you can do the things you should be doing. Do all things without arguing and talking about how you wish you did not have to do them. ¹⁵ In that way, you can prove yourselves to be without blame. You are God’s children and no one can talk against you, even in a sin-loving and sin-sick world. You are to shine as lights among the sinful people of this world. ¹⁶ Take a strong hold on the Word of Life. Then when Christ comes again, I will be happy that I did not work with you for nothing. ¹⁷ Even if I give my life as a gift on the altar to God for you, I am glad and share this joy with you. ¹⁸ You must be happy and share your joy with me also.

Timothy Is Being Sent to You

¹⁹ I hope by the help of the Lord Jesus that I can send Timothy to you soon. It will comfort me when he brings news about you. ²⁰ I have no one else who is as interested in you as Timothy. ²¹ Everyone else thinks of himself instead of Jesus Christ. ²² You know how Timothy proved to be such a true friend to me when we preached the Good News. He was like a son helping his father. ²³ I hope to send Timothy as soon as I know what they are going to do to me. ²⁴ I hope by the help of the Lord that I can come soon also.

²⁵ I thought it was right that I send Epaphroditus back to you. You helped me by sending him to me. We have worked together like brothers. He was like a soldier fighting beside me. ²⁶ He has been wanting to see all of you and was troubled because you heard he was sick. ²⁷ It is true, he was sick. Yes, he almost died, but God showed loving-kindness to him and to me. If he had died, I would have had even more sorrow. ²⁸ This is all the more reason I have sent him to you. When you see him, you will be glad and I will have less sorrow. ²⁹ Take him into your church with joy. Show respect for men like him. ³⁰ He came close to death while working for Christ. He almost died doing things for me that you could not do.