Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
(A psalm by David for the music leader.)
No One Can Ignore the Lord
1 (A) Only a fool would say,
“There is no God!”
People like that are worthless;
they are heartless and cruel
and never do right.
2 From heaven the Lord
looks down to see
if anyone is wise enough
to search for him.
3 But all of them are corrupt;
no one does right.
4 Won't you evil people learn?
You refuse to pray,
and you gobble up
the Lord's people.
5 But you will be frightened,
because God is on the side
of every good person.
6 You may spoil the plans
of the poor,
but the Lord protects them.
7 I long for someone from Zion
to come and save Israel!
Our Lord, when you bless
your people again,
Jacob's family will be glad,
and Israel will celebrate.
6 The Ammonites realized that they had made David very angry, so they hired more foreign soldiers. Twenty thousand of them were foot soldiers from the Aramean cities of Beth-Rehob and Zobah, 1,000 were from the king of Maacah, and 12,000 were from the region of Tob. 7 David heard what they had done, and he sent out Joab with all of his well-trained soldiers.
8 The Ammonite troops came out and got ready to fight in front of the gate to their city. The Arameans from Zobah and Rehob and the soldiers from Tob and Maacah formed a separate group in the nearby fields.
9 Joab saw that he had to fight in front and behind at the same time, and he picked some of the best Israelite soldiers to fight the Arameans. 10 He put his brother Abishai in command of the rest of the army and gave them orders to fight the Ammonites. 11 Joab told his brother, “If the Arameans are too much for me to handle, you can come and help me. If the Ammonites are too strong for you, I'll come and help you. 12 Be brave and fight hard to protect our people and the cities of our God. I pray that the Lord will do whatever pleases him.”
12 (A) God loves you and has chosen you as his own special people. So be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient. 13 (B) Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you. 14 Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together.
15 Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace. So let the peace that comes from Christ control your thoughts. And be grateful. 16 (C) Let the message about Christ completely fill your lives, while you use all your wisdom to teach and instruct each other. With thankful hearts, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17 Whatever you say or do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks to God the Father because of him.
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.