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Psalm 145

1  I will exalt you, O God my King, ♦︎
   and bless your name for ever and ever.
2  Every day will I bless you ♦︎
   and praise your name for ever and ever.
3  Great is the Lord and highly to be praised; ♦︎
   his greatness is beyond all searching out.
4  One generation shall praise your works to another ♦︎
   and declare your mighty acts.
5  They shall speak of the majesty of your glory, ♦︎
   and I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
6  They shall speak of the might of your marvellous acts, ♦︎
   and I will also tell of your greatness.
7  They shall pour forth the story of your abundant kindness ♦︎
   and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
8  The Lord is gracious and merciful, ♦︎
   long-suffering and of great goodness.

³ The shields of his warriors are red;
   his soldiers are clothed in crimson.
The metal on the chariots flashes
   on the day when he musters them;
   the chargers^* prance.
⁴ The chariots race madly through the streets,
   they rush to and fro through the squares;
their appearance is like torches,
   they dart like lightning.
⁵ He calls his officers;
   they stumble as they come forward;
they hasten to the wall,
   and the mantelet^* is set up.
⁶ The river gates are opened,
   the palace trembles.
⁷ It is decreed^* that the city^* be exiled,
   its slave women led away,
moaning like doves
   and beating their breasts.
⁸ Nineveh is like a pool
   whose waters^* run away.
‘Halt! Halt!’—
   but no one turns back.
⁹ ‘Plunder the silver,
   plunder the gold!
There is no end of treasure!
   An abundance of every precious thing!’

¹⁰ Devastation, desolation, and destruction!
   Hearts faint and knees tremble,
all loins quake,
   all faces grow pale!
¹¹ What became of the lions’ den,
   the cave^* of the young lions,
where the lion goes,
   and the lion’s cubs, with no one to disturb them?
¹² The lion has torn enough for his whelps
   and strangled prey for his lionesses;
he has filled his caves with prey
   and his dens with torn flesh.

13 See, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your^* chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.

5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to pass the test! ⁶I hope you will find out that we have not failed. ⁷But we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong—not that we may appear to have passed the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. ⁸For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. This is what we pray for, that you may become perfect. ¹⁰So I write these things while I am away from you, so that when I come, I may not have to be severe in using the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.