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Psalm 23

1  The Lord is my shepherd; ♦︎
   therefore can I lack nothing.
2  He makes me lie down in green pastures ♦︎
   and leads me beside still waters.
3  He shall refresh my soul ♦︎
   and guide me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4  Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
      I will fear no evil; ♦︎
   for you are with me;
      your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5  You spread a table before me
      in the presence of those who trouble me; ♦︎
   you have anointed my head with oil
      and my cup shall be full.
6  Surely goodness and loving mercy shall follow me
      all the days of my life, ♦︎
   and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Idolatry Has Brought Ruin on Israel

10Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. ²Thus says the Lord:
Do not learn the way of the nations,
   or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens;
   for the nations are dismayed at them.
³ For the customs of the peoples are false:
a tree from the forest is cut down,
   and worked with an axe by the hands of an artisan;
⁴ people deck it with silver and gold;
   they fasten it with hammer and nails
   so that it cannot move.
⁵ Their idols^* are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
   and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
   for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
   for they cannot do evil,
   nor is it in them to do good.

⁶ There is none like you, O Lord;
   you are great, and your name is great in might.
⁷ Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
   For that is your due;
among all the wise ones of the nations
   and in all their kingdoms
   there is no one like you.
⁸ They are both stupid and foolish;
   the instruction given by idols
   is no better than wood!^*
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
   and gold from Uphaz.
They are the work of the artisan and of the hands of the goldsmith;
   their clothing is blue and purple;
   they are all the product of skilled workers.
¹⁰ But the Lord is the true God;
   he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
   and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

11 Thus shall you say to them: The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.^*

¹² It is he who made the earth by his power,
   who established the world by his wisdom,
   and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
¹³ When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
   and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightnings for the rain,
   and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.
¹⁴ Everyone is stupid and without knowledge;
   goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols;
for their images are false,
   and there is no breath in them.
¹⁵ They are worthless, a work of delusion;
   at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁶ Not like these is the Lord,^* the portion of Jacob,
   for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
   the Lord of hosts is his name.

The Supremacy of Christ

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; ¹⁶for in^* him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷He himself is before all things, and in^* him all things hold together. ¹⁸He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. ¹⁹For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

21 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled^* in his fleshly body^* through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— ²³provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.