Bible Browser

Psalm 118

A Song of Victory

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever!

² Let Israel say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
³ Let the house of Aaron say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
⁴ Let those who fear the Lord say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’

⁵ Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
   the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
⁶ With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
   What can mortals do to me?
⁷ The Lord is on my side to help me;
   I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
⁸ It is better to take refuge in the Lord
   than to put confidence in mortals.
⁹ It is better to take refuge in the Lord
   than to put confidence in princes.

¹⁰ All nations surrounded me;
   in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
¹¹ They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
   in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
¹² They surrounded me like bees;
   they blazed^* like a fire of thorns;
   in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
¹³ I was pushed hard,^* so that I was falling,
   but the Lord helped me.
¹⁴ The Lord is my strength and my might;
   he has become my salvation.

¹⁵ There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
‘The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
¹⁶   the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
   the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.’
¹⁷ I shall not die, but I shall live,
   and recount the deeds of the Lord.
¹⁸ The Lord has punished me severely,
   but he did not give me over to death.

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness,
   that I may enter through them
   and give thanks to the Lord.

²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord;
   the righteous shall enter through it.

²¹ I thank you that you have answered me
   and have become my salvation.
²² The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the chief cornerstone.
²³ This is the Lord’s doing;
   it is marvellous in our eyes.
²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made;
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.^*
25 Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
   O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!

²⁶ Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.^*
   We bless you from the house of the Lord.
²⁷ The Lord is God,
   and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
   up to the horns of the altar.^*

²⁸ You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
   you are my God, I will extol you.

²⁹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.

⁷ Before she was in labour
   she gave birth;
before her pain came upon her
   she delivered a son.
⁸ Who has heard of such a thing?
   Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
   Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?
Yet as soon as Zion was in labour
   she delivered her children.
⁹ Shall I open the womb and not deliver?
   says the Lord;
shall I, the one who delivers, shut the womb?
   says your God.

¹⁰ Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
   all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
   all you who mourn over her—
¹¹ that you may nurse and be satisfied
   from her consoling breast;
that you may drink deeply with delight
   from her glorious bosom.

¹² For thus says the Lord:
I will extend prosperity to her like a river,
   and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm,
   and dandled on her knees.
¹³ As a mother comforts her child,
   so I will comfort you;
   you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

The Reign and Indignation of God

¹⁴ You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
   your bodies^* shall flourish like the grass;
and it shall be known that the hand of the Lord is with his servants,
   and his indignation is against his enemies.

4 Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. ⁵You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. ⁶No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. ⁷Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them;^* they cannot sin, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.^*

7 So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

11 ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.