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Psalm 18

Royal Thanksgiving for Victory

To the leader. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
¹ I love you, O Lord, my strength.
² The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
   my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
   my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
³ I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
   so I shall be saved from my enemies.

⁴ The cords of death encompassed me;
   the torrents of perdition assailed me;
⁵ the cords of Sheol entangled me;
   the snares of death confronted me.

⁶ In my distress I called upon the Lord;
   to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
   and my cry to him reached his ears.

⁷ Then the earth reeled and rocked;
   the foundations also of the mountains trembled
   and quaked, because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke went up from his nostrils,
   and devouring fire from his mouth;
   glowing coals flamed forth from him.
⁹ He bowed the heavens, and came down;
   thick darkness was under his feet.
¹⁰ He rode on a cherub, and flew;
   he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering around him,
   his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
¹² Out of the brightness before him
   there broke through his clouds
   hailstones and coals of fire.
¹³ The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
   and the Most High uttered his voice.^*
14 And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
   he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.
¹⁵ Then the channels of the sea were seen,
   and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
   at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶ He reached down from on high, he took me;
   he drew me out of mighty waters.
¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy,
   and from those who hated me;
   for they were too mighty for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my calamity;
   but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a broad place;
   he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²⁰ The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
   according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.

32 For ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of? ³³Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived? ³⁴Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? ³⁵To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. ³⁶From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, while you heard his words coming out of the fire. ³⁷And because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, ³⁸driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession, as it is still today. ³⁹So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. ⁴⁰Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.

Paul’s Visions and Revelations

12It is necessary to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. ²I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. ³And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— ⁴was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. ⁵On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. ⁶But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, ⁷even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep^* me from being too elated, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.^{* 8}Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, ⁹but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power^* is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

Judging Others

7‘Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. ²For with the judgement you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. ³Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s^* eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴Or how can you say to your neighbour,^* “Let me take the speck out of your eye”, while the log is in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s^* eye.

Profaning the Holy

6 ‘Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.

Ask, Search, Knock

7 ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? ¹⁰Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? ¹¹If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

The Golden Rule

12 ‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.