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Psalm 118

1  O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; ♦︎
   his mercy endures for ever.
2  Let Israel now proclaim, ♦︎
   ‘His mercy endures for ever.’
3  Let the house of Aaron now proclaim, ♦︎
   ‘His mercy endures for ever.’
4  Let those who fear the Lord proclaim, ♦︎
   ‘His mercy endures for ever.’
5  In my constraint I called to the Lord; ♦︎
   the Lord answered and set me free.
6  The Lord is at my side; I will not fear; ♦︎
   what can flesh do to me?
7  With the Lord at my side as my saviour, ♦︎
   I shall see the downfall of my enemies.
8  It is better to take refuge in the Lord ♦︎
   than to put any confidence in flesh.
9  It is better to take refuge in the Lord ♦︎
   than to put any confidence in princes.
10  All the nations encompassed me, ♦︎
   but by the name of the Lord I drove them back.
11  They hemmed me in, they hemmed me in on every side, ♦︎
   but by the name of the Lord I drove them back.
12  They swarmed about me like bees;
      they blazed like fire among thorns, ♦︎
   but by the name of the Lord I drove them back.
13  Surely, I was thrust to the brink, ♦︎
   but the Lord came to my help.
14  The Lord is my strength and my song, ♦︎
   and he has become my salvation.
15  Joyful shouts of salvation ♦︎
   sound from the tents of the righteous:
16  ‘The right hand of the Lord does mighty deeds;
      the right hand of the Lord raises up; ♦︎
   the right hand of the Lord does mighty deeds.’
17  I shall not die, but live ♦︎
   and declare the works of the Lord.
18  The Lord has punished me sorely, ♦︎
   but he has not given me over to death.
19  Open to me the gates of righteousness, ♦︎
   that I may enter and give thanks to the Lord.
20  This is the gate of the Lord; ♦︎
   the righteous shall enter through it.
21  I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me ♦︎
   and have become my salvation.
22  The stone which the builders rejected ♦︎
   has become the chief cornerstone.
23  This is the Lord’s doing, ♦︎
   and it is marvellous in our eyes.
24  This is the day that the Lord has made; ♦︎
   we will rejoice and be glad in it.
25  Come, O Lord, and save us we pray. ♦︎
   Come, Lord, send us now prosperity.
26  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; ♦︎
   we bless you from the house of the Lord.
27  The Lord is God; he has given us light; ♦︎
   link the pilgrims with cords
      right to the horns of the altar.
28  You are my God and I will thank you; ♦︎
   you are my God and I will exalt you.
29  O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; ♦︎
   his mercy endures for ever.

8 Keep, then, this entire commandment that I am commanding you today, so that you may have strength to go in and occupy the land that you are crossing over to occupy, ⁹and so that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰For the land that you are about to enter to occupy is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sow your seed and irrigate by foot like a vegetable garden. ¹¹But the land that you are crossing over to occupy is a land of hills and valleys, watered by rain from the sky, ¹²a land that the Lord your God looks after. The eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

13 If you will only heed his every commandment^* that I am commanding you today—loving the Lord your God, and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul— ¹⁴then he^* will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil; ¹⁵and he^* will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat your fill. ¹⁶Take care, or you will be seduced into turning away, serving other gods and worshipping them, ¹⁷for then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain and the land will yield no fruit; then you will perish quickly from the good land that the Lord is giving you.

18 You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem^* on your forehead. ¹⁹Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. ²⁰Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

22 If you will diligently observe this entire commandment that I am commanding you, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, ²³then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and mightier than yourselves. ²⁴Every place on which you set foot shall be yours; your territory shall extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the Western Sea. ²⁵No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put the fear and dread of you on all the land on which you set foot, as he promised you.

26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: ²⁷the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today; ²⁸and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn from the way that I am commanding you today, to follow other gods that you have not known.

29 When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that you are entering to occupy, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰As you know, they are beyond the Jordan, some distance to the west, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak^* of Moreh.

31 When you cross the Jordan to go in to occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and when you occupy it and live in it, ³²you must diligently observe all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.

15 Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, ²⁰giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Christian Household

21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Saviour. ²⁴Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷so as to present the church to himself in splendour, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. ²⁸In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, ³⁰because we are members of his body.^{* 31}‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ ³²This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. ³³Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.