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Psalm 139

1  O Lord, you have searched me out and known me; ♦︎
   you know my sitting down and my rising up;
      you discern my thoughts from afar.
2  You mark out my journeys and my resting place ♦︎
   and are acquainted with all my ways.
3  For there is not a word on my tongue, ♦︎
   but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
4  You encompass me behind and before ♦︎
   and lay your hand upon me.
5  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, ♦︎
   so high that I cannot attain it.
6  Where can I go then from your spirit? ♦︎
   Or where can I flee from your presence?
7  If I climb up to heaven, you are there; ♦︎
   if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
8  If I take the wings of the morning ♦︎
   and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
9  Even there your hand shall lead me, ♦︎
   your right hand hold me fast.
10  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me ♦︎
   and the light around me turn to night,’
11  Even darkness is no darkness with you;
      the night is as clear as the day; ♦︎
   darkness and light to you are both alike.
12  For you yourself created my inmost parts; ♦︎
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
13  I thank you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; ♦︎
   marvellous are your works, my soul knows well.
14  My frame was not hidden from you, ♦︎
   when I was made in secret
      and woven in the depths of the earth.
15  Your eyes beheld my form, as yet unfinished; ♦︎
   already in your book were all my members written,
16  As day by day they were fashioned ♦︎
   when as yet there was none of them.
17  How deep are your counsels to me, O God! ♦︎
   How great is the sum of them!
18  If I count them, they are more in number than the sand, ♦︎
   and at the end, I am still in your presence.
19  O that you would slay the wicked, O God, ♦︎
   that the bloodthirsty might depart from me!
20  They speak against you with wicked intent; ♦︎
   your enemies take up your name for evil.
21  Do I not oppose those, O Lord, who oppose you? ♦︎
   Do I not abhor those who rise up against you?
22  I hate them with a perfect hatred; ♦︎
   they have become my own enemies also.
23  Search me out, O God, and know my heart; ♦︎
   try me and examine my thoughts.
24  See if there is any way of wickedness in me ♦︎
   and lead me in the way everlasting.

The Song of Moses

15Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
‘I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
   horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
² The Lord is my strength and my might,^*
   and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
   my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
³ The Lord is a warrior;
   the Lord is his name.

⁴ ‘Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
   his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.^*
5 The floods covered them;
   they went down into the depths like a stone.
⁶ Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power—
   your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.
⁷ In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries;
   you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble.
⁸ At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up,
   the floods stood up in a heap;
   the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
⁹ The enemy said, “I will pursue, I will overtake,
   I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
   I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.”
¹⁰ You blew with your wind, the sea covered them;
   they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹ ‘Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
   Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
   awesome in splendour, doing wonders?
¹² You stretched out your right hand,
   the earth swallowed them.

¹³ ‘In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed;
   you guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
¹⁴ The peoples heard, they trembled;
   pangs seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
¹⁵ Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed;
   trembling seized the leaders of Moab;
   all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.
¹⁶ Terror and dread fell upon them;
   by the might of your arm, they became still as a stone
until your people, O Lord, passed by,
   until the people whom you acquired passed by.
¹⁷ You brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your own possession,
   the place, O Lord, that you made your abode,
   the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.
¹⁸ The Lord will reign for ever and ever.’

19 When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

The Song of Miriam

20 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. ²¹And Miriam sang to them:
‘Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.’

THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE

Colossians

Salutation

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters^* in Christ in Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Paul Thanks God for the Colossians

3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel ⁶that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. ⁷This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant.^* He is a faithful minister of Christ on your^* behalf, ⁸and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s^* will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. ¹¹May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled^* you^* to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.^*