Bible Browser

Psalm 40

1  I waited patiently for the Lord; ♦︎
   he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2  He brought me out of the roaring pit,
      out of the mire and clay; ♦︎
   he set my feet upon a rock and made my footing sure.
3  He has put a new song in my mouth,
      a song of praise to our God; ♦︎
   many shall see and fear
      and put their trust in the Lord.
4  Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, ♦︎
   who does not turn to the proud that follow a lie.
5  Great are the wonders you have done, O Lord my God.
      How great your designs for us! ♦︎
   There is none that can be compared with you.
6  If I were to proclaim them and tell of them ♦︎
   they would be more than I am able to express.
7  Sacrifice and offering you do not desire ♦︎
   but my ears you have opened;
8  Burnt offering and sacrifice for sin you have not required; ♦︎
   then said I: ‘Lo, I come.
9  ‘In the scroll of the book it is written of me
      that I should do your will, O my God; ♦︎
   I delight to do it: your law is within my heart.’
10  I have declared your righteousness in the great congregation; ♦︎
   behold, I did not restrain my lips,
      and that, O Lord, you know.
11  Your righteousness I have not hidden in my heart;
      I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; ♦︎
   I have not concealed your loving-kindness and truth
      from the great congregation.
12  Do not withhold your compassion from me, O Lord; ♦︎
   let your love and your faithfulness always preserve me,
13  For innumerable troubles have come about me;
      my sins have overtaken me so that I cannot look up; ♦︎
   they are more in number than the hairs of my head,
      and my heart fails me.
14  Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; ♦︎
   O Lord, make haste to help me.
15  Let them be ashamed and altogether dismayed
      who seek after my life to destroy it; ♦︎
   let them be driven back and put to shame
      who wish me evil.
16  Let those who heap insults upon me ♦︎
   be desolate because of their shame.
17  Let all who seek you rejoice in you and be glad; ♦︎
   let those who love your salvation say always,
      ‘The Lord is great.’
18  Though I am poor and needy, ♦︎
   the Lord cares for me.
19  You are my helper and my deliverer; ♦︎
   O my God, make no delay.

¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
   who rule this people in Jerusalem.
¹⁵ Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death,
   and with Sheol we have an agreement;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through
   it will not come to us;
for we have made lies our refuge,
   and in falsehood we have taken shelter’;
¹⁶ therefore thus says the Lord God,
See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone,
   a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation:
   ‘One who trusts will not panic.’
¹⁷ And I will make justice the line,
   and righteousness the plummet;
hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
   and waters will overwhelm the shelter.
¹⁸ Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
   and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through
   you will be beaten down by it.
¹⁹ As often as it passes through, it will take you;
   for morning by morning it will pass through,
   by day and by night;
and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.
²⁰ For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on it,
   and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in it.
²¹ For the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim,
   he will rage as in the valley of Gibeon
to do his deed—strange is his deed!—
   and to work his work—alien is his work!
²² Now therefore do not scoff,
   or your bonds will be made stronger;
for I have heard a decree of destruction
   from the Lord God of hosts upon the whole land.

²³ Listen, and hear my voice;
   Pay attention, and hear my speech.
²⁴ Do those who plough for sowing plough continually?
   Do they continually open and harrow their ground?
²⁵ When they have levelled its surface,
   do they not scatter dill, sow cummin,
and plant wheat in rows
   and barley in its proper place,
   and spelt as the border?
²⁶ For they are well instructed;
   their God teaches them.

²⁷ Dill is not threshed with a threshing-sledge,
   nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin;
but dill is beaten out with a stick,
   and cummin with a rod.
²⁸ Grain is crushed for bread,
   but one does not thresh it for ever;
one drives the cartwheel and horses over it,
   but does not pulverize it.
²⁹ This also comes from the Lord of hosts;
   he is wonderful in counsel,
   and excellent in wisdom.

Vision of the New Jerusalem

9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ ¹⁰And in the spirit^* he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. ¹²It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; ¹³on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. ¹⁴And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 The angel^* who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. ¹⁶The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width; and he measured the city with his rod, fifteen hundred miles;^* its length and width and height are equal. ¹⁷He also measured its wall, one hundred and forty-four cubits^* by human measurement, which the angel was using. ¹⁸The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. ¹⁹The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰the fifth onyx, the sixth cornelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. ²¹And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass.