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Praise for Deliverance from Oppression

25O Lord, you are my God;
   I will exalt you, I will praise your name;
for you have done wonderful things,
   plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
² For you have made the city a heap,
   the fortified city a ruin;
the palace of aliens is a city no more,
   it will never be rebuilt.
³ Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
   cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
⁴ For you have been a refuge to the poor,
   a refuge to the needy in their distress,
   a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat.
When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,
⁵   the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place,
you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds;
   the song of the ruthless was stilled.

⁶ On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
   a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
   of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
⁷ And he will destroy on this mountain
   the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
   the sheet that is spread over all nations;
⁸ he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
   and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
   for the Lord has spoken.
⁹ It will be said on that day,
   Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
   This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
   let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
¹⁰ For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.

The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place
   as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.
¹¹ Though they spread out their hands in the midst of it,
   as swimmers spread out their hands to swim,
   their pride will be laid low despite the struggle^* of their hands.
¹² The high fortifications of his walls will be brought down,
   laid low, cast to the ground, even to the dust.

Judah’s Song of Victory

26On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;
   he sets up victory
   like walls and bulwarks.
² Open the gates,
   so that the righteous nation that keeps faith
   may enter in.
³ Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace—
   in peace because they trust in you.
⁴ Trust in the Lord for ever,
   for in the Lord God ^*
   you have an everlasting rock.
⁵ For he has brought low
   the inhabitants of the height;
   the lofty city he lays low.
He lays it low to the ground,
   casts it to the dust.
⁶ The foot tramples it,
   the feet of the poor,
   the steps of the needy.

⁷ The way of the righteous is level;
   O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous.
⁸ In the path of your judgements,
   O Lord, we wait for you;
your name and your renown
   are the soul’s desire.
⁹ My soul yearns for you in the night,
   my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgements are in the earth,
   the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
¹⁰ If favour is shown to the wicked,
   they do not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness they deal perversely
   and do not see the majesty of the Lord.
¹¹ O Lord, your hand is lifted up,
   but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
   Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
¹² O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,
   for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.
¹³ O Lord our God,
   other lords besides you have ruled over us,
   but we acknowledge your name alone.
¹⁴ The dead do not live;
   shades do not rise—
because you have punished and destroyed them,
   and wiped out all memory of them.
¹⁵ But you have increased the nation, O Lord,
   you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
   you have enlarged all the borders of the land.

¹⁶ O Lord, in distress they sought you,
   they poured out a prayer^*
   when your chastening was on them.
¹⁷ Like a woman with child,
   who writhes and cries out in her pangs
   when she is near her time,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
¹⁸   we were with child, we writhed,
   but we gave birth only to wind.
We have won no victories on earth,
   and no one is born to inhabit the world.
¹⁹ Your dead shall live, their corpses^* shall rise.
   O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a radiant dew,
   and the earth will give birth to those long dead.^*

²⁰ Come, my people, enter your chambers,
   and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
   until the wrath is past.
²¹ For the Lord comes out from his place
   to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
   and will no longer cover its slain.

Israel’s Redemption

27On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.

² On that day:
A pleasant vineyard, sing about it!
³   I, the Lord, am its keeper;
   every moment I water it.
I guard it night and day
   so that no one can harm it;
⁴   I have no wrath.
If it gives me thorns and briers,
   I will march to battle against it.
   I will burn it up.
⁵ Or else let it cling to me for protection,
   let it make peace with me,
   let it make peace with me.

⁶ In days to come^* Jacob shall take root,
   Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots,
   and fill the whole world with fruit.

⁷ Has he struck them down as he struck down those who struck them?
   Or have they been killed as their killers were killed?
⁸ By expulsion,^* by exile you struggled against them;
   with his fierce blast he removed them on the day of the east wind.
⁹ Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be expiated,
   and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:
when he makes all the stones of the altars
   like chalkstones crushed to pieces,
   no sacred poles^* or incense altars will remain standing.
¹⁰ For the fortified city is solitary,
   a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;
the calves graze there,
   there they lie down, and strip its branches.
¹¹ When its boughs are dry, they are broken;
   women come and make a fire of them.
For this is a people without understanding;
   therefore he that made them will not have compassion on them,
   he that formed them will show them no favour.

12 On that day the Lord will thresh from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O people of Israel. ¹³And on that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Psalm 34

Praise for Deliverance from Trouble

Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.
¹ I will bless the Lord at all times;
   his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
² My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
   let the humble hear and be glad.
³ O magnify the Lord with me,
   and let us exalt his name together.

⁴ I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
   and delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Look to him, and be radiant;
   so your^* faces shall never be ashamed.
⁶ This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
   and was saved from every trouble.
⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps
   around those who fear him, and delivers them.
⁸ O taste and see that the Lord is good;
   happy are those who take refuge in him.
⁹ O fear the Lord, you his holy ones,
   for those who fear him have no want.
¹⁰ The young lions suffer want and hunger,
   but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

¹¹ Come, O children, listen to me;
   I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹² Which of you desires life,
   and covets many days to enjoy good?
¹³ Keep your tongue from evil,
   and your lips from speaking deceit.
¹⁴ Depart from evil, and do good;
   seek peace, and pursue it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
   and his ears are open to their cry.
¹⁶ The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
   to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
¹⁷ When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears,
   and rescues them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to the broken-hearted,
   and saves the crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
   but the Lord rescues them from them all.
²⁰ He keeps all their bones;
   not one of them will be broken.
²¹ Evil brings death to the wicked,
   and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
²² The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
   none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Qualifications of Bishops

3The saying is sure:^* whoever aspires to the office of bishop^* desires a noble task. ²Now a bishop^* must be above reproach, married only once,^* temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, ³not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. ⁴He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way— ⁵for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? ⁶He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. ⁷Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil.

Qualifications of Deacons

8 Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; ⁹they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. ¹⁰And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons. ¹¹Women^* likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things. ¹²Let deacons be married only once,^* and let them manage their children and their households well; ¹³for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

The Mystery of Our Religion

14 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, ¹⁵if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. ¹⁶Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great:
He^* was revealed in flesh,
   vindicated^* in spirit,^*
     seen by angels,
proclaimed among Gentiles,
   believed in throughout the world,
     taken up in glory.