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Psalm 55

Complaint about a Friend’s Treachery

To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.
¹ Give ear to my prayer, O God;
   do not hide yourself from my supplication.
² Attend to me, and answer me;
   I am troubled in my complaint.
I am distraught ³by the noise of the enemy,
   because of the clamour of the wicked.
For they bring^* trouble upon me,
   and in anger they cherish enmity against me.

⁴ My heart is in anguish within me,
   the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
⁵ Fear and trembling come upon me,
   and horror overwhelms me.
⁶ And I say, ‘O that I had wings like a dove!
   I would fly away and be at rest;
⁷ truly, I would flee far away;
   I would lodge in the wilderness;
          Selah
⁸ I would hurry to find a shelter for myself
   from the raging wind and tempest.’

⁹ Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech;
   for I see violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they go around it
   on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
¹¹   ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
   do not depart from its market-place.

¹² It is not enemies who taunt me—
   I could bear that;
it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me—
   I could hide from them.
¹³ But it is you, my equal,
   my companion, my familiar friend,
¹⁴ with whom I kept pleasant company;
   we walked in the house of God with the throng.
¹⁵ Let death come upon them;
   let them go down alive to Sheol;
   for evil is in their homes and in their hearts.

¹⁶ But I call upon God,
   and the Lord will save me.
¹⁷ Evening and morning and at noon
   I utter my complaint and moan,
   and he will hear my voice.
¹⁸ He will redeem me unharmed
   from the battle that I wage,
   for many are arrayed against me.
¹⁹ God, who is enthroned from of old,
          Selah
   will hear, and will humble them—
because they do not change,
   and do not fear God.

²⁰ My companion laid hands on a friend
   and violated a covenant with me^*
21 with speech smoother than butter,
   but with a heart set on war;
with words that were softer than oil,
   but in fact were drawn swords.

²² Cast your burden^* on the Lord,
   and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
   the righteous to be moved.

²³ But you, O God, will cast them down
   into the lowest pit;
the bloodthirsty and treacherous
   shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you.

Psalm 138

Thanksgiving and Praise

Of David.
¹ I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
   before the gods I sing your praise;
² I bow down towards your holy temple
   and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;
   for you have exalted your name and your word
   above everything.^*
3 On the day I called, you answered me,
   you increased my strength of soul.^*

⁴ All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
   for they have heard the words of your mouth.
⁵ They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
   for great is the glory of the Lord.
⁶ For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;
   but the haughty he perceives from far away.

⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
   you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
   and your right hand delivers me.
⁸ The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
   your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
   Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Psalm 139

The Inescapable God

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
¹ O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
³ You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in, behind and before,
   and lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
   it is so high that I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night’,
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For it was you who formed my inward parts;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
   Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
¹⁵   My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
   intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
   all the days that were formed for me,
   when none of them as yet existed.
¹⁷ How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
   How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
   I come to the end^*—I am still with you.

¹⁹ O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
   and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
²⁰ those who speak of you maliciously,
   and lift themselves up against you for evil!^*
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
   And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
²² I hate them with perfect hatred;
   I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any wicked^* way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.^*

¹⁸Moses set up the tabernacle; he laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars; ¹⁹and he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent over it; as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁰He took the covenant^* and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark, and set the mercy-seat^* above the ark; ²¹and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the curtain for screening, and screened the ark of the covenant;^* as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²²He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain, ²³and set the bread in order on it before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁴He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, ²⁵and set up the lamps before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁶He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the curtain, ²⁷and offered fragrant incense on it; as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁸He also put in place the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle. ²⁹He set the altar of burnt-offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt-offering and the grain-offering as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁰He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing, ³¹with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. ³²When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed; as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³³He set up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and put up the screen at the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.

The Cloud and the Glory

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁶Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; ³⁷but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. ³⁸For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud^* by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.

A Life Pleasing to God

4Finally, brothers and sisters,^* we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. ²For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; ⁴that each one of you knows how to control your own body^* in holiness and honour, ⁵not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶that no one wrongs or exploits a brother or sister^* in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. ⁷For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. ⁸Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

9 Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters,^* you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters^* throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved,^* to do so more and more, ¹¹to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, ¹²so that you may behave properly towards outsiders and be dependent on no one.

Concerning Retaliation

38 ‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” ³⁹But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; ⁴⁰and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; ⁴¹and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. ⁴²Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

Love for Enemies

43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” ⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers and sisters,^* what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.