Bible Browser

Psalm 142

1  I cry aloud to the Lord; ♦︎
   to the Lord I make my supplication.
2  I pour out my complaint before him ♦︎
   and tell him of my trouble.
3  When my spirit faints within me, you know my path; ♦︎
   in the way wherein I walk have they laid a snare for me.
4  I look to my right hand, and find no one who knows me; ♦︎
   I have no place to flee to, and no one cares for my soul.
5  I cry out to you, O Lord, and say: ♦︎
   ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.
6  ‘Listen to my cry, for I am brought very low; ♦︎
   save me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.
7  ‘Bring my soul out of prison,
      that I may give thanks to your name; ♦︎
   when you have dealt bountifully with me,
      then shall the righteous gather around me.’

¹² ‘Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed,
   and found a city on iniquity!’
¹³ Is it not from the Lord of hosts
   that peoples labour only to feed the flames,
   and nations weary themselves for nothing?
¹⁴ But the earth will be filled
   with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
   as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵ ‘Alas for you who make your neighbours drink,
   pouring out your wrath^* until they are drunk,
   in order to gaze on their nakedness!’
¹⁶ You will be sated with contempt instead of glory.
   Drink, you yourself, and stagger!^*
The cup in the Lord’s right hand
   will come around to you,
   and shame will come upon your glory!
¹⁷ For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you;
   the destruction of the animals will terrify you—^*
because of human bloodshed and violence to the earth,
   to cities and all who live in them.

¹⁸ What use is an idol
   once its maker has shaped it—
   a cast image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in what has been made,
   though the product is only an idol that cannot speak!
¹⁹ Alas for you who say to the wood, ‘Wake up!’
   to silent stone, ‘Rouse yourself!’
   Can it teach?
See, it is plated with gold and silver,
   and there is no breath in it at all.

²⁰ But the Lord is in his holy temple;
   let all the earth keep silence before him!

Sexual Immorality Must Be Judged

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons— ¹⁰not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. ¹¹But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister^* who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. ¹²For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? ¹³God will judge those outside. ‘Drive out the wicked person from among you.’