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41  Let your faithful love come unto me, O Lord, ♦︎
   even your salvation, according to your promise.
42  Then shall I answer those who taunt me, ♦︎
   for my trust is in your word.
43  O take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, ♦︎
   for my hope is in your judgements.
44  So shall I always keep your law; ♦︎
   I shall keep it for ever and ever.
45  I will walk at liberty, ♦︎
   because I study your commandments.
46  I will tell of your testimonies, even before kings, ♦︎
   and will not be ashamed.
47  My delight shall be in your commandments, ♦︎
   which I have greatly loved.
48  My hands will I lift up to your commandments,
      which I love, ♦︎
   and I will meditate on your statutes.
49  Remember your word to your servant, ♦︎
   on which you have built my hope.
50  This is my comfort in my trouble, ♦︎
   that your promise gives me life.
51  The proud have derided me cruelly, ♦︎
   but I have not turned aside from your law.
52  I have remembered your everlasting judgements, O Lord, ♦︎
   and have been comforted.
53  I am seized with indignation at the wicked, ♦︎
   for they have forsaken your law.
54  Your statutes have been like songs to me ♦︎
   in the house of my pilgrimage.
55  I have thought on your name in the night, O Lord, ♦︎
   and so have I kept your law.
56  These blessings have been mine, ♦︎
   for I have kept your commandments.

39He seeks out the wisdom of all the ancients,
   and is concerned with prophecies;
² he preserves the sayings of the famous
   and penetrates the subtleties of parables;
³ he seeks out the hidden meanings of proverbs
   and is at home with the obscurities of parables.
⁴ He serves among the great
   and appears before rulers;
he travels in foreign lands
   and learns what is good and evil in the human lot.
⁵ He sets his heart on rising early
   to seek the Lord who made him,
   and to petition the Most High;
he opens his mouth in prayer
   and asks pardon for his sins.

⁶ If the great Lord is willing,
   he will be filled with the spirit of understanding;
he will pour forth words of wisdom of his own
   and give thanks to the Lord in prayer.
⁷ The Lord^* will direct his counsel and knowledge,
   as he meditates on his mysteries.
⁸ He will show the wisdom of what he has learned,
   and will glory in the law of the Lord’s covenant.
⁹ Many will praise his understanding;
   it will never be blotted out.
His memory will not disappear,
   and his name will live through all generations.
¹⁰ Nations will speak of his wisdom,
   and the congregation will proclaim his praise.

The Covenant Extended to All Who Obey

56Thus says the Lord:
   Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
   and my deliverance be revealed.

² Happy is the mortal who does this,
   the one who holds it fast,
who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it,
   and refrains from doing any evil.

³ Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,
   ‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people’;
and do not let the eunuch say,
   ‘I am just a dry tree.’
⁴ For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,
   who choose the things that please me
   and hold fast my covenant,
⁵ I will give, in my house and within my walls,
   a monument and a name
   better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
   that shall not be cut off.

⁶ And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
   to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
   and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
   and hold fast my covenant—
⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain,
   and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices
   will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
   for all peoples.
⁸ Thus says the Lord God,
   who gathers the outcasts of Israel,
I will gather others to them
   besides those already gathered.^*

Paul’s Interest in the Colossians

24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. ²⁵I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, ²⁶the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. ²⁷To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. ²⁹For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.

2For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face. ²I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself,^{* 3}in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. ⁵For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Fullness of Life in Christ

6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives^* in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.