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Psalm 50

1  The Lord, the most mighty God, has spoken ♦︎
   and called the world from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2  Out of Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth; ♦︎
   our God comes and will not keep silence.
3  Consuming fire goes out before him ♦︎
   and a mighty tempest stirs about him.
4  He calls the heaven above, ♦︎
   and the earth, that he may judge his people:
5  ‘Gather to me my faithful, ♦︎
   who have sealed my covenant with sacrifice.’
6  Let the heavens declare his righteousness, ♦︎
   for God himself is judge.
7  Hear, O my people, and I will speak: ♦︎
   ‘I will testify against you, O Israel;
      for I am God, your God.
8  ‘I will not reprove you for your sacrifices, ♦︎
   for your burnt offerings are always before me.
9  ‘I will take no bull out of your house, ♦︎
   nor he-goat out of your folds,
10  ‘For all the beasts of the forest are mine, ♦︎
   the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11  ‘I know every bird of the mountains ♦︎
   and the insect of the field is mine.
12  ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you, ♦︎
   for the whole world is mine and all that fills it.
13  ‘Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls, ♦︎
   or drink the blood of goats?
14  ‘Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving ♦︎
   and fulfil your vows to God Most High.
15  ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble; ♦︎
   I will deliver you and you shall honour me.’
16  But to the wicked, says God: ♦︎
   ‘Why do you recite my statutes
      and take my covenant upon your lips,
17  ‘Since you refuse to be disciplined ♦︎
   and have cast my words behind you?
18  ‘When you saw a thief, you made friends with him ♦︎
   and you threw in your lot with adulterers.
19  ‘You have loosed your lips for evil ♦︎
   and harnessed your tongue to deceit.
20  ‘You sit and speak evil of your brother; ♦︎
   you slander your own mother’s son.
21  ‘These things have you done, and should I keep silence? ♦︎
   Did you think that I am even such a one as yourself?
22  ‘But no, I must reprove you, ♦︎
   and set before your eyes the things that you have done.
23  ‘You that forget God, consider this well, ♦︎
   lest I tear you apart and there is none to deliver you.
24  ‘Whoever offers me the sacrifice of thanksgiving honours me ♦︎
   and to those who keep my way
      will I show the salvation of God.’

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.