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A Prayer for God’s People

36Have mercy upon us, O God^* of all,
²   and put all the nations in fear of you.
³ Lift up your hand against foreign nations
   and let them see your might.
⁴ As you have used us to show your holiness to them,
   so use them to show your glory to us.
⁵ Then they will know,^* as we have known,
   that there is no God but you, O Lord.
⁶ Give new signs, and work other wonders;
⁷   make your hand and right arm glorious.
⁸ Rouse your anger and pour out your wrath;
⁹   destroy the adversary and wipe out the enemy.
¹⁰ Hasten the day, and remember the appointed time,^*
   and let people recount your mighty deeds.
¹¹ Let survivors be consumed in the fiery wrath,
   and may those who harm your people meet destruction.
¹² Crush the heads of hostile rulers
   who say, ‘There is no one but ourselves.’
¹³ Gather all the tribes of Jacob,^*
16   and give them their inheritance, as at the beginning.
¹⁷ Have mercy, O Lord, on the people called by your name,
   on Israel, whom you have named^* your firstborn,

Zephaniah

1The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah.

The Coming Judgement on Judah

² I will utterly sweep away everything
   from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
³ I will sweep away humans and animals;
   I will sweep away the birds of the air
   and the fish of the sea.
I will make the wicked stumble.^*
   I will cut off humanity
   from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
⁴ I will stretch out my hand against Judah,
   and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal
   and the name of the idolatrous priests;^*
5 those who bow down on the roofs
   to the host of the heavens;
those who bow down and swear to the Lord,
   but also swear by Milcom;^*
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord,
   who have not sought the Lord or inquired of him.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. ²⁸And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. ²⁹Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

The Gift of Love

13If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,^* but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. ⁹For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; ¹⁰but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. ¹²For now we see in a mirror, dimly,^* but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. ¹³And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Forgiveness

21 Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church^* sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ ²²Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven^* times.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

23 ‘For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents^* was brought to him; ²⁵and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. ²⁶So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” ²⁷And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred denarii;^* and seizing him by the throat, he said, “Pay what you owe.” ²⁹Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” ³⁰But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. ³¹When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. ³²Then his lord summoned him and said to him, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?” ³⁴And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt. ³⁵So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister^* from your heart.’