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6 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem,
who shall never hold their peace day nor night.
You who remind the Lord,
do not keep silent;
7 give Him no rest until He establishes
and makes Jerusalem a glory in the earth.
8 The Lord has sworn by His right hand
and by His strong arm:
Surely I will no longer give your grain
as food for your enemies;
and the sons of the foreigners shall not drink your wine
for which you have labored.
9 But those who have gathered it shall eat it
and praise the Lord;
and those who have brought it shall drink it
in the courts of My sanctuary.
10 Go through, go through the gates.
Prepare the way of the people;
build up, build up the highway.
Remove the stones;
lift up a standard over the peoples.
11 The Lord has proclaimed
to the ends of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
“See, your salvation comes;
see, His reward is with Him,
and His recompense before Him.”
12 They shall call them The Holy People,
the Redeemed of the Lord;
and you shall be called Sought Out,
a City Not Forsaken.
The Revenge of God
63 “Who is this who comes from Edom
with dyed garments from Bozrah?
This one who is glorious in His apparel,
traveling in the greatness of His strength?”
“It is I who speak in righteousness,
mighty to save.”
2 “Why is Your apparel red,
and Your garments like him who treads in the wine vat?”
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone;
and from the peoples there was no one with Me.
For I will tread them in My anger,
and trample them in My fury,
and their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments,
and I will stain all My raiment.
4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart,
and My year of redemption has come.
5 I looked and there was no one to help,
and I was astonished, and there was no one to uphold;
therefore, My own arm brought salvation to Me;
and My fury upheld Me.
6 I will tread down the peoples in My anger
and make them drunk in My fury,
and I will pour out their lifeblood on the earth.”
The Mercy of God Remembered
7 I will mention the steadfast love of the Lord
and the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us,
and the great goodness toward the house of Israel,
which He has bestowed on them
according to His mercy,
and according to the multitude of His kindnesses.
8 For He said, “Surely they are My people,
sons who will not lie.”
So He became their Savior.
9 In all their affliction He was afflicted,
and the angel of His presence saved them;
in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them;
and He lifted them and carried them
all the days of old.
10 But they rebelled
and grieved His Holy Spirit;
therefore, He turned Himself to be their enemy,
and He fought against them.
11 Then His people remembered the days of old,
of Moses, saying:
Where is He who brought them up out of the sea
with the shepherds of His flock?
Where is He who put
His Holy Spirit in their midst,
12 who led them with His glorious arm
by the right hand of Moses,
dividing the water before them,
to make Himself an everlasting name,
13 who led them through the deep,
as a horse in the wilderness,
that they should not stumble?
14 As the cattle which go down into the valley,
the Spirit of the Lord caused them to rest,
so You led Your people,
to make Yourself a glorious name.
A Prayer of Penitence
15 Look down from heaven and see,
from Your holy and glorious habitation.
Where are Your zeal and Your strength?
The stirrings of Your heart and Your mercies toward me are restrained.
16 For You are our Father,
though Abraham is ignorant of us
and Israel does not recognize us.
You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer;
Your name is from everlasting.
17 O Lord, why have You made us to err from Your ways
and hardened our heart from fearing You?
Return for Your servants’ sake,
the tribes of Your inheritance.
18 Your holy people possessed Your sanctuary for a little while;
our adversaries have trodden it down.
19 We have become
as those over whom You have never ruled,
as those who were not called by Your name.
64 Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might shake at Your presence,
2 as when the melting fire burns,
as the fire causes the waters to boil,
to make Your name known to Your adversaries,
that the nations may tremble at Your presence!
3 When You did awesome things for which we did not look,
You came down; the mountains quaked at Your presence.
4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard,
nor perceived by ear,
neither has the eye seen a God besides You,
who acts for the one who waits for Him.
5 You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness,
those who remember You in Your ways.
Indeed, You were angry, for we had sinned;
in our sins we remained a long time,
and shall we be saved?
6 But we all are as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousness is as filthy rags;
and we all fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
7 There is no one who calls on Your name,
who stirs up himself to take hold of You;
for You have hidden Your face from us
and have consumed us because of our iniquities.
8 But now, O Lord, You are our Father;
we are the clay, and You are our potter;
and we all are the work of Your hand.
9 Do not be wrathful beyond measure, O Lord,
nor remember iniquity forever;
look upon us, we pray,
we all are Your people.
10 Your holy cities are a wilderness;
Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised You
is burned up with fire;
and all our precious things are laid waste.
12 Will You refrain Yourself from these things, O Lord?
Will You hold Your peace and afflict us beyond measure?
Judgment and Salvation
65 I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found of those who did not seek Me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
to a nation that did not call on My name.
2 I have spread out My hands all day
to a rebellious people
who walk in a way that was not good,
after their own thoughts;
3 a people who provoke Me continually
to My face,
presenting sacrifices in gardens
and burning incense on altars of brick;
4 who sit among the graves
and lodge in the monuments;
who eat swine’s flesh,
and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
5 who say, “Stand by yourself; do not come near to me,
for I am holier than you!”
These are smoke in My nose,
a fire that burns all day.
6 See, it is written before Me:
I will not keep silent, but I will recompense,
even recompense into their bosom,
7 your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,
says the Lord;
because they have burned incense on the mountains
and blasphemed Me on the hills,
therefore, I will measure their former work
into their bosom.
8 Thus says the Lord:
As the new wine is found in the cluster,
and one says, “Do not destroy it
for a blessing is in it,”
so I will do for the sake of My servants
that I may not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains;
and My chosen ones shall inherit it,
and My servants shall dwell there.
10 Sharon shall be a fold of flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in,
for My people who seek Me.
11 But you are those who forsake the Lord,
who forget My holy mountain,
who prepare a table for Fortune,
and who furnish the drink offering for Destiny.
12 I will destine you for the sword,
and you all shall bow down to the slaughter;
because when I called, you did not answer;
when I spoke, you did not hear
but did evil before My eyes
and chose that in which I did not delight.
13 Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
My servants shall eat,
but you shall be hungry;
My servants shall drink,
but you shall be thirsty;
My servants shall rejoice,
but you shall be ashamed;
14 My servants shall sing for joy
with a glad heart,
but you shall cry
with a heavy heart
and shall wail with grief of spirit.
15 You shall leave your name
for a curse to My chosen ones;
for the Lord God shall slay you,
but My servants shall be called by another name;
16 because he who is blessed in the earth
shall bless himself in the God of truth;
and he who swears in the earth
shall swear by the God of truth;
because the former troubles are forgotten
and because they are hidden from My eyes.
The New Creation
17 For I create
new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
and her people for joy.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in My people;
and the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her,
nor the voice of crying.
20 There shall no longer be
an infant who lives only a few days
nor an old man who has not filled out his days.
For the child shall die
a hundred years old,
but the sinner being a hundred years old
shall be accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for as the days of a tree
are the days of My people,
and My chosen ones shall long enjoy
the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain
nor bring forth children for trouble;
for they are the descendants of the blessed of the Lord
and their offspring with them.
24 Before they call, I will answer;
and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the bull,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all My holy mountain,
says the Lord.
Timothy and Epaphroditus
19 I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly to you, that I also may be of good comfort when I get word concerning you. 20 For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your welfare. 21 For all seek their own, not the things of Christ Jesus. 22 But you know of his proven worth, that as a son with a father, he has served with me in the gospel. 23 Therefore I hope to send him soon after my situation is resolved. 24 But I trust in the Lord that I, myself, shall also come shortly.
25 Yet I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, who is my brother and companion in labor, fellow soldier, your messenger, and he who ministered to my necessity. 26 For he longed after you all and was filled with heaviness, because you heard that he was sick. 27 Indeed he was sick, near death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but also on me, lest I should have had sorrow upon sorrow. 28 Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again, you may rejoice and I may be less sorrowful. 29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy. And hold such ones in high regard, 30 because for the work of Christ he was near death, not regarding his life, endeavoring to make up for your lack of service toward me.
The True Righteousness
3 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and it is reassuring for you. 2 Watch out for dogs, watch out for evil workers, watch out for those who practice mutilation. 3 For we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, and boast in Christ Jesus, and place no trust in the flesh,
BOOK THREE
Psalms 73–89
Psalm 73
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Truly God is good to Israel,
to the pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet almost stumbled;
my steps had almost slipped.
3 For I was envious at the boastful;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains in their death;
their bodies are fat.
5 They are not in trouble as other people;
nor are they plagued like others.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge with fatness;
they have more than a heart could wish.
8 They mock and speak with evil oppression;
they speak loftily.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore people turn to them,
and abundant waters are drunk by them.
11 They say, “How does God know?
And is there knowledge with the Most High?”
12 Observe, these are the wicked, always at ease;
they increase in riches.
13 Surely I have kept my heart pure for nothing,
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I am plagued,
and chastened every morning.
15 If I said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.
16 When I thought to understand this,
it was troublesome in my eyes,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their end.
18 Surely You have set them in slippery places;
You have brought them down to ruin.
19 How they come to desolation, as in a moment!
They have come to an end, utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awakes,
so, O Lord, when You awake,
You will despise their form.
21 Thus my heart was embittered,
and I was pierced in my feelings.
22 I was a brute and did not understand;
I was as a beast before You.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have held me by my right hand.
24 You will guide me with Your counsel,
and afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart fails,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 For those who are far from You will perish;
You destroy everyone who is unfaithful to You.
28 But it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have taken my refuge in the Lord God,
that I may declare all Your works.
Saying Twenty-Six
13 My son, eat honey because it is good,
and the honeycomb that is sweet to your taste;
14 so shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul;
when you have found it, then there will be a reward,
and your expectation will not be cut off.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.