A Song of Trust in the LORD's Protection

261 In that day will this song be made in the land of Judah: We have a strong town; he will make salvation our walls and towers. 2 Let the doors be open, so that the upright nation which keeps faith may come in. 3 The man whose heart is unmoved you will keep in peace, because his hope is in you. 4 Let your hope be in the Lord for ever: for the Lord Jah is an unchanging Rock.

5 For he has made low those who are lifted up, all the people of the town of pride: he makes it low, crushing it down to the earth; he makes it low in the dust. 6 It will be crushed under the feet of the poor and the steps of those who are in need. 7 The way of the good man is straight; the road of the upright is made smooth by you. 8 We have been waiting for you, O Lord; the desire of our soul is for the memory of your name. 9 In the night the desire of my soul has been for you; early will my spirit be searching for you; for when your punishments come on the earth, the people of the world will get the knowledge of righteousness. 10 Even if you are kind to the evil-doer, he will not go after righteousness; even in the land of the upright he will still go on in his wrongdoing, and will not see the glory of the Lord. 11 Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see: let them see ... yes, your haters will be burned up in the fire.

12 Lord, you will give us peace: for all our works are the outcome of your purpose. 13 O Lord, our God, other lords than you have had rule over us; but in you only is our salvation, and no other name will we take on our lips. 14 The dead will not come back to life: their spirits will not come back to earth; for this cause you have sent destruction on them, so that the memory of them is dead. 15 You have made the nation great, O Lord, you have made it great; glory is yours: you have made wide the limits of the land. 16 Lord, in trouble our eyes have been turned to you, we sent up a prayer when your punishment was on us. 17 As a woman with child, whose time is near, is troubled, crying out in her pain; so have we been before you, O Lord. 18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have given birth to wind; no salvation has come to the earth through us, and no children have come into the world. 19 Your dead will come back; their dead bodies will come to life again. Those in the dust, awaking from their sleep, will send out a song; for your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the shades.

20 Come, my people, into your secret places, and let your doors be shut: keep yourself safe for a short time, till his wrath is over. 21 For the Lord is coming out of his place to send punishment on the people of the earth for their evil-doing: the earth will let the blood drained out on her be seen, and will keep her dead covered no longer.

The Deliverance and Ingathering of Israel

271 In that day the Lord, with his great and strong and cruel sword, will send punishment on Leviathan, the quick-moving snake, and on Leviathan, the twisted snake; and he will put to death the dragon which is in the sea. 2 In that day it will be said, A vine-garden of delight, make a song about it. 3 I, the Lord, am watching it; I will give it water at all times: I will keep it night and day, for fear that any damage comes to it. 4 My passion is over: if the thorns were fighting against me, I would make an attack on them, and they would be burned up together. 5 Or let him put himself under my power, and make peace with me. 6 In days to come Jacob will take root: Israel will put out buds and flowers; and the face of the world will be full of fruit.

7 Is his punishment like the punishment of those who overcame him? or are his dead as great in number as those he put to the sword? 8 Your anger against her has been made clear by driving her away; he has taken her away with his storm-wind in the day of his east wind. 9 So by this will the sin of Jacob be covered, and this is all the fruit of taking away his punishment; when all the stones of the altar are crushed together, so that the wood pillars and the sun-images will not be put up again. 10 For the strong town is without men, an unpeopled living-place; and she has become a waste land: there the young ox will take his rest, and its branches will be food for him. 11 When its branches are dry they will be broken off; the women will come and put fire to them: for it is a foolish people; for this cause he who made them will have no mercy on them, and he whose work they are will not have pity on them. 12 And it will be in that day that the Lord will get together his grain, from the River to the stream of Egypt, and you will be got together with care, O children of Israel. 13 And it will be in that day that a great horn will be sounded; and those who were wandering in the land of Assyria, and those who had been sent away into the land of Egypt, will come; and they will give worship to the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Christ's Humiliation and Exaltation

21 If then there is any comfort in Christ, any help given by love, any uniting of hearts in the Spirit, any loving mercies and pity, 2 Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in harmony and of one mind; 3 Doing nothing through envy or through pride, but with low thoughts of self let everyone take others to be better than himself; 4 Not looking everyone to his private good, but keeping in mind the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, 6 To whom, though himself in the form of God, it did not seem that to take for oneself was to be like God; 7 But he made himself as nothing, taking the form of a servant, being made like men; 8 And being seen in form as a man, he took the lowest place, and let himself be put to death, even the death of the cross. 9 For this reason God has put him in the highest place and has given to him the name which is greater than every name; 10 So that at the name of Jesus every knee may be bent, of those in heaven and those on earth and those in the underworld, 11 And that every tongue may give witness that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Shining as Lights in the World

12 So then, my loved ones, as you have at all times done what I say, not only when I am present, but now much more when I am not with you, give yourselves to working out your salvation with fear in your hearts; 13 For it is God who is the cause of your desires and of your acts, for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without protests and arguments; 15 So that you may be holy and gentle, children of God without sin in a twisted and foolish generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world, 16 Offering the word of life; so that I may have glory in you in the day of Christ, because my running was not for nothing and my work was not without effect. 17 And even if I am offered like a drink offering, giving myself for the cause and work of your faith, I am glad and have joy with you all: 18 And in the same way do you be glad and have a part in my joy.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

19 But I am hoping in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you before long, so that I may be comforted when I have news of you. 20 For I have no man of like mind who will truly have care for you. 21 For they all go after what is theirs, not after the things of Christ. 22 But his quality is clear to you; how, as a child is to its father, so he was a help to me in the work of the good news. 23 Him then I am hoping to send as quickly as possible, when I am able to see how things will go for me: 24 But I have faith in the Lord that I myself will come before long. 25 But it seemed to me necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, who has taken part with me in the work and in the fight, and your servant, sent by you for help in my need; 26 Because his heart was with you all, and he was greatly troubled because you had news that he was ill: 27 For in fact he was ill almost to death: but God had mercy on him; and not only on him but on me, so that I might not have grief on grief. 28 I have sent him, then, the more gladly, so that when you see him again, you may be happy and I may have the less sorrow. 29 So take him to your hearts in the Lord with all joy, and give honour to such as he is: 30 Because for the work of Christ he was near to death, putting his life in danger to make your care for me complete.