The LORD Delivers from Trouble

1071 Give ye thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever. 2 Let the redeemed of Jehovah say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the oppressor, 3 And gathered out of the countries, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the sea. 4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way, they found no city of habitation; 5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them: 6 Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble, [and] he delivered them out of their distresses, 7 And he led them forth by a right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. 8 Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men; 9 For he hath satisfied the longing soul and filled the hungry soul with good.

10 Such as inhabit darkness and the shadow of death, bound in affliction and iron, 11 Because they had rebelled against the words of God, and had despised the counsel of the Most High; ... 12 And he bowed down their heart with labour; they stumbled, and there was none to help: 13 Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble, [and] he saved them out of their distresses; 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their bands in sunder. 15 Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men; 16 For he hath broken the gates of bronze, and cut asunder the bars of iron.

17 Fools, because of their way of transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted; 18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of food, and they draw near unto the gates of death: 19 Then they cry unto Jehovah in their trouble, [and] he saveth them out of their distresses; 20 He sendeth his word, and healeth them, and delivereth them from their destructions. 21 Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men, 22 And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works in joyful song.

23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, 24 These see the works of Jehovah, and his wonders in the deep. 25 For he speaketh, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof: 26 They mount up to the heavens, they go down to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble; 27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and they are at their wits' end: 28 Then they cry unto Jehovah in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses; 29 He maketh the storm a calm, and the waves thereof are still: 30 And they rejoice because they are quiet; and he bringeth them unto their desired haven. 31 Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men; 32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the session of the elders.

33 He maketh rivers into a wilderness, and water-springs into dry ground; 34 A fruitful land into a plain of salt, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. 35 He maketh the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into water-springs; 36 And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, and they establish a city of habitation; 37 And sow fields, and plant vineyards, which yield fruits of increase; 38 And he blesseth them, so that they are multiplied greatly; and he suffereth not their cattle to decrease. 39 And they are diminished and brought low, through oppression, adversity, and sorrow: 40 He poureth contempt upon nobles, and causeth them to wander in a pathless waste; 41 But he secureth the needy one on high from affliction, and maketh [him] families like flocks. 42 The upright shall see it, and rejoice; and all unrighteousness shall stop its mouth. 43 Whoso is wise, let him observe these things, and let them understand the loving-kindnesses of Jehovah.

A Prayer for Help against the Foe

1081 A Song, a Psalm of David. My heart is fixed, O God: I will sing, yea, I will sing psalms, even [with] my glory. 2 Awake, lute and harp: I will wake the dawn. 3 I will give thee thanks among the peoples, O Jehovah; of thee will I sing psalms among the nations: 4 For thy loving-kindness is great above the heavens, and thy truth is unto the clouds. 5 Be thou exalted above the heavens, O God, and thy glory above all the earth.

6 That thy beloved ones may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me. 7 God hath spoken in his holiness: I will exult, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. 8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, and Ephraim is the strength of my head; Judah is my law-giver; 9 Moab is my wash-pot; upon Edom will I cast my sandal; over Philistia will I shout aloud. 10 Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me unto Edom? 11 [Wilt] not [thou], O God, who didst cast us off? and didst not go forth, O God, with our armies? 12 Give us help from trouble; for vain is man's deliverance. 13 Through God we shall do valiantly; and he it is that will tread down our adversaries.

A Cry for Vengeance

1091 O God of my praise, be not silent: 2 For the mouth of the wicked [man] and the mouth of deceit are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue, 3 And with words of hatred have they encompassed me; and they fight against me without a cause. 4 For my love they are mine adversaries; but I [give myself unto] prayer. 5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

6 Set a wicked [man] over him, and let [the] adversary stand at his right hand; 7 When he shall be judged, let him go out guilty, and let his prayer become sin; 8 Let his days be few, let another take his office; 9 Let his sons be fatherless, and his wife a widow; 10 Let his sons be vagabonds and beg, and let them seek [their bread] far from their desolate places; 11 Let the usurer cast the net over all that he hath, and let strangers despoil his labour; 12 Let there be none to extend kindness unto him, neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children; 13 Let his posterity be cut off; in the generation following let their name be blotted out: 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with Jehovah, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out; 15 Let them be before Jehovah continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth: 16 Because he remembered not to shew kindness, but persecuted the afflicted and needy man, and the broken in heart, to slay him. 17 And he loved cursing; so let it come unto him. And he delighted not in blessing; and let it be far from him. 18 And he clothed himself with cursing like his vestment; so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones; 19 Let it be unto him as a garment with which he covereth himself, and for a girdle wherewith he is constantly girded. 20 Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from Jehovah, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

21 But do thou for me, Jehovah, Lord, for thy name's sake; because thy loving-kindness is good, deliver me: 22 For I am afflicted and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. 23 I am gone like a shadow when it lengtheneth; I am tossed about like the locust; 24 My knees are failing through fasting, and my flesh hath lost its fatness; 25 And I am become a reproach unto them; [when] they look upon me they shake their heads. 26 Help me, Jehovah my God; save me according to thy loving-kindness: 27 That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, Jehovah, hast done it. 28 Let them curse, but bless thou; when they rise up, let them be ashamed, and let thy servant rejoice. 29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with confusion, and let them cover themselves with their shame as with a mantle. 30 I will greatly celebrate Jehovah with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude. 31 For he standeth at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those that judge his soul.

The Ministry of the Apostles

41 Let a man so account of us as servants of Christ, and stewards of [the] mysteries of God. 2 Here, further, it is sought in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3 But for me it is the very smallest matter that I be examined of you or of man's day. Nor do I even examine myself. 4 For I am conscious of nothing in myself; but I am not justified by this: but he that examines me is the Lord. 5 So that do not judge anything before [the] time, until the Lord shall come, who shall also both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and shall make manifest the counsels of hearts; and then shall each have [his] praise from God. 6 Now these things, brethren, I have transferred, in their application, to myself and Apollos, for your sakes, that ye may learn in us the [lesson of] not [letting your thoughts go] above what is written, that ye may not be puffed up one for [such a] one against another.

7 For who makes thee to differ? and what hast thou which thou hast not received? but if also thou hast received, why boastest thou as not receiving? 8 Already ye are filled; already ye have been enriched; ye have reigned without us; and I would that ye reigned, that we also might reign with you. 9 For I think that God has set us the apostles for the last, as appointed to death. For we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. 10 We [are] fools for Christ's sake, but ye prudent in Christ: we weak, but ye strong: ye glorious, but we in dishonour. 11 To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are in nakedness, and buffeted, and wander without a home, 12 and labour, working with our own hands. Railed at, we bless; persecuted, we suffer [it]; 13 insulted, we entreat: we are become as [the] offscouring of the world, [the] refuse of all, until now.

14 Not [as] chiding do I write these things to you, but as my beloved children I admonish [you]. 15 For if ye should have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the glad tidings. 16 I entreat you therefore, be my imitators.

17 For this reason I have sent to you Timotheus, who is my beloved and faithful child in [the] Lord, who shall put you in mind of my ways [as] they [are] in Christ, according as I teach everywhere in every assembly. 18 But some have been puffed up, as if I were not coming to you; 19 but I will come quickly to you, if the Lord will; and I will know, not the word of those that are puffed up, but the power. 20 For the kingdom of God [is] not in word, but in power. 21 What will ye? that I come to you with a rod; or in love, and [in] a spirit of meekness?