God Satisfies the Thirsting Soul

631 A Psalm of David; when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh languisheth for thee, in a dry and weary land without water: 2 To see thy power and thy glory, as I have beheld thee in the sanctuary;

3 For thy loving-kindness is better than life: my lips shall praise thee. 4 So will I bless thee while I live; I will lift up my hands in thy name. 5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise [thee] with joyful lips. 6 When I remember thee upon my bed, I meditate on thee in the night-watches:

7 For thou hast been my help, and in the shadow of thy wings will I sing for joy. 8 My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. 9 But those that seek my soul, to destroy [it], shall go into the lower parts of the earth; 10 They shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be the portion of foxes. 11 But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: for the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

A Prayer for Protection from Hidden Enemies

641 To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. Hear, O God, my voice in my plaint; preserve my life from fear of the enemy: 2 Hide me from the secret counsel of evil-doers, from the tumultuous crowd of the workers of iniquity, 3 Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword, [and] have aimed their arrow, a bitter word; 4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. 5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter, they concert to hide snares; they say, Who will see them? 6 They devise iniquities: We have it ready, the plan is diligently sought out. And each one's inward [thought] and heart is deep.

7 But God will shoot an arrow at them: suddenly are they wounded; 8 By their own tongue they are made to fall over one another: all that see them shall flee away. 9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare God's doing; and they shall wisely consider his work. 10 The righteous shall rejoice in Jehovah, and trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

Praise for God's Bounty in Nature

651 To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David: a Song. Praise waiteth for thee in silence, O God, in Zion; and unto thee shall the vow be performed. 2 O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. 3 Iniquities have prevailed against me: our transgressions, thou wilt forgive them. 4 Blessed is he whom thou choosest and causest to approach: he shall dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, of thy holy temple. 5 By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation, thou confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of the distant regions of the sea. ...

6 Who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with power; 7 Who stilleth the raging of the seas, the raging of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples. 8 And they that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens; thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. 9 Thou hast visited the earth, thou hast watered it; thou greatly enrichest it: the river of God is full of water; thou providest their corn, when thou hast so prepared it: 10 Thou dost satiate its furrows, thou smoothest its clods, thou makest it soft with showers; thou blessest the springing thereof. 11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness: 12 They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and the hills are girded with gladness. 13 The meadows are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, yea, they sing.

Dead to Sin but Alive in Christ

61 What then shall we say? Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Far be the thought. We who have died to sin, how shall we still live in it? 3 Are you ignorant that we, as many as have been baptised unto Christ Jesus, have been baptised unto his death? 4 We have been buried therefore with him by baptism unto death, in order that, even as Christ has been raised up from among [the] dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we are become identified with [him] in the likeness of his death, so also we shall be of [his] resurrection; 6 knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin. 7 For he that has died is justified from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, 9 knowing that Christ having been raised up from among [the] dead dies no more: death has dominion over him no more. 10 For in that he has died, he has died to sin once for all; but in that he lives, he lives to God. 11 So also ye, reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to obey its lusts. 13 Neither yield your members instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves to God as alive from among [the] dead, and your members instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law but under grace.

Servants of Righteousness

15 What then? should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Far be the thought. 16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves bondmen for obedience, ye are bondmen to him whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But thanks [be] to God, that ye were bondmen of sin, but have obeyed from the heart the form of teaching into which ye were instructed. 18 Now, having got your freedom from sin, ye have become bondmen to righteousness. 19 I speak humanly on account of the weakness of your flesh. For even as ye have yielded your members in bondage to uncleanness and to lawlessness unto lawlessness, so now yield your members in bondage to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were bondmen of sin ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit therefore had ye then in the things of which ye are now ashamed? for the end of them [is] death. 22 But now, having got your freedom from sin, and having become bondmen to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin [is] death; but the act of favour of God, eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.