An Exhortation to Thanksgiving

1001 A Psalm for the thank offering. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him, bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures for ever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

A Pledge to Live Righteously

1011 A Psalm of David. I will sing of loyalty and of justice; to thee, O Lord, I will sing. 2 I will give heed to the way that is blameless. Oh when wilt thou come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; 3 I will not set before my eyes anything that is base. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cleave to me. 4 Perverseness of heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil. 5 Him who slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. The man of haughty looks and arrogant heart I will not endure. 6 I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me. 7 No man who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no man who utters lies shall continue in my presence. 8 Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.

A Cry in Distress

1021 A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord. Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to thee! 2 Do not hide thy face from me in the day of my distress! Incline thy ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call! 3 For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. 4 My heart is smitten like grass, and withered; I forget to eat my bread. 5 Because of my loud groaning my bones cleave to my flesh. 6 I am like a vulture of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; 7 I lie awake, I am like a lonely bird on the housetop. 8 All the day my enemies taunt me, those who deride me use my name for a curse. 9 For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle tears with my drink, 10 because of thy indignation and anger; for thou hast taken me up and thrown me away. 11 My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.

12 But thou, O Lord, art enthroned for ever; thy name endures to all generations. 13 Thou wilt arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come. 14 For thy servants hold her stones dear, and have pity on her dust. 15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. 16 For the Lord will build up Zion, he will appear in his glory; 17 he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their supplication. 18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord: 19 that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, 20 to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die; 21 that men may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem his praise, 22 when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

23 He has broken my strength in mid-course; he has shortened my days. 24 "O my God," I say, "take me not hence in the midst of my days, thou whose years endure throughout all generations!" 25 Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. 26 They will perish, but thou dost endure; they will all wear out like a garment. Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away; 27 but thou art the same, and thy years have no end. 28 The children of thy servants shall dwell secure; their posterity shall be established before thee.

Salutation

11 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sos'thenes, 2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving for Spiritual Gifts

4 I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge-- 6 even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you-- 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ; 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

10 I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chlo'e's people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apol'los," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ." 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

14 I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Ga'ius; 15 lest any one should say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Steph'anas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any one else.)

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart." 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; 27 but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; 31 therefore, as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord."