1 Now David spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day that the Lord had saved him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said,
“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
3 My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge;
My savior, You save me from violence.
4 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
And I am saved from my enemies.
5 For the waves of death encompassed me;
The floods of destruction terrified me;
6 The ropes of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
7 In my distress I called upon the Lord,
Yes, I called out to my God;
And from His temple He heard my voice,
And my cry for help came into His ears.
8 Then the earth shook and quaked,
The foundations of heaven were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry.
9 Smoke went up out of His nostrils,
And fire from His mouth was devouring;
Coals were kindled by it.
10 He also bowed the heavens down low, and came down
With thick darkness under His feet.
11 He rode on a cherub and flew;
He appeared on the wings of the wind.
12 He made darkness canopies around Him,
A mass of waters, thick clouds of the sky.
13 From the brightness before Him
Coals of fire were kindled.
14 The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.
15 And He shot arrows and scattered them,
Lightning, and routed them.
16 Then the channels of the sea appeared,
The foundations of the world were exposed
By the rebuke of the Lord,
From the blast of the breath of His nostrils.
17 He sent from on high, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
18 He rescued me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
19 They confronted me on the day of my disaster,
But the Lord was my support.
20 He also brought me out into an open place;
He rescued me, because He delighted in me.
21 The Lord has treated me in accordance with my righteousness;
In accordance with the cleanliness of my hands He has repaid me.
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not acted wickedly against my God.
23 For all His ordinances were before me,
And as for His statutes, I did not deviate from them.
24 I was also blameless toward Him,
And I have kept myself from my wrongdoing.
25 So the Lord has repaid me in accordance with my righteousness,
In accordance with my cleanliness before His eyes.
26 With the one who is faithful You show Yourself faithful,
With the blameless one You prove Yourself blameless;
27 With the one who is pure You show Yourself pure,
But with the perverted You show Yourself astute.
28 And You save an afflicted people;
But Your eyes are on the haughty whom You humiliate.
29 For You are my lamp, Lord;
And the Lord illuminates my darkness.
30 For by You I can run at a troop of warriors;
By my God I can leap over a wall.
31 As for God, His way is blameless;
The word of the Lord is refined;
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
32 For who is God, except the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?
33 God is my strong fortress;
And He sets the blameless on His way.
34 He makes my feet like deer’s feet,
And sets me on my high places.
35 He trains my hands for battle,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
36 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation,
And Your help makes me great.
37 You enlarge my steps under me,
And my feet have not slipped.
38 I pursued my enemies and eliminated them,
And I did not turn back until they were finished off.
39 And I have devoured them and smashed them, so that they would not rise;
And they fell under my feet.
40 For You have encircled me with strength for battle;
You have forced those who rose up against me to bow down under me.
41 You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me,
And I destroyed those who hated me.
42 They looked, but there was no one to save them;
Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
43 Then I pulverized them as the dust of the earth;
I crushed and trampled them like the mud of the streets.
44 You have also saved me from the contentions of my people;
You have kept me as head of the nations;
A people I have not known serve me.
45 Foreigners pretend to obey me;
As soon as they hear, they obey me.
46 Foreigners lose heart,
And come trembling out of their fortresses.
47 The Lord lives, and blessed be my Rock;
And exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,
48 The God who executes vengeance for me,
And brings down peoples under me,
49 Who also brings me out from my enemies;
You also raise me above those who rise up against me;
You rescue me from the violent person.
50 Therefore I will give thanks to You, Lord, among the nations,
And I will sing praises to Your name.
51 He is a tower of salvation to His king,
And shows favor to His anointed,
To David and his descendants forever.”
1 Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. 2 It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that somehow I might be running, or had run, in vain. 3 But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 Yet it was a concern because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy on our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us. 5 But we did not yield in subjection to them, even for an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. 6 But from those who were of considerable repute (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism)—well, those who were of repute contributed nothing to me. 7 But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised 8 (for He who was at work for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised was at work for me also to the Gentiles), 9 and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. 10 They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For prior to the coming of some men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and separate himself, fearing those from the circumcision. 13 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?
15 “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from the Gentiles; 16 nevertheless, knowing that a person is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law; since by works of the Law no flesh will be justified. 17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Far from it! 18 For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a wrongdoer. 19 For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3 Speak and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says:
“Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
The great monster that lies in the midst of his canals,
That has said, ‘My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.’
4 I will put hooks in your jaws
And make the fish of your canals cling to your scales.
And I will bring you up out of the midst of your canals,
And all the fish of your canals will cling to your scales.
5 I will abandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your canals;
You will fall on the open field; you will not be brought together or gathered.
I have given you for food to the animals of the earth and to the birds of the sky.
6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am the Lord,
Because they have been only a staff made of reed to the house of Israel.
7 When they took hold of you with the hand,
You broke and tore all their hands;
And when they leaned on you,
You broke and made all their hips shake.”
8 ‘Therefore the Lord God says this: “Behold, I am going to bring upon you a sword, and I will cut off from you human and animal life. 9 The land of Egypt will become a desolation and place of ruins. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
“Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I have made it,’ 10 therefore, behold, I am against you and against your canals, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene and as far as the border of Cush. 11 A human foot will not pass through it, nor will the foot of an animal pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years. 12 So I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of deserted lands. And her cities, in the midst of cities that are laid waste, will be desolate for forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.”
13 ‘For this is what the Lord God says: “At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. 14 And I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they will be a lowly kingdom. 15 It will be the lowest of the kingdoms, and it will not raise itself above the nations again. And I will make them small so that they will not rule over the nations. 16 And it will no longer be a kingdom on which the house of Israel relies, bringing to mind the guilt of their having turned to Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.”’”
17 Now in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre; every head had a bald spot and every shoulder was rubbed raw. But he and his army acquired no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it.” 19 Therefore this is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am going to give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry off her wealth and capture her spoils and seize her plunder; and it will be wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor which he performed, because they acted for Me,” declares the Lord God.
21 “On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
1 Listen, my people, to my instruction;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will tell riddles of old,
3 Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
4 We will not conceal them from their children,
But we will tell the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His power and His wondrous works that He has done.
5 For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers
That they were to teach them to their children,
6 So that the generation to come would know, the children yet to be born,
That they would arise and tell them to their children,
7 So that they would put their confidence in God
And not forget the works of God,
But comply with His commandments,
8 And not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not prepare its heart
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows,
Yet they turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep the covenant of God
And refused to walk in His Law;
11 They forgot His deeds
And His miracles that He had shown them.
12 He performed wonders before their fathers
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and caused them to pass through,
And He made the waters stand up like a heap.
14 Then He led them with the cloud by day
And all the night with a light of fire.
15 He split the rocks in the wilderness
And gave them plenty to drink like the ocean depths.
16 He brought forth streams from the rock
And made waters run down like rivers.
17 Yet they still continued to sin against Him,
To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18 And in their heart they put God to the test
By asking for food that suited their taste.
19 Then they spoke against God;
They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out,
And streams were overflowing;
Can He also provide bread?
Will He prepare meat for His people?”
21 Therefore the Lord heard and was full of wrath;
And a fire was kindled against Jacob,
And anger also mounted against Israel,
22 Because they did not believe in God
And did not trust in His salvation.
23 Yet He commanded the clouds above
And opened the doors of heaven;
24 He rained down manna upon them to eat,
And gave them food from heaven.
25 Man ate the bread of angels;
He sent them food in abundance.
26 He made the east wind blow in the sky
And by His power He directed the south wind.
27 When He rained meat upon them like the dust,
Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas,
28 He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
All around their dwellings.
29 So they ate and were well filled,
And He satisfied their longing.
30 Yet before they had abandoned their longing,
While their food was in their mouths,
31 The anger of God rose against them
And killed some of their strongest ones,
And subdued the choice men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this they still sinned
And did not believe in His wonderful works.
33 So He brought their days to an end in futility,
And their years to an end in sudden terror.
34 When He killed them, then they sought Him,
And they returned and searched diligently for God;
35 And they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.
36 But they flattered Him with their mouth
And lied to Him with their tongue.
37 For their heart was not steadfast toward Him,
Nor were they faithful with His covenant.
