The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity
1 How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion junder a cloud!
kHe has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered lhis footstool
in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord mhas swallowed up nwithout mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath ohe has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought pdown to the ground pin dishonor
the kingdom qand its rulers.
3 He has cut down in rfierce anger
all sthe might of Israel;
the has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
uhe has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
4 vHe has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set wlike a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes;
in the tent of the daughter of Zion,
he has poured out his fury like fire.
5 wThe Lord has become like an enemy;
xhe has swallowed up Israel;
yhe has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
zmourning and lamentation.
6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins ahis meeting place;
athe Lord has made Zion forget
festival and bSabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
7 cThe Lord has scorned his altar,
ddisowned his sanctuary;
ehe has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
fthey raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.
8 gThe Lord determined to lay in ruins
hthe wall of the daughter of Zion;
ihe stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
jhe caused rampart and wall to lament;
jthey languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
khe has ruined kand broken her bars;
lher king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and mher prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
nsit on the ground oin silence;
pthey have thrown dust on their heads
and qput on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 rMy eyes are spent with weeping;
smy stomach churns;
tmy bile is poured out to the ground
ubecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
vbecause infants and babies wfaint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
x“Where is bread and wine?”
was they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
13 What can I say for you, yto what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
yWhat can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
zFor your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14 aYour prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
bthey have not exposed your iniquity
to crestore your fortunes,
dbut have seen for you eoracles
that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
fthey hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
gthe perfection of beauty,
gthe joy of all the earth?”
16 hAll your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We ihave swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; jwe see it!”
17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out khis word,
which he commanded llong ago;
mhe has thrown down nwithout pity;
ohe has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the pmight of your foes.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O qwall of the daughter of Zion,
rlet tears stream down like a torrent
sday and night!
tGive yourself no rest,
uyour eyes no respite!
19 “Arise, vcry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
wPour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
xLift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
ywho faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”
20 Look, O Lord, and see!
zWith whom have you dealt thus?
aShould women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of btheir tender care?
Should cpriest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 In the dust of the streets
dlie the young and the old;
dmy young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
eyou have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering fwithout pity.
22 You summoned as if to ga festival day
hmy terrors on every side,
iand on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
jthose whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.
God Himself Is Judge
A Psalm of nAsaph.
1 oThe Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
pfrom the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, qthe perfection of beauty,
rGod shines forth.
3 Our God comes; he sdoes not keep silence;1
before him is a devouring tfire,
around him a mighty tempest.
4 uHe calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made va covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 wThe heavens declare his righteousness,
for xGod himself is judge! Selah
7 y“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you.
zI am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices ado I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 bI know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
The Ministry of Apostles
1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and nstewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 oFor I am not aware of anything against myself, pbut I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore qdo not pronounce judgment before the time, rbefore the Lord comes, swho will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. tThen each one will receive his commendation from God.
6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers,1 that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may ube puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? vWhat do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, wlike men sentenced to death, because we xhave become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 yWe are fools for Christ’s sake, but zyou are wise in Christ. aWe are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour bwe hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and cbuffeted and dhomeless, 12 and we elabor, working with our own hands. fWhen reviled, we bless; gwhen persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. hWe have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, ithe refuse of all things.
14 I do not write these things jto make you ashamed, but to admonish you kas my beloved children. 15 For lthough you have countless2 guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For mI became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, nbe imitators of me. 17 That is why oI sent3 you Timothy, pmy beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ,4 qas I teach them everywhere in every church. 18 Some are rarrogant, sas though I were not coming to you. 19 But tI will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20 For uthe kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? vShall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
Sexual Immorality Defiles the Church
1 It is actually reported that there is wsexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, xfor a man has his father’s wife. 2 And yyou are arrogant! Ought you znot rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though aabsent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled bin the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are cto deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so dthat his spirit may be saved ein the day of the Lord.5
6 fYour boasting is not good. Do you not know that ga little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, hnot with the old leaven, ithe leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter jnot to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 knot at all meaning lthe sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, msince then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone nwho bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging ooutsiders? pIs it not those inside the church6 whom you are to judge? 13 God judges7 those outside. q“Purge the evil person from among you.”
Lawsuits Against Believers
1 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous rinstead of the saints? 2 Or do you not know that sthe saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, twhy do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5 uI say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. vWhy not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even wyour own brothers!8
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous9 will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: xneither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,10 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And ysuch were some of you. But zyou were washed, ayou were sanctified, byou were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Flee Sexual Immorality
12 c“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 d“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one eand the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but ffor the Lord, and gthe Lord for the body. 14 And hGod raised the Lord and iwill also raise us up jby his power. 15 Do you not know that kyour bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined11 to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, l“The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord mbecomes one spirit with him. 18 nFlee from sexual immorality. Every other sin12 a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person osins against his own body. 19 Or pdo you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? qYou are not your own, 20 rfor you were bought with a price. sSo glorify God in your body.
