Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me
To the choirmaster: according to fThe Gittith.1 Of gAsaph.
1 hSing aloud to God our strength;
ishout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song; sound jthe tambourine,
kthe sweet lyre with kthe harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at lthe new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule2 of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it ma decree in nJoseph
when he owent out over3 the land of Egypt.
pI hear a language qI had not known:
6 “I rrelieved your4 shoulder of sthe burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you tcalled, and I delivered you;
I uanswered you in the secret place of thunder;
I vtested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 wHear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no xstrange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a yforeign god.
10 zI am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
aOpen your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel bwould not submit to me.
12 So I cgave them over to their dstubborn hearts,
to follow their own ecounsels.
13 fOh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would gwalk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies
and hturn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would icringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
16 But he would feed you5 with jthe finest of the wheat,
and with khoney from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Israel’s Remnant Taunts Babylon
3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, 4 you will take up this utaunt against the king of Babylon:
“How the oppressor has ceased,
5 The Lord has broken the wstaff of the wicked,
the wscepter of rulers,
6 xthat struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
ythey break forth into singing.
8 zaThe cypresses rejoice at you,
bthe cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
no woodcutter comes up against us.’
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
10 cAll of them will answer
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.
Greeting
1 Paul, aSilvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the bThessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
cGrace to you and peace.
The Thessalonians’ Faith and Example
2 dWe give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly1 ementioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before four God and Father gyour work of faith and labor of hlove and isteadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, jbrothers2 loved by God, kthat he has chosen you, 5 because lour gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and min the Holy Spirit and with full nconviction. You know owhat kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And pyou became imitators of us qand of the Lord, for ryou received the word in much affliction, swith the tjoy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord usounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth veverywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of wreception we had among you, and how xyou turned to God yfrom idols to serve the living and ztrue God, 10 and ato wait for his Son bfrom heaven, cwhom he raised from the dead, Jesus dwho delivers us from ethe wrath to come.
