Tell of All His Wondrous Works
1 tOh give thanks to the Lord; ucall upon his name;
vmake known his deeds among the peoples!
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
wtell of all his wondrous works!
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
4 Seek the Lord and his xstrength;
yseek his presence continually!
5 Remember the zwondrous works that he has done,
his miracles, and athe judgments he uttered,
6 O offspring of bAbraham, his servant,
children of Jacob, his cchosen ones!
7 He is the Lord our God;
his djudgments are in all the earth.
8 He eremembers his covenant forever,
the word that he commanded, for fa thousand generations,
9 gthe covenant that he made with Abraham,
his hsworn promise to Isaac,
10 which he confirmed to iJacob as a statute,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 saying, j“To you I will give the land of Canaan
as kyour portion for an inheritance.”
45 that they might gkeep his statutes
and hobserve his laws.
iPraise the Lord!
15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” 16 Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah’s eyes were weak,1 but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. 18 Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, q“I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” 19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” 20 So Jacob qserved seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” 22 So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and rmade a feast. 23 But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. 24 (Laban gave2 shis female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) 25 And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” 26 Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 27 tComplete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” 28 Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
The Mustard Seed and the Leaven
31 He put another parable before them, saying, z“The kingdom of heaven is like aa grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
33 He told them another parable. b“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in cthree measures of flour, till it was dall leavened.”
The Parable of the Hidden Treasure
44 “The kingdom of heaven xis like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy yhe goes and sells all that he has and zbuys that field.
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding aone pearl of great value, ywent and sold all that he had and zbought it.
The Parable of the Net
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is blike a net that was thrown into the sea and cgathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, dmen drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at ethe end of the age. The angels will come out and fseparate the evil from the righteous 50 gand throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place gthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
New and Old Treasures
51 h“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every iscribe jwho has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who kbrings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For bwe do not know what to pray for as we ought, but cthe Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And dhe who searches hearts knows what is ethe mind of the Spirit, because1 the Spirit fintercedes for the saints gaccording to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together hfor good,2 for ithose who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he jforeknew he also kpredestined lto be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be mthe firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also njustified, and those whom he justified he also oglorified.
God’s Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? pIf God is for us, who can be3 against us? 32 qHe who did not spare his own Son but rgave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? sIt is God who justifies. 34 tWho is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—uwho is at the right hand of God, vwho indeed is interceding for us.4 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
w“For your sake xwe are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than yconquerors through zhim who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
