Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, you have psearched me and known me!
2 You qknow when I sit down and when I rise up;
you rdiscern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, syou know it altogether.
5 You them me in, behind and before,
and ulay your hand upon me.
6 vSuch knowledge is wtoo wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
12 deven the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you eformed my inward parts;
you fknitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.1
gWonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
The Lord Had Pity
18 bThen the Lord became jealous for his land
cand had pity on his people.
19 The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, dI am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
dand you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
20 “I will remove the northerner far from you,
and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard1 into ethe eastern sea,
and his rear guard2 into fthe western sea;
gthe stench and foul smell of him will rise,
for he has done great things.
21 “Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for hthe Lord has done great things!
22 Fear not, iyou beasts of the field,
for jthe pastures of the wilderness are green;
kthe tree bears its fruit;
the fig tree and kvine give their full yield.
23 l“Be glad, O children of Zion,
and lrejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given mthe early rain for your vindication;
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will restore3 to you the years
that othe swarming locust has eaten,
othe hopper, othe destroyer, and othe cutter,
pmy great army, which I sent among you.
26 q“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people rshall never again be put to shame.
27 sYou shall know that I am tin the midst of Israel,
and that uI am the Lord your God vand there is none else.
And my people rshall never again be put to shame.
The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit
28 4 w“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that xI will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
yyour sons and zyour daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 aEven on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show bwonders in the heavens and bon the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 cThe sun shall be turned to darkness, dand the moon to blood, ebefore the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that feveryone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. gFor in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among hthe survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation
25 hLest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers:1 ia partial hardening has come upon Israel, juntil the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
k“The Deliverer will come lfrom Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my mcovenant with them
nwhen I take away their sins.”
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are obeloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and pthe calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as qyou were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now2 receive mercy. 32 For God rhas consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and swisdom and knowledge of God! tHow unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For uwho has known the mind of the Lord,
or vwho has been his counselor?”
35 “Or wwho has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
36 For xfrom him and through him and to him are all things. yTo him be glory forever. Amen.
A Living Sacrifice
1 zI appeal to you therefore, brothers,3 by the mercies of God, ato present your bodies bas a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.4 2 cDo not be conformed to this world,5 but be transformed by dthe renewal of your mind, that by testing you may ediscern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.6
Gifts of Grace
3 For fby the grace given to me I say to everyone among you gnot to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, heach according to ithe measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For jas in one body we have many members,7 and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, kthough many, lare one body in Christ, and individually mmembers one of another. 6 nHaving gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if oprophecy, pin proportion to our faith; 7 if qservice, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; rthe one who leads,8 with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with scheerfulness.
Marks of the True Christian
9 tLet love be genuine. uAbhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 vLove one another with brotherly affection. wOutdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, xbe fervent in spirit,9 yserve the Lord. 12 zRejoice in hope, abe patient in tribulation, bbe constant in prayer. 13 cContribute to the needs of the saints and dseek to show hospitality.
