Zion, the City of Our God
A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
1 vGreat is the Lord and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God!
His holy mountain, 2 beautiful in elevation,
is wthe joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
the city of the great King.
3 Within her citadels God
has made himself known as a fortress.
4 For behold, the kings assembled;
they came on together.
5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
they were in panic; they took to flight.
6 Trembling took hold of them there,
anguish as of a woman in labor.
7 By the xeast wind you shattered
the ships of Tarshish.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen
in the ycity of the Lord of hosts,
in the city of our God,
which God will establish forever. Selah
9 We have thought on your steadfast love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
10 zAs your name, O God,
so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Let Mount Zion be aglad!
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments!
12 Walk about Zion, go around her,
number her towers,
13 consider well her ramparts,
go through her citadels,
that you may btell the next generation
14 that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
He will guide us forever.1
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works!
eIn wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and fgreat.
26 There go the ships,
27 hThese all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you iopen your hand, they are jfilled with good things.
29 When you khide your face, they are dismayed;
when you ltake away their breath, they die
and mreturn to their dust.
30 When you send forth your Spirit,2 they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord nrejoice in his works,
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who otouches the mountains and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
pI will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 qMay my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
rBless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!
The Righteous Reign of the Branch
1 bThere shall come forth a shoot from the stump of cJesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And dthe Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but ewith righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and fwith the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 gThe wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my hholy mountain;
for ithe earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Future Glory
18 For I consider that gthe sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with hthe glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For ithe creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that jthe creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits kof the Spirit, lgroan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this mhope we were saved. Now hope nthat is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself ointercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And phe who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because1 the Spirit intercedes for the saints qaccording to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who rlove God sall things work together for good,2 for those who are called according to his tpurpose. 29 For those whom he uforeknew he also vpredestined to be wconformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be xthe firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also ycalled, and those whom he called he also zjustified, and those whom he justified he also aglorified.
God’s Everlasting Love
31 bWhat then shall we say to these things? cIf God is for us, who can be3 against us? 32 dHe who edid not spare his own Son but gave him up for us fall, ghow will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 hWho shall bring any charge against God’s ielect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is jto condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—kwho is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.4 35 Who shall separate us from the llove of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
m“For your sake we are being killed nall the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than oconquerors through him who ploved us. 38 For I am sure that qneither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor rheight nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
