Psalm 71; 2 Corinthians 1

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Psalm 71

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

iIn you, O Lord, do I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame!

In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me, and save me!

Be to me a rock of jrefuge,

to which I may continually come;

you have kgiven the command to save me,

for you are my lrock and my fortress.

mRescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

For you, O Lord, are my nhope,

my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

Upon you I have leaned ofrom before my birth;

you are he who ptook me from my mother’s womb.

My praise is continually of you.

I have been as qa portent to many,

but you are my strong refuge.

My rmouth is filled with your praise,

and with your glory all the day.

sDo not cast me off in the time of old age;

forsake me not when my strength is spent.

10  For my enemies speak concerning me;

those who twatch for my life uconsult together

11  and say, God has forsaken him;

pursue and seize him,

for there is none to deliver him.

12  O God, be not vfar from me;

O my God, wmake haste to help me!

13  May my accusers be xput to shame and consumed;

ywith scorn and disgrace may they be covered

who zseek my hurt.

14  But I will ahope continually

and will bpraise you yet more and more.

15  My cmouth will tell of your righteous acts,

of your deeds of salvation all the day,

for dtheir number is past my knowledge.

16  With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;

I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

17  O God, from my youth you have taught me,

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

18  So even to eold age and gray hairs,

O God, fdo not forsake me,

until I proclaim your might to another generation,

your power to all those to come.

19  Your grighteousness, O God,

reaches the high heavens.

You who have done hgreat things,

O God, iwho is like you?

20  You who have jmade me see many troubles and calamities

will krevive me again;

from the depths of the earth

you will bring me up again.

21  You will increase my greatness

and comfort me again.

22  I will also praise you with lthe harp

for your faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praises to you with the lyre,

O mHoly One of Israel.

23  My lips will shout for joy,

when I sing praises to you;

my soul also, which you have nredeemed.

24  And my otongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,

for they have been pput to shame and disappointed

who sought to do me hurt.


2 Corinthians 1

Greeting

Paul, aan apostle of Christ Jesus bby the will of God, and cTimothy our brother,

To the church of God that is at Corinth, dwith all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

eGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

fBlessed be the gGod and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and hGod of all comfort, iwho comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in jChrist’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.1 kIf we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you lshare in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,2 of mthe affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us nrely not on ourselves obut on God pwho raises the dead. 10 qHe delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. rOn him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 sYou also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf tfor the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Paul’s Change of Plans

12 For our boast is this, uthe testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity3 and vgodly sincerity, wnot by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand 14 just as you did xpartially understand usthat yon the day of our Lord Jesus zyou will boast of us as awe will boast of you.

15 Because I was sure of this, bI wanted to come to you first, so that you might have ca second dexperience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you eon my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans faccording to the flesh, ready to say Yes, yes and No, no at the same time? 18 As surely as gGod is faithful, hour word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For ithe Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, jSilvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but kin him it is always Yes. 20 For lall the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our mAmen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and nhas anointed us, 22 and who has also oput his seal on us and pgiven us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.4

23 But qI call God to witness against meit was rto spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we slord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm tin your faith.