Great Is Your Steadfast Love
A Prayer of David.
1 Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
sfor I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am godly;
save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.
3 Be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry tall the day.
4 Gladden the soul of your servant,
for uto you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For you, O Lord, are good and vforgiving,
wabounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
listen to my plea for grace.
7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
for xyou answer me.
8 yThere is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.
9 zAll the nations you have made shall come
and worship before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
10 For ayou are great and do bwondrous things;
cyou alone are God.
11 dTeach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk ein your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have fdelivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
14 O God, ginsolent men have risen up against me;
a band of ruthless men seeks my life,
and they do not set you before them.
15 But you, O Lord, are a God hmerciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
16 iTurn to me and be gracious to me;
jgive your strength to kyour servant,
and save the son of your maidservant.
17 Show me a sign of your favor,
that those who hate me may see and lbe put to shame
because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Glorious Things of You Are Spoken
A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song.
1 On the mholy mount stands the city he nfounded;
2 the Lord oloves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
3 Glorious things of you are spoken,
O pcity of God. Selah
4 Among those who know me I mention qRahab and Babylon;
behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush1—
“This one was born there,” they say.
5 And of Zion it shall be said,
“This one and that one were born in her”;
for the Most High himself will restablish her.
6 The Lord records as he registers the peoples,
“This one was born there.” Selah
7 Singers and dancers alike say,
“All my springs are in you.”
God Blesses and Renames Jacob
1 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. fMake an altar there to the God gwho happeared to you iwhen you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, j“Put away kthe foreign gods that are among you and lpurify yourselves and mchange your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God nwho answers me in the day of my distress and has been owith me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under pthe terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
5 And as they journeyed, a qterror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place rEl-bethel,1 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And sDeborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.2
9 God appeared3 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and tblessed him. 10 And God said to him, u“Your name is Jacob; vno longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God wAlmighty:4 xbe fruitful and multiply. yA nation and a zcompany of nations shall come from you, and akings shall come from your own body.5 12 bThe land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land cto your offspring after you.” 13 Then dGod went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob eset up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a fdrink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 gSo Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
Sacrifices Pleasing to God
1 Let sbrotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show thospitality to strangers, for thereby some have uentertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are vin prison, was though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the xsexually immoral and yadulterous. 5 Keep your life free from zlove of money, and be acontent with what you have, for he has said, b“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
c“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and dimitate their faith. 8 eJesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. 10 fWe have an altar from which those who serve the tent1 have no right to eat. 11 For gthe bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered houtside the gate in order to isanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the jreproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the kcity that is lto come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a msacrifice of praise to God, that is, the nfruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to oshare what you have, for such psacrifices are pleasing to God.
17 qObey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a rclear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Benediction
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, sthe great tshepherd of the sheep, uby the blood of the veternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, wworking in us2 that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
