Psalm 89; 1 John 4

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Psalm 89

I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord

A Maskil1 of hEthan the Ezrahite.

iI will sing of jthe steadfast love of the Lord, forever;

with my mouth I will make known your kfaithfulness to all generations.

For I said, jSteadfast love will be built up forever;

in the heavens lyou will establish your kfaithfulness.

You have said, I have made ma covenant with my nchosen one;

I have osworn to David my servant:

I will establish your poffspring forever,

and build your qthrone for all generations. Selah

Let rthe heavens praise your swonders, O Lord,

your faithfulness in the assembly of tthe holy ones!

For uwho in the skies can be compared to the Lord?

uWho among the heavenly beings2 is like the Lord,

a God greatly vto be feared in the council of tthe holy ones,

and awesome above all wwho are around him?

O Lord God of hosts,

xwho is mighty as you are, O yLord,

with your faithfulness all around you?

You rule the raging of the sea;

when its waves rise, you zstill them.

10  You acrushed bRahab like a carcass;

you cscattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

11  dThe heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;

ethe world and all that is in it, you have ffounded them.

12  gThe north and the south, you have created them;

hTabor and iHermon jjoyously praise your name.

13  You have a mighty arm;

strong is your hand, high your right hand.

14  kRighteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;

lsteadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

15  Blessed are the people who know mthe festal shout,

who walk, O Lord, in nthe light of your face,

16  who exult in your oname all the day

and in your righteousness are pexalted.

17  For you are qthe glory of their strength;

by your favor our rhorn is exalted.

18  For our sshield belongs to the Lord,

our king to tthe Holy One of Israel.

19  uOf old you spoke in a vision to your godly one,3 and said:

I have vgranted help to one who is wmighty;

I have exalted one xchosen from the people.

20  yI have found David, my servant;

with my holy oil I have zanointed him,

21  so that my ahand shall be established with him;

my arm also shall strengthen him.

22  The enemy shall not outwit him;

bthe wicked shall not humble him.

23  I will ccrush his foes before him

and strike down those who hate him.

24  My dfaithfulness and my dsteadfast love shall be with him,

and in my name shall his ehorn be exalted.

25  I will set his hand on fthe sea

and his right hand on fthe rivers.

26  He shall cry to me, You are my gFather,

my God, and hthe Rock of my salvation.

27  And I will make him the ifirstborn,

jthe highest of the kings of the earth.

28  My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,

and my kcovenant will stand firm4 for him.

29  I will establish his loffspring forever

and his lthrone as mthe days of the heavens.

30  nIf his children forsake my law

and do not walk according to my rules,5

31  if they violate my statutes

and do not keep my commandments,

32  then I will punish their transgression with othe rod

and their iniquity with stripes,

33  but I will not remove from him my steadfast love

or be false to my faithfulness.

34  I will not violate my kcovenant

or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

35  Once for all I have sworn pby my holiness;

I will not qlie to David.

36  His loffspring shall endure forever,

rhis lthrone as long as sthe sun before me.

37  Like sthe moon it shall be established forever,

ta faithful witness in the skies. Selah

38  But now you have ucast off and rejected;

you are full of wrath against your vanointed.

39  You have wrenounced xthe covenant with your servant;

you have ydefiled his zcrown in the dust.

40  You have abreached all his walls;

you have laid his strongholds in ruins.

41  aAll who pass by plunder him;

he has become bthe scorn of his neighbors.

42  You have exalted the right hand of his foes;

you have made all his enemies rejoice.

43  You have also turned back the edge of his sword,

and you have not made him stand in battle.

44  You have made his splendor to cease

and cast his throne to the ground.

45  You have cut short cthe days of his youth;

you have dcovered him with shame. Selah

46  eHow long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?

How long will your wrath fburn like fire?

47  gRemember hhow short my itime is!

For what vanity you have created all the children of man!

48  jWhat man can live and never ksee death?

Who can deliver his soul from the power of lSheol? Selah

49  Lord, where is your msteadfast love of old,

which by your mfaithfulness you swore to David?

50  nRemember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,

and how I bear in my oheart the insults6 of all the many nations,

51  with which your enemies mock, O Lord,

with which they mock pthe footsteps of your qanointed.

52  rBlessed be the Lord forever!

Amen and Amen.


1 John 4

Test the Spirits

Beloved, tdo not believe every spirit, but utest the spirits to see whether they are from God, for vmany wfalse prophets xhave gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: yevery spirit that confesses that zJesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit athat does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and bnow is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for che who is in you is greater than dhe who is in the world. eThey are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and fthe world listens to them. We are from God. gWhoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know hthe Spirit of truth and ithe spirit of error.

God Is Love

Beloved, jlet us love one another, for love is from God, and kwhoever loves has been born of God and knows God. lAnyone who does not love does not know God, because mGod is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that nGod sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, onot that we have loved God nbut that he loved us and sent his Son to be pthe propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 qNo one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and rhis love is perfected in us.

13 sBy this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And twe have seen and testify that uthe Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of vthe world. 15 wWhoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So xwe have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. yGod is love, and zwhoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this ais love perfected with us, so that bwe may have confidence for the day of judgment, because cas he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but dperfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not abeen perfected in love. 19 eWe love because he first loved us. 20 fIf anyone says, I love God, and ghates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot1 love God hwhom he has not seen. 21 And ithis commandment we have from him: jwhoever loves God must also love his brother.