Psalms 81–83; 1 Peter 1

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Psalms 81–83

Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

To the choirmaster: according to fThe Gittith.1 Of gAsaph.

hSing aloud to God our strength;

ishout for joy to the God of Jacob!

Raise a song; sound jthe tambourine,

kthe sweet lyre with kthe harp.

Blow the trumpet at lthe new moon,

at the full moon, on our feast day.

For it is a statute for Israel,

a rule2 of the God of Jacob.

He made it ma decree in nJoseph

when he owent out over3 the land of Egypt.

pI hear a language qI had not known:

I rrelieved your4 shoulder of sthe burden;

your hands were freed from the basket.

In distress you tcalled, and I delivered you;

I uanswered you in the secret place of thunder;

I vtested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

wHear, O my people, while I admonish you!

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

There shall be no xstrange god among you;

you shall not bow down to a yforeign god.

10  zI am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

aOpen your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11  But my people did not listen to my voice;

Israel bwould not submit to me.

12  So I cgave them over to their dstubborn hearts,

to follow their own ecounsels.

13  fOh, that my people would listen to me,

that Israel would gwalk in my ways!

14  I would soon subdue their enemies

and hturn my hand against their foes.

15  Those who hate the Lord would icringe toward him,

and their fate would last forever.

16  But he would feed you5 with jthe finest of the wheat,

and with khoney from the rock I would satisfy you.

Rescue the Weak and Needy

A Psalm of lAsaph.

mGod nhas taken his place in the divine council;

in the midst of pthe gods he qholds judgment:

How long will you judge unjustly

and rshow partiality to sthe wicked? Selah

tGive justice to uthe weak and the fatherless;

vmaintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

wRescue the weak and the needy;

xdeliver them from the hand of the wicked.

yThey have neither knowledge nor understanding,

zthey walk about in darkness;

aall the foundations of the earth are bshaken.

cI said, You are gods,

sons of the Most High, all of you;

nevertheless, like men dyou shall die,

and fall like any prince.6

eArise, O God, judge the earth;

for you shall finherit all the nations!

O God, Do Not Keep Silence

A Song. A Psalm of gAsaph.

O God, do not keep silence;

hdo not hold your peace or be still, O God!

For behold, your enemies imake an uproar;

those who hate you have jraised their heads.

They lay kcrafty plans against your people;

they consult together against your ltreasured ones.

They say, Come, mlet us wipe them out as a nation;

let the name of Israel be remembered no more!

For they conspire with one accord;

against you they make a covenant

the tents of nEdom and othe Ishmaelites,

pMoab and qthe Hagrites,

rGebal and pAmmon and sAmalek,

tPhilistia with the inhabitants of uTyre;

vAsshur also has joined them;

they are the strong arm of wthe children of Lot. Selah

Do to them as you did to xMidian,

as to ySisera and Jabin at zthe river Kishon,

10  who were destroyed at aEn-dor,

who became bdung for the ground.

11  Make their nobles like cOreb and Zeeb,

all their princes like dZebah and Zalmunna,

12  who said, eLet us take possession for ourselves

of the pastures of God.

13  O my God, make them like fwhirling dust,7

like gchaff before the wind.

14  As hfire consumes the forest,

as the flame isets the mountains ablaze,

15  so may you pursue them jwith your tempest

and terrify them with your hurricane!

16  kFill their faces with shame,

that they may seek your name, O Lord.

17  Let them be lput to shame and dismayed forever;

let them perish in disgrace,

18  that they may mknow that you alone,

nwhose name is the Lord,

are othe Most High over all the earth.


1 Peter 1

Greeting

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of athe Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to bthe foreknowledge of God the Father, cin the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and dfor sprinkling with his blood:

May egrace and fpeace be multiplied to you.

Born Again to a Living Hope

gBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! hAccording to his great mercy, ihe has caused us to be born again to a living hope jthrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to kan inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and lunfading, mkept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded nthrough faith for a salvation oready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by pvarious trials, so that qthe tested genuineness of your faithmore precious than gold that perishes rthough it is tested by sfiremay be found to result in tpraise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. uThough you have not seen him, you love him. vThough you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining wthe outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

10 Concerning this salvation, xthe prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring ywhat person or time1 zthe Spirit of Christ in them was indicating awhen he predicted bthe sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 cIt was revealed to them that dthey were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you eby the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, fthings into which angels long to look.

Called to Be Holy

13 Therefore, gpreparing your minds for action,2 and hbeing sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, ido not be conformed to the passions jof your former ignorance, 15 but kas he who called you is holy, you also be holy lin all your conduct, 16 since it is written, mYou shall be holy, for I am holy. 17 And if you ncall on him as Father who ojudges pimpartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves qwith fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you rwere ransomed from sthe futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but twith the precious blood of Christ, like that of ua lamb vwithout blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but wwas made manifest xin the last times for the sake of you 21 ywho through him are believers in God, zwho raised him from the dead and agave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for ba sincere brotherly love, clove one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 dsince you have been born again, enot of perishable seed but of imperishable, through fthe living and abiding word of God; 24 for

gAll flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

25  hbut the word of the Lord remains forever.

And this word iis the good news that was preached to you.