His Steadfast Love Endures Forever
A Psalm for giving thanks.
1 jMake a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
3 Know that kthe Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;1
we are his people, and the lsheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates mwith thanksgiving,
and nhis courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; obless his name!
5 pFor the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
I Will Walk with Integrity
A Psalm of David.
1 I will sing of steadfast love and justice;
to you, O Lord, qI will make music.
2 I will ponder the way that is blameless.
Oh when will you come to me?
I will rwalk swith integrity of heart
within my house;
3 I will not set before my eyes
anything that is worthless.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.
4 A tperverse heart shall be far from me;
I will know nothing of evil.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly
I will destroy.
uWhoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart
I will not endure.
6 I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he who walks in the way that is blameless
shall minister to me.
7 No one who practices deceit
shall dwell in my house;
no one who utters lies
shall continue before my eyes.
8 Morning by morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
cutting off all the evildoers
from the vcity of the Lord.
Do Not Hide Your Face from Me
A Prayer of one afflicted, wwhen he is faint and xpours out his complaint before the Lord.
1 yHear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to you!
2 Do not zhide your face from me
in the day of my distress!
Incline your ear to me;
aanswer me speedily in the day when I call!
3 For my days pass away like bsmoke,
and my cbones burn like a furnace.
4 My heart is struck down like grass and has withered;
I forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of my loud groaning
dmy bones cling to my flesh.
6 I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl2 of the waste places;
7 I lie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
8 All the day my enemies taunt me;
those who deride me use my name for a curse.
9 For eI eat ashes like bread
and mingle tears with my drink,
10 because of your indignation and anger;
for you have taken me up and thrown me down.
11 My days are like an evening fshadow;
I wither away like grass.
12 But you, O Lord, are genthroned forever;
you are remembered throughout all generations.
13 You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
the appointed time has come.
14 For your servants hold her stones dear
and have pity on her dust.
15 Nations will hfear the name of the Lord,
and iall the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
16 For jthe Lord builds up Zion;
khe appears in his glory;
17 he regards the prayer of the destitute
and does not despise their prayer.
18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people lyet to be created may praise the Lord:
19 that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
20 to mhear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,
21 that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
22 when peoples gather together,
and nkingdoms, to worship the Lord.
23 He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he has oshortened my days.
24 “O my God,” I say, “take me not away
in the midst of my days—
you pwhose years endure
throughout all generations!”
25 qOf old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 rThey will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
27 but syou are the same, and your years have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
their offspring shall be established before you.
Greeting
1 Paul, acalled bby the will of God to be an capostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those dsanctified in Christ Jesus, ecalled to be fsaints together with all those who in every place gcall upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving
4 hI give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were ienriched in him in jall kspeech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any lgift, as you mwait for the nrevealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 owho will sustain you to the end, pguiltless in the qday of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the rfellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Divisions in the Church
10 I appeal to you, brothers,1 by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no sdivisions among you, but that you be united tin the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is uquarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow vApollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the wname of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except xCrispus and yGaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did zbaptize also the household of aStephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with bwords of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Christ the Wisdom and Power of God
18 For the word of the cross is cfolly dto those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the epower of God. 19 For it is written,
f“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will gthwart.”
20 hWhere is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? iHas not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach2 to save those who believe. 22 For jJews demand signs and kGreeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach lChrist crucified, a mstumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the nwisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise oaccording to worldly standards,3 not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose pwhat is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 qso that no human being4 might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him5 you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, rrighteousness and ssanctification and tredemption, 31 so that, as it is written, u“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
