Psalm 116

¹⁹We love because He first loved us.

¹⁹But God has surely heard; He has attended to the sound of my prayer.

²⁰Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld from me His loving devotion!

²By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments.

³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,

²⁴Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

³Magnify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together.

⁴I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.

³³For the Lord listens to the needy and does not despise His captive people.

¹⁸The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.

¹⁹He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry.

⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

¹⁶But I call to God, and the Lord saves me.

¹⁷Morning, noon, and night, I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice.

²Incline Your ear to me; come quickly to my rescue. Be my rock of refuge, the stronghold of my deliverance.

⁶Hear my prayer, O Lord, and attend to my plea for mercy.

⁷In the day of my distress I call on You, because You answer me.

⁴The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.

⁵The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

⁶I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.

³When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.

⁴For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah

⁶You have laid me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of the depths.

⁷Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah

⁴⁴And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.

⁷During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.

⁵In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered and set me free.

²⁰Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of wild dogs.

⁶I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah

⁷Answer me quickly, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.

⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”

⁴³And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

⁴Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul.

⁵I cry to You, O Lord: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

¹⁷The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds.

⁸The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.

¹³⁷Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments.

¹⁵O Lord, God of Israel, You are righteous! For we remain this day as a remnant. Here we are before You in our guilt, though because of it no one can stand before You.”

⁸You found his heart faithful before You, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites and Hittites, of the Amorites and Perizzites, of the Jebusites and Girgashites—to give it to his descendants. You have kept Your promise, because You are righteous.

¹⁵But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.

²⁵At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

⁶Listen to my cry, for I am brought quite low. Rescue me from my pursuers, for they are too strong for me.

⁷The Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making wise the simple.

⁸Do not hold past sins against us; let Your compassion come quickly, for we are brought low.

²¹May integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for You.

⁸And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.

⁶I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me.

²⁸Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

¹⁰As for you, O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid, declares the Lord, and do not be dismayed, O Israel. For I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return to quiet and ease, with no one to make him afraid.

¹⁷Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word.

¹⁶This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

¹¹So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”

¹³For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

⁴‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”

¹⁷For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

¹³For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.

⁸He will swallow up death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. For the Lord has spoken.

²⁴Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the Lord is holding his hand.

¹³Still I am certain to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

⁴and so that the Lord may fulfill His promise to me: ‘If your descendants take heed to walk faithfully before Me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

²⁵Therefore now, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk before Me as you have done.’

⁴And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,

¹³And in keeping with what is written, “I believed, therefore I have spoken,” we who have the same spirit of faith also believe and therefore speak,

¹Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.

²¹For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

²⁸A lying witness will perish, but the man who listens to truth will speak forever.

¹⁶For we did not follow cleverly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

⁶Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes

⁷and said to the whole congregation of Israel, “The land we passed through and explored is an exceedingly good land.

⁴Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”

⁴“Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander.

⁵Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity.

²²In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from Your sight!” But You heard my plea for mercy when I called to You for help.

⁹Lowborn men are but a vapor; the exalted are but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.

¹David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”

¹⁶And Elisha declared, “At this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord,” she said. “Do not lie to your maidservant, O man of God.”

²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

²Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds—

¹⁴For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.

¹⁵And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

¹Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

²⁵But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

¹²Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.

¹³Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You.

⁵The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.

¹Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; make known His deeds among the nations.

²Because He has inclined His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.

¹⁸Then we will not turn away from You; revive us, and we will call on Your name.

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.

¹⁷I will offer to You a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.

²⁵My praise for You resounds in the great assembly; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You.

¹⁸I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people,

⁹But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the Lord!”

¹³I will enter Your house with burnt offerings; I will fulfill my vows to You—

¹⁴the vows that my lips promised and my mouth spoke in my distress.

¹⁴Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High.

³³Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’

¹⁴He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their blood is precious in his sight.

²⁹And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the Lord your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.

³²Though the wicked lie in wait for the righteous, and seek to slay them,

³³the Lord will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned under judgment.

²²One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.

³And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

¹⁸the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.

¹⁶Turn to me and have mercy; grant Your strength to Your servant; save the son of Your maidservant.

¹²And in Your loving devotion, cut off my enemies. Destroy all who afflict me, for I am Your servant.

¹²⁵I am Your servant; give me understanding, that I may know Your testimonies.

¹James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion: Greetings.

¹⁴He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke away their chains.

¹⁵Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men.

²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.

¹⁴Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High.

¹²If he offers it in thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil.

²²Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing.

¹⁵Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.

¹³I will lift the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

¹⁴I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people.

²⁵My praise for You resounds in the great assembly; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You.

¹¹Make and fulfill your vows to the Lord your God; let all the neighboring lands bring tribute to Him who is to be feared.

⁵It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

⁸Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and enter His courts.

²who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.

⁴Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His name.

³Jerusalem is built up as a city united together,

⁴where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

⁶But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

¹⁹Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter and give thanks to the Lord.

²⁰This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.