Study, Learn and Grow

¹   Praise is due to you,
          O God, in Zion;
     and to you shall vows be performed,
²        O you who answer prayer!
     To you all flesh shall come.
³   When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
          you forgive our transgressions.
⁴   Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
          to live in your courts.
     We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
          your holy temple.

⁵   By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
          O God of our salvation;
     you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
          and of the farthest seas.
⁶   By your strength you established the mountains;
          you are girded with might.
⁷   You silence the roaring of the seas,
          the roaring of their waves,
          the tumult of the peoples.
⁸   Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
          you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.

⁹   You visit the earth and water it,
          you greatly enrich it;
     the river of God is full of water;
          you provide the people with grain,
          for so you have prepared it.
¹⁰  You water its furrows abundantly,
          settling its ridges,
     softening it with showers,
          and blessing its growth.
¹¹  You crown the year with your bounty;
          your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
¹²  The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
          the hills gird themselves with joy,
¹³  the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
          the valleys deck themselves with grain,
          they shout and sing together for joy.

¹   Praise the Lord!
          How good it is to sing praises to our God;
          for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
²   The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
          he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
³   He heals the brokenhearted,
          and binds up their wounds.
⁴   He determines the number of the stars;
          he gives to all of them their names.
⁵   Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
          his understanding is beyond measure.
⁶   The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
          he casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷   Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
          make melody to our God on the lyre.
⁸   He covers the heavens with clouds,
          prepares rain for the earth,
          makes grass grow on the hills.
⁹   He gives to the animals their food,
          and to the young ravens when they cry.
¹⁰  His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
          nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
¹¹  but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
          in those who hope in his steadfast love.

^3:9Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob
     and chiefs of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice
     and pervert all equity,
¹⁰who build Zion with blood
     and Jerusalem with wrong!
¹¹Its rulers give judgement for a bribe,
     its priests teach for a price,
     its prophets give oracles for money;
yet they lean upon the Lord and say,
     "Surely the Lord is with us!
     No harm shall come upon us."
¹²Therefore because of you
     Zion shall be ploughed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
     and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

^4:1In days to come
     the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
     and shall be raised up above the hills.
Peoples shall stream to it,
²     and many nations shall come and say:
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
     to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
     and that we may walk in his paths."
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
     and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³ He shall judge between many peoples,
     and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
     and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
     neither shall they learn war any more;
⁴but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
     and no one shall make them afraid;
     for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

⁵For all the peoples walk,
     each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
     for ever and ever.

¹When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ²And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. ³Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. ⁴And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. ⁵Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

⁶Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them.

⁷The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

⁸The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. ⁹A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ¹¹The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter.

¹²The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise the night.

¹³Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew in midheaven, "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!"

¹⁷The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" ¹⁸He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. ¹⁹See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. ²⁰Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

²¹At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²²All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

²³Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it."

¹   Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
          which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
²   As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
          so the LORD surrounds his people,
          from this time on and forevermore.
³   For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
          on the land allotted to the righteous,
     so that the righteous might not stretch out
          their hands to do wrong.
⁴   Do good, O LORD, to those who are good,
          and to those who are upright in their hearts.
⁵   But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways
          the LORD will lead away with evildoers.
          Peace be upon Israel!

¹   You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
          who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
²   will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress;
          my God, in whom I trust.”
³   For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
          and from the deadly pestilence;
⁴   he will cover you with his pinions,
          and under his wings you will find refuge;
          his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
⁵   You will not fear the terror of the night,
          or the arrow that flies by day,
⁶   or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
          or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

⁷   A thousand may fall at your side,
          ten thousand at your right hand,
          but it will not come near you.
⁸   You will only look with your eyes
          and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹   Because you have made the LORD your refuge,
          the Most High your dwelling place,
¹⁰  no evil shall befall you,
          no scourge come near your tent.

¹¹  For he will command his angels concerning you
          to guard you in all your ways.
¹²  On their hands they will bear you up,
          so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
¹³  You will tread on the lion and the adder,
          the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

¹⁴  Those who love me, I will deliver;
          I will protect those who know my name.
¹⁵  When they call to me, I will answer them;
          I will be with them in trouble,
          I will rescue them and honor them.

¹⁶  With long life I will satisfy them,
          and show them my salvation.