Psalm 40:1-11

New Living Translation

Psalm 40

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

¹I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
    and he turned to me and heard my cry.
²He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
    out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
    and steadied me as I walked along.
³He has given me a new song to sing,
    a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
    They will put their trust in the Lord.

⁴Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord,
    who have no confidence in the proud
    or in those who worship idols.
⁵O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us.
    Your plans for us are too numerous to list.
    You have no equal.
If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds,
    I would never come to the end of them.

⁶You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings.
    Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand^[a]—
    you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings.
⁷Then I said, “Look, I have come.
    As is written about me in the Scriptures:
⁸I take joy in doing your will, my God,
    for your instructions are written on my heart.”

⁹I have told all your people about your justice.
    I have not been afraid to speak out,
    as you, O Lord, well know.
¹⁰I have not kept the good news of your justice hidden in my heart;
    I have talked about your faithfulness and saving power.
I have told everyone in the great assembly
    of your unfailing love and faithfulness.

¹¹Lord, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me.
Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

40:6 Greek version reads You have given me a body. Compare Heb 10:5.

Isaiah 22:15-25

New Living Translation

A Message for Shebna

¹⁵This is what the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, said to me: “Confront Shebna, the palace administrator, and give him this message:

¹⁶“Who do you think you are,
    and what are you doing here,
building a beautiful tomb for yourself—
    a monument high up in the rock?
¹⁷For the Lord is about to hurl you away, mighty man.
    He is going to grab you,
¹⁸crumple you into a ball,
    and toss you away into a distant, barren land.
There you will die,
    and your glorious chariots will be broken and useless.
    You are a disgrace to your master!

¹⁹“Yes, I will drive you out of office,” says the Lord. “I will pull you down from your high position. ²⁰And then I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you. ²¹I will dress him in your royal robes and will give him your title and your authority. And he will be a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. ²²I will give him the key to the house of David—the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them. ²³He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like a nail in the wall. ²⁴They will give him great responsibility, and he will bring honor to even the lowliest members of his family.^[a]”

²⁵But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies also says: “The time will come when I will pull out the nail that seemed so firm. It will come out and fall to the ground. Everything it supports will fall with it. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

22:24 Hebrew They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: its offspring and offshoots, all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

Galatians 1:6-12

New Living Translation

There Is Only One Good News

⁶I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ.^[a] You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News ⁷but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.

⁸Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. ⁹I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.

¹⁰Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.

Paul’s Message Comes from Christ

¹¹Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. ¹²I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.^[b]

Read full chapter