Psalm 119^[a]

א alef

³⁴ At that time, while it is devastated and you are in enemy territory, the land will enjoy its sabbaths. At that time, the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. ³⁵ During the whole time it is devastated, it will have the rest it didn’t have during the sabbaths you lived in it.

³⁶ I will bring despair into the hearts of those of you who survive in enemy territory. Just the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to running, and they will run scared as if running from a sword! They will fall even when no one is chasing them! ³⁷ They will stumble over each other as they would before a sword, even though no one is chasing them! You will have no power to stand before your enemies. ³⁸ You will disappear among the nations—the land of your enemies will devour you. ³⁹ Any of you who do survive will rot in enemy territory on account of their guilty deeds. And they will rot too on account of their ancestors’ guilty deeds.

Covenant and restoration

⁴⁰ But if they confess their and their ancestors’ guilt for the wrongdoing they did to me, and for their continued opposition to me— ⁴¹ which made me oppose them, so I took them into enemy territory—or if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they make up for their guilt, ⁴² then I will remember my covenant with Jacob. I will also remember my covenant with Isaac. And my covenant with Abraham. And I will remember the land. ⁴³ The land will be absent of them and will be enjoying its sabbaths while it lies devastated, free of them. They will be making up for their guilty deeds for no other reason than the fact that they rejected my regulations and despised my rules. ⁴⁴ But despite all that, when they are in enemy territory, I will not reject them or despise them to the point of totally destroying them, breaking my covenant with them by doing so, because I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant with the first generation, the ones I brought out of Egypt’s land in the sight of all the nations, in order to be their God; I am the Lord.

⁴⁶ These are the rules, regulations, and instructions between the Lord and the Israelites that he gave through Moses on Mount Sinai.

⁷ Dear friends, I’m not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the message you heard. ⁸ On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light already shines. ⁹ The one who claims to be in the light while hating a brother or sister is in the darkness even now. ¹⁰ The person loving a brother and sister stays in the light, and there is nothing in the light that causes a person to stumble. ¹¹ But the person who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and lives in the darkness, and doesn’t know where to go because the darkness blinds the eyes.

Motivations for writing

¹² Little children, I’m writing to you because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus’ name. ¹³ Parents, I’m writing to you because you have known the one who has existed from the beginning. Young people, I’m writing to you because you have conquered the evil one. ¹⁴ Little children, I write to you because you know the Father. Parents, I write to you because you have known the one who has existed from the beginning. Young people, I write to you because you are strong, the word of God remains in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

Warning about the world

¹⁵ Don’t love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ Everything that is in the world—the craving for whatever the body feels, the craving for whatever the eyes see and the arrogant pride in one’s possessions—is not of the Father but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world and its cravings are passing away, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.