Old/New Testament
129 Persecuted from my earliest youth (Israel is speaking), 2 and faced with never-ending discrimination—but not destroyed! My enemies have never been able to finish me off!
3-4 Though my back is cut to ribbons with their whips, the Lord is good. For he has snapped the chains that evil men had bound me with.
5 May all who hate the Jews be brought to ignominious defeat. 6-7 May they be as grass in shallow soil, turning sere and yellow when half grown, ignored by the reaper, despised by the binder. 8 And may those passing by refuse to bless them by saying, “Jehovah’s blessings be upon you; we bless you in Jehovah’s name.”
130 O Lord, from the depths of despair I cry for your help: 2 “Hear me! Answer! Help me!”
3-4 Lord, if you keep in mind our sins, then who can ever get an answer to his prayers? But you forgive! What an awesome thing this is! 5 That is why I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for he has promised. 6 I long for him more than sentinels long for the dawn.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord; for he is loving and kind and comes to us with armloads of salvation. 8 He himself shall ransom Israel from her slavery to sin.
131 Lord, I am not proud and haughty. I don’t think myself better than others. I don’t pretend to “know it all.” 2 I am quiet now before the Lord, just as a child who is weaned from the breast. Yes, my begging has been stilled.
3 O Israel, you too should quietly trust in the Lord—now, and always.
11 And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s.
2 I am so glad, dear brothers, that you have been remembering and doing everything I taught you. 3 But there is one matter I want to remind you about: that a wife is responsible to her husband, her husband is responsible to Christ, and Christ is responsible to God. 4 That is why, if a man refuses to remove his hat while praying or preaching, he dishonors Christ. 5 And that is why a woman who publicly prays or prophesies without a covering on her head dishonors her husband, for her covering is a sign of her subjection to him.[a] 6 Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, then she should cut off all her hair. And if it is shameful for a woman to have her head shaved, then she should wear a covering. 7 But a man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for his hat is a sign of subjection to men.[b]
God’s glory is man made in his image, and man’s glory is the woman. 8 The first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came out of man.[c] 9 And Adam, the first man, was not made for Eve’s benefit, but Eve was made for Adam. 10 So a woman should wear a covering on her head as a sign that she is under man’s authority,[d] a fact for all the angels to notice and rejoice in.
11 But remember that in God’s plan men and women need each other. 12 For although the first woman came out of man, all men have been born from women ever since, and both men and women come from God their Creator.
13 What do you yourselves really think about this? Is it right for a woman to pray in public without covering her head? 14-15 Doesn’t even instinct itself teach us that women’s heads should be covered? For women are proud of their long hair, while a man with long hair tends to be ashamed. 16 But if anyone wants to argue about this, all I can say is that we never teach anything else than this—that a woman should wear a covering when prophesying or praying publicly in the church, and all the churches feel the same way about it.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.