18 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my irock and my jfortress and my deliverer,
my God, my irock, in kwhom I take refuge,
my lshield, and mthe horn of my salvation, my nstronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is oworthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
4 pThe cords of death encompassed me;
qthe torrents of destruction assailed me;1
5 pthe cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 rIn my distress I called upon the Lord;
From his stemple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth treeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,2
and devouring ufire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He vbowed the heavens and wcame down;
xthick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on zthe wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his acanopy around him,
thick clouds bdark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
chailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
13 The Lord also dthundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his evoice,
14 And he sent out his farrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and grouted them.
15 Then hthe channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your irebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of jthe breath of your nostrils.
16 He ksent from on high, he took me;
he ldrew me out of mmany waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
for they were ntoo mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
19 He brought me out into oa broad place;
he rescued me, because he pdelighted in me.
20 The Lord dealt with me qaccording to my righteousness;
according to rthe cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
21 For I have skept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For tall his rules1 were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was ublameless before him,
and I kept myself from my guilt.
24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 With vthe merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
26 with the purified you show yourself pure;
and with wthe crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
27 For you save xa humble people,
but ythe haughty eyes you bring down.
28 For it is you who light my zlamp;
the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
29 For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can aleap over ba wall.
30 This God—his way is cperfect;2
the word of the Lord dproves true;
he is ea shield for all those who ftake refuge in him.
31 For gwho is God, but the Lord?
And who is ha rock, except our God?—
32 the God who iequipped me with strength
and made my way jblameless.
33 He made my feet like the feet of a kdeer
and set me secure on lthe heights.
34 He mtrains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand nsupported me,
and your ogentleness made me great.
36 You pgave a wide place for my steps under me,
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were consumed.
38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.
40 You made my enemies qturn their backs to me,3
and those who hated me I destroyed.
41 rThey cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them fine as sdust before the wind;
I cast them out like tthe mire of the streets.
43 You delivered me from ustrife with the people;
you made me vthe head of the nations;
wpeople whom I had not known served me.
44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
xforeigners ycame cringing to me.
45 xForeigners lost heart
and zcame trembling out of their fortresses.
46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
47 the God who gave me vengeance
and asubdued peoples under me,
48 who delivered me from my enemies;
yes, you bexalted me above those who rose against me;
you rescued me from cthe man of violence.
49 dFor this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
and esing to your name.
50 Great fsalvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his ganointed,
to hDavid and his offspring forever.
18 “And I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. iAll your men of valor shall cross over armed before your brothers, the people of Israel. 19 Only your wives, your little ones, and your livestock j(I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in the cities that I have given you, 20 kuntil the Lord gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they also occupy the land that the Lord your God gives them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession which I have given you.’ 21 And I commanded lJoshua at that time, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing. 22 You shall not fear them, for it is mthe Lord your God who fights for you.’
23 “And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, 24 ‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant nyour greatness and your mighty hand. For owhat god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? 25 Please let me go over and see pthe good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and qLebanon.’ 26 But rthe Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, s‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. 27 tGo up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. 28 But ucharge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.’
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For zwho can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, ato answer back to God? bWill what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 cHas the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump done vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience evessels of wrath fprepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known gthe riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he hhas prepared beforehand for glory—24 even us whom he ihas called, jnot from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
k“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 l“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called m‘sons of the living God.’”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: n“Though the number of the sons of Israel1 be as the sand of the sea, oonly a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
pq“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
rwe would have been like Sodom
30 What shall we say, then? sThat Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, ta righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel uwho pursued a law that would lead to righteousness2 vdid not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the wstumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
x“Behold, I am laying in Zion ya stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
24 tJesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, uthere will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
3 As he sat on vthe Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him wprivately, saying, “Tell us, xwhen will these things be, and what will be the sign of your ycoming and of zthe end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, a“See that no one leads you astray. 5 For bmany will come in my name, saying, ‘I am cthe Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you dare not alarmed, for this emust take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For fnation will rise against nation, and gkingdom against kingdom, and there will be hfamines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of ithe birth pains.
9 “Then jthey will deliver you up kto tribulation and lput you to death, and myou will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then many will fall away1 and nbetray one another and hate one another. 11 And many ofalse prophets will arise pand lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, qthe love of many will grow cold. 13 rBut the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom swill be proclaimed throughout the whole world tas a testimony uto all nations, and vthen the end will come.
[1] 24:10