Psalms 100; Psalms 101; Psalms 102; 1 Corinthians 1

1 Shout triumphantly to the LORD, all the earth!

2 Serve the LORD with celebration! Come before him with shouts of joy!

3 Know that the LORD is God— he made us; we belong to him. We are his people, the sheep of his own pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanks; enter his courtyards with praise! Thank him! Bless his name!

5 Because the LORD is good, his loyal love lasts forever; his faithfulness lasts generation after generation.

1 Oh, let me sing about faithful love and justice! I want to sing my praises to you, LORD!

2 I want to study the way of integrity— how long before it gets here? I will walk with a heart of integrity in my own house.

3 I won't set my eyes on anything worthless. I hate wrongdoing; none of that will stick to me.

4 A corrupt heart will be far from me. I won't be familiar with evil.

5 I will destroy anyone who secretly tells lies about a neighbor. I can't stomach anyone who has proud eyes or an arrogant heart.

6 My eyes focus on those who are faithful in the land, to have them close to me. The person who walks without blame will work for me.

7 But the person who acts deceitfully won't stay in my house. The person who tells lies won't last for long before me.

8 Every morning I will destroy all those who are wicked in the land in order to eliminate all evildoers from the LORD's city.

1 LORD, hear my prayer! Let my cry reach you!

2 Don't hide your face from me in my time of trouble! Listen to me! Answer me quickly as I cry out!

3 Because my days disappear like smoke, my bones are burned up as if in an oven;

4 my heart is smashed like dried-up grass. I even forget to eat my food

5 because of my intense groans. My bones are protruding from my skin.

6 I'm like some wild owl— like some screech owl in the desert.

7 I lie awake all night. I'm all alone like a bird on a roof.

8 All day long my enemies make fun of me; those who mock me curse using my name!

9 I've been eating ashes instead of bread. I've been mixing tears into my drinks

10 because of your anger and wrath, because you picked me up and threw me away.

11 My days are like a shadow soon gone. I'm dried up like dead grass.

12 But you, LORD, rule forever! Your fame lasts from one generation to the next!

13 You will stand up— you'll have compassion on Zion because it is time to have mercy on her— the time set for that has now come!

14 Your servants cherish Zion's stones; they show mercy even to her dirt.

15 The nations will honor the LORD's name; all the earth's rulers will honor your glory

16 because the LORD will rebuild Zion; he will be seen there in his glory.

17 God will turn to the prayer of the impoverished; he won't despise their prayers.

18 Let this be written down for the next generation so that people not yet created will praise the LORD:

19 The LORD looked down from his holy summit, surveyed the earth from heaven,

20 to hear the prisoners' groans, to set free those condemned to death,

21 that the LORD's name may be declared in Zion and his praise declared in Jerusalem,

22 when all people are gathered together— all kingdoms—to serve the LORD.

23 God broke my strength in midstride, cutting my days short.

24 I said, "My God, don't take me away in the prime of life— your years go on from one generation to the next!

25 You laid the earth's foundations long ago; the skies are your handiwork.

26 These things will pass away, but you will last. All of these things will wear out like clothing; you change them like clothes, and they pass on.

27 But you are the one! Your years never end!

28 Let your servants' children live safe; let your servants' descendants live secure in your presence."

1 From Paul, called by God's will to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, and from Sosthenes our brother.

2 To God's church that is in Corinth: To those who have been made holy to God in Christ Jesus, who are called to be God's people. Together with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place— he's their Lord and ours!

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I thank my God always for you, because of God's grace that was given to you in Christ Jesus.

5 That is, you were made rich through him in everything: in all your communication and every kind of knowledge,

6 in the same way that the testimony about Christ was confirmed with you.

7 The result is that you aren't missing any spiritual gift while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

8 He will also confirm your testimony about Christ until the end so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God is faithful, and you were called by him to partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

10 Now I encourage you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Agree with each other and don't be divided into rival groups. Instead, be restored with the same mind and the same purpose.

11 My brothers and sisters, Chloe's people gave me some information about you, that you're fighting with each other.

12 What I mean is this: that each one of you says, "I belong to Paul,""I belong to Apollos,""I belong to Cephas,""I belong to Christ."

13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in Paul's name?

14 Thank God that I didn't baptize any of you, except Crispus and Gaius,

15 so that nobody can say that you were baptized in my name!

16 Oh, I baptized the house of Stephanas too. Otherwise, I don't know if I baptized anyone else.

17 Christ didn't send me to baptize but to preach the good news. And Christ didn't send me to preach the good news with clever words so that Christ's cross won't be emptied of its meaning.

18 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved.

19 It is written in scripture: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the intelligence of the intelligent.

20 Where are the wise? Where are the legal experts? Where are today's debaters? Hasn't God made the wisdom of the world foolish?

21 In God's wisdom, he determined that the world wouldn't come to know him through its wisdom. Instead, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching.

22 Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom,

23 but we preach Christ crucified, which is a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.

24 But to those who are called—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God's power and God's wisdom.

25 This is because the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26 Look at your situation when you were called, brothers and sisters! By ordinary human standards not many were wise, not many were powerful, not many were from the upper class.

27 But God chose what the world considers foolish to shame the wise. God chose what the world considers weak to shame the strong.

28 And God chose what the world considers low-class and low-life—what is considered to be nothing—to reduce what is considered to be something to nothing.

29 So no human being can brag in God's presence.

30 It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus. He became wisdom from God for us. This means that he made us righteous and holy, and he delivered us.

31 This is consistent with what was written: The one who brags should brag in the Lord!