Psalms 105; Psalms 106; 1 Corinthians 3

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Psalms 105

1 Give thanks to the Lord. Worship him. Tell the nations what he has done.

2 Sing to him. Sing praise to him. Tell about all of the wonderful things he has done.

3 Praise him, because his name is holy. Let the hearts of those who trust in the LORD be glad.

4 Look to the LORD and to his strength. Always look to him.

5 Remember the wonderful things he has done. Remember his miracles and how he judged our enemies.

6 Remember what he has done, you children of his servant Abraham. Remember it, you people of Jacob, God's chosen ones.

7 He is the LORD our God. He judges the whole earth.

8 He will keep his covenant forever. He will keep his promise for all time to come.

9 He will keep the covenant he made with Abraham. He will keep the oath he took when he made his promise to Isaac.

10 He made it stand as a law for Jacob. He made it stand as a covenant for Israel. It will last forever.

11 He said, "I will give you the land of Canaan. It will belong to you."

12 At first there weren't very many of God's people. There were only a few. And they were strangers in the land.

13 They wandered from nation to nation. They wandered from one kingdom to another.

14 But God didn't allow anyone to beat them down. To keep them safe, he gave a command to kings.

15 He said to them, "Do not touch my anointed ones. Do not harm my prophets."

16 He made the people in the land go hungry. He destroyed all their food supplies.

17 He sent a man ahead of them into Egypt. That man was Joseph. He had been sold as a slave.

18 The Egyptians put his feet in chains. They put an iron collar around his neck.

19 He was in prison until what he said would happen came true. The word of the LORD proved that he was right.

20 The king of Egypt sent for Joseph and let him out of prison. The ruler of many nations set him free.

21 He put Joseph in charge of his palace. He made him ruler over everything he owned.

22 Joseph was in charge of teaching the princes. He taught the elders how to think and live wisely.

23 Then the rest of Jacob's family went to Egypt. The people of Israel lived as outsiders in the land of Ham.

24 The LORD gave his people so many children that there were too many of them for their enemies.

25 He made the Egyptians hate his people. The Egyptians made evil plans against them.

26 The LORD sent his servant Moses to the king of Egypt. He sent Aaron, his chosen one, along with him.

27 The LORD gave them the power to do miraculous signs among the Egyptians. They did his wonders in the land of Ham.

28 He sent darkness over the land. He did it because the Egyptians had refused to obey his words.

29 He turned their rivers and streams into blood. He caused the fish in them to die.

30 Their land was covered with frogs. Frogs even went into the bedrooms of the rulers.

31 The LORD spoke, and large numbers of flies came. Gnats filled the whole country.

32 He turned their rain into hail. Lightning flashed all through their land.

33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees. He broke down the trees in Egypt.

34 He spoke, and the locusts came. There were so many of them they couldn't be counted.

35 They ate up every green thing in the land. They ate up what the land produced.

36 Then he killed the oldest son of every family in Egypt. He struck down the oldest of all of their sons.

37 He brought the people of Israel out of Egypt. The Egyptians loaded them down with silver and gold. From among the tribes of Israel no one got tired or fell down.

38 The Egyptians were glad when the people of Israel left. They were terrified because of Israel.

39 The LORD spread out a cloud to cover his people. He gave them a fire to light up the night.

40 They asked for meat, and he brought them quail. He satisfied them with manna, the bread of heaven.

41 He broke open a rock, and streams of water poured out. They flowed like a river in the desert.

42 He remembered the holy promise he had made to his servant Abraham.

43 His chosen people shouted for joy as he brought them out of Egypt.

44 He gave them the lands of other nations. He let them take over what others had worked for.

45 He did it so they might obey his rules and follow his laws. Praise the Lord.

Psalms 106

1 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good. His faithful love continues forever.

2 Who can speak enough about the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can praise him as much as he should be praised?

3 Blessed are those who always do what is fair. Blessed are those who keep doing what is right.

4 Lord, remember me when you show favor to your people. Help me when you save them.

5 Then I will enjoy the good things you give your chosen ones. I will be joyful together with your people. I will join them when they praise you.

6 We have sinned, just as our people of long ago did. We too have done what is evil and wrong.

7 When our people were in Egypt, they forgot about the LORD's miracles. They didn't remember his many kind acts. At the Red Sea they refused to obey him.

8 But he saved them for the honor of his name. He did it to make his mighty power known.

9 He ordered the Red Sea to dry up, and it did. He led his people through it as if it were a desert.

10 He saved them from the power of their enemies. He set them free from their control.

11 The waters covered their enemies. Not one of them escaped alive.

12 Then his people believed his promises and sang praise to him.

13 But they soon forgot what he had done. They didn't wait for his advice.

14 In the desert they longed for food. In that dry and empty land they put God to the test.

15 So he gave them what they asked for. But he also sent a sickness that killed many of them.

16 In their camp some of them became jealous of Moses. They were also jealous of Aaron. He had been set apart to serve the Lord.

17 The ground opened up and swallowed Dathan. It buried Abiram and his followers.

18 Fire blazed among all of them. Flames destroyed those evil people.

19 At Mount Horeb they made a metal statue of a bull calf. They worshiped that statue of a god.

20 They traded their glorious God for a statue of a bull that eats grass.

21 They forgot the God who saved them. They forgot the One who had done great things in Egypt.

22 They forgot the miracles he did in the land of Ham. They forgot the wonderful things he did by the Red Sea.

23 So he said he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stood up for them. He kept God's anger from destroying them.

24 Later on, they refused to enter the pleasant land of Canaan. They didn't believe God's promise.

25 In their tents they told the LORD how unhappy they were. They didn't obey him.

26 So he lifted up his hand and promised with an oath that he would make them die in the desert.

27 He promised he would scatter their children's children among the nations. He would make them die in other lands.

28 They joined in worshiping the Baal that was worshiped at Peor. They ate food that had been offered to gods that aren't even alive.

29 Their evil ways made the LORD angry. So a plague broke out among them.

30 But Phinehas stood up and took action. Then the plague stopped.

31 What Phinehas did made him right with the Lord. It will be remembered for all time to come.

32 By the waters of Meribah the LORD's people made him angry. Moses got in trouble because of them.

33 They refused to obey the Spirit of God. So Moses spoke without thinking.

34 They didn't destroy the nations in Canaan as the LORD had commanded them.

35 Instead, they mixed with those nations and adopted their ways.

36 They worshiped statues of their gods. That became a trap for them.

37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters as offerings to demons.

38 They killed those who weren't guilty of doing anything wrong. They killed their own sons and daughters. They sacrificed them as offerings to statues of the gods of Canaan. The land became "unclean" because of the blood of their children.

39 The people polluted themselves by what they had done. They weren't faithful to the Lord.

40 So the LORD became angry with his people. He turned away from his own children.

41 He handed them over to the nations. Their enemies ruled over them.

42 They beat them down and kept them under their power.

43 Many times the LORD saved them. But they refused to obey him. So he destroyed them because of their sins.

44 But he heard them when they cried out. He paid special attention to their suffering.

45 Because they were his people, he remembered his covenant. Because of his great love, he felt sorry for them.

46 He made all those who held them as prisoners show concern for them.

47 LORD our God, save us. Bring us back from among the nations. Then we will give thanks to you, because your name is holy. We will celebrate by praising you.

48 Give praise to the Lord, the God of Israel, for ever and ever. Let all of the people say, "Amen!" Praise the Lord.

1 Corinthians 3

1 Brothers and sisters, I couldn't speak to you as if you were guided by the Holy Spirit. I had to speak to you as if you were following the ways of the world. You aren't growing as Christ wants you to. You are still like babies.

2 The words I spoke to you were like milk, not like solid food. You weren't ready for solid food yet. And you still aren't ready for it.

3 You are still following the ways of the world. Some of you are jealous. Some of you argue. So aren't you following the ways of the world? Aren't you acting like ordinary human beings?

4 One of you says, "I follow Paul." Another says, "I follow Apollos." Aren't you acting like ordinary human beings?

5 After all, what is Apollos? And what is Paul? We are only people who serve. We helped you to believe. The Lord has given each of us our own work to do.

6 I planted the seed. Apollos watered it. But God made it grow.

7 So the one who plants is not important. The one who waters is not important. It is God who makes things grow. He is the One who is important.

8 The one who plants and the one who waters have the same purpose. The Lord will give each of us a reward for our work.

9 We work together with God. You are like God's field. You are like his building.

10 God has given me the grace to lay a foundation as a master builder. Now someone else is building on it. But each one should build carefully.

11 No one can lay any other foundation than the one that has already been laid. That foundation is Jesus Christ.

12 A person may build on it using gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay or straw.

13 But each person's work will be shown for what it is. On judgment day it will be brought to light. It will be put through fire. The fire will test how good everyone's work is.

14 If the building doesn't burn up, God will give the builder a reward for his work.

15 If the building burns up, the builder will lose everything. The builder will be saved, but only like one escaping through the flames.

16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple? God's Spirit lives in you.

17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. God's temple is holy. And you are that temple.

18 Don't fool yourselves. Suppose some of you think you are wise by the standards of the world. Then you should become a "fool" so that you can become wise.

19 The wisdom of this world is foolish in God's eyes. It is written, "God catches wise people in their own tricks."(Job 5:13)

20 It is also written, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise don't amount to anything."(Psalm 94:11)

21 So no more bragging about human beings! All things are yours.

22 That means Paul or Apollos or Peter or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All are yours.

23 You are joined to Christ and belong to him. And Christ is joined to God.