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

1 Shout to the LORD with joy, everyone on earth.

2 Worship the LORD with gladness. Come to him with songs of joy.

3 I want you to realize that the LORD is God. He made us, and we belong to him. We are his people. We are the sheep belonging to his flock.

4 Give thanks as you enter the gates of his temple. Give praise as you enter its courtyards. Give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 The LORD is good. His faithful love continues forever. It will last for all time to come.

1 I will sing about your love and fairness. Lord, I will sing praise to you.

2 I will be careful to lead a life that is without blame. When will you come and help me? I will lead a life that is without blame in my house.

3 I won't look at anything that is evil. I hate the acts of people who aren't faithful to you. I don't even want people like that around me.

4 I will stay away from those whose hearts are twisted. I don't want to have anything to do with evil.

5 I will get rid of anyone who tells lies about his neighbor in secret. I won't put up with anyone whose eyes and heart are proud.

6 I will look with favor on the faithful people in the land. They will live with me. Those whose lives are without blame will serve me.

7 No one who lies and cheats will live in my house. No one who tells lies will serve me.

8 Every morning I will get rid of all the sinful people in the land. I will remove from the city of the LORD everyone who does what is evil.

1 Lord, hear my prayer. Listen to my cry for help.

2 Don't turn your face away from me when I'm in trouble. Pay attention to me. When I call out for help, answer me quickly.

3 My days are disappearing like smoke. My body burns like glowing coals.

4 My strength has dried up like grass. I even forget to eat my food.

5 I groan out loud because of my suffering. I'm nothing but skin and bones.

6 I'm like a desert owl. I'm like an owl among destroyed buildings.

7 I can't sleep. I've become like a bird alone on a roof.

8 All day long my enemies laugh at me. Those who make fun of me use my name as a curse.

9 I eat ashes as my food. My tears fall into what I'm drinking.

10 You were very angry with me. So you picked me up and threw me away.

11 The days of my life are like an evening shadow. I dry up like grass.

12 But Lord, you are seated on your throne forever. Your fame will continue for all time to come.

13 You will rise up and show deep concern for Zion. The time has come for you to show favor to it.

14 The stones of your destroyed city are priceless to us. Even its dust brings deep concern to us.

15 The nations will worship the Lord. All of the kings on earth will respect his glorious power.

16 The LORD will build Zion again. He will appear in his glory.

17 He will answer the prayer of those who don't have anything. He won't say no to their cry for help.

18 Let this be written down for those born after us. Then people who are not yet born can praise the Lord.

19 Here is what should be written. "The LORD looked down from his temple in heaven. From heaven he viewed the earth.

20 He heard the groans of the prisoners. He set free those who were sentenced to death."

21 So people will talk about him in Zion. They will praise him in Jerusalem.

22 Nations and kingdoms will gather there to worship the Lord.

23 When I was still young, he took away my strength. He wasn't going to let me live much longer.

24 So I said, "My God, don't let me die in the middle of my life. You will live for all time to come.

25 In the beginning you made the earth secure. You placed it on its foundations. Your hands created the heavens.

26 They will pass away. But you will remain. They will all wear out like a piece of clothing. You will make them like clothes that are taken off and thrown away.

27 But you remain the same. Your years will never end.

28 Our children will live with you. Their sons and daughters will be safe in your care."

1 I, Paul, am writing this letter. I have been chosen to be an apostle of Christ Jesus just as God planned. Our brother Sosthenes joins me in writing.

2 We are sending this letter to you, the members of God's church in Corinth. You have been made holy because you belong to Christ Jesus. God has chosen you to be his holy people. He has done the same for all those everywhere who pray to our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is their Lord and ours.

3 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

4 I always thank God for you. I thank him because of the grace he has given to you who belong to Christ Jesus.

5 You have been blessed in every way because of him. All your teaching of the truth is better. Your understanding of it is more complete.

6 Our witness about Christ has been proved to be true in you.

7 There is no gift of the Holy Spirit that you don't have. You are full of hope as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again.

8 God will keep you strong to the very end. Then you will be without blame on the day our Lord Jesus Christ returns.

9 God is faithful. He has chosen you to share life with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

10 Brothers and sisters, I ask all of you to agree with one another. I make my appeal in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then you won't take sides. You will be in complete agreement in all that you think.

11 My brothers and sisters, some people who live in Chloe's house have told me you are arguing with each other.

12 Here is what I mean. One of you says, "I follow Paul." Another says, "I follow Apollos." Another says, "I follow Peter." And still another says, "I follow Christ."

13 Does Christ take sides? Did Paul die on the cross for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?

14 I'm thankful that I didn't baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius.

15 No one can say that you were baptized in my name.

16 It's true that I also baptized those who live in the house of Stephanas. Besides that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.

17 Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to preach the good news. He commanded me not to use the kind of wisdom that people commonly use. That would take all the power away from the cross of Christ.

18 The message of the cross seems foolish to those who are lost and dying. But it is God's power to us who are being saved.

19 It is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of those who are wise. I will do away with the cleverness of those who think they are so smart." (Isaiah 29:14)

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the educated person? Where are the great thinkers of this world? Hasn't God made the wisdom of the world foolish?

21 God wisely planned that the world would not know him through its own wisdom. It pleased God to use the foolish things we preach to save those who believe.

22 Jews require miraculous signs. Greeks look for wisdom.

23 But we preach about Christ and his death on the cross. That is very hard for Jews to accept. And everyone else thinks it's foolish.

24 But there are those God has chosen, both Jews and others. To them Christ is God's power and God's wisdom.

25 The foolish things of God are wiser than human wisdom. The weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when God chose you. Not many of you were considered wise by human standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you belonged to important families.

27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

28 God chose the things of this world that are common and looked down on. He chose what is not considered to be important to do away with what is considered to be important.

29 So no one can brag to God.

30 Because of what God has done, you belong to Christ Jesus. He has become God's wisdom for us. He makes us right with God. He makes us holy and sets us free.

31 It is written, "The one who brags should brag about what the Lord has done."(Jeremiah 9:24)