Bible Reading September 12, 13
(World English Bible)
Sept. 12
Psalms 61-63
Psa 61:1 Hear my cry, God. Listen to my prayer.
Psa 61:2 From the end of the earth, I will call to you, when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Psa 61:3 For you have been a refuge for me, a strong tower from the enemy.
Psa 61:4 I will dwell in your tent forever. I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah.
Psa 61:5 For you, God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
Psa 61:6 You will prolong the king's life; his years shall be for generations.
Psa 61:7 He shall be enthroned in God's presence forever. Appoint your loving kindness and truth, that they may preserve him.
Psa 61:8 So I will sing praise to your name forever, that I may fulfill my vows daily.
Psa 62:1 My soul rests in God alone. My salvation is from him.
Psa 62:2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress-- I will never be greatly shaken.
Psa 62:3 How long will you assault a man, would all of you throw him down, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
Psa 62:4 They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.
Psa 62:5 My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my expectation is from him.
Psa 62:6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I will not be shaken.
Psa 62:7 With God is my salvation and my honor. The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
Psa 62:8 Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Psa 62:9 Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.
Psa 62:10 Don't trust in oppression. Don't become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don't set your heart on them.
Psa 62:11 God has spoken once; twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God.
Psa 62:12 Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness, for you reward every man according to his work.
Psa 63:1 God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.
Psa 63:2 So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory.
Psa 63:3 Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.
Psa 63:4 So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.
Psa 63:5 My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,
Psa 63:6 when I remember you on my bed, and think about you in the night watches.
Psa 63:7 For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.
Psa 63:8 My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up.
Psa 63:9 But those who seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
Psa 63:10 They shall be given over to the power of the sword. They shall be jackal food.
Psa 63:11 But the king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him will praise him, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be silenced.
Sept. 13
Psalms 64-67
Psa 64:1 Hear my voice, God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
Psa 64:2 Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil;
Psa 64:3 who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words,
Psa 64:4 to shoot innocent men from ambushes. They shoot at him suddenly and fearlessly.
Psa 64:5 They encourage themselves in evil plans. They talk about laying snares secretly. They say, "Who will see them?"
Psa 64:6 They plot injustice, saying, "We have made a perfect plan!" Surely man's mind and heart are cunning.
Psa 64:7 But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow.
Psa 64:8 Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake their heads.
Psa 64:9 All mankind shall be afraid. They shall declare the work of God, and shall wisely ponder what he has done.
Psa 64:10 The righteous shall be glad in Yahweh, and shall take refuge in him. All the upright in heart shall praise him!
Psa 65:1 Praise waits for you, God, in Zion. To you shall vows be performed.
Psa 65:2 You who hear prayer, to you all men will come.
Psa 65:3 Sins overwhelmed me, but you atoned for our transgressions.
Psa 65:4 Blessed is one whom you choose, and cause to come near, that he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.
Psa 65:5 By awesome deeds of righteousness, you answer us, God of our salvation. You who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, of those who are far away on the sea;
Psa 65:6 Who by his power forms the mountains, having armed yourself with strength;
Psa 65:7 who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.
Psa 65:8 They also who dwell in faraway places are afraid at your wonders. You call the morning's dawn and the evening with songs of joy.
Psa 65:9 You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it.
Psa 65:10 You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop.
Psa 65:11 You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance.
Psa 65:12 The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness.
Psa 65:13 The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed with grain. They shout for joy! They also sing.
Psa 66:1 Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!
Psa 66:2 Sing to the glory of his name! Offer glory and praise!
Psa 66:3 Tell God, "How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you.
Psa 66:4 All the earth will worship you, and will sing to you; they will sing to your name." Selah.
Psa 66:5 Come, and see God's deeds-- awesome work on behalf of the children of men.
Psa 66:6 He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There, we rejoiced in him.
Psa 66:7 He rules by his might forever. His eyes watch the nations. Don't let the rebellious rise up against him. Selah.
Psa 66:8 Praise our God, you peoples! Make the sound of his praise heard,
Psa 66:9 who preserves our life among the living, and doesn't allow our feet to be moved.
Psa 66:10 For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined.
Psa 66:11 You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs.
Psa 66:12 You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance.
Psa 66:13 I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you,
Psa 66:14 which my lips promised, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress.
Psa 66:15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals, with the offering of rams, I will offer bulls with goats. Selah.
Psa 66:16 Come, and hear, all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul.
Psa 66:17 I cried to him with my mouth. He was extolled with my tongue.
Psa 66:18 If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn't have listened.
Psa 66:19 But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer.
Psa 66:20 Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me.
Psa 67:1 May God be merciful to us, bless us, and cause his face to shine on us. Selah.
Psa 67:2 That your way may be known on earth, and your salvation among all nations,
Psa 67:3 let the peoples praise you, God. Let all the peoples praise you.
Psa 67:4 Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you will judge the peoples with equity, and govern the nations on earth. Selah.
Psa 67:5 Let the peoples praise you, God. Let all the peoples praise you.
Psa 67:6 The earth has yielded its increase. God, even our own God, will bless us.
Psa 67:7 God will bless us. All the ends of the earth shall fear him.
Sept. 12
1 Corinthians 8
1Co 8:1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
1Co 8:2 But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn't yet know as he ought to know.
1Co 8:3 But if anyone loves God, the same is known by him.
1Co 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
1Co 8:5 For though there are things that are called "gods," whether in the heavens or on earth; as there are many "gods" and many "lords;"
1Co 8:6 yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.
1Co 8:7 However, that knowledge isn't in all men. But some, with consciousness of the idol until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
1Co 8:8 But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don't eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better.
1Co 8:9 But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak.
1Co 8:10 For if a man sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol's temple, won't his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?
1Co 8:11 And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died.
1Co 8:12 Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
1Co 8:13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forevermore, that I don't cause my brother to stumble.
1 Corinthians 9
1Co 9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven't I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren't you my work in the Lord?
1Co 9:2 If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
1Co 9:3 My defense to those who examine me is this.
1Co 9:4 Have we no right to eat and to drink?
1Co 9:5 Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
1Co 9:6 Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work?
1Co 9:7 What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn't eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn't drink from the flock's milk?
1Co 9:8 Do I speak these things according to the ways of men? Or doesn't the law also say the same thing?
1Co 9:9 For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it for the oxen that God cares,
1Co 9:10 or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope.
1Co 9:11 If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things?
1Co 9:12 If others partake of this right over you, don't we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ.
1Co 9:13 Don't you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar?
1Co 9:14 Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News.
1Co 9:15 But I have used none of these things, and I don't write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void.
1Co 9:16 For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about; for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me, if I don't preach the Good News.
1Co 9:17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.
1Co 9:18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.
1Co 9:19 For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
1Co 9:20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law;
1Co 9:21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law.
1Co 9:22 To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
1Co 9:23 Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.
1Co 9:24 Don't you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win.
1Co 9:25 Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
1Co 9:26 I therefore run like that, as not uncertainly. I fight like that, as not beating the air,
1Co 9:27 but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.
