22-24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,

his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.

They’re created new every morning.

How great your faithfulness!

I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).

He’s all I’ve got left.

18 God’s there, listening for all who pray,

for all who pray and mean it.

7,8 When I walk into the thick of trouble,

keep me alive in the angry turmoil.

With one hand

strike my foes,

With your other hand

save me.

Finish what you started in me, God.

Your love is eternal—don’t quit on me now.

6-18 God makes everything come out right;

he puts victims back on their feet.

He showed Moses how he went about his work,

opened up his plans to all Israel.

God is sheer mercy and grace;

not easily angered, he’s rich in love.

He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold,

nor hold grudges forever.

He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve,

nor pay us back in full for our wrongs.

As high as heaven is over the earth,

so strong is his love to those who fear him.

And as far as sunrise is from sunset,

he has separated us from our sins.

As parents feel for their children,

God feels for those who fear him.

He knows us inside and out,

keeps in mind that we’re made of mud.

Men and women don’t live very long;

like wildflowers they spring up and blossom,

But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly,

leaving nothing to show they were here.

God’s love, though, is ever and always,

eternally present to all who fear him,

Making everything right for them and their children

as they follow his Covenant ways

and remember to do whatever he said.

18,19 Watch this: God’s eye is on those who respect him,

the ones who are looking for his love.

He’s ready to come to their rescue in bad times;

in lean times he keeps body and soul together.

27,28 Turn your back on evil,

work for the good and don’t quit.

God loves this kind of thing,

never turns away from his friends.

28,29 Live this way and you’ve got it made,

but bad eggs will be tossed out.

The good get planted on good land

and put down healthy roots.

1-3 One more thing, friends: Pray for us. Pray that the Master’s Word will simply take off and race through the country to a groundswell of response, just as it did among you. And pray that we’ll be rescued from these troublemakers who are trying to do us in. I’m finding that not all "believers" are believers. But the Master never lets us down. He’ll stick by you and protect you from evil.

13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.

7-10 God wasn’t attracted to you and didn’t choose you because you were big and important—the fact is, there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors. God stepped in and mightily bought you back out of that world of slavery, freed you from the iron grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know this: God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations. But he also pays back those who hate him, pays them the wages of death; he isn’t slow to pay them off—those who hate him, he pays right on time.

7,8 Then Moses summoned Joshua. He said to him with all Israel watching, "Be strong. Take courage. You will enter the land with this people, this land that God promised their ancestors that he’d give them. You will make them the proud possessors of it. God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry."

* * *

16-18 So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.

34-36 Give thanks to God—he is good

and his love never quits.

Say, "Save us, Savior God,

round us up and get us out of these godless places,

So we can give thanks to your holy Name,

and bask in your life of praise."

Blessed be God, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Then everybody said, "Yes! Amen!" and "Praise God!"

* * *

1-7 Bend an ear, God; answer me.

I’m one miserable wretch!

Keep me safe—haven’t I lived a good life?

Help your servant—I’m depending on you!

You’re my God; have mercy on me.

I count on you from morning to night.

Give your servant a happy life;

I put myself in your hands!

You’re well-known as good and forgiving,

bighearted to all who ask for help.

Pay attention, God, to my prayer;

bend down and listen to my cry for help.

Every time I’m in trouble I call on you,

confident that you’ll answer.

4-9 Some of you wandered for years in the desert,

looking but not finding a good place to live,

Half-starved and parched with thirst,

staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.

Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God.

He got you out in the nick of time;

He put your feet on a wonderful road

that took you straight to a good place to live.

So thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

He poured great drafts of water down parched throats;

the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

16,17 And me? I’m singing your prowess,

shouting at dawn your largesse,

For you’ve been a safe place for me,

a good place to hide.

Strong God, I’m watching you do it,

I can always count on you—

God, my dependable love.

22,23 Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—

he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.

He’ll never let good people

topple into ruin.

But you, God, will throw the others

into a muddy bog,

Cut the lifespan of assassins

and traitors in half.

And I trust in you.

3,4 He won’t let you stumble,

your Guardian God won’t fall asleep.

Not on your life! Israel’s

Guardian will never doze or sleep.

8 The Master declares, "I’m A to Z. I’m The God Who Is, The God Who Was, and The God About to Arrive. I’m the Sovereign-Strong."

1-22 "Remember, God, all we’ve been through.

Study our plight, the black mark we’ve made in history.

Our precious land has been given to outsiders,

our homes to strangers.

Orphans we are, not a father in sight,

and our mothers no better than widows.

We have to pay to drink our own water.

Even our firewood comes at a price.

We’re nothing but slaves, bullied and bowed,

worn out and without any rest.

We sold ourselves to Assyria and Egypt

just to get something to eat.

Our parents sinned and are no more,

and now we’re paying for the wrongs they did.

Slaves rule over us;

there’s no escape from their grip.

We risk our lives to gather food

in the bandit-infested desert.

Our skin has turned black as an oven,

dried out like old leather from the famine.

Our wives were raped in the streets in Zion,

and our virgins in the cities of Judah.

They hanged our princes by their hands,

dishonored our elders.

Strapping young men were put to women’s work,

mere boys forced to do men’s work.

The city gate is empty of wise elders.

Music from the young is heard no more.

All the joy is gone from our hearts.

Our dances have turned into dirges.

The crown of glory has toppled from our head.

Woe! Woe! Would that we’d never sinned!

Because of all this we’re heartsick;

we can’t see through the tears.

On Mount Zion, wrecked and ruined,

jackals pace and prowl.

And yet, God, you’re sovereign still,

your throne intact and eternal.

So why do you keep forgetting us?

Why dump us and leave us like this?

Bring us back to you, God—we’re ready to come back.

Give us a fresh start.

As it is, you’ve cruelly disowned us.

You’ve been so very angry with us."

1-5 God, you are my God.

I celebrate you. I praise you.

You’ve done your share of miracle-wonders,

well-thought-out plans, solid and sure.

Here you’ve reduced the city to rubble,

the strong city to a pile of stones.

The enemy Big City is a non-city,

never to be a city again.

Superpowers will see it and honor you,

brutal oppressors bow in worshipful reverence.

They’ll see that you take care of the poor,

that you take care of poor people in trouble,

Provide a warm, dry place in bad weather,

provide a cool place when it’s hot.

Brutal oppressors are like a winter blizzard

and vicious foreigners like high noon in the desert.

But you, shelter from the storm and shade from the sun,

shut the mouths of the big-mouthed bullies.

22 It’s only human to want to make a buck,

but it’s better to be poor than a liar.

13 A gadabout gossip can’t be trusted with a secret,

but someone of integrity won’t violate a confidence.

3 The integrity of the honest keeps them on track;

the deviousness of crooks brings them to ruin.

19-21 "After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

23,24 "This is what I want you to do: Ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I’ve revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and he’ll most certainly give it to you. Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks!