14 "As you can see, I’m about to go the way we all end up going. Know this with all your heart, with everything in you, that not one detail has failed of all the good things God, your God, promised you. It has all happened. Nothing’s left undone—not so much as a word.

45 Not one word failed from all the good words God spoke to the house of Israel. Everything came out right.

* * *

56-58 "Blessed be God, who has given peace to his people Israel just as he said he’d do. Not one of all those good and wonderful words that he spoke through Moses has misfired. May God, our very own God, continue to be with us just as he was with our ancestors—may he never give up and walk out on us. May he keep us centered and devoted to him, following the life path he has cleared, watching the signposts, walking at the pace and rhythms he laid down for our ancestors.

17-24 Balaam returned and found him stationed beside his Whole-Burnt-Offering and the nobles of Moab with him. Balak said to him, "What did God say?" Then Balaam spoke his message-oracle:

On your feet, Balak. Listen,

listen carefully son of Zippor:

God is not man, one given to lies,

and not a son of man changing his mind.

Does he speak and not do what he says?

Does he promise and not come through?

I was brought here to bless;

and now he’s blessed—how can I change that?

He has no bone to pick with Jacob,

he sees nothing wrong with Israel.

God is with them,

and they’re with him, shouting praises to their King.

God brought them out of Egypt,

rampaging like a wild ox.

No magic spells can bind Jacob,

no incantations can hold back Israel.

People will look at Jacob and Israel and say,

"What a great thing has God done!"

Look, a people rising to its feet, stretching like a lion,

a king-of-the-beasts, aroused,

Unsleeping, unresting until its hunt is over

and it’s eaten and drunk its fill.

10-12 God takes the wind out of Babel pretense,

he shoots down the world’s power-schemes.

God’s plan for the world stands up,

all his designs are made to last.

Blessed is the country with God for God;

blessed are the people he’s put in his will.

4-6 "Pay attention, my people.

Listen to me, nations.

Revelation flows from me.

My decisions light up the world.

My deliverance arrives on the run,

my salvation right on time.

I’ll bring justice to the peoples.

Even faraway islands will look to me

and take hope in my saving power.

Look up at the skies,

ponder the earth under your feet.

The skies will fade out like smoke,

the earth will wear out like work pants,

and the people will die off like flies.

But my salvation will last forever,

my setting-things-right will never be obsolete.

137-144 You are right and you do right, God;

your decisions are right on target.

You rightly instruct us in how to live

ever faithful to you.

My rivals nearly did me in,

they persistently ignored your commandments.

Your promise has been tested through and through,

and I, your servant, love it dearly.

I’m too young to be important,

but I don’t forget what you tell me.

Your righteousness is eternally right,

your revelation is the only truth.

Even though troubles came down on me hard,

your commands always gave me delight.

The way you tell me to live is always right;

help me understand it so I can live to the fullest.

* * *

13 Your kingdom is a kingdom eternal;

you never get voted out of office.

God always does what he says,

and is gracious in everything he does.

14 God gives a hand to those down on their luck,

gives a fresh start to those ready to quit.

1-5 Doom to the rebellious city,

the home of oppressors—Sewer City!

The city that wouldn’t take advice,

wouldn’t accept correction,

Wouldn’t trust God,

wouldn’t even get close to her own god!

Her very own leaders

are rapacious lions,

Her judges are rapacious timber wolves

out every morning prowling for a fresh kill.

Her prophets are out for what they can get.

They’re opportunists—you can’t trust them.

Her priests desecrate the Sanctuary.

They use God’s law as a weapon to maim and kill souls.

Yet God remains righteous in her midst,

untouched by the evil.

He stays at it, day after day, meting out justice.

At evening he’s still at it, strong as ever.

But evil men and women, without conscience

and without shame, persist in evil.

* * *

2,3 And then God answered: "Write this.

Write what you see.

Write it out in big block letters

so that it can be read on the run.

This vision-message is a witness

pointing to what’s coming.

It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!

And it doesn’t lie.

If it seems slow in coming, wait.

It’s on its way. It will come right on time.

* * *

20-22 Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.

22-25 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

13,14 It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This down payment from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

12 Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.