1 God is the one who protects us and causes us to be strong;

he is always ready to help us when we have troubles.

2 So, even if the earth shakes,

we will not be afraid.

Even if the mountains fall into the middle of the sea,

3 and if the water in the sea roars and foams,

and the hills shake violently,

we will not be afraid!

(Think about that!)

2 I will declare to Yahweh,

"You protect me;

you are like a fort [MET] in which I am safe.

You are my God, the one in whom I trust."

8 You my people, always trust in him.

Tell him all your troubles,

because he is ◄our refuge/the one who protects us► [MET].

(Think about that!)

9 Yahweh will be a refuge for those who are oppressed;

yes, he will be like a shelter for them when they have trouble.

10 Those who know Yahweh [MTY] trust in him;

he never abandons those who come to him ◄for help/to worship him►.

9 You rule over the powerful seas;

when their waves rise up, you calm them.

4 but you are greater than the roar of those oceans,

more powerful than the ocean waves!

You are Yahweh, the one who is greater than any other god!

29 He ◄calmed the storm/caused the wind to stop blowing►,

and he caused the waves to completely subside.

35 Absolutely no one and nothing can cause Christ to stop loving us! [RHQ] That could not [RHQ] happen because someone caused us to have trouble [DOU], or because someone did things to harm us, or because we did not have anything to eat, or because we did not have enough clothes, or because we lived in a dangerous situation, or because someone killed us with a sword [MTY] (OR, murdered us). 36 Such things may happen to us, just like it is written {as David wrote} that David said to God, "Because we are your (sg) people, other people repeatedly attempt to kill us. They consider that we are only people to be killed, like a butcher considers that sheep are only animals to be slaughtered [MET]." 37 But even though all these bad things may happen to us, we win a great victory/triumph over these things because Christ, who loves us, helps us. 38 I am absolutely certain that neither being dead (OR, being killed), nor what happens to us while we live, nor angels, nor demons, nor present events, nor future events, nor powerful beings/forces, 39 nor powerful beings above the horizon or below the horizon [MTY], nor anything else that God has created can cause God to stop loving us. God showed us that he loves us by sending Jesus Christ our Lord to die for us.

16 because the flour in the jar was never finished, and the jug of oil was never empty. That happened just like Yahweh had told Elijah that it would happen.

39 Then Yahweh spread a cloud to cover the Israelis;

and at night it became a big fire in the sky to give them light.

40 Later the Israelis asked for meat to eat,

and Yahweh sent flocks of quail to them,

and he gave them plenty of manna food from the sky each morning.

41 One day he caused a rock to open up and water poured out for them to drink;

it was like a river flowing in that desert.

25 I was young previously, and now I am an old man,

but in all those years, I have never seen righteous/godly people being abandoned by Yahweh,

nor have I seen that their children needed to beg for food.

18 Every day Yahweh cares about those who have not done any evil things;

the things that Yahweh gives them will last forever.

19 They will survive when calamities occur;

when there are famines, they will still have plenty to eat.

3 I will pour water on your dry land

and cause streams to flow.

And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants

and greatly bless them.

4 Yahweh, you are like [SIM] a strong tower where poor people can ◄find refuge/be safe►,

a place where needy people can go when they are distressed.

You are like [MET] a place where people can find refuge in a storm

and where they can be shaded from the hot sun.

Ruthless/Cruel people oppress us;

they are like [SIM] a storm beating against a wall,

6 that will shelter the people from the sun during the daytime

and protect them when there are windstorms and rain.

2 When you experience dangerous situations,

and you feel like [MET] you are crossing deep rivers,

I will be with you.

When you have very big troubles/difficulties,

you will [LIT] be able to endure them.

When people try to kill you like they tried to kill Daniel’s three friends by throwing them in a fire,

you will not die, just like Daniel’s three friends were not burned up,

8 We are continually oppressed {People continually oppress us} in many ways, but we have not been prevented {God has not allowed them to prevent us} from teaching the message about Jesus Christ. We often do not know what to do in difficult situations, but we never say, "God has abandoned us." 9 We are frequently persecuted {People frequently cause us to suffer}, but God never abandons us. Sometimes we are badly wounded {people badly wound us}, but God does not allow us to be killed {them to kill us}.

7 But he is good;

he protects us his people when we experience troubles.

He takes care of those who trust in him.

8 He fills the thick/dense clouds with water

and prevents that water from bursting the clouds.

9 He causes clouds to ◄obscure/prevent us from seeing► the moon.

10 He separated the light from the darkness

and put the horizon to mark the place where the night ends and the daytime begins.

21 God will protect you when people slander [MTY] you;

you will not be afraid when many things around you are destroyed.

26 He said to them, "◄You should not be terrified!/Why are you terrified?► [RHQ] I am disappointed that in spite of all you have seen me do, ◄you do not believe very much that I can rescue you./do you not believe that I can rescue you?► [RHQ]" Then he got up and rebuked the wind and told the waves to calm down. And the wind stopped blowing and the lake became calm. 27 As a result, they were amazed, and they said to one another, "This man is certainly an extraordinary person [RHQ]! All things are under his control! Even the winds and the waves obey him [PRS]!"

30 God makes the wild plants very beautiful, but they grow in the field for only a short time. One day they grow, and the next day they are thrown into an oven {someone cuts them and throws them into an oven} to be burned to make heat for baking bread. But you are more important to God than wild plants are, and you live much longer. So ◄God will certainly provide clothes for you who live a long time but trust him so little!/will not God surely very adequately clothe you, who live a long time but trust him so little?► [RHQ] 31 Because of God’s caring for you, do not worry and say, ‘Will we have anything to eat?’ or ‘Will we have anything to drink?’ or ‘Will we have clothes to wear?’ [RHQ]

6 The woman fled to a desert. She has a place there that God has prepared for her, in order that the angels may take care of her for 1,260 days.

19 Listen! I have given you authority so that if you oppose evil spirits [MET] they will not hurt you. I have given you authority to defeat our enemy, Satan. Nothing shall hurt you.