AlphaNewsDaily

Psalms 112-115 (Listen)

The Righteous Will Never Be Moved

112:1  [1] Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
  who greatly delights in his commandments!
His offspring will be mighty in the land;
  the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in his house,
  and his righteousness endures forever.
Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
  he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;
  who conducts his affairs with justice.
For the righteous will never be moved;
  he will be remembered forever.
He is not afraid of bad news;
  his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
  until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.
He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;
  his righteousness endures forever;
  his horn is exalted in honor.
The wicked man sees it and is angry;
  he gnashes his teeth and melts away;
  the desire of the wicked will perish!

Who Is like the Lord Our God?

113:1 Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!

Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the Lord is to be praised!

The Lord is high above all nations,
  and his glory above the heavens!
Who is like the Lord our God,
  who is seated on high,
who looks far down
  on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
  and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
  with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a home,
  making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord!

Tremble at the Presence of the Lord

114:1 When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.

The sea looked and fled;
Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.

What ails you, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turns the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water.

To Your Name Give Glory

115:1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.

Their idols are silver and gold,
  the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
  eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear;
  noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel;
  feet, but do not walk;
  and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them;
  so do all who trust in them.

O Israel, [2] trust in the Lord!
  He is their help and their shield.
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
  He is their help and their shield.
You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
  He is their help and their shield.

The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;
  he will bless the house of Israel;
  he will bless the house of Aaron;
he will bless those who fear the Lord,
  both the small and the great.

May the Lord give you increase,
you and your children!
May you be blessed by the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!

The heavens are the Lord's heavens,
  but the earth he has given to the children of man.
The dead do not praise the Lord,
  nor do any who go down into silence.
But we will bless the Lord
  from this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!

1 Corinthians 1 (Listen)

Greeting

1:1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

I appeal to you, brothers, [3] by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, [4] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being [5] might boast in the presence of God. And because of him [6] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Footnotes

[1] 112:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each line beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet
[2] 115:9 Masoretic Text; many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac O house of Israel
[3] 1:10 Or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God's family, the church; also verses 11, 26
[4] 1:26 Greek according to the flesh
[5] 1:29 Greek no flesh
[6] 1:30 Greek And from him