Psalm 108
A Song or Psalm of David.
O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reaches unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth; that thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me.
God has spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of my head; Judah is my lawgiver; Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph.
Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom? Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts? Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.
Amos 5-6
Hear ye this word which I take up against you,
even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
The virgin of Israel is fallen;
she shall no more rise:
she is forsaken upon her land;
there is none to raise her up.
For thus saith the Lord GOD;
The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred,
and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten,
to the house of Israel.
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel,
Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal,
and pass not to Beersheba:
for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
and Bethel shall come to nought.
Seek the LORD, and ye shall live;
lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it,
and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood,
and leave off righteousness in the earth,
Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion,
and turneth the shadow of death into the morning,
and maketh the day dark with night:
that calleth for the waters of the sea, a
nd poureth them out upon the face of the earth:
The LORD is his name:
That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong,
so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate,
and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor,
and ye take from him burdens of wheat:
ye have built houses of hewn stone,
but ye shall not dwell in them;
ye have planted pleasant vineyards,
but ye shall not drink wine of them.
For I know your manifold transgressions
and your mighty sins:
they afflict the just, they take a bribe,
and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time;
for it is an evil time.
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live:
and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you,
as ye have spoken.
Hate the evil, and love the good,
and establish judgment in the gate:
it may be that the LORD God of hosts
will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus;
Wailing shall be in all streets;
and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas!
and they shall call the husbandman to mourning,
and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
And in all vineyards shall be wailing:
for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD!
to what end is it for you?
the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
As if a man did flee from a lion,
and a bear met him; o
r went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall,
and a serpent bit him.
Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light?
even very dark, and no brightness in it?
I hate, I despise your feast days,
and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings,
I will not accept them:
neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs;
for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
But let judgment run down as waters,
and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Have ye offered unto me sacrifices
and offerings in the wilderness forty years,
O house of Israel?
But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images,
the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,
saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.
Woe to them that are at ease in Zion,
and trust in the mountain of Samaria,
which are named chief of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel came!
Pass ye unto Calneh, and see;
and from thence go ye to Hamath the great:
then go down to Gath of the Philistines:
be they better than these kingdoms?
or their border greater than your border?
Ye that put far away the evil day,
and cause the seat of violence to come near;
That lie upon beds of ivory,
and stretch themselves upon their couches,
and eat the lambs out of the flock,
and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
That chant to the sound of the viol,
and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;
That drink wine in bowls,
and anoint themselves with the chief ointments:
but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive,
and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.
The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself,
saith the LORD the God of hosts,
I abhor the excellency of Jacob,
and hate his palaces:
therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.
And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. And a man’s uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.
For, behold, the LORD commandeth,
and he will smite the great house with breaches,
and the little house with clefts.
Shall horses run upon the rock?
will one plow there with oxen?
for ye have turned judgment into gall,
and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought,
which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?
But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation,
O house of Israel,
saith the LORD the God of hosts;
and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath
unto the river of the wilderness.
Proverbs 8
Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She stands in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understands, and right to them that find knowledge. Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso finds me finds life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD. But he that sins against me wrongs his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
You Think Too Much! 