1 Chronicles 16

• 1. They brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God.
• 2. After David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD.
• 3. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each Israelite man and woman.
• 4. He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to make petition, to give thanks, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel:
• 5. Asaph was the chief, Zechariah second, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel. They were to play the lyres and harps, Asaph was to sound the cymbals,
• 6. and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.
• 7. That day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this psalm of thanks to the LORD:
• 8. Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.
• 9. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.
• 10. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
• 11. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.
• 12. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
• 13. O descendants of Israel his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.
• 14. He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.
• 15. He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations,
• 16. the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac.
• 17. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
• 18. "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit."
• 19. When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it,
• 20. they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.
• 21. He allowed no man to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings:
• 22. "Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm."
• 23. Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.
• 24. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
• 25. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
• 26. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
• 27. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place.
• 28. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength,
• 29. ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
• 30. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
• 31. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!"
• 32. Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!
• 33. Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
• 34. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
• 35. Cry out, "Save us, O God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, that we may glory in your praise."
• 36. Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Then all the people said "Amen" and "Praise the LORD."
• 37. David left Asaph and his associates before the ark of the covenant of the LORD to minister there regularly, according to each day's requirements.
• 38. He also left Obed-Edom and his sixty-eight associates to minister with them. Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun, and also Hosah, were gatekeepers.
• 39. David left Zadok the priest and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of the LORD at the high place in Gibeon
• 40. to present burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of burnt offering regularly, morning and evening, in accordance with everything written in the Law of the LORD, which he had given Israel.
• 41. With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest of those chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the LORD, "for his love endures forever."
• 42. Heman and Jeduthun were responsible for the sounding of the trumpets and cymbals and for the playing of the other instruments for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were stationed at the gate.
• 43. Then all the people left, each for his own home, and David returned home to bless his family.

James 3

• 1. Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
• 2. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.
• 3. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.
• 4. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.
• 5. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.
• 6. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
• 7. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man,
• 8. but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
• 9. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.
• 10. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.
• 11. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
• 12. My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
• 13. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
• 14. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.
• 15. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.
• 16. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
• 17. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
• 18. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Obadiah 1

• 1. The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Sovereign LORD says about Edom- We have heard a message from the LORD: An envoy was sent to the nations to say, "Rise, and let us go against her for battle"-
• 2. "See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised.
• 3. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?'
• 4. Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the LORD.
• 5. "If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night- Oh, what a disaster awaits you- would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes?
• 6. But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged!
• 7. All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it.
• 8. "In that day," declares the LORD, "will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, men of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
• 9. Your warriors, O Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau's mountains will be cut down in the slaughter.
• 10. Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever.
• 11. On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.
• 12. You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.
• 13. You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor look down on them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.
• 14. You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble.
• 15. "The day of the LORD is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.
• 16. Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.
• 17. But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance.
• 18. The house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; the house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau." The LORD has spoken.
• 19. People from the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau, and people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
• 20. This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan will possess the land as far as Zarephath; the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev.
• 21. Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the LORD's.

New International Version

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