¹ I love you, Lord;
    you are my strength.
² The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
    my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
    and my place of safety.
³ I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
    and he saved me from my enemies.

⁴ The ropes of death entangled me;
    floods of destruction swept over me.
⁵ The grave wrapped its ropes around me;
    death laid a trap in my path.
⁶ But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
    yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
    my cry to him reached his ears.

⁷ Then the earth quaked and trembled.
    The foundations of the mountains shook;
    they quaked because of his anger.
⁸ Smoke poured from his nostrils;
    fierce flames leaped from his mouth.
    Glowing coals blazed forth from him.
⁹ He opened the heavens and came down;
    dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
¹⁰ Mounted on a mighty angelic being, he flew,
    soaring on the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He shrouded himself in darkness,
    veiling his approach with dark rain clouds.
¹² Thick clouds shielded the brightness around him
    and rained down hail and burning coals.
¹³ The Lord thundered from heaven;
    the voice of the Most High resounded
    amid the hail and burning coals.
¹⁴ He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies;
    great bolts of lightning flashed, and they were confused.
¹⁵ Then at your command, O Lord,
    at the blast of your breath,
the bottom of the sea could be seen,
    and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.

¹⁶ He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemies,
    from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
    but the Lord supported me.
¹⁹ He led me to a place of safety;
    he rescued me because he delights in me.
²⁰ The Lord rewarded me for doing right;
    he restored me because of my innocence.
²¹ For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
    I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
²² I have followed all his regulations;
    I have never abandoned his decrees.
²³ I am blameless before God;
    I have kept myself from sin.
²⁴ The Lord rewarded me for doing right.
    He has seen my innocence.

²⁵ To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
    to those with integrity you show integrity.
²⁶ To the pure you show yourself pure,
    but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
²⁷ You rescue the humble,
    but you humiliate the proud.
²⁸ You light a lamp for me.
    The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
²⁹ In your strength I can crush an army;
    with my God I can scale any wall.

³⁰ God’s way is perfect.
    All the Lord’s promises prove true.
    He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
³¹ For who is God except the Lord?
    Who but our God is a solid rock?
³² God arms me with strength,
    and he makes my way perfect.
³³ He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
    enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
³⁴ He trains my hands for battle;
    he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
³⁵ You have given me your shield of victory.
    Your right hand supports me;
    your help has made me great.
³⁶ You have made a wide path for my feet
    to keep them from slipping.

³⁷ I chased my enemies and caught them;
    I did not stop until they were conquered.
³⁸ I struck them down so they could not get up;
    they fell beneath my feet.
³⁹ You have armed me with strength for the battle;
    you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
⁴⁰ You placed my foot on their necks.
    I have destroyed all who hated me.
⁴¹ They called for help, but no one came to their rescue.
    They even cried to the Lord, but he refused to answer.
⁴² I ground them as fine as dust in the wind.
    I swept them into the gutter like dirt.
⁴³ You gave me victory over my accusers.
    You appointed me ruler over nations;
    people I don’t even know now serve me.
⁴⁴ As soon as they hear of me, they submit;
    foreign nations cringe before me.
⁴⁵ They all lose their courage
    and come trembling from their strongholds.

⁴⁶ The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!
    May the God of my salvation be exalted!
⁴⁷ He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
    he subdues the nations under me
⁴⁸     and rescues me from my enemies.
You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies;
    you save me from violent opponents.
⁴⁹ For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
    I will sing praises to your name.
⁵⁰ You give great victories to your king;
    you show unfailing love to your anointed,
    to David and all his descendants forever.

1 Corinthians 6

Avoiding Lawsuits with Christians

When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers! ² Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? ³ Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life. ⁴ If you have legal disputes about such matters, why go to outside judges who are not respected by the church? ⁵ I am saying this to shame you. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these issues? ⁶ But instead, one believer sues another—right in front of unbelievers!

⁷ Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated? ⁸ Instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong and cheat even your fellow believers.

⁹ Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. ¹¹ Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Avoiding Sexual Sin

¹² You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. ¹³ You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. ¹⁴ And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

¹⁵ Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” ¹⁷ But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

¹⁸ Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. ¹⁹ Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, ²⁰ for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.