Wisdom's Foundation: Solomon Seeks Understanding

1. Now king David was old and advanced in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he couldn’t keep warm. 2. Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young virgin be sought for my lord the king. Let her stand before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm.” 3. So they sought for a beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4. The young lady was very beautiful; and she cherished the king, and served him; but the king didn’t know her intimately. 5. Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” Then he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. 6. His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, “Why have you done so?” and he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Absalom. 7. He conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest; and they followed Adonijah and helped him. 8. But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. 9. Adonijah killed sheep, cattle, and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants; 10. but he didn’t call Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother. 11. Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, “Haven’t you heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our lord doesn’t know it? 12. Now therefore come, please let me give you counsel, that you may save your own life, and your son Solomon’s life. 13. Go in to king David, and tell him, ‘Didn’t you, my lord, king, swear to your servant, saying, “Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?” Why then does Adonijah reign?’ 14. Behold, while you are still talking there with the king, I will also come in after you and confirm your words.” 15. Bathsheba went in to the king in his room. The king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king. 16. Bathsheba bowed, and showed respect to the king. The king said, “What would you like?” 17. She said to him, “My lord, you swore by Yahweh your God to your servant, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’ 18. Now, behold, Adonijah reigns; and you, my lord the king, don’t know it. 19. He has slain cattle and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the army; but he hasn’t called Solomon your servant. 20. You, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, that you should tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21. Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered criminals.” 22. Behold, while she was still talking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. 23. They told the king, saying, “Behold, Nathan the prophet!” When he had come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 24. Nathan said, “My lord, king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?’ 25. For he has gone down today, and has slain cattle, fatlings, and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king’s sons, the captains of the army, and Abiathar the priest. Behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, ‘Long live king Adonijah!’ 26. But he hasn’t called me, even me your servant, Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon. 27. Was this thing done by my lord the king, and you haven’t shown to your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?” 28. Then king David answered, “Call Bathsheba in to me.” She came into the king’s presence and stood before the king. 29. The king swore, and said, “As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, 30. most certainly as I swore to you by Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place;’ I will most certainly do this today.” 31. Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and showed respect to the king, and said, “Let my lord king David live forever!” 32. King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” They came before the king. 33. The king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. 34. Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel. Blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live king Solomon!’ 35. Then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be prince over Israel and over Judah.” 36. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, “Amen. May Yahweh, the God of my lord the king, say so. 37. As Yahweh has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David.” 38. So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on king David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. 39. Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the Tent, and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet; and all the people said, “Long live king Solomon!” 40. All the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth shook with their sound. 41. Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?” 42. While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came; and Adonijah said, “Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news.” 43. Jonathan answered Adonijah, “Most certainly our lord king David has made Solomon king. 44. The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they have caused him to ride on the king’s mule. 45. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard. 46. Also, Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom. 47. Moreover the king’s servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne;’ and the king bowed himself on the bed. 48. Also thus said the king, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne today, my eyes even seeing it.’” 49. All the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and each man went his way. 50. Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon; and he arose, and went, and hung onto the horns of the altar. 51. Solomon was told, “Behold, Adonijah fears king Solomon; for, behold, he is hanging onto the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let king Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’” 52. Solomon said, “If he shows himself a worthy man, not a hair of his shall fall to the earth; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” 53. So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and bowed down to king Solomon; and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.” 1. Now the days of David came near that he should die; and he commanded Solomon his son, saying, 2. “I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man; 3. and keep the instruction of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself. 4. Then Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children are careful of their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,’ he said, ‘a man on the throne of Israel.’ 5. “Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was around his waist, and in his shoes that were on his feet. 6. Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don’t let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace. 7. But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother. 8. “Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ 9. Now therefore don’t hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood.” 10. David slept with his fathers, and was buried in David’s city. 11. The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12. Solomon sat on David his father’s throne; and his kingdom was firmly established. 13. Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably. 14. He said moreover, I have something to tell you.” She said, “Say on.” 15. He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from Yahweh. 16. Now I ask one petition of you. Don’t deny me.” She said to him, “Say on.” 17. He said, “Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you ‘no’), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.” 18. Bathsheba said, “Alright. I will speak for you to the king.” 19. Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand. 20. Then she said, “I ask one small petition of you; don’t deny me.” The king said to her, “Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you.” 21. She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.” 22. King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” 23. Then king Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. 24. Now therefore as Yahweh lives, who has established me, and set me on my father David’s throne, and who has made me a house as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.” 25. King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died. 26. To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the Lord Yahweh’s ark before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.” 27. So Solomon thrust Abiathar out from being priest to Yahweh, that he might fulfill Yahweh’s word, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. 28. This news came to Joab; for Joab had followed Adonijah, although he didn’t follow Absalom. Joab fled to Yahweh’s Tent, and held onto the horns of the altar. 29. King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to Yahweh’s Tent, and behold, he is by the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, fall on him.” 30. Benaiah came to Yahweh’s Tent, and said to him, “Thus says the king, ‘Come out!’” He said, “No; but I will die here.” Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.” 31. The king said to him, “Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house. 32. Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn’t know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah. 33. So their blood will return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his offspring forever. But for David, for his offspring, for his house, and for his throne, there will be peace forever from Yahweh.” 34. Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35. The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar. 36. The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and live there, and don’t go anywhere else. 37. For on the day you go out and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die. Your blood will be on your own head.” 38. Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days. 39. At the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your slaves are in Gath.” 40. Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his slaves; and Shimei went, and brought his slaves from Gath. 41. Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had come again. 42. The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Didn’t I adjure you by Yahweh, and warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk anywhere else, you shall surely die?’ You said to me, ‘The saying that I have heard is good.’ 43. Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?” 44. The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wickedness that you did to David my father. Therefore Yahweh will return your wickedness on your own head. 45. But king Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will be established before Yahweh forever.” 46. So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. 1. Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into David’s city, until he had finished building his own house, Yahweh’s house, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2. However the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for Yahweh’s name. 3. Solomon loved Yahweh, walking in the statutes of David his father; except that he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. 4. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5. In Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask for what I should give you.” 6. Solomon said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today. 7. Now, Yahweh my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am just a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in. 8. Your servant is among your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered or counted for multitude. 9. Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?” 10. This request pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11. God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice; 12. behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart; so that there has been no one like you before you, and after you none will arise like you. 13. I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days. 14. If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” 15. Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. 16. Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him. 17. The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house. 18. The third day after I delivered, this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house. 19. This woman’s child died in the night, because she lay on it. 20. She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21. When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I bore.” 22. The other woman said, “No; but the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” The first one said, “No; but the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king. 23. Then the king said, “One says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead;’ and the other says, ‘No; but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” 24. The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25. The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.” 26. Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill him!” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide him.” 27. Then the king answered, “Give her the living child, and definitely do not kill him. She is his mother.” 28. All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king; for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.

1. I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit, 2. that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. 3. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh, 4. who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; 5. of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen. 6. But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel. 7. Neither, because they are Abraham’s offspring, are they all children. But, “your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac.” 8. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as heirs. 9. For this is a word of promise, “At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.” 10. Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac. 11. For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls, 12. it was said to her, “The elder will serve the younger.” 13. Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be! 15. For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. 17. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18. So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. 19. You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?” 20. But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21. Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor? 22. What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23. and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, 24. us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? 25. As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.” 26. “It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ There they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” 27. Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved; 28. for He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.” 29. As Isaiah has said before, “Unless the Lord of Armies had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah.” 30. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith; 31. but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness. 32. Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone; 33. even as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.” 1. Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved. 2. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3. For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4. For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5. For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.” 6. But the righteousness which is of faith says this, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down); 7. or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)” 8. But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart”; that is, the word of faith, which we preach: 9. that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.” 12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him. 13. For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? 15. And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” 16. But they didn’t all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17. So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18. But I say, didn’t they hear? Yes, most certainly, “Their sound went out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” 19. But I ask, didn’t Israel know? First Moses says, “I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, with a nation void of understanding I will make you angry.” 20. Isaiah is very bold, and says, “I was found by those who didn’t seek me. I was revealed to those who didn’t ask for me.” 21. But as to Israel he says, “All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” 1. I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2. God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel: 3. “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.” 4. But how does God answer him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. 7. What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened. 8. According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” 9. David says, “Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, a stumbling block, and a retribution to them. 10. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Bow down their back always.” 11. I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. 12. Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? 13. For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry; 14. if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them. 15. For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead? 16. If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. 17. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree; 18. don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. 19. You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.” 20. True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear; 21. for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22. See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23. They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24. For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25. For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, 26. and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, “There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 27. This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.” 28. Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. 29. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30. For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, 31. even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy. 32. For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. 33. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! 34. “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” 35. “Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?” 36. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen. 1. Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. 2. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God. 3. For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith. 4. For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function, 5. so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6. Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; 7. or service, let us give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching; 8. or he who exhorts, to his exhorting: he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 9. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. 10. In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another; 11. not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12. rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13. contributing to the needs of the saints; given to hospitality. 14. Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse. 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. 16. Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits. 17. Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all men. 18. If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men. 19. Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.” 20. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.” 21. Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1. Yahweh, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you. 2. Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice. 3. Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. 4. Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies. 5. Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don’t let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds. 6. Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock. They will hear my words, for they are well spoken. 7. “As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.” 8. For my eyes are on you, Yahweh, the Lord. In you, I take refuge. Don’t leave my soul destitute. 9. Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, from the traps of the workers of iniquity. 10. Let the wicked fall together into their own nets, while I pass by.