Do Good

ס Samekh

¹¹³ I hate double-minded people,
   but I love your law.
¹¹⁴ You are my refuge and my shield;
   I have put my hope in your word.
¹¹⁵ Away from me, you evildoers,
   that I may keep the commands of my God!
¹¹⁶ Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live;
   do not let my hopes be dashed.
¹¹⁷ Uphold me, and I will be delivered;
   I will always have regard for your decrees.
¹¹⁸ You reject all who stray from your decrees,
   for their delusions come to nothing.
¹¹⁹ All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross;
   therefore I love your statutes.
¹²⁰ My flesh trembles in fear of you;
   I stand in awe of your laws.

Saved in Order to Do Good

3 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, ² to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.

³ At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. ⁸ This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

⁹ But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. ¹⁰ Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. ¹¹ You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.

Final Remarks

¹² As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there. ¹³ Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need. ¹⁴ Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.

¹⁵ Everyone with me sends you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith.

Grace be with you all.

1 How deserted lies the city,
  once so full of people!
How like a widow is she,
  who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
  has now become a slave.

² Bitterly she weeps at night,
  tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers
  there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her;
  they have become her enemies.

³ After affliction and harsh labour,
  Judah has gone into exile.
She dwells among the nations;
  she finds no resting place.
All who pursue her have overtaken her
  in the midst of her distress.

⁴ The roads to Zion mourn,
  for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,
  her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
  and she is in bitter anguish.

⁵ Her foes have become her masters;
  her enemies are at ease.
The Lord has brought her grief
  because of her many sins.
Her children have gone into exile,
  captive before the foe.

⁶ All the splendour has departed
  from Daughter Zion.
Her princes are like deer
  that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fled
  before the pursuer.

⁷ In the days of her affliction and wandering
  Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
  that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
  there was no one to help her.
Her enemies looked at her
  and laughed at her destruction.

⁸ Jerusalem has sinned greatly
  and so has become unclean.
All who honoured her despise her,
  for they have all seen her naked;
she herself groans
  and turns away.

⁹ Her filthiness clung to her skirts;
  she did not consider her future.
Her fall was astounding;
  there was none to comfort her.
“Look, Lord, on my affliction,
  for the enemy has triumphed.”

¹⁰ The enemy laid hands
  on all her treasures;
she saw pagan nations
  enter her sanctuary —
those you had forbidden
  to enter your assembly.

¹¹ All her people groan
  as they search for bread;
they barter their treasures for food
  to keep themselves alive.
“Look, Lord, and consider,
  for I am despised.”

¹² “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
  Look around and see.
Is any suffering like my suffering
  that was inflicted on me,
that the Lord brought on me
  in the day of his fierce anger?

¹³ “From on high he sent fire,
  sent it down into my bones.
He spread a net for my feet
  and turned me back.
He made me desolate,
  faint all the day long.

¹⁴ “My sins have been bound into a yoke;
  by his hands they were woven together.
They have been hung on my neck,
  and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has given me into the hands
  of those I cannot withstand.

¹⁵ “The Lord has rejected
  all the warriors in my midst;
he has summoned an army against me
  to crush my young men.
In his winepress the Lord has trampled
  Virgin Daughter Judah.

¹⁶ “This is why I weep
  and my eyes overflow with tears.
No one is near to comfort me,
  no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute
  because the enemy has prevailed.”

¹⁷ Zion stretches out her hands,
  but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has decreed for Jacob
  that his neighbours become his foes;
Jerusalem has become
  an unclean thing among them.

¹⁸ “The Lord is righteous,
  yet I rebelled against his command.
Listen, all you peoples;
  look on my suffering.
My young men and young women
  have gone into exile.

¹⁹ “I called to my allies
  but they betrayed me.
My priests and my elders
  perished in the city
while they searched for food
  to keep themselves alive.

²⁰ “See, Lord, how distressed I am!
  I am in torment within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,
  for I have been most rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves;
  inside, there is only death.

²¹ “People have heard my groaning,
  but there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my distress;
  they rejoice at what you have done.
May you bring the day you have announced
  so they may become like me.

²² “Let all their wickedness come before you;
  deal with them
as you have dealt with me
  because of all my sins.
My groans are many
  and my heart is faint.”

2 How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
  with the cloud of his anger!
He has hurled down the splendour of Israel
  from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool
  in the day of his anger.

² Without pity the Lord has swallowed up
  all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
  the strongholds of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
  down to the ground in dishonour.

³ In fierce anger he has cut off
  every horn of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand
  at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
  that consumes everything around it.

⁴ Like an enemy he has strung his bow;
  his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
  all who were pleasing to the eye;
he has poured out his wrath like fire
  on the tent of Daughter Zion.

⁵ The Lord is like an enemy;
  he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
  and destroyed her strongholds.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation
  for Daughter Judah.

⁶ He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
  he has destroyed his place of meeting.
The Lord has made Zion forget
  her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;
in his fierce anger he has spurned
  both king and priest.