Evening Devotion

A Psalm of David.
¹ O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
² Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
³ Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!
⁴ Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies!
⁵ Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.
⁶ When their judges are thrown over the cliff, then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.
⁷ As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
⁸ But my eyes are toward you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!
⁹ Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers!
¹⁰ Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely. (ESV)

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?”
¹ O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might.
² O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.
³ For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves. Selah
⁴ Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
⁵ He will return the evil to my enemies; in your faithfulness put an end to them.
⁶ With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good.
⁷ For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies. (ESV)

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
² that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
³ Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
⁴ Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
⁵ Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
⁶ The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
⁷ God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
¹ God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him!
² As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!
³ But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy!
⁴ Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the LORD; exult before him!
⁵ Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
⁶ God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
⁷ O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
⁸ the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.
⁹ Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad; you restored your inheritance as it languished;
¹⁰ your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
¹¹ The Lord gives the word; the women who announce the news are a great host:
¹² “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!” The women at home divide the spoil—
¹³ though you men lie among the sheepfolds— the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with shimmering gold.
¹⁴ When the Almighty scatters kings there, let snow fall on Zalmon.
¹⁵ O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan; O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
¹⁶ Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode, yes, where the LORD will dwell forever?
¹⁷ The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
¹⁸ You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.
¹⁹ Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah
²⁰ Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
²¹ But God will strike the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.
²² The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
²³ that you may strike your feet in their blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.”
²⁴ Your procession is seen, O God, the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—
²⁵ the singers in front, the musicians last, between them virgins playing tambourines:
²⁶ “Bless God in the great congregation, the LORD, O you who are of Israel’s fountain!”
²⁷ There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead, the princes of Judah in their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
²⁸ Summon your power, O God, the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.
²⁹ Because of your temple at Jerusalem kings shall bear gifts to you.
³⁰ Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute; scatter the peoples who delight in war.
³¹ Nobles shall come from Egypt; Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.
³² O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, Selah
³³ to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
³⁴ Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies.
³⁵ Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.
¹ Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
² I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
³ I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.
⁴ More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?
⁵ O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
⁶ Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.
⁷ For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.
⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons.
⁹ For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
¹⁰ When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
¹² I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
¹⁴ Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
¹⁵ Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.
¹⁶ Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
¹⁷ Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
¹⁸ Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!
¹⁹ You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
²⁰ Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
²¹ They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
²² Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
²³ Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.
²⁴ Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.
²⁵ May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.
²⁶ For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
²⁷ Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.
²⁸ Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
²⁹ But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
³⁰ I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
³¹ This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
³² When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
³³ For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.
³⁵ For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it;
³⁶ the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it. (ESV)

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, (ESV)

¹ When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,
² the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.
³ Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”
⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
⁵ The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
⁶ And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
⁷ So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
⁹ These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
¹⁰ And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
¹² And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
¹³ And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.
¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits.
¹⁶ Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.
¹⁷ For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.
¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
¹⁹ And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
²⁰ Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.
²¹ Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.”
²² Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
¹ Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.
² Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate,
³ and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.
⁴ For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”
⁵ And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him. (ESV)

¹ Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand.
² And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.
³ And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.”
⁴ And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.
⁵ And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
⁷ Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea
⁸ and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.
⁹ And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him,
¹⁰ for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.
¹¹ And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”
¹² And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
¹³ And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.
¹⁴ And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach
¹⁵ and have authority to cast out demons.
¹⁶ He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter);
¹⁷ James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);
¹⁸ Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot,
¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (ESV)

⁷ Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.
⁸ Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent.
⁹ When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses.
¹⁰ And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door.
¹¹ Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
¹² Moses said to the LORD, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’
¹³ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”
¹⁴ And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
¹⁵ And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.
¹⁶ For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”
¹⁷ And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
¹⁸ Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
¹⁹ And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
²¹ And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock,
²² and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

¹ The LORD said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
² Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.
³ No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.”
⁴ So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone.
⁵ The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
⁶ The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
⁷ keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
⁸ And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.
⁹ And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
¹⁰ And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
¹¹ “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
¹² Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst.
¹³ You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim
¹⁴ (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
¹⁵ lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice,
¹⁶ and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.
¹⁷ “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.
¹⁸ “You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
¹⁹ All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
²⁰ The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.
²¹ “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
²² You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.
²³ Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
²⁴ For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year.
²⁵ “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning.
²⁶ The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
²⁷ And the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
²⁸ So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
³⁰ Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
³¹ But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them.
³² Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
³³ And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
³⁴ Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded,
³⁵ the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him. (ESV)

¹ Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem,
² they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.
³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders,
⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.)
⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
⁷ in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
⁸ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
⁹ And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!
¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’
¹¹ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)—
¹² then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother,
¹³ thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
¹⁴ And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand:
¹⁵ There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
¹⁷ And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.
¹⁸ And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him,
¹⁹ since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.
²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
²⁴ And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.
²⁵ But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.
²⁶ Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
²⁷ And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
²⁸ But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
²⁹ And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.”
³⁰ And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. (ESV)

⁸ Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
⁹ He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
¹⁰ All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
¹¹ For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
¹² Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
¹³ His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land.
¹⁴ The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.
¹⁵ My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. (ESV)

¹ For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.
² For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?
³ And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.
⁴ For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
⁵ Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you.
⁶ For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough,
⁷ so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
⁸ So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.
⁹ For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything.
¹⁰ Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,
¹¹ so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
¹² When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord,
¹³ my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.
¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
¹⁵ For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
¹⁶ to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
¹⁷ For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

¹ Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?
² You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.
³ And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
⁴ Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.
⁵ Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,
⁶ who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
⁷ Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,
⁸ will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
⁹ For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.
¹⁰ Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.
¹¹ For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
¹² Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,
¹³ not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.
¹⁴ But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
¹⁵ Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.
¹⁶ But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

¹ Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
² But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
⁵ For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies.
¹¹ For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
¹² So death is at work in us, but life in you.
¹³ Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,
¹⁴ knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
¹⁵ For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

¹ For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
² For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,
³ if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.
⁴ For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
⁵ He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
⁶ So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
⁷ for we walk by faith, not by sight.
⁸ Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
⁹ So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
¹¹ Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.
¹² We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.
¹³ For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
¹⁴ For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;
¹⁵ and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)