Psalms 68:5

The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me, because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound,

A man’s pride brings him low, but one of lowly spirit gains honor.

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.”

Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.

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.

You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the foreigner in giving him food and clothing.

But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.

For though Yahweh is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but he knows the proud from afar.

Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”

The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands.

Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;

But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety toward their own family and to repay their parents, for this is acceptable in the sight of God.

‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;

For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.

Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to Yahweh’s law.

Yahweh will uproot the house of the proud, but he will keep the widow’s borders intact.

The result of humility and the fear of Yahweh is wealth, honor, and life.

The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren’t concerned about knowledge.

Look down from heaven, and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory. Where are your zeal and your mighty acts? The yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me.

For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh: “but I will look to this man, even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him who lives forever; for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation.

But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”

They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.

And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.

but the goal of this command is love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith,

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.

But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.

Blessed is Yahweh your God, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel. Because Yahweh loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”

“But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house which I have built!

and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,

For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, Yahweh saw the earth;

One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.

Yahweh’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.

Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.

Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

“Keep silent before me, islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let’s meet together for judgment.

But Yahweh is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation.

Leave your fatherless children. I will preserve them alive. Let your widows trust in me.”

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols.

Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.

“It will happen in that day”, says Yahweh, “that I will cut off your horses out from among you, and will destroy your chariots.

Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.

Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;

I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse.

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.

We know that whoever is born of God doesn’t sin, but he who was born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn’t touch him.

Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it as Yahweh had commanded. They had done so; and Moses blessed them.

The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’

Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

Your throne is established from long ago. You are from everlasting.

He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.

It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, than to divide the plunder with the proud.

Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”

He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!”

For he who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.

But I have built you a house and home, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him,

I was a father to the needy. I researched the cause of him who I didn’t know.

From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,

He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break the oppressor in pieces.

Yahweh preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but he turns the way of the wicked upside down.

for Yahweh will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them.

Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.

“The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. You shall surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers. You shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them.

Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, even to heaven.

to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.

He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.

For he will stand at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul.

For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, says: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Yahweh says, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build to me? Where will I rest?

Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

Assyria can’t save us. We won’t ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’ for in you the fatherless finds mercy.”

Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.

Honor widows who are widows indeed.