⁶Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. ⁷Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. ⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. ⁹“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— whom shall I dread? ²When the wicked came upon me to devour my flesh, my enemies and foes stumbled and fell. ³Though an army encamps around me, my heart will not fear; though a war breaks out against me, I will keep my trust. ⁴One thing I have asked of the LORD; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and seek Him in His temple. ⁵For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock. ⁶Then my head will be held high above my enemies around me. At His tabernacle I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD. ⁷Hear, O LORD, my voice when I call; be merciful and answer me. ⁸My heart said, “Seek His face.” Your face, O LORD, I will seek. ⁹Hide not Your face from me, nor turn away Your servant in anger. You have been my helper; do not leave me or forsake me, O God of my salvation.

¹² Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel. ¹³As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. ¹⁴And most of the brothers, confident in the Lord by my chains, now dare more greatly to speak the word without fear.

¹⁹because I know that through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, my distress will turn out for my deliverance. ²⁰I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²²But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know. ²³I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed. ²⁴But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. ²⁵Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that through my coming to you again your exultation in Christ Jesus will resound on account of me. ²⁷ Nevertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending side by side for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a clear sign of their destruction but of your salvation, and it is from God. ²⁹For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, ³⁰since you are encountering the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

¹“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ²He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. ³About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴‘You also go into my vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. ⁶About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked. ⁷‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. So he told them, ‘You also go into my vineyard.’ ⁸When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and moving on to the first.’ ⁹The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰So when the original workers came, they assumed they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner. ¹²‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ ¹³But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Did you not agree with me on one denarius? ¹⁴Take your pay and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you. ¹⁵Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”