Why are you so far away, O LORD? Why do you hide yourself when we are in trouble?

but he opposes those who do evil, so that when they die, they are soon forgotten.

Those who abandon you will certainly perish; you will destroy those who are unfaithful to you.

Even though you are so high above, you care for the lowly, and the proud cannot hide from you.

These, then, will be sent off to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go to eternal life."

At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God's chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God's promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God.

But now, in union with Christ Jesus you, who used to be far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

The LORD is pleased when good people pray, but hates the sacrifices that the wicked bring him.

The LORD watches over the righteous and listens to their cries;

The righteous call to the LORD, and he listens; he rescues them from all their troubles.

If I had ignored my sins, the Lord would not have listened to me.

But God has indeed heard me; he has listened to my prayer.

He is near to those who call to him, who call to him with sincerity.

He supplies the needs of those who honor him; he hears their cries and saves them.

"My thoughts," says the LORD, "are not like yours, and my ways are different from yours.

As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways and thoughts above yours.

We know that God does not listen to sinners; he does listen to people who respect him and do what he wants them to do.

In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express.

And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will.

So then, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed. The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect.

Once again he prayed, and the sky poured out its rain and the earth produced its crops.

For the Lord watches over the righteous and listens to their prayers; but he opposes those who do evil."