The Most High assigned nations their lands; he determined where peoples should live. He assigned to each nation a heavenly being,

I thank the LORD for his justice; I sing praises to the LORD, the Most High.

There is a river that brings joy to the city of God, to the sacred house of the Most High.

Whoever goes to the LORD for safety, whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty,

You have made the LORD your defender, the Most High your protector,

because you, LORD, are supreme forever.

This is the decision of the alert and watchful angels. So then, let all people everywhere know that the Supreme God has power over human kingdoms and that he can give them to anyone he chooses---even to those who are least important.'

"This, then, is what it means, Your Majesty, and this is what the Supreme God has declared will happen to you.

You will be driven away from human society and will live with wild animals. For seven years you will eat grass like an ox and sleep in the open air, where the dew will fall on you. Then you will admit that the Supreme God controls all human kingdoms and that he can give them to anyone he chooses.

"When the seven years had passed," said the king, "I looked up at the sky, and my sanity returned. I praised the Supreme God and gave honor and glory to the one who lives forever. "He will rule forever, and his kingdom will last for all time.

They keep on turning away from me to a god that is powerless. They are as unreliable as a crooked bow. Because their leaders talk arrogantly, they will die a violent death, and the Egyptians will laugh."

God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.

Nor does he need anything that we can supply by working for him, since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone.

"But can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even all of heaven is large enough to hold you, so how can this Temple that I have built be large enough?

I intend to build a great temple, because our God is greater than any other god.

Yet no one can really build a temple for God, because even all the vastness of heaven cannot contain him. How then can I build a temple that would be anything more than a place to burn incense to God?

"But can you, O God, really live on earth among men and women? Not even all of heaven is large enough to hold you, so how can this Temple that I have built be large enough?

The LORD says, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house, then, could you build for me, what kind of place for me to live in?

I myself created the whole universe! I am pleased with those who are humble and repentant, who fear me and obey me.