This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what the Lord his God considered good and right and faithful.

He did what the Lord approved and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; he did not deviate to the right or the left.

Call to mind now: Who, being innocent, ever perished? And where were upright people ever destroyed?

if you become pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself for you, and will restore your righteous abode.

That person sings to others, saying: ‘I have sinned and falsified what is right, but I was not punished according to what I deserved.

The Lord’s precepts are fair and make one joyful. The Lord’s commands are pure and give insight for life.

Evil men draw their swords and prepare their bows, to bring down the oppressed and needy, and to slaughter those who are godly.

The godly will rejoice in the Lord and take shelter in him. All the morally upright will boast.

So they proclaim that the Lord, my protector, is just and never unfair.

For justice will prevail, and all the morally upright will be vindicated.

Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the godly and the congregation.

Certainly the godly will give thanks to your name; the morally upright will live in your presence.

Even a young man is known by his actions, whether his activity is pure and whether it is right.

A wicked person shows boldness with his face, but as for the upright, he discerns his ways.

The one who leads the upright astray in an evil way will himself fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit what is good.

Their legs were straight, but the soles of their feet were like calves’ feet. They gleamed like polished bronze.

The best of them is like a thorn; the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, and then you will experience confusion.

Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let the end of my life be like theirs.”

Balak said to Balaam, “Come, please; I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.”

Do whatever is proper and good before the Lord so that it may go well with you and that you may enter and occupy the good land that he promised your ancestors,