Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause
A oMaskil1 of Asaph.
1 O God, why do you pcast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the qsheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you have rpurchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the stribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they set up their own signs for signs.
5 They were like those who swing axes
in a forest of trees.2
6 And all its tcarved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They uset your sanctuary on fire;
they profaned the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They said to themselves, v“We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 wWe do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 xHow long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why do you yhold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment3 and destroy them!
12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 zYou divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters4 on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of aLeviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 bYou split open springs and brooks;
cyou dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 dYours is the day, yours also the night;
eyou have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 fYou have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and a foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts;
gdo not forget the life of your poor forever.
20 hHave regard for ithe covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, defend your cause;
jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
God Will Judge with Equity
To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.
1 kWe give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks, for your name is near.
We5 recount your wondrous deeds.
2 “At the set time that I appoint
I will judge with equity.
3 When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,
it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah
4 I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
and lto the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
5 do not lift up your horn on high,
or speak with haughty neck.’”
6 For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
7 but it is mGod who executes judgment,
nputting down one and lifting up another.
8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a ocup
with foaming wine, well mixed,
and he pours out from it,
and all the wicked of the earth
shall pdrain it down to the dregs.
9 But I will declare it forever;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
Who Can Stand Before You?
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.
1 In Judah God is known;
qhis name is great in Israel.
2 His abode has been established in rSalem,
his dwelling place in Zion.
3 There he broke the flashing arrows,
the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah
4 Glorious are you, more majestic
than the mountains full of prey.
5 The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;
they sank into sleep;
all the men of war
were unable to use their hands.
6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both rider and horse lay stunned.
7 But you, you are sto be feared!
tWho can stand before you
when once your anger is roused?
8 From the heavens you uttered judgment;
the earth feared and was still,
9 when God arose to establish judgment,
to save all the humble of the earth. Selah
10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise you;
the remnant6 of wrath you will put on like a belt.
11 Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them;
let all around him bring ugifts
to him who is to be feared,
12 who cuts off the spirit of princes,
who is to be feared by the kings of the earth.
16 So then it depends vnot on human will or exertion,1 but on God, who has wmercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, x“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he yhardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For zwho can resist his will?” 20 But awho are you, O man, to answer back to God? bWill what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 cHas the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump done vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much epatience vessels of wrath fprepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the griches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has hprepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, inot from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
j“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 k“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: l“Though mthe number of the sons of Israel2 be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
n“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”
Israel’s Unbelief
30 oWhat shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a prighteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness3 qdid not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the rstumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
s“Behold, I am laying in Zion ta stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and uwhoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
