Psalms 28–33; Romans 12

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Psalms 28–33

The Lord Is My Strength and My Shield

Of David.

To you, O Lord, I call;

jmy rock, be not deaf to me,

lest, if you kbe silent to me,

I become like those who lgo down to the pit.

mHear the voice of my pleas for mercy,

when I cry to you for help,

when I nlift up my hands

otoward your most holy sanctuary.1

Do not pdrag me off with the wicked,

with the workers of evil,

qwho speak peace with their neighbors

while evil is in their hearts.

rGive to them according to their work

and according to the evil of their deeds;

give to them according to the work of their hands;

srender them their due reward.

Because they tdo not regard the works of the Lord

or the work of his hands,

he will tear them down and build them up no more.

Blessed be the Lord!

For he has uheard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

The Lord is my strength and vmy shield;

in him my heart wtrusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my xsong I give thanks to him.

The Lord is the strength of his people;2

he is ythe saving refuge of his anointed.

Oh, save your people and bless zyour heritage!

aBe their shepherd and bcarry them forever.

Ascribe to the Lord Glory

A Psalm of David.

Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,3

cascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

worship the Lord in dthe splendor of holiness.4

The voice of the Lord is over ethe waters;

the God of glory fthunders,

the Lord, over many waters.

The voice of the Lord is gpowerful;

the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;

the Lord breaks hthe cedars of Lebanon.

He makes Lebanon to iskip like a calf,

and jSirion like a young kwild ox.

The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;

the Lord shakes the wilderness of lKadesh.

The voice of the Lord makes mthe deer give birth5

and strips the forests bare,

and in his temple all cry, Glory!

10  The Lord sits enthroned over nthe flood;

the Lord sits enthroned oas king forever.

11  May the Lord give pstrength to his people!

May the Lord bless6 his people with qpeace!

Joy Comes with the Morning

A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of rthe temple.

I will sextol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up

and have not let my foes trejoice over me.

O Lord my God, I ucried to you for help,

and you have vhealed me.

O Lord, you have brought up my soul from wSheol;

you restored me to life from among those who xgo down to the pit.7

Sing praises to the Lord, O you yhis saints,

and zgive thanks to his holy name.8

aFor his anger is but for a moment,

and bhis favor is for a lifetime.9

cWeeping may tarry for the night,

but djoy comes with the morning.

As for me, I said in my eprosperity,

I shall never be fmoved.

By your favor, O Lord,

you made my gmountain stand strong;

you hhid your face;

I was idismayed.

To you, O Lord, I cry,

and jto the Lord I plead for mercy:

What profit is there in my death,10

if I go down to the pit?11

Will kthe dust praise you?

Will it tell of your faithfulness?

10  lHear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!

O Lord, be my helper!

11  You have turned for me my mourning into mdancing;

you have loosed my sackcloth

and clothed me with gladness,

12  that my nglory may sing your praise and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

oIn you, O Lord, do I ptake refuge;

qlet me never be put to shame;

in your rrighteousness deliver me!

Incline your ear to me;

rescue me speedily!

Be sa rock of trefuge for me,

a strong fortress to save me!

For you are my rock and my fortress;

and for your uname’s sake you lead me and guide me;

you vtake me out of wthe net they have hidden for me,

for you are my xrefuge.

yInto your hand I commit my spirit;

you have redeemed me, O Lord, zfaithful God.

I ahate12 those who pay bregard to worthless cidols,

but I trust in the Lord.

I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,

because you have seen my affliction;

you have dknown the distress of my soul,

and you have not edelivered me into the hand of the enemy;

you have set my feet in fa broad place.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am gin distress;

hmy eye is wasted from grief;

my soul and my body also.

10  For my life is spent with sorrow,

and my years with sighing;

my strength fails because of my iniquity,

and imy bones waste away.

11  Because of all my adversaries I have become ja reproach,

especially to my kneighbors,

and an object of dread to my acquaintances;

those who see me in the street lflee from me.

12  I have been mforgotten like one who is dead;

I have become like na broken vessel.

13  For I ohear the whispering of many

terror on every side!

pas they scheme together against me,

as they plot to take my life.

14  But I qtrust in you, O Lord;

I say, You are my God.

15  My rtimes are in your hand;

srescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!

16  tMake your face shine on your servant;

save me in your steadfast love!

17  O Lord, ulet me not be put to shame,

for I call upon you;

let the wicked be put to shame;

let them go vsilently to Sheol.

18  Let the lying lips be mute,

which wspeak xinsolently against the righteous

in pride and contempt.

19  Oh, how abundant is your goodness,

which you have stored up for those who fear you

and worked for those who take refuge in you,

yin the sight of the children of mankind!

20  In zthe cover of your presence you hide them

from the plots of men;

you astore them in your shelter

from the strife of tongues.

21  Blessed be the Lord,

for he has wondrously bshown his steadfast love to me

when I was in ca besieged city.

22  I had said in my dalarm,13

I am ecut off from fyour sight.

But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy

when I cried to you for help.

23  Love the Lord, all you his gsaints!

The Lord preserves the faithful

but abundantly hrepays the one who acts in pride.

24  iBe strong, and let your heart take courage,

all you who wait for the Lord!

Blessed Are the Forgiven

A Maskil14 of David.

jBlessed is the one whose ktransgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord lcounts no iniquity,

and in whose spirit mthere is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my nbones wasted away

through my ogroaning all day long.

For day and night your phand was heavy upon me;

my strength was dried up15 as by the heat of summer. Selah

I qacknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, I rwill confess my transgressions to the Lord,

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Therefore let everyone who is sgodly

offer prayer to you at a time when you tmay be found;

surely in the rush of ugreat waters,

they shall not reach him.

You are a vhiding place for me;

you preserve me from wtrouble;

you surround me with xshouts of deliverance. Selah

I will yinstruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will zcounsel you with my eye upon you.

aBe not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,

which must be curbed with bbit and bridle,

or it will not stay near you.

10  cMany are the sorrows of the wicked,

but steadfast love surrounds the one who dtrusts in the Lord.

11  eBe glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,

and fshout for joy, all you gupright in heart!

The Steadfast Love of the Lord

hShout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!

iPraise befits the upright.

Give thanks to the Lord with the jlyre;

make melody to him with jthe harp of kten strings!

Sing to him la new song;

play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

For the word of the Lord is upright,

and all his work is done in mfaithfulness.

He nloves righteousness and justice;

othe earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

By pthe word of the Lord the heavens were made,

and by qthe breath of his mouth all rtheir host.

He gathers the waters of the sea as sa heap;

he tputs the deeps in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the Lord;

let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!

For uhe spoke, and it came to be;

he commanded, and it stood firm.

10  The Lord vbrings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

11  wThe counsel of the Lord stands forever,

the plans of his heart to all generations.

12  xBlessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,

the people whom he has ychosen as his heritage!

13  The Lord zlooks down from heaven;

he sees all the children of man;

14  from awhere he sits enthroned he blooks out

on all the inhabitants of the earth,

15  he who fashions the hearts of them all

and observes all their deeds.

16  cThe king is not saved by his great army;

a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

17  dThe war horse is a false hope for salvation,

and by its great might it cannot rescue.

18  Behold, ethe eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,

fon those who hope in his steadfast love,

19  that he may gdeliver their soul from death

and keep them alive in hfamine.

20  Our soul iwaits for the Lord;

he is our jhelp and kour shield.

21  For our heart is lglad in him,

because we mtrust in his holy name.

22  Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,

even as we hope in you.


Romans 12

A Living Sacrifice

zI appeal to you therefore, brothers,1 by the mercies of God, ato present your bodies bas a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.2 cDo not be conformed to this world,3 but be transformed by dthe renewal of your mind, that by testing you may ediscern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.4

Gifts of Grace

For fby the grace given to me I say to everyone among you gnot to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, heach according to ithe measure of faith that God has assigned. For jas in one body we have many members,5 and the members do not all have the same function, so we, kthough many, lare one body in Christ, and individually mmembers one of another. nHaving gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if oprophecy, pin proportion to our faith; if qservice, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; rthe one who leads,6 with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with scheerfulness.

Marks of the True Christian

tLet love be genuine. uAbhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 vLove one another with brotherly affection. wOutdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, xbe fervent in spirit,7 yserve the Lord. 12 zRejoice in hope, abe patient in tribulation, bbe constant in prayer. 13 cContribute to the needs of the saints and dseek to show hospitality.

14 eBless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 fRejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 gLive in harmony with one another. hDo not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.8 iNever be wise in your own sight. 17 jRepay no one evil for evil, but kgive thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, llive peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, mnever avenge yourselves, but leave it9 to the wrath of God, for it is written, nVengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. 20 To the contrary, oif your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.