I Will Recount Your Wonderful Deeds
1 To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben.2 A Psalm of David.
1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your gwonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and hexult in you;
3 When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish before3 your presence.
4 For you have kmaintained my just cause;
you have lsat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.
5 You have mrebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
you have nblotted out their name forever and ever.
6 The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
their cities you rooted out;
the very memory of them has perished.
7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for justice,
8 and he ojudges the world with righteousness;
he pjudges the peoples with uprightness.
9 The Lord is qa stronghold for rthe oppressed,
a stronghold in stimes of trouble.
10 And those who tknow your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
11 Sing praises to the Lord, who usits enthroned in Zion!
Tell among the peoples his vdeeds!
12 For he who wavenges blood is mindful of them;
he xdoes not forget the cry of the afflicted.
13 yBe gracious to me, O Lord!
See my affliction from those who hate me,
O you who lift me up from zthe gates of death,
14 that I may recount all your praises,
that in the gates of athe daughter of Zion
I may brejoice in your salvation.
15 The nations have sunk in cthe pit that they made;
in dthe net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
16 The Lord has made himself eknown; he has executed judgment;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion.4 Selah
17 The wicked shall freturn to Sheol,
all the nations that gforget God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
and hthe hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
19 iArise, O Lord! Let not jman prevail;
let the nations be judged before you!
20 Put them in fear, O Lord!
Let the nations know that they are but jmen! Selah
Why Do You Hide Yourself?
1 Why, O Lord, do you stand kfar away?
2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them nbe caught in the schemes that they have devised.
3 For the wicked oboasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for gain pcurses5 and qrenounces the Lord.
4 In the pride of his face6 the wicked does not qseek him;7
all his thoughts are, r“There is no God.”
5 His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, sout of his sight;
as for all his foes, he tpuffs at them.
6 He usays in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I vshall not meet adversity.”
7 wHis mouth is filled with cursing and xdeceit and yoppression;
zunder his tongue are amischief and biniquity.
8 He sits in ambush in the villages;
in chiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9 he lurks in ambush like da lion in his ethicket;
he flurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his gnet.
10 The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
12 jArise, O Lord; O God, klift up your hand;
lforget not the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked mrenounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not ncall to account”?
14 But you do see, for you onote mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless pcommits himself;
you have been qthe helper of the fatherless.
15 rBreak the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
scall his wickedness to account till you find none.
16 tThe Lord is king forever and ever;
the unations perish from his land.
17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will vstrengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
18 to wdo justice to the fatherless and xthe oppressed,
so that yman who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
The Lord Is in His Holy Temple
To the choirmaster. Of David.
1 In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
z“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
2 for behold, the wicked abend the bow;
bthey have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
3 if cthe foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”8
4 dThe Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord’s ethrone is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids ftest the children of man.
5 The Lord gtests the righteous,
but hhis soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
6 Let him rain coals on the wicked;
ifire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be jthe portion of their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous;
he kloves righteous deeds;
lthe upright shall behold his face.
The Faithful Have Vanished
To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith.9 A Psalm of David.
1 Save, O Lord, for mthe godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2 Everyone nutters lies to his neighbor;
3 May the Lord cut off all oflattering lips,
the tongue that makes qgreat boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
5 “Because rthe poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
sI will now arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the tsafety for which he longs.”
6 uThe words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
7 You, O Lord, will keep them;
you will guard us10 from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
How Long, O Lord?
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 vHow long, O Lord? Will you wforget me forever?
How long will you xhide your face from me?
2 How long must I take ycounsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 zConsider and answer me, O Lord my God;
alight up my eyes, lest bI sleep the sleep of death,
4 clest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am dshaken.
5 But I have etrusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall frejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
The Fool Says, There Is No God
To the choirmaster. Of David.
1 gThe hfool says in his heart, i“There is no God.”
They are jcorrupt, they do abominable deeds;
kthere is none who does good.
2 The Lord llooks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,11
who mseek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become ncorrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
4 Have they no oknowledge, all the evildoers
who peat up my people as they eat bread
and qdo not call upon the Lord?
5 There they are in great terror,
for God is with rthe generation of the righteous.
6 You would shame the plans of the poor,
7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord trestores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
Who Shall Dwell on Your Holy Hill?
A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, uwho shall sojourn in your vtent?
Who shall dwell on your wholy hill?
2 He who xwalks blamelessly and ydoes what is right
and zspeaks truth in his heart;
3 who adoes not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor btakes up a reproach against his friend;
4 cin whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the Lord;
who dswears to his own hurt and does not change;
5 who edoes not put out his money at interest
and fdoes not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be gmoved.
You Will Not Abandon My Soul
A hMiktam13 of David.
1 Preserve me, O God, for in you I itake refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
jI have no good apart from you.”
3 As for kthe saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.14
4 The sorrows of those who run after15 another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or ltake their names on my lips.
5 The Lord is mmy chosen portion and my ncup;
you hold my olot.
6 pThe lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
7 I bless the Lord who qgives me counsel;
in rthe night also my sheart instructs me.16
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my xwhole being17 rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to ySheol,
11 You make known to me cthe path of life;
in your presence there is dfullness of joy;
at your right hand are epleasures forevermore.
In the Shadow of Your Wings
A fPrayer of David.
1 Hear a just cause, O Lord; gattend to my cry!
Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!
2 From your presence hlet my vindication come!
Let your eyes behold the right!
3 You have itried my heart, you have jvisited me by knight,
you have ltested me, and you will find nothing;
I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
4 With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.
5 My steps have mheld fast to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.
6 I ncall upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
oincline your ear to me; hear my words.
7 pWondrously show19 your steadfast love,
O Savior of those who seek refuge
from qtheir adversaries at your right hand.
8 Keep me as rthe apple of your eye;
hide me in sthe shadow of your wings,
9 from the wicked who do me violence,
my deadly enemies who tsurround me.
10 uThey close their hearts to pity;
with their mouths they vspeak arrogantly.
11 They have now surrounded our wsteps;
they set their eyes to xcast us to the ground.
12 He is like a lion eager to tear,
as a young lion ylurking in ambush.
13 Arise, O Lord! Confront him, subdue him!
Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,
14 from men by your hand, O Lord,
from zmen of the world whose aportion is in this life.20
You fill their womb with treasure;21
they are satisfied with bchildren,
and they leave their abundance to their infants.
15 As for me, I shall cbehold your face in righteousness;
God’s Sovereign Choice
1 aI am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For bI could wish that I myself were caccursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,1 my kinsmen daccording to the flesh. 4 They are eIsraelites, and to them belong fthe adoption, gthe glory, hthe covenants, ithe giving of the law, jthe worship, and kthe promises. 5 To them belong lthe patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, mwho is God over all, nblessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham obecause they are his offspring, but p“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but qthe children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: r“About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but salso when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of thim who calls— 12 she was told, u“The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, v“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 What shall we say then? wIs there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, x“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,2 but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, y“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 hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For zwho can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, ato 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 patience evessels of wrath fprepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known gthe riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he hhas prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he ihas called, jnot from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
k“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 l“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called m‘sons of the living God.’”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: n“Though the number of the sons of Israel3 be as the sand of the sea, oonly 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,
pq“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
rwe would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”
Israel’s Unbelief
30 What shall we say, then? sThat Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, ta righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel uwho pursued a law that would lead to righteousness4 vdid 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 wstumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
x“Behold, I am laying in Zion ya stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
