How Long, O Lord?
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, dthe nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in eruins.
2 They have given the fbodies of your servants
to the birds of the heavens for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was gno one to bury them.
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
hmocked and derided by those around us.
5 iHow long, O Lord? jWill you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 kPour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that do not call upon your name!
7 lFor they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste his habitation.
8 Do not mremember against us our former iniquities;1
let your compassion come speedily nto meet us,
for we are brought very low.
9 oHelp us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and patone for our sins,
qfor your name’s sake!
10 Why should the nations say,
r“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes!
11 sLet the groans of the prisoners come before you;
according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!
12 Return tsevenfold into the lap of our neighbors
the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!
13 But we your people, the usheep of your pasture,
vwill give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your wpraise.
Restore Us, O God
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm.
1 Give ear, O xShepherd of Israel,
you who ylead Joseph like a flock.
You who are zenthroned upon the cherubim, ashine forth.
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might
and come to save us!
3 Restore us,2 O God;
blet your face shine, that we may be saved!
4 O Lord God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
5 cYou have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them dtears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
8 You brought a evine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 It sent out its branches fto the sea
and its shoots to the River.3
12 Why then have you gbroken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, O God of hosts!
Look down from heaven, and see;
hhave regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
16 They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
17 But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
18 Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!
19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts!
iLet your face shine, that we may be saved!
The Remnant of Israel
1 I ask, then, has God arejected his people? By no means! For bI myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,1 a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he cforeknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 d“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? e“I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a fremnant, chosen by grace. 6 But gif it is by grace, it is hno longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be igrace.
7 What then? Israel jfailed to obtain what it was seeking. The kelect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,
l“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
meyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”
9 And David says,
n“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs forever.”
Gentiles Grafted In
11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass osalvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to pmake Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion2 mean!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an qapostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus rsave some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the sreconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as tfirstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 uBut if some of the branches were broken off, and you, valthough a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root3 of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
