Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me
To the choirmaster: according to The jGittith.1 Of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
kshout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 lBlow the trumpet at the mnew moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule2 of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over3 the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
6 “I relieved your4 shoulder of the nburden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 oIn distress you pcalled, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you qat the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 rThere shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
swho brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 t“But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I ugave them over to their vstubborn hearts,
to follow wtheir own counsels.
13 xOh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would ywalk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
16 But he would feed you5 with the zfinest of the wheat,
and with ahoney from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Rescue the Weak and Needy
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 God has btaken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and cshow partiality to the dwicked? Selah
3 Give ejustice to the weak and the fatherless;
fmaintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 gThey have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they hwalk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 iI said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.”6
8 jArise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!
O God, Do Not Keep Silence
A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, do not kkeep silence;
do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
2 For behold, your enemies make an uproar;
those who hate you have raised their heads.
3 They lay crafty plans against your people;
they consult together against your treasured ones.
4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
5 For they conspire with one accord;
against you they make a covenant—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Asshur also has joined them;
they are the strong arm of lthe children of Lot. Selah
9 Do to them mas you did to Midian,
nas to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
10 who were destroyed at En-dor,
who became dung for the ground.
11 Make their nobles olike Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes plike Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves
of the pastures of God.”
13 O my God, make them like whirling dust,7
like chaff qbefore the wind.
14 As fire consumes the forest,
as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 so may you pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your hurricane!
16 Fill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;
let them perish in disgrace,
18 rthat they may know that syou alone,
twhose name is the Lord,
are the Most High uover all the earth.
19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. wSo do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, xprovided you continue in his kindness. yOtherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this zmystery, brothers:1 a partial ahardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
b“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them
cwhen I take away their sins.”
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are dbeloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the egifts and the fcalling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now2 receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned gall to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! hHow unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 i“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
35 j“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
36 For kfrom him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
