August 10
Psalms 79–80
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance;
Your holy temple they have defiled;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 The dead bodies of Your servants
they have given to the birds of the sky for food
and the flesh of Your faithful to the animals of the land.
3 Their blood they have poured out like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and derision to those who are around us.
5 How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out Your wrath
upon the nations who do not know You,
and upon the kingdoms
who have not called upon Your name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob,
and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 Do not choose to remember our former iniquities;
let Your tender mercies come swiftly to us,
for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of Your name;
deliver us, and purge away our sins,
for Your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
May the avenging of the shed blood of Your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes.
11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before You;
according to the greatness of Your power
preserve those who are appointed to die.
12 And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their lap
the reproach that they have reproached You, O Lord.
13 But we are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture,
and will give You thanks forever;
we will declare Your praise
to all generations.
Psalm 80
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Lilies of the Testimony.” A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who are enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth.
2 In the sight of Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up Your strength,
and come and rescue us.
3 Restore us again, O God,
and cause Your face to shine,
and we shall be delivered.
4 O Lord God of Hosts,
how long will You be angry
against the prayers of Your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears
and have given them tears to drink in great measure.
6 You make us contention for our neighbors,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us again, O God of Hosts,
and cause Your face to shine,
and we shall be delivered.
8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt;
You have cast 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 shadow
and the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 It sent out its branches to the sea
and its shoots to the River.
12 Why have You then broken down its walls,
so that all those who pass by the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the woods ravages it,
and the insects of the field devour it.
14 Return again, O God of Hosts;
look down from heaven, and behold,
have regard for this vine
15 and the root that Your right hand has planted,
and the shoots that You made strong for Yourself.
16 It is burned with fire; it is cut down;
may they perish at the rebuke from Your presence.
17 Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.
18 So we will not turn back from You;
give us life, and we will call upon Your name.
19 Restore us again, O Lord God of Hosts;
cause Your face to shine,
and we shall be delivered.
Romans 11:1–18
1 I say then, has God rejected His people? God forbid! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and destroyed Your altars. I alone am left, and they seek my life”? 4 But what is the divine reply to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. But if it is by works, then is it no longer by grace; otherwise work would no longer be work.
7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it was seeking. But the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened. 8 As it is written:
“God has given them a spirit of slumber,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
to this very day.”
9 And David says:
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they may not see,
and always bow down their backs.”
11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid! But through their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. 12 Now if their transgression means riches for the world, and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness mean? 13 For I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if somehow I may make my kinsmen jealous and may save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the first portion of the dough is holy, the batch is also holy. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and became a partaker with them of the root and richness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. If you boast, remember you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you.