Psalms 68–69
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David. A Song.
1 Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered;
let those who hate Him flee before Him.
2 As smoke is driven away,
You drive them away;
as wax melts before the fire,
so may the wicked perish before God.
3 But let the righteous be glad;
let them rejoice before God;
let them rejoice exceedingly.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
raise a song to Him who rides through the deserts—
His name is the Lord;
exult before Him.
5 A father of the fatherless, and a protector of the widows,
is God in His holy habitation.
6 God sets the deserted in families;
He brings out prisoners into prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
7 O God, when You went forth before Your people,
when You marched through the wasteland, Selah
8 the earth shook;
the heavens also poured down rain
at the presence of God; even Sinai shook
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9 You, O God, sent plentiful rain;
You established Your inheritance when it was weary.
10 Your congregation has lived in it;
You, O God, by Your goodness have prepared for the poor.
11 The Lord gave the word;
great was the company of women who proclaimed it:
12 “Kings of armies flee; they flee!”
Even the women who were at home divided the spoil.
13 Though you sleep between the sheepfolds,
yet you will be like the wings of a dove overlaid with silver,
and its feathers with yellow gold.
14 When the Almighty scattered kings in it,
it was white as snow on Mount Zalmon.
15 The mountain of God is as the mountain of Bashan;
a mountain of many peaks like the mountain of Bashan.
16 Why are you envious, you mountains of many peaks?
This is the mountain which God desires to dwell in;
yes, the Lord will dwell in it forever.
17 The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, even thousands of thousands;
the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
18 You have ascended on high,
You have led captivity captive;
You have received gifts from people,
yes, even from the rebellious,
that the Lord God might dwell among them.
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits,
even the God who is our salvation. Selah
20 That God is for us, the God of saving acts;
and to God the Lord belongs escape from death.
21 But God will shatter the head of His enemies,
and the scalp of one who walks in his trespasses.
22 The Lord said, “I will cause them to return from Bashan,
I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea,
23 that your foot may stomp in the blood of your enemies,
and the tongue of your dogs may have a portion in it.”
24 They have seen Your processions, O God,
the processions of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.
25 The singers went before,
the players on instruments followed after;
among them were the young women playing tambourines.
26 Bless God in the congregations,
the Lord, from the fountain of Israel.
27 There is little Benjamin leading them,
the princes of Judah and their throng of people,
the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
28 Your God has commanded your strength;
strengthen, O God, what You have done for us.
29 From Your temple above Jerusalem,
kings will bring gifts to You.
30 Rebuke the animals that live among the reeds,
the herd of bulls, with the calves of the people,
until everyone submits himself with pieces of silver;
scatter peoples who delight in war.
31 Ambassadors will come out of Egypt;
Ethiopia will stretch out its hands to God.
32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth;
oh, sing praises to the Lord; Selah
33 to Him who rides on the heavens, the ancient heavens;
He who sends out His voice, a mighty voice.
34 Ascribe strength to God;
His majesty is over Israel,
and His strength is in the clouds.
35 O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuaries;
the God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to people.
Blessed be God!
Psalm 69
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Lilies.” A Psalm of David.
1 Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my throat.
2 I sink in deep mire;
there is no standing place;
I have come into the watery depths,
and a stream overflows me.
3 I am weary of my crying;
my throat is parched;
my eyes fail
while I wait for my God.
4 Those who hate me without cause
are more than the hairs of my head;
they are mighty
who would destroy me, being my wrongful enemies,
so that I must pay back
what I did not steal.
5 O God, You know my folly,
and my sins are not hidden from You.
6 May those who wait on You,
O Lord God of Hosts,
not be ashamed because of me;
may those who seek You
not be humiliated because of me,
O God of Israel.
7 Because for Your sake I have endured insult;
humiliation has covered my face.
8 I have become estranged to my relatives,
and a foreigner to my mother’s children;
9 for the zeal of Your house has consumed me,
and the insults of those who insulted You fell on me.
10 When I wept with fasting for my soul,
it became an insult to me.
11 I also made sackcloth my garment,
and I became a byword to them.
12 Those who sit in the gate speak against me,
and I am the song of the drunkards.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord;
in an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of Your mercy,
answer me in the truth of Your salvation.
14 Deliver me out of the mire
that I may not sink;
may I be delivered from those who hate me,
and out of the watery depths.
15 May the stream not overflow me;
neither may the deep swallow me up,
nor the pit close its mouth on me.
16 Answer me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good;
turn Your face to me according to the abundance of Your tender mercies.
17 Do not hide Your face from Your servant,
for I am in trouble; answer me quickly.
18 Draw near to my soul, and redeem it;
deliver me because of my enemies.
19 You have known how I am insulted, and my shame and my dishonor;
my adversaries are all before You.
20 Insults have broken my heart,
and I am sick;
and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;
and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me poison for my food,
and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 May their table become a snare before them,
and may security become a trap.
23 May their eyes be darkened so they do not see,
and make their sides shake continually.
24 Pour out Your indignation on them,
and may Your wrathful anger overtake them.
25 May their habitation be desolate,
and may no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom You have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those You have wounded.
27 Add punishment to their iniquity,
and do not let them come into Your righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,
and not be written along with the righteous.
29 But I am poor and in pain;
may Your salvation, O God, set me secure on high.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song,
and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
31 This also will please the Lord
more than an ox or bull with horns and hoofs.
32 The humble will see this and be glad;
and you who seek God, may your heart live.
33 For the Lord hears the poor,
and does not despise His prisoners.
34 Let heaven and earth praise Him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion,
and will build the cities of Judah;
that they may dwell there, and take possession of it.
36 The descendants of His servants will inherit it;
and those who love His name will dwell in it.
Romans 8:1–21
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and concerning sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, 7 for the carnal mind is hostile toward God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if through the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. 15 For you have not received the spirit of slavery again to fear. But you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us. 19 The eager expectation of the creation waits for the appearance of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but by the will of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God.