Why Should I Fear in Times of Trouble?
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of fthe Sons of Korah.
1 gHear this, all peoples!
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 hboth low and high,
rich and poor together!
3 My mouth shall speak iwisdom;
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to ja proverb;
I will solve my kriddle to the music of the lyre.
5 lWhy should I fear in mtimes of trouble,
when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
6 those who ntrust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?
7 Truly no man ocan ransom another,
or pgive to God qthe price of his life,
8 for rthe ransom of their life is costly
and can never suffice,
9 that he should live on forever
and snever see the pit.
10 For he sees tthat even the wise die;
uthe fool and the stupid alike must perish
and vleave their wealth to others.
11 Their wgraves are their homes forever,1
their dwelling places xto all generations,
though they ycalled lands by their own names.
12 Man in his pomp zwill not remain;
ahe is like the beasts that perish.
13 This is the path of those who have bfoolish confidence;
yet after them people approve of their boasts.2 Selah
14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
death shall be their shepherd,
and the upright cshall rule over them in the morning.
dTheir form shall be consumed ein Sheol, with no place to dwell.
15 But God will fransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
for he will greceive me. Selah
16 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,
when the glory of his house increases.
17 hFor when he dies he will icarry nothing away;
his glory will not go down after him.
18 For though, while he lives, he counts himself jblessed
—and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
19 his soul will kgo to the generation of his fathers,
who will never again lsee light.
20 mMan in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.
God Himself Is Judge
A Psalm of nAsaph.
1 oThe Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
pfrom the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, qthe perfection of beauty,
rGod shines forth.
3 Our God comes; he sdoes not keep silence;3
before him is a devouring tfire,
around him a mighty tempest.
4 uHe calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made va covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 wThe heavens declare his righteousness,
for xGod himself is judge! Selah
7 y“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you.
zI am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices ado I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 bI know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
cfor the world and its fullness are mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 dOffer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,4
and eperform your vows to the Most High,
15 and fcall upon me in the day of trouble;
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 iFor you hate discipline,
jand you cast my words behind you.
18 If you see a thief, kyou are pleased with him,
land you keep company with adulterers.
19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil,
mand your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things you have done, and I nhave been silent;
you thought that I5 was one like yourself.
22 “Mark this, then, you who qforget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there be rnone to deliver!
23 The one who soffers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who torders his way rightly
I will show the usalvation of God!”
Greeting
1 Paul, aa servant1 of Christ Jesus, bcalled to be an apostle, cset apart for the gospel of God, 2 which dhe promised beforehand ethrough his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, fwho was descended from David2 gaccording to the flesh 4 and hwas declared to be the Son of God iin power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom jwe have received grace and kapostleship lto bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name mamong all the nations, 6 including you who are ncalled to belong to Jesus Christ,
7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
oGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Longing to Go to Rome
8 First, pI thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, qbecause your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 rFor God is my witness, swhom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, tthat without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow uby God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For vI long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged wby each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,3 that xI have often intended to come to you (but ythus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some zharvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 aI am under obligation both to Greeks and to bbarbarians,4 both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
The Righteous Shall Live by Faith
16 For dI am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is ethe power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew ffirst and also to gthe Greek. 17 For in it hthe righteousness of God is revealed ifrom faith for faith,5 jas it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”6
God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness
18 For kthe wrath of God lis revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be mknown about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, nhave been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,7 in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they obecame futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 pClaiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and qexchanged the glory of rthe immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore sGod gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to tthe dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for ua lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, vwho is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason wGod gave them up to xdishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, ymen committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, zGod gave them up to aa debased mind to do bwhat ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know cGod’s righteous decree that those who practice such things ddeserve to die, they not only do them but egive approval to those who practice them.
