Psalms 66–67; Romans 7

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Psalms 66–67

How Awesome Are Your Deeds

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.

bShout for joy to God, all the earth;

sing the glory of his name;

cgive to him glorious praise!

Say to God, dHow awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power that your enemies ecome cringing to you.

fAll the earth worships you

and sings praises to you;

they sing praises to your name. Selah

gCome and see what God has done:

dhe is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.

He hturned the sea into dry land;

they ipassed through the river on foot.

There did we rejoice in him,

who rules by his might forever,

whose jeyes keep watch on the nations

let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

Bless our God, O peoples;

let the sound of his praise be heard,

who has kept our soul among the living

and khas not let our feet slip.

10  For you, O God, have ltested us;

you have tried us as silver is tried.

11  You brought us into mthe net;

you laid a crushing burden on our backs;

12  you let men nride over our heads;

we went through fire and through owater;

yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

13  I will come into your house with burnt offerings;

I will pperform my vows to you,

14  that which my lips uttered

and my mouth promised qwhen I was in trouble.

15  I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,

with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;

I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

16  rCome and hear, all you who fear God,

and I will tell what he has done for my soul.

17  I cried to him with my mouth,

and high praise was on1 my tongue.2

18  If I had scherished iniquity in my heart,

tthe Lord would not have listened.

19  But truly uGod has listened;

he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20  Blessed be God,

because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me!

Make Your Face Shine upon Us

To the choirmaster: with vstringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

May God wbe gracious to us and bless us

and make his face to xshine upon us, Selah

that yyour way may be known on earth,

your zsaving power among all nations.

aLet the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you bjudge the peoples with equity

and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

aLet the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

The earth has cyielded its increase;

God, our God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us;

let dall the ends of the earth fear him!


Romans 7

Released from the Law

Or do you not know, brothers1for I am speaking to those who know the lawthat the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For ea married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.2 Accordingly, fshe will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

Likewise, my brothers, gyou also have died hto the law ithrough the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, jin order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work kin our members lto bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the mnew way of nthe Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.3

The Law and Sin

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, oI would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if pthe law had not said, You shall not covet. But sin, qseizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. rFor apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment sthat promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, tseizing an opportunity through the commandment, udeceived me and through it killed me. 12 So vthe law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, wsold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For xI do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ythe law, that it is good. 17 So now zit is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells ain me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 bFor I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, cit is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For dI delight in the law of God, ein my inner being, 23 but I see in my members fanother law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from gthis body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.