Psalms 68–69; Romans 8:1–21

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Psalms 68–69

God Shall Scatter His Enemies

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

eGod shall arise, his enemies shall be fscattered;

and those who hate him shall flee before him!

As gsmoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;

has wax melts before fire,

so the wicked shall perish before God!

But ithe righteous shall be glad;

they shall exult before God;

they shall be jubilant with joy!

Sing to God, jsing praises to his name;

klift up a song to him who lrides through mthe deserts;

his name is nthe Lord;

exult before him!

oFather of the fatherless and pprotector of widows

is God in his holy habitation.

God qsettles the solitary in a home;

he rleads out the prisoners to prosperity,

but sthe rebellious dwell in ta parched land.

O God, when you uwent out before your people,

vwhen you marched through wthe wilderness, Selah

xthe earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,

before God, the One of Sinai,

before God,1 the God of Israel.

yRain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;

you restored your inheritance as it languished;

10  your flock2 found a dwelling in it;

in your goodness, O God, you zprovided for the needy.

11  The Lord gives athe word;

bthe women who announce the news are a great host:

12  cThe kings of the armiesthey flee, they flee!

The women at home ddivide the spoil

13  though you men lie among ethe sheepfolds

the wings of a dove covered with silver,

its pinions with shimmering gold.

14  When the Almighty scatters kings there,

let snow fall on fZalmon.

15  O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;

O many-peaked3 mountain, mountain of Bashan!

16  Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,

at the mount that God gdesired for his abode,

yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?

17  hThe chariots of God are twice ten thousand,

thousands upon thousands;

the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.

18  iYou ascended on high,

jleading a host of captives in your train

and kreceiving gifts among men,

even among lthe rebellious, mthat the Lord God may dwell there.

19  Blessed be the Lord,

who daily nbears us up;

God is our salvation. Selah

20  Our God is a God of salvation,

oand to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

21  pBut God will strike the heads of his enemies,

the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.

22  The Lord said,

I will bring them back qfrom Bashan,

rI will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

23  that you may sstrike your feet in their blood,

that tthe tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.

24  Your procession is4 seen, O God,

the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary

25  uthe singers in front, vthe musicians last,

between them wvirgins playing tambourines:

26  xBless God in the great congregation,

the Lord, O you5 who are of yIsrael’s fountain!

27  There is zBenjamin, the least of them, in the lead,

the princes of Judah in their throng,

the princes of aZebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

28  bSummon your power, O God,6

the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.

29  Because of your temple at Jerusalem

kings shall cbear gifts to you.

30  Rebuke dthe beasts that dwell among the reeds,

the herd of ebulls with the calves of the peoples.

fTrample underfoot those who lust after tribute;

scatter the peoples who delight in war.7

31  Nobles shall come from gEgypt;

hCush shall hasten to istretch out her hands to God.

32  jO kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;

sing praises to the Lord, Selah

33  to him kwho rides in lthe heavens, the ancient heavens;

behold, he msends out his voice, his mighty voice.

34  nAscribe power to God,

whose majesty is over Israel,

and whose opower is in pthe skies.

35  qAwesome is God from his8 rsanctuary;

the God of Israelhe is the one who gives spower and strength to his people.

Blessed be God!

Save Me, O God

To the choirmaster: according to tLilies. Of David.

Save me, O God!

For uthe waters have come up to my neck.9

I sink in deep vmire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the flood wsweeps over me.

xI am weary with my crying out;

ymy throat is parched.

zMy eyes grow dim

with awaiting for my God.

bMore in number than the hairs of my head

are cthose who hate me dwithout cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

ethose who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal

must I now restore?

O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

Let not those who hope in you fbe put to shame through me,

O Lord God of hosts;

let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,

O God of Israel.

For it is gfor your sake that I have borne reproach,

that dishonor has covered my face.

I have become ha stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother’s sons.

For izeal for your house has consumed me,

and jthe reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10  When I wept and humbled10 my soul with fasting,

it became my reproach.

11  When I made ksackcloth my clothing,

I became la byword to them.

12  I am the talk of those who msit in the gate,

and the drunkards make nsongs about me.

13  But as for me, my oprayer is to you, O Lord.

At pan acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

14  Deliver me

from sinking in qthe mire;

rlet me be delivered from my enemies

and from sthe deep waters.

15  Let not the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or tthe pit close uits mouth over me.

16  Answer me, O Lord, for your vsteadfast love is good;

according to your abundant wmercy, xturn to me.

17  yHide not your face from your servant,

zfor I am in distress; amake haste to answer me.

18  Draw near to my soul, redeem me;

ransom me because of my enemies!

19  You know my breproach,

and my shame and my dishonor;

my foes are all known to you.

20  bReproaches have broken my heart,

so that I am in cdespair.

I dlooked for epity, but there was none,

and for fcomforters, but I found none.

21  They gave me gpoison for food,

and for my thirst they gave me hsour wine to drink.

22  iLet their own jtable before them become a snare;

kand when they are at peace, let it become a trap.11

23  lLet their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,

mand make their loins tremble continually.

24  Pour out your indignation upon them,

and let your burning anger overtake them.

25  nMay their camp be a desolation;

let no one dwell in their tents.

26  For they opersecute him whom pyou have struck down,

and they recount the pain of qthose you have wounded.

27  rAdd to them punishment upon punishment;

may they have no acquittal from you.12

28  Let them be sblotted out of the book of the living;

let them not be tenrolled among the righteous.

29  But I am afflicted and in pain;

let your salvation, O God, uset me on high!

30  I will vpraise the name of God with a song;

I will wmagnify him with xthanksgiving.

31  This will yplease the Lord more than an ox

or a bull zwith horns and hoofs.

32  When athe humble see it they will be glad;

you who seek God, alet your hearts revive.

33  For the Lord hears the needy

and bdoes not despise his own people who are prisoners.

34  Let cheaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

35  For dGod will save Zion

and build up the cities of Judah,

and people shall dwell there and possess it;

36  ethe offspring of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who love his name shall dwell in it.


Romans 8:1–21

Life in the Spirit

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.1 For the law of hthe Spirit of life ihas set you2 free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For jGod has done what the law, kweakened by the flesh, lcould not do. mBy sending his own Son nin the likeness of sinful flesh and ofor sin,3 he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that pthe righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, qwho walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For rthose who live according to the flesh set their minds on sthe things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on tthe things of the Spirit. For to set uthe mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is vhostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; windeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact xthe Spirit of God dwells in you. yAnyone who does not have zthe Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of ahim who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus4 from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies bthrough his Spirit who dwells in you.

Heirs with Christ

12 So then, brothers,5 we are debtors, cnot to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you dput to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are eled by the Spirit of God are fsons6 of God. 15 For gyou did not receive hthe spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of iadoption as sons, by whom we cry, jAbba! Father! 16 kThe Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then lheirsheirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, mprovided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Future Glory

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time nare not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for othe revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation pwas subjected to futility, not willingly, but qbecause of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that rthe creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.