Psalms 72–73; Romans 9:1–15

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Psalms 72–73

Give the King Your Justice

Of qSolomon.

Give the king your rjustice, O God,

and your righteousness to the royal son!

May he sjudge your people with righteousness,

and your poor with justice!

Let the mountains bear tprosperity for the people,

and the hills, in righteousness!

May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,

give deliverance to the children of the needy,

and crush the oppressor!

May they fear you1 while uthe sun endures,

and as long as the moon, vthroughout all generations!

May he be like wrain that falls on xthe mown grass,

like yshowers that water the earth!

In his days may zthe righteous flourish,

and apeace abound, till the moon be no more!

May he have dominion from bsea to sea,

and from bthe River2 to the cends of the earth!

May desert tribes dbow down before him,

and his enemies elick the dust!

10  May the kings of fTarshish and of gthe coastlands

render him htribute;

may the kings of iSheba and jSeba

bring gifts!

11  May all kings kfall down before him,

all nations serve him!

12  For he delivers lthe needy when he calls,

the poor and him who has no helper.

13  He has pity on the weak and the needy,

and saves the lives of the needy.

14  From oppression and violence he redeems their life,

and mprecious is their blood in his sight.

15  Long may he live;

may ngold of Sheba be given to him!

May prayer be made ofor him continually,

and blessings invoked for him all the day!

16  May there be abundance of grain in the land;

on the tops of the mountains may it wave;

may its fruit be like Lebanon;

and may people pblossom in the cities

like the qgrass of the field!

17  rMay his name endure forever,

his fame continue as long as the sun!

sMay people be blessed in him,

tall nations call him blessed!

18  uBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

who alone does vwondrous things.

19  Blessed be his wglorious name forever;

may xthe whole earth be filled with his glory!

yAmen and Amen!

20  zThe prayers of aDavid, the son of Jesse, are ended.

Book Three

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of bAsaph.

Truly God is good to cIsrael,

to those who are dpure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,

my steps had nearly slipped.

eFor I was fenvious of the arrogant

when I saw the gprosperity of the wicked.

For they have no pangs until death;

their bodies are fat and sleek.

They are not in trouble as others are;

they are not hstricken like the rest of mankind.

Therefore pride is itheir necklace;

violence covers them as ja garment.

Their keyes swell out through fatness;

their hearts overflow with follies.

They scoff and lspeak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

They set their mouths against the heavens,

and their tongue struts through the earth.

10  Therefore his people turn back to them,

and find mno fault in them.3

11  And they say, nHow can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?

12  Behold, these are the wicked;

always at ease, they oincrease in riches.

13  All in vain have I pkept my heart clean

and qwashed my hands in innocence.

14  For all the day long I have been hstricken

and rrebuked severy morning.

15  If I had said, I will speak thus,

I would have betrayed tthe generation of your children.

16  But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me ua wearisome task,

17  until I went into vthe sanctuary of God;

then I discerned their wend.

18  Truly you set them in xslippery places;

you make them fall to ruin.

19  How they are destroyed yin a moment,

swept away utterly by zterrors!

20  Like aa dream when one awakes,

O Lord, when byou rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

21  When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

22  I was cbrutish and ignorant;

I was like da beast toward you.

23  Nevertheless, I am continually with you;

you ehold my right hand.

24  You fguide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will greceive me to glory.

25  hWhom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

26  iMy flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is jthe strength4 of my heart and my kportion lforever.

27  For behold, those who are mfar from you shall perish;

you put an end to everyone who is nunfaithful to you.

28  But for me it is good to obe near God;

I have made the Lord God my prefuge,

that I may qtell of all your works.


Romans 9:1–15

God’s Sovereign Choice

aI am speaking the truth in ChristI am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For bI could wish that I myself were caccursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,1 my kinsmen daccording to the flesh. They are eIsraelites, and to them belong fthe adoption, gthe glory, hthe covenants, ithe giving of the law, jthe worship, and kthe promises. To them belong lthe patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, mwho is God over all, nblessed forever. Amen.

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham obecause they are his offspring, but pThrough Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but qthe children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: rAbout this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son. 10 And not only so, but salso when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or badin order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of thim who calls 12 she was told, uThe older will serve the younger. 13 As it is written, vJacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

14 What shall we say then? wIs there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, xI will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.