Psalms 74–76; Romans 9:16–33

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Psalms 74–76

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause

A Maskil1 of rAsaph.

O God, why do you scast us off forever?

Why does your anger tsmoke against uthe sheep of your pasture?

vRemember your congregation, which you have wpurchased of old,

which you have xredeemed to be ythe tribe of your heritage!

Remember Mount Zion, zwhere you have dwelt.

Direct your steps to athe perpetual ruins;

the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

Your foes have broared in the midst of your meeting place;

cthey set up their down signs for esigns.

They were like those who swing faxes

in a forest of trees.2

And all its gcarved wood

they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

They hset your sanctuary on fire;

they iprofaned jthe dwelling place of your name,

bringing it down to the ground.

They ksaid to themselves, We will utterly subdue them;

they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

We do not see our lsigns;

mthere is no longer any prophet,

and there is none among us who knows how long.

10  How long, O God, nis the foe to scoff?

Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

11  Why odo you hold back your hand, your right hand?

Take it from the fold of your garment3 and destroy them!

12  Yet pGod my King is from of old,

working salvation in the midst of the earth.

13  You qdivided the sea by your might;

you rbroke the heads of sthe sea monsters4 on the waters.

14  You crushed the heads of tLeviathan;

you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

15  You usplit open springs and brooks;

you vdried up ever-flowing streams.

16  Yours is the day, yours also the night;

you have established wthe heavenly lights and the sun.

17  You have xfixed all the boundaries of the earth;

you have made ysummer and winter.

18  zRemember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,

and aa foolish people reviles your name.

19  Do not deliver the soul of your bdove to the wild beasts;

cdo not forget the life of your poor forever.

20  Have regard for dthe covenant,

for ethe dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

21  Let not fthe downtrodden gturn back in shame;

let hthe poor and needy praise your name.

22  Arise, O God, idefend your cause;

jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!

23  Do not forget the clamor of your foes,

kthe uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

God Will Judge with Equity

To the choirmaster: according to lDo Not Destroy. mA Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

We give thanks to you, O God;

we give thanks, for your name is nnear.

We5 recount your wondrous deeds.

At othe set time that I appoint

I will judge pwith equity.

When the earth qtotters, and all its inhabitants,

it is I who keep steady its rpillars. Selah

I say to the boastful, Do not boast,

and to the wicked, sDo not lift up your horn;

do not lift up your horn on high,

or speak with haughty neck.

For not from the east or from the west

and not from the wilderness comes tlifting up,

but it is uGod who executes judgment,

vputting down one and lifting up another.

wFor in the hand of the Lord there is xa cup

with foaming wine, ywell mixed,

and he pours out from it,

and all the wicked of the earth

shall zdrain it down to the dregs.

But I will declare it forever;

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

10  aAll the horns of the wicked I will cut off,

bbut the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Who Can Stand Before You?

To the choirmaster: with cstringed instruments. A Psalm of dAsaph. A Song.

In Judah God is eknown;

his name is great in Israel.

His fabode has been established in gSalem,

his hdwelling place in Zion.

There he ibroke the flashing arrows,

the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

Glorious are you, more majestic

jthan the mountains full of kprey.

lThe stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;

mthey sank into sleep;

all the men of war

were unable to use their hands.

At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,

both nrider and horse lay stunned.

oBut you, you are to be feared!

Who can pstand before you

when once your anger is roused?

From the heavens you uttered judgment;

qthe earth feared and was still,

when God rarose to establish judgment,

to save all the humble of the earth. Selah

10  Surely sthe wrath of man shall praise you;

the remnant6 of wrath you will put on like a belt.

11  tMake your vows to the Lord your God and perform them;

let all around him ubring gifts

to him who vis to be feared,

12  who wcuts off the spirit of princes,

who xis to be feared by the kings of the earth.


Romans 9:16–33

16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,1 but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, yFor this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault? For zwho can resist his will? 20 But who are you, O man, ato answer back to God? bWill what is molded say to its molder, Why have you made me like this? 21 cHas the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump done vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience evessels of wrath fprepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known gthe riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he hhas prepared beforehand for glory 24 even us whom he ihas called, jnot from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,

kThose who were not my people I will call my people,

and her who was not beloved I will call beloved.

26  lAnd in the very place where it was said to them, You are not my people,

there they will be called msons of the living God.

27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: nThough the number of the sons of Israel2 be as the sand of the sea, oonly a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. 29 And as Isaiah predicted,

pqIf the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,

rwe would have been like Sodom

and become like Gomorrah.

Israel’s Unbelief

30 What shall we say, then? sThat Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, ta righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel uwho pursued a law that would lead to righteousness3 vdid not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the wstumbling stone, 33 as it is written,

xBehold, I am laying in Zion ya stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;

zand whoever believes in him will not be aput to shame.