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Psalm 74

A maskil of Asaph. ^[a]

 ² Remember the people you purchased of old,
       the tribe of your inheritance, whom you redeemed—
       Mount Zion, where you dwelt.

 ³ Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins,
       all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.

 ⁴ Your foes roared in the place where you met with us;
       they set up their standards as signs.

 ⁵ They behaved like men wielding axes
       to cut through a thicket of trees.

 ⁶ They smashed all the carved paneling
       with their axes and hatchets.

 ⁷ They burned your sanctuary to the ground;
       they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.

 ⁸ They said in their hearts, "We will crush them completely!"
       They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.

 ⁹ We are given no miraculous signs;
       no prophets are left,
       and none of us knows how long this will be.

 ¹⁰ How long will the enemy mock you, O God?
       Will the foe revile your name forever?

 ¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
       Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!

 ¹² But you, O God, are my king from of old;
       you bring salvation upon the earth.

 ¹³ It was you who split open the sea by your power;
       you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.

 ¹⁴ It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan
       and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.

 ¹⁵ It was you who opened up springs and streams;
       you dried up the ever flowing rivers.

 ¹⁶ The day is yours, and yours also the night;
       you established the sun and moon.

 ¹⁷ It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
       you made both summer and winter.

 ¹⁸ Remember how the enemy has mocked you, O LORD,
       how foolish people have reviled your name.

 ¹⁹ Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts;
       do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever.

 ²⁰ Have regard for your covenant,
       because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.

 ²¹ Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace;
       may the poor and needy praise your name.

 ²² Rise up, O God, and defend your cause;
       remember how fools mock you all day long.

 ²³ Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries,
       the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.

Psalm 75

For the director of music. To the tune of "Do Not Destroy." A psalm of Asaph. A song.

 ² You say, "I choose the appointed time;
       it is I who judge uprightly.

 ³ When the earth and all its people quake,
       it is I who hold its pillars firm.
       Selah

 ⁴ To the arrogant I say, 'Boast no more,'
       and to the wicked, 'Do not lift up your horns.

 ⁵ Do not lift your horns against heaven;
       do not speak with outstretched neck.' "

 ⁶ No one from the east or the west
       or from the desert can exalt a man.

 ⁷ But it is God who judges:
       He brings one down, he exalts another.

 ⁸ In the hand of the LORD is a cup
       full of foaming wine mixed with spices;
       he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth
       drink it down to its very dregs.

 ⁹ As for me, I will declare this forever;
       I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.

 ¹⁰ I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,
       but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

Psalm 76

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song.

 ² His tent is in Salem,
       his dwelling place in Zion.

 ³ There he broke the flashing arrows,
       the shields and the swords, the weapons of war.
       Selah

 ⁴ You are resplendent with light,
       more majestic than mountains rich with game.

 ⁵ Valiant men lie plundered,
       they sleep their last sleep;
       not one of the warriors
       can lift his hands.

 ⁶ At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
       both horse and chariot lie still.

 ⁷ You alone are to be feared.
       Who can stand before you when you are angry?

 ⁸ From heaven you pronounced judgment,
       and the land feared and was quiet-

 ⁹ when you, O God, rose up to judge,
       to save all the afflicted of the land.
       Selah

 ¹⁰ Surely your wrath against men brings you praise,
       and the survivors of your wrath are restrained. ^[b]

 ¹¹ Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them;
       let all the neighboring lands
       bring gifts to the One to be feared.

 ¹² He breaks the spirit of rulers;
       he is feared by the kings of the earth.

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¹⁶It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."^{[a] 18}Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

 ¹⁹One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" ²⁰But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' "^{[b] 21}Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

 ²²What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? ²³What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— ²⁴even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵As he says in Hosea:
   "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people;
      and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one,"^{[c] 26}and,
   "It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,
      'You are not my people,'
   they will be called 'sons of the living God.' "^[d]

 ²⁷Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
   "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
      only the remnant will be saved.
 ²⁸For the Lord will carry out
      his sentence on earth with speed and finality."^[e]

 ²⁹It is just as Isaiah said previously:
   "Unless the Lord Almighty
      had left us descendants,
   we would have become like Sodom,
      we would have been like Gomorrah."^[f]

Israel's Unbelief