Psalm 78

English Standard Version

Tell the Coming Generation

A Maskil^[a] of ^(A)Asaph.

78 ^(B)Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
²^(C)I will open my mouth ^(D)in a parable;
    I will utter dark sayings from of old,
³things that we have heard and known,
    that our ^(E)fathers have told us.
⁴We will not ^(F)hide them from their children,
    but ^(G)tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
    and ^(H)the wonders that he has done.

⁵He established ^(I)a testimony in ^(J)Jacob
    and appointed a law in ^(K)Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
    to teach to their children,
⁶that ^(L)the next generation might know them,
    the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
⁷    so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget ^(M)the works of God,
    but ^(N)keep his commandments;
⁸and that they should not be ^(O)like their fathers,
    ^(P)a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation ^(Q)whose heart was not steadfast,
    whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹The Ephraimites, armed with^[b] the bow,
    ^(R)turned back on the day of battle.
¹⁰They ^(S)did not keep God's covenant,
    but refused to walk according to his law.
¹¹They ^(T)forgot his works
    and ^(U)the wonders that he had shown them.
¹²In the sight of their fathers ^(V)he performed wonders
    in the land of Egypt, in ^(W)the fields of Zoan.
¹³He ^(X)divided the sea and let them pass through it,
    and made the waters ^(Y)stand like a heap.
¹⁴^(Z)In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
    and all the night with a fiery light.
¹⁵He ^(AA)split rocks in the wilderness
    and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
¹⁶He made streams come out of ^(AB)the rock
    and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

¹⁷Yet they sinned still more against him,
    ^(AC)rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸They ^(AD)tested God in their heart
    by demanding the food they craved.
¹⁹They spoke against God, saying,
    ^(AE)“Can God ^(AF)spread a table in the wilderness?
²⁰^(AG)He struck the rock so that water gushed out
    and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
    or provide meat for his people?”

²¹Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
    ^(AH)a fire was kindled against Jacob;
    his anger rose against Israel,
²²because they ^(AI)did not believe in God
    and did not trust his saving power.
²³Yet he commanded the skies above
    and ^(AJ)opened the doors of heaven,
²⁴and he ^(AK)rained down on them manna to eat
    and gave them ^(AL)the grain of heaven.
²⁵Man ate of the bread of ^(AM)the angels;
    he sent them food ^(AN)in abundance.
²⁶He ^(AO)caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
    and by his power he led out the south wind;
²⁷he rained meat on them like ^(AP)dust,
    winged birds like ^(AQ)the sand of the seas;
²⁸he ^(AR)let them fall in the midst of their camp,
    all around their dwellings.
²⁹And they ^(AS)ate and were well filled,
    for he gave them what they ^(AT)craved.
³⁰But before they had satisfied their craving,
    ^(AU)while the food was still in their mouths,
³¹the anger of God rose against them,
    and he killed ^(AV)the strongest of them
    and laid low ^(AW)the young men of Israel.

³²In spite of all this, they ^(AX)still sinned;
    ^(AY)despite his wonders, they did not believe.
³³So he made ^(AZ)their days ^(BA)vanish like^[c] a breath,^[d]
    and their years in terror.
³⁴When he killed them, they ^(BB)sought him;
    they repented and sought God earnestly.
³⁵They remembered that God was their ^(BC)rock,
    the Most High God their ^(BD)redeemer.
³⁶But they ^(BE)flattered him with their mouths;
    they ^(BF)lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷Their ^(BG)heart was not ^(BH)steadfast toward him;
    they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸Yet he, being ^(BI)compassionate,
    ^(BJ)atoned for their iniquity
    and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
    and did not stir up all his wrath.
³⁹He ^(BK)remembered that they were but ^(BL)flesh,
    ^(BM)a wind that passes and comes not again.
⁴⁰How often they ^(BN)rebelled against him in the wilderness
    and ^(BO)grieved him in ^(BP)the desert!
⁴¹They ^(BQ)tested God again and again
    and provoked ^(BR)the Holy One of Israel.
⁴²They ^(BS)did not remember his power^[e]
    or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
⁴³^(BT)when he performed his ^(BU)signs in Egypt
    and his ^(BV)marvels in ^(BW)the fields of Zoan.
⁴⁴He ^(BX)turned their rivers to blood,
    so that they could not drink of their streams.
⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of ^(BY)flies, which devoured them,
    and ^(BZ)frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶He gave their crops to ^(CA)the destroying locust
    and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with ^(CB)hail
    and their sycamores with frost.
⁴⁸He gave over their ^(CC)cattle to the hail
    and their flocks to thunderbolts.
⁴⁹He let loose on them his burning anger,
    wrath, indignation, and distress,
    a company of ^(CD)destroying angels.
⁵⁰He made a path for his anger;
    he did not spare them from death,
    but gave their lives over to the plague.
⁵¹He struck down every ^(CE)firstborn in Egypt,
    the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of ^(CF)Ham.
⁵²Then he led out his people ^(CG)like sheep
    and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
⁵³^(CH)He led them in safety, so that they ^(CI)were not afraid,
    but ^(CJ)the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
⁵⁴And he brought them to his ^(CK)holy land,
    ^(CL)to the mountain which his right hand had ^(CM)won.
⁵⁵He ^(CN)drove out nations before them;
    he ^(CO)apportioned them for a possession
    and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶Yet they ^(CP)tested and ^(CQ)rebelled against the Most High God
    and did not keep his testimonies,
⁵⁷but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
    they twisted like ^(CR)a deceitful bow.
⁵⁸For they ^(CS)provoked him to anger with their ^(CT)high places;
    they ^(CU)moved him to jealousy with their ^(CV)idols.
⁵⁹When God heard, he was full of ^(CW)wrath,
    and he utterly rejected Israel.
⁶⁰He ^(CX)forsook his dwelling at ^(CY)Shiloh,
    the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
⁶¹and delivered his ^(CZ)power to captivity,
    his ^(DA)glory to the hand of the foe.
⁶²He ^(DB)gave his people over to the sword
    and ^(DC)vented his wrath on his heritage.
⁶³^(DD)Fire devoured their young men,
    and their young women had no ^(DE)marriage song.
⁶⁴Their ^(DF)priests fell by the sword,
    and their ^(DG)widows made no lamentation.
⁶⁵Then the Lord ^(DH)awoke as from sleep,
    like a strong man shouting because of wine.
⁶⁶And he ^(DI)put his adversaries to rout;
    he put them to everlasting shame.

⁶⁷He rejected the tent of ^(DJ)Joseph;
    he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
⁶⁸but he chose the tribe of Judah,
    Mount Zion, which he ^(DK)loves.
⁶⁹He ^(DL)built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
    like the earth, which he has founded forever.
⁷⁰He ^(DM)chose David his servant
    and took him from the sheepfolds;
⁷¹from ^(DN)following the nursing ewes he brought him
    to ^(DO)shepherd Jacob his people,
    Israel his ^(DP)inheritance.
⁷²With ^(DQ)upright heart he shepherded them
    and ^(DR)guided them with his skillful hand.

Footnotes

Psalm 78:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 78:9 Hebrew armed and shooting
Psalm 78:33 Hebrew in
Psalm 78:33 Or vapor
Psalm 78:42 Hebrew hand

Romans 7

English Standard Version

Released from the Law

7 Or do you not know, brothers^[a]—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? ²For ^(A)a 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.^[b] ³Accordingly, ^(B)she 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.

⁴Likewise, my brothers, ^(C)you also have died ^(D)to the law ^(E)through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, ^(F)in order that we may bear fruit for God. ⁵For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work ^(G)in our members ^(H)to bear fruit for death. ⁶But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the ^(I)new way of ^(J)the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.^[c]

The Law and Sin

⁷What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, ^(K)I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if ^(L)the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸But sin, ^(M)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. ^(N)For apart from the law, sin lies dead. ⁹I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰The very commandment ^(O)that promised life proved to be death to me. ¹¹For sin, ^(P)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, ^(Q)deceived me and through it killed me. ¹²So ^(R)the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

¹³Did 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. ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, ^(S)sold under sin. ¹⁵For I do not understand my own actions. For ^(T)I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ^(U)the law, that it is good. ¹⁷So now ^(V)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells ^(W)in 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^(X)For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, ^(Y)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²²For ^(Z)I delight in the law of God, ^(AA)in my inner being, ²³but I see in my members ^(AB)another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^(AC)this body of death? ²⁵Thanks 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.