Psalm 70-72

English Standard Version

O Lord, Do Not Delay

To the choirmaster. Of David, ^(A)for the memorial offering.

70 ^(B)Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
    O Lord, make haste to help me!
²Let them be put to shame and confusion
    who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
    who delight in my hurt!
³Let them turn back because of their shame
    who say, “Aha, Aha!”

⁴May all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
    say evermore, “God is great!”
⁵But I am poor and needy;
    ^(C)hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
    O Lord, do not delay!

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

71 ^(D)In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame!
²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
    incline your ear to me, and save me!
³Be to me a rock of ^(E)refuge,
    to which I may continually come;
you have ^(F)given the command to save me,
    for you are my ^(G)rock and my fortress.

⁴^(H)Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
⁵For you, O Lord, are my ^(I)hope,
    my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
⁶Upon you I have leaned ^(J)from before my birth;
    you are he who ^(K)took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.

⁷I have been as ^(L)a portent to many,
    but you are my strong refuge.
⁸My ^(M)mouth is filled with your praise,
    and with your glory all the day.
⁹^(N)Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
    forsake me not when my strength is spent.
¹⁰For my enemies speak concerning me;
    those who ^(O)watch for my life ^(P)consult together
¹¹and say, “God has forsaken him;
    pursue and seize him,
    for there is none to deliver him.”

¹²O God, be not ^(Q)far from me;
    O my God, ^(R)make haste to help me!
¹³May my accusers be ^(S)put to shame and consumed;
    ^(T)with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
    who ^(U)seek my hurt.
¹⁴But I will ^(V)hope continually
    and will ^(W)praise you yet more and more.
¹⁵My ^(X)mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
    of your deeds of salvation all the day,
    for ^(Y)their number is past my knowledge.
¹⁶With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
    I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷O God, from my youth you have taught me,
    and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
¹⁸So even to ^(Z)old age and gray hairs,
    O God, ^(AA)do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
    your power to all those to come.
¹⁹Your ^(AB)righteousness, O God,
    reaches the high heavens.
You who have done ^(AC)great things,
    O God, ^(AD)who is like you?
²⁰You who have ^(AE)made me see many troubles and calamities
    will ^(AF)revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will bring me up again.
²¹You will increase my greatness
    and comfort me again.

²²I will also praise you with ^(AG)the harp
    for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
    O ^(AH)Holy One of Israel.
²³My lips will shout for joy,
    when I sing praises to you;
    my soul also, which you have ^(AI)redeemed.
²⁴And my ^(AJ)tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been ^(AK)put to shame and disappointed
    who sought to do me hurt.

Give the King Your Justice

Of ^(AL)Solomon.

72 Give the king your ^(AM)justice, O God,
    and your righteousness to the royal son!
²May he ^(AN)judge your people with righteousness,
    and your poor with justice!
³Let the mountains bear ^(AO)prosperity for the people,
    and the hills, in righteousness!
⁴May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
    give deliverance to the children of the needy,
    and crush the oppressor!

⁵May they fear you^[a] while ^(AP)the sun endures,
    and as long as the moon, ^(AQ)throughout all generations!
⁶May he be like ^(AR)rain that falls on ^(AS)the mown grass,
    like ^(AT)showers that water the earth!
⁷In his days may ^(AU)the righteous flourish,
    and ^(AV)peace abound, till the moon be no more!

⁸May he have dominion from ^(AW)sea to sea,
    and from ^(AX)the River^[b] to the ^(AY)ends of the earth!
⁹May desert tribes ^(AZ)bow down before him,
    and his enemies ^(BA)lick the dust!
¹⁰May the kings of ^(BB)Tarshish and of ^(BC)the coastlands
    render him ^(BD)tribute;
may the kings of ^(BE)Sheba and ^(BF)Seba
    bring gifts!
¹¹May all kings ^(BG)fall down before him,
    all nations serve him!

¹²For he delivers ^(BH)the needy when he calls,
    the poor and him who has no helper.
¹³He has pity on the weak and the needy,
    and saves the lives of the needy.
¹⁴From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
    and ^(BI)precious is their blood in his sight.

¹⁵Long may he live;
    may ^(BJ)gold of Sheba be given to him!
May prayer be made ^(BK)for him continually,
    and blessings invoked for him all the day!
¹⁶May 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 ^(BL)blossom in the cities
    like the ^(BM)grass of the field!
¹⁷^(BN)May his name endure forever,
    his fame continue as long as the sun!
^(BO)May people be blessed in him,
    ^(BP)all nations call him blessed!

¹⁸^(BQ)Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone does ^(BR)wondrous things.
¹⁹Blessed be his ^(BS)glorious name forever;
may ^(BT)the whole earth be filled with his glory!
^(BU)Amen and Amen!

²⁰^(BV)The prayers of ^(BW)David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

Footnotes

Psalm 72:5 Septuagint He shall endure
Psalm 72:8 That is, the Euphrates

Romans 4

English Standard Version

Abraham Justified by Faith

4 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, ^(A)our forefather according to the flesh? ²For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but ^(B)not before God. ³For what does the Scripture say? ^(C)“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” ⁴Now ^(D)to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. ⁵And to the one who does not work but ^(E)believes in^[a] him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ⁶just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

⁷^(F)“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
⁸blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not ^(G)count his sin.”

⁹Is this blessing then only for ^(H)the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? ^(I)For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. ¹⁰How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. ¹¹^(J)He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was ^(K)to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, ¹²and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

The Promise Realized Through Faith

¹³For ^(L)the promise to Abraham and his offspring ^(M)that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴^(N)For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For ^(O)the law brings wrath, but ^(P)where there is no law ^(Q)there is no transgression.

¹⁶That is why it depends on faith, ^(R)in order that the promise may rest on grace and ^(S)be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, ^(T)who is the father of us all, ¹⁷as it is written, ^(U)“I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, ^(V)who gives life to the dead and calls into existence ^(W)the things that do not exist. ¹⁸In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ^(X)“So shall your offspring be.” ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was ^(Y)as good as dead (^(Z)since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered ^(AA)the barrenness^[b] of Sarah's womb. ²⁰No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹fully convinced that ^(AB)God was able to do what he had promised. ²²That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” ²³But ^(AC)the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be counted to us ^(AD)who believe in ^(AE)him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, ²⁵^(AF)who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised ^(AG)for our justification.