Old/New Testament
Psalm 60
To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “The Lily of the Testimony.” A poem of David intended to record memorable thoughts and to teach; when he had striven with the Arameans of Mesopotamia and the Arameans of Zobah, and when Joab returned and smote twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
1 O God, You have rejected us and cast us off, broken down [our defenses], and scattered us; You have been angry—O restore us and turn Yourself to us again!
2 You have made the land to quake and tremble, You have rent it [open]; repair its breaches, for it shakes and totters.
3 You have made Your people suffer hard things; You have given us to drink wine that makes us reel and be dazed.
4 [But now] You have set up a banner for those who fear and worshipfully revere You [to which they may flee from the bow], a standard displayed because of the truth. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
5 That Your beloved ones may be delivered, save with Your right hand and answer us [or me].
6 God has spoken in His holiness [in His promises]: I will rejoice, I will divide and portion out [the land] Shechem and the Valley of Succoth [west to east].
7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is My helmet (the defense of My head); Judah is My scepter and My lawgiver.
8 Moab is My washpot [reduced to vilest servitude]; upon Edom I cast My shoe in triumph; over Philistia I raise the shout of victory.
9 Who will bring me [David] into the strong city [of Petra]? Who will lead me into Edom?
10 Have You not rejected us, O God? And will You not go forth, O God, with our armies?
11 O give us help against the adversary, for vain (ineffectual and to no purpose) is the help or salvation of man.
12 Through God we shall do valiantly, for He it is Who shall tread down our adversaries.
Psalm 61
To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. [A Psalm] of David.
1 Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth will I cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and fainting; lead me to the rock that is higher than I [yes, a rock that is too high for me].
3 For You have been a shelter and a refuge for me, a strong tower against the adversary.
4 I will dwell in Your tabernacle forever; let me find refuge and trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
5 For You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given me the heritage of those who fear, revere, and honor Your name.
6 May You prolong the [true] [a]King’s life [adding days upon days], and may His years be to the last generation [of this world and the generations of the world to come].
7 May He sit enthroned forever before [the face of] God; O ordain that loving-kindness and faithfulness may watch over Him!
8 So will I sing praise to Your name forever, paying my vows day by day.
Psalm 62
To the Chief Musician; according to Jeduthun [Ethan, the noted musician, founder of an official musical family]. A Psalm of David.
1 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation.
2 He only is my Rock and my Salvation, my Defense and my Fortress, I shall not be greatly moved.
3 How long will you set upon a man that you may slay him, all of you, like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
4 They only consult to cast him down from his height [to dishonor him]; they delight in lies. They bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
5 My soul, wait only upon God and silently submit to Him; for my hope and expectation are from Him.
6 He only is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Defense and my Fortress, I shall not be moved.
7 With God rests my salvation and my glory; He is my Rock of unyielding strength and impenetrable hardness, and my refuge is in God!
8 Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is a refuge for us (a fortress and a high tower). Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
9 Men of low degree [in the social scale] are emptiness (futility, a breath) and men of high degree [in the same scale] are a lie and a delusion. In the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.
10 Trust not in and rely confidently not on extortion and oppression, and do not vainly hope in robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
11 God has spoken once, twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God.
12 Also to You, O Lord, belong mercy and loving-kindness, for You render to every man according to his work.(A)
5 Therefore, since we are justified ([a]acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to [b]enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
2 Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God’s favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.
3 Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.
4 And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of [c]character (approved faith and [d]tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] [e]joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.
5 Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.
6 While we were yet in weakness [powerless to help ourselves], at the fitting time Christ died for (in behalf of) the ungodly.
7 Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die.
8 But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.
9 Therefore, since we are now justified ([f]acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ’s blood, how much more [certain is it that] we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin’s dominion) through His [[g]resurrection] life.
11 Not only so, but we also rejoice and exultingly glory in God [in His love and perfection] through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have now received and enjoy [our] reconciliation.(A)
12 Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men, [[h]no one being able to stop it or to escape its power] because all men sinned.
13 [To be sure] sin was in the world before ever the Law was given, but sin is not charged to men’s account where there is no law [to transgress].
14 Yet death held sway from Adam to Moses [the Lawgiver], even over those who did not themselves transgress [a positive command] as Adam did. Adam was a type (prefigure) of the One Who was to come [in reverse, [i]the former destructive, the Latter saving].(B)
15 But God’s free gift is not at all to be compared to the trespass [His grace is out of all proportion to the fall of man]. For if many died through one man’s falling away (his lapse, his offense), much more profusely did God’s grace and the free gift [that comes] through the undeserved favor of the one Man Jesus Christ abound and overflow to and for [the benefit of] many.
16 Nor is the free gift at all to be compared to the effect of that one [man’s] sin. For the sentence [following the trespass] of one [man] brought condemnation, whereas the free gift [following] many transgressions brings justification ([j]an act of righteousness).
17 For if because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God’s] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
18 Well then, as one man’s trespass [one man’s false step and falling away led] to condemnation for all men, so one Man’s act of righteousness [leads] to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men.
19 For just as by one man’s disobedience (failing to hear, [k]heedlessness, and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man’s obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him).
20 But then Law came in, [only] to expand and increase the trespass [making it more apparent and exciting opposition]. But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God’s unmerited favor) has surpassed it and increased the more and superabounded,
21 So that, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord.
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