Old/New Testament
A Lament in Time of National Defeat
A maskil of Asaph.[a]
74 Why, O God, have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger smoke
against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation that you bought long ago,
when you redeemed the tribe of your inheritance.
Remember Mount Zion[b] where you have dwelt.
3 Lift your steps to the perpetual ruins,
to all that the enemy has ruined in the sanctuary.
4 Your enemies have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they have set up their signs for signs.
5 They are[c] known to be like those who wield[d]
axes in a thicket of trees.
6 And now[e] its[f] carved works altogether
they have smashed with axe and hammer.
7 They have set fire to your sanctuary.
They have defiled to the ground,
the dwelling place for your name.
8 They have said in their heart,
“We will completely[g] oppress them.”
They burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs,
and there is no longer a prophet.
No one with us knows how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary taunt?
Will the enemy treat your name with contempt forever?
11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?
Take it from your bosom;[h] destroy them!
12 But God has been my king from long ago,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You split open the sea by your strength;
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food to the desert dwelling creatures.
15 You split open spring and wadi.[i]
You dried up ever-flowing rivers.
16 Yours is the day, yours is the night also.
You established light and the sun.
17 You defined[j] all the boundaries of the earth;
Summer and winter—you formed them.
18 O Yahweh, remember this: the enemy taunts,
and foolish people treat your name with contempt.
19 Do not give to beasts the life of your dove;
do not ever forget the life of your afflicted ones.
20 Have regard for the covenant,
because the dark places of the land are full of
the haunts of violence.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back humiliated;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember the reproaching of you by the foolish all day long.[k]
23 Do not forget the sound of your adversaries,
the roar of those rising up against you ascending continually.
Thanksgiving for God’s Future Help
For the music director, according to Do Not Destroy.
A psalm of Asaph. A song.[l]
75 We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks, and your name is near.
Your wonderful deeds are told.[m]
2 “I will indeed set an appointed time;
I will judge fairly.[n]
3 The earth and all its inhabitants are shaking;[o]
I steady[p] its columns. Selah
4 I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast!’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn!
5 Do not lift up high your[q] horn.
Do not speak with arrogant pride.’”[r]
6 For it is not from the east or the west
and not from the south[s] that lifting up comes,
7 rather God is the judge;
one he brings low, and another he lifts up.
8 For there is a cup in the hand of Yahweh
with[t] wine that foams, fully mixed,
and he pours out from this.
Surely all the wicked of the land
will quaff it down to its dregs. [u]
9 But as for me, I will proclaim forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
10 “And all the horns of the wicked I will cut off.
The horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”
Praise to God for His Rescue of Israel
For the music director, with stringed instruments.
A psalm of Asaph. A song.[v]
76 God is known in Judah.
His name is great in Israel.
2 His den[w] has been in Salem,
his lair[x] in Zion.
3 There he broke the flames of the bow,
the shield and sword and battle. Selah
4 Radiant[y] you are, majestic,
from[z] the mountains of prey.
5 The stouthearted are plundered;
they sleep their sleep,
and all the able men cannot use[aa] their hands.
6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both rider[ab] and horse slumber.
7 You, indeed, are to be feared,[ac]
and who can stand before you
when you are angry? [ad]
8 From heaven you proclaimed judgment.
The earth feared and was still
9 when God rose for justice,
to save all the afflicted of the land. Selah
10 For the anger of humankind will praise you.
You will put on the remnant of anger.[ae]
11 Make vows and fulfill them to Yahweh, your God;
let all surrounding him
bring tribute to the one to be feared.[af]
12 He cuts off the spirit of leaders.
He is to be feared by the kings of the earth.
16 Consequently therefore, it does not depend on the[a] one who wills or on the one who runs, but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very reason I have raised you up, so that I may demonstrate my power in you, and so that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[b] 18 Consequently therefore, he has mercy on whomever he wishes, and he hardens whomever he wishes.
19 Therefore you will say to me, “Why then does he still find fault? For who has resisted[c] his will? 20 On the contrary, O man, who are you who answers back to God? Will what is molded say to the one who molded it, “Why did you make me like this”?[d] 21 Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump a vessel that is for honorable use[e] and one that is for ordinary use[f]? 22 And what if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And he did so[g] in order that he could make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory, 24 us whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he also says in Hosea,
“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’
and those who were not loved, ‘Loved.’[h]
26 And it will be in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”[i]
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,
“Even if the number of the sons of Israel is like the sand of the sea,
the remnant will be saved,
28 for the Lord will execute his sentence thoroughly and decisively[j] upon the earth.”[k]
29 And just as Isaiah foretold,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom
and would have resembled Gomorrah.”[l]
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness—even the righteousness that is by faith. 31 But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law. 32 Why that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if by works. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble[m], 33 just as it is written,
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