Old/New Testament
Psalm 74
Prayer for Israel
A Maskil of Asaph.(A)
1 Why have you rejected us forever, God?
Why does your anger burn
against the sheep of your pasture?(B)
2 Remember your congregation,
which you purchased long ago
and redeemed as the tribe for your own possession.(C)
Remember Mount Zion where you dwell.(D)
3 Make your way[a] to the perpetual ruins,
to all that the enemy has destroyed in the sanctuary.(E)
4 Your adversaries roared in the meeting place
where you met with us.[b]
They set up their emblems as signs.(F)
5 It was like men in a thicket of trees,
wielding axes,(G)
6 then smashing all the carvings
with hatchets and picks.(H)
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they utterly[c] desecrated
the dwelling place of your name.(I)
8 They said in their hearts,
“Let’s oppress them relentlessly.”
They burned every place throughout the land
where God met with us.[d](J)
9 There are no signs for us to see.
There is no longer a prophet.
And none of us knows how long this will last.(K)
10 God, how long will the enemy mock?
Will the foe insult your name forever?(L)
11 Why do you hold back your hand?
Stretch out[e] your right hand and destroy them!(M)
12 God my King is from ancient times,
performing saving acts on the earth.(N)
13 You divided the sea with your strength;
you smashed the heads of the sea monsters in the water;(O)
14 you crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you fed him to the creatures of the desert. (P)
15 You opened up springs and streams;(Q)
you dried up ever-flowing rivers.(R)
16 The day is yours, also the night;
you established the moon and the sun.(S)
17 You set all the boundaries of the earth;
you made summer and winter.(T)
18 Remember this: the enemy has mocked the Lord,
and a foolish people has insulted your name.(U)
19 Do not give to beasts the life of your dove;[f]
do not forget the lives of your poor people forever.(V)
20 Consider the covenant,(W)
for the dark places of the land are full of violence.(X)
21 Do not let the oppressed turn away in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.(Y)
22 Rise up, God, champion your cause!(Z)
Remember the insults
that fools bring against you all day long.(AA)
23 Do not forget the clamor of your adversaries,
the tumult of your opponents that goes up constantly.(AB)
Psalm 75
God Judges the Wicked
For the choir director: “Do Not Destroy.” A psalm of Asaph.(AC) A song.
1 We give thanks to you, God;
we give thanks to you, for your name is near.(AD)
People tell about your wondrous works.(AE)
2 “When I choose a time,
I will judge fairly.(AF)
3 When the earth and all its inhabitants shake,
I am the one who steadies its pillars.(AG)Selah
4 I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn.(AH)
5 Do not lift up your horn against heaven[g]
or speak arrogantly.’”(AI)
6 Exaltation does not come
from the east, the west, or the desert,
7 for God is the Judge:
He brings down one and exalts another.(AJ)
8 For there is a cup in the Lord’s hand,
full of wine blended with spices, and he pours from it.
All the wicked of the earth will drink,
draining it to the dregs.(AK)
9 As for me, I will tell about him forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.(AL)
10 “I will cut off all the horns of the wicked,(AM)
but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”(AN)
Psalm 76
God, the Powerful Judge
For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph.(AO) A song.
1 God is known in Judah;
his name is great in Israel.(AP)
2 His tent is in Salem,
his dwelling place in Zion.(AQ)
3 There he shatters the bow’s flaming arrows,
the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.(AR)Selah
4 You are resplendent and majestic
coming down from the mountains of prey.(AS)
5 The brave-hearted have been plundered;
they have slipped into their final sleep.
None of the warriors was able to lift a hand.(AT)
6 At your rebuke, God of Jacob,
both chariot and horse lay still.(AU)
7 And you—you are to be feared.[h]
When you are angry,
who can stand before you?(AV)
8 From heaven you pronounced judgment.
The earth feared and grew quiet(AW)
9 when God rose up to judge
and to save all the lowly of the earth.(AX)Selah
10 Even human wrath will praise you;
you will clothe yourself
with the wrath that remains.[i](AY)
16 So then, it does not depend on human will or effort(A) but on God who shows mercy.(B) 17 For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth.[a](C) 18 So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.(D)
19 You will say to me,(E) therefore, “Why then does he still find fault?(F) For who resists his will?” (G) 20 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?(H) Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” (I) 21 Or has the potter no right over the clay,(J) to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? 22 And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience(K) objects of wrath prepared for destruction?(L) 23 And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory(M) on objects of mercy(N) that he prepared beforehand for glory(O)— 24 on us, the ones he also called,(P) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?(Q) 25 As it[b] also says in Hosea,
I will call Not My People, My People,
and she who is Unloved, Beloved.[c](R)
26 And it will be in the place where they were told,
you are not my people,
there they will be called sons of the living God.[d](S)
27 But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,
Though the number of Israelites
is like the sand of the sea,(T)
only the remnant will be saved;(U)
28 since the Lord will execute his sentence
completely and decisively on the earth.[e][f] (V)
29 And just as Isaiah predicted:
If the Lord of Armies had not left us offspring,(W)
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have been made like Gomorrah.[g](X)
Israel’s Present State
30 What should we say then?(Y) Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith.(Z) 31 But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness,(AA) has not achieved the righteousness of the law.[h](AB) 32 Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works.[i] They stumbled over the stumbling stone.(AC) 33 As it is written,
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