Old/New Testament
God Avenges His Own
94 God of vengeance,
Lord God of vengeance,
display your splendor![a]
2 Stand up, judge of the earth,
and repay the proud.
3 How long will the wicked, Lord,
how long will the wicked continue to triumph?
4 When they speak, they spew arrogance.
Everyone who practices iniquity brags about it.[b]
5 Lord, they have crushed your people,
afflicting your heritage.
6 The wicked[c] kill widows and foreigners;
they murder orphans.
7 They say, “The Lord cannot see,
and the God of Jacob will not notice.”
8 Pay attention, you dull ones among the crowds!
You fools! Will you ever become wise?
9 The one who formed[d] the ear can hear, can he not?
The one who made the eyes can see, can he not?
10 The one who disciplines nations can rebuke them, can he not?
The one who teaches mankind can discern, can he not?
11 The Lord knows the thoughts of human beings—
that they are futile.
12 How blessed is the man whom you instruct, Lord,
whom you teach from your Law,
13 keeping him calm when times are troubled
until a pit has been dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake his people;
he will not abandon his heritage.
15 Righteousness will be restored with justice,
and all the pure of heart will follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will stand for me against those who practice iniquity?
17 If the Lord had not been my helper,
I would have quickly become silent.
18 When I say that my foot is shaking,
your gracious love, Lord, will sustain me.
19 When my anxious inner thoughts become overwhelming,
your comfort encourages me.
20 Will destructive national leaders,[e]
who plan wicked things through misuse of the Law,
be allied with you?
21 They gather together against the righteous,
condemning the innocent to death.
22 But the Lord is my stronghold,
and my God, the rock, is my refuge.
23 He will repay them for their sin;
he will annihilate them because of their evil.
The Lord our God will annihilate them.
Worship and Obedience
95 Come! Let us sing joyfully to the Lord!
Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us shout with songs of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is an awesome God;
a great king above all divine beings.[f]
4 He holds in his hand the lowest parts of the earth
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea that he made belongs to him,
along with the dry land that his hands formed.
6 Come! Let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel in the presence of the Lord, who made us.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture
and the flock in his care.[g]
If only you would listen to his voice today,
8 do not be stubborn like your ancestors were[h] at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah, in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me.
They tested me,
even though they had seen my awesome deeds.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation, so I said,
“They are a people whose hearts continuously err,
and they have not understood my ways.”
11 So in my anger I declared an oath:
“They are not to enter my place of rest.”
Give Glory to the Lord
96 Sing a new song to the Lord!
Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Sing to the Lord!
Bless his name!
Proclaim his deliverance every day!
3 Declare his glory among the nations
and his awesome deeds among all the peoples!
4 For the Lord is great,
and greatly to be praised;
he is awesome above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
might and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, you families of peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name,
bring an offering and enter his courts!
9 Worship the Lord in holy splendor;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Declare among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
Indeed, he established the world so that it will not falter.
He will judge people fairly.
11 The heavens will be glad
and the earth will rejoice;
even the sea and everything that fills it will roar.[i]
12 The field and all that is in it will rejoice;
then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
13 in the Lord’s presence,
because he is coming;
indeed, he will come to judge the earth.
He will judge the world fairly
and its people reliably.
Paul’s Desire to Take the Gospel to the Whole World
14 I myself am convinced,[a] my brothers, that you yourselves are filled with goodness and full of all the knowledge you need to be able to instruct each other. 15 However, on some points I have written to you rather boldly, both as a reminder to you and because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of the Messiah[b] Jesus to the gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering brought by gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17 Therefore, in the Messiah[c] Jesus I have the right to boast about my work for God. 18 For I am bold enough to tell you only about what the Messiah[d] has accomplished through me in bringing gentiles to obedience. By my words and actions, 19 by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit,[e] I have fully proclaimed the gospel of the Messiah[f] from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum. 20 My one ambition is to proclaim the gospel where the name of the Messiah[g] is not known, so I don’t[h] build on someone else’s foundation. 21 Rather, as it is written,
“Those who were never told about him will see,
and those who have never heard will understand.”[i]
Paul’s Plan to Visit Rome
22 This is why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. 23 But now, having no further opportunities in these regions, I want to come to you, as I’ve desired to do for many years. 24 Now that I am on my way to Spain, I hope to see you when I come your way and, after I have enjoyed your company for a while, to be sent on by you.
25 Right now, however, I’m going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints, 26 because the believers in[j] Macedonia and Achaia have been eager to share their resources with the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27 Yes, they were eager to do this, and in fact they are obligated to help them, for if the gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings, they are obligated to be of service to them in material things.
28 So when I have completed this task and have put my seal on this contribution of theirs, I will visit you on my way to Spain. 29 And I know that when I come to you I will come with the full blessing of the Messiah.[k]
30 Now I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[l] and by the love that the Spirit produces, to join me in my struggle, earnestly praying to God for me 31 that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, that my ministry to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 and that if it’s God’s will, I may come to you with joy and be refreshed together with you.
Doxology
33 Now may the God who grants[m] peace be with all of you! Amen.
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