Old/New Testament
Psalm 74[a]
A well-written song[b] by Asaph.
74 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us?[c]
Why does your anger burn[d] against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your people[e] whom you acquired in ancient times,
whom you rescued[f] so they could be your very own nation,[g]
as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell.
3 Hurry[h] to the permanent ruins,
and to all the damage the enemy has done to the temple.[i]
4 Your enemies roar[j] in the middle of your sanctuary;[k]
they set up their battle flags.[l]
5 They invade like lumberjacks
swinging their axes in a thick forest.[m]
6 And now[n] they are tearing down[o] all its engravings[p]
with axes[q] and crowbars.[r]
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground.[s]
8 They say to themselves,[t]
“We will oppress all of them.”[u]
They burn down all the places in the land where people worship God.[v]
9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence;[w]
there are no longer any prophets,[x]
and we have no one to tell us how long this will last.[y]
10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
11 Why do you remain inactive?
Intervene and destroy him.[z]
12 But God has been my[aa] king from ancient times,
performing acts of deliverance on the earth.[ab]
13 You destroyed[ac] the sea by your strength;
you shattered the heads of the sea monster[ad] in the water.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;[ae]
you fed[af] him to the people who live along the coast.[ag]
15 You broke open the spring and the stream;[ah]
you dried up perpetually flowing rivers.[ai]
16 You established the cycle of day and night;[aj]
you put the moon[ak] and sun in place.[al]
17 You set up all the boundaries[am] of the earth;
you created the cycle of summer and winter.[an]
18 Remember how[ao] the enemy hurls insults, O Lord,[ap]
and how a foolish nation blasphemes your name.
19 Do not hand the life of your dove[aq] over to a wild animal.
Do not continue to disregard[ar] the lives of your oppressed people.
20 Remember your covenant promises,[as]
for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules.[at]
21 Do not let the afflicted be turned back in shame.
Let the oppressed and poor praise your name.[au]
22 Rise up, O God. Defend your honor.[av]
Remember how fools insult you all day long.[aw]
23 Do not disregard[ax] what your enemies say,[ay]
or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you.[az]
Psalm 75[ba]
For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style;[bb] a psalm of Asaph, a song.
75 We give thanks to you, O God. We give thanks.
You reveal your presence;[bc]
people tell about your amazing deeds.
2 God says,[bd]
“At the appointed times,[be]
I judge[bf] fairly.
3 When the earth and all its inhabitants dissolve in fear,[bg]
I make its pillars secure.”[bh] (Selah)
4 [bi] I say to the proud, “Do not be proud,”
and to the wicked, “Do not be so confident of victory.[bj]
5 Do not be so certain you have won.[bk]
Do not speak with your head held so high.[bl]
6 For victory does not come from the east or west,
or from the wilderness.[bm]
7 For God is the judge.[bn]
He brings one down and exalts another.[bo]
8 For the Lord holds in his hand a cup
full of foaming wine mixed with spices,[bp]
and pours it out.[bq]
Surely all the wicked of the earth
will slurp it up and drink it to its very last drop.”[br]
9 As for me, I will continually tell what you have done;[bs]
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 God says,[bt]
“I will bring down all the power of the wicked;
the godly will be victorious.”[bu]
Psalm 76[bv]
For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of Asaph, a song.
76 God has revealed himself in Judah;[bw]
in Israel his reputation[bx] is great.
2 He lives in Salem;[by]
he dwells in Zion.[bz]
3 There he shattered the arrows,[ca]
the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war.[cb] (Selah)
4 You shine brightly and reveal your majesty,
as you descend from the hills where you killed your prey.[cc]
5 The bravehearted[cd] were plundered;[ce]
they “fell asleep.”[cf]
All the warriors were helpless.[cg]
6 At the sound of your battle cry,[ch] O God of Jacob,
both rider[ci] and horse “fell asleep.”[cj]
7 You are awesome! Yes, you!
Who can withstand your intense anger?[ck]
8 From heaven you announced what their punishment would be.[cl]
The earth[cm] was afraid and silent
9 when God arose to execute judgment,
and to deliver all the oppressed of the earth. (Selah)
10 Certainly[cn] your angry judgment upon men will bring you praise;[co]
you reveal your anger in full measure.[cp]
11 Make vows to the Lord your God and repay them.
Let all those who surround him[cq] bring tribute to the awesome one.
12 He humbles princes;[cr]
the kings of the earth regard him as awesome.[cs]
16 So then,[a] it does not depend on human desire or exertion,[b] but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh:[c] “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”[d] 18 So then,[e] God[f] has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.[g]
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?” 20 But who indeed are you—a mere human being[h]—to talk back to God?[i] Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”[j] 21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay[k] one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?[l] 22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects[m] of wrath[n] prepared for destruction?[o] 23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects[p] of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us, whom he has 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 I will call her who was unloved,[q] ‘My beloved.’”[r]
26 “And in the very place[s] where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”[t]
27 And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children[u] of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, 28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.”[v] 29 Just[w] as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies[x] had not left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have resembled Gomorrah.”[y]
Israel’s Rejection Culpable
30 What shall we say then?—that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, 31 but Israel even though pursuing[z] a law of righteousness[aa] did not attain it.[ab] 32 Why not? Because they pursued[ac] it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works.[ad] They stumbled over the stumbling stone,[ae] 33 just as it is written,
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