Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
This is a special song for the music leader. The sons of Korah wrote it.
A prayer when you are away from home[a]
42 God, I need you so much!
I look for you,
as a thirsty deer looks for streams of water.
2 Deep down inside me,
I am very thirsty!
You are the God who lives for ever,
and I need life from you!
When will I be able to come near to you
and see you face to face?[b]
3 All day and all night I weep.
My tears are my only food!
My enemies say to me all the time,
‘Where is your God?’
4 When I remember how my life was before,
I am very upset and I weep.
Once I walked with a big crowd of people
to worship God in his temple.
I led the people there as we sang happy songs,
and we praised God with loud voices.[c]
5 Now I ask myself,
‘Why am I so sad and upset?’
I must wait patiently for God to help me.
Then I will praise my God once again,
because he is the one who saves me.[d]
6 Deep inside me I am very sad.
So I will turn to you, my God, from where I am.
I will pray to you from Hermon mountain
where the Jordan River begins,
and from Mizar mountain.
7 I hear your waterfalls make a noise like thunder.
It seems like all that water is pouring over me
and it knocks me down to the ground.[e]
8 Each day, the Lord shows me that he loves me
with his faithful love.
Each night he gives me a song to sing,
as I pray to the God who lives for ever.[f]
9 I say to God, who is my high rock,
‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I be so sad?
How much longer must I continue to weep,
because my enemies do cruel things to me?’
10 My enemies laugh at me all the time.
It is like they are breaking all my bones.
They are always saying,
‘Where is your God?’
11 I ask myself again,
‘Why am I so sad and upset?’
I must wait patiently for God to help me.
Then I will praise my God once again,
because he is the one who saves me.
A prayer when you are in trouble[a]
43 My God, show that I am not guilty.
Make the people who do not respect you
know that I am right.
Rescue me from the evil people
who tell lies about me.
2 God, you are the safe place where I can hide.
Why have you pushed me away?
How much longer must I continue to weep,
because my enemies do cruel things to me?
3 Send to me your light and your truth.
Let them be my guide.
They will take me back to your holy mountain
and to the house where you live.[b]
4 Then I will go to your altar,
to worship you, the God who makes me happy.
You are my God and I will praise you there.
I will sing to thank you, God, with my harp.
5 I ask myself,
‘Why am I so sad and upset?’
I must wait patiently for God to help me.
Then I will praise my God once again,
because he is the one who saves me.
14 When a man has no hope,
his friends should be kind to him.
They should help him,
even if he no longer respects God Almighty.
15 But you, my friends, have not helped me when I need you.
You are like streams that quickly become dry.
There is no water when you need it.
16 In the spring, ice and deep snow covers them.
17 But in the hot summer time, all the water disappears.
Those streams become completely dry.
18 Travellers leave the road to look for water.
They find no water to drink and they die in the desert.
19 Travellers from Tema look everywhere for these streams.
Traders from Sheba hope to find water.
20 They are very upset, because they expected to find water.
But when they arrive, they are disappointed.
21 My friends, you have become like those streams.
You see my great problem, and you are afraid.
22 I have never said to you, “Give me something to help me.
Please use some of your money to rescue me.”
23 I have not asked you to save me from the power of my enemy.
Or to pay cruel people to let me go free.
24 Teach me the truth, and I will listen carefully.
Explain to me the mistakes that I have made.
25 True words may give pain to the person who listens to them.
But the things that you say against me mean nothing.
26 You are warning me because of what I say.
I have no hope and you think that my words are empty.
27 You would play a game to win a child who has no family.
You would even sell your friends to become rich yourselves.
28 But now, please look at me.
I will not tell you any lies.
29 Change what you are saying about me.
Do not say that I am guilty.
Think again, for I am truly a good person.
30 I have not spoken any lies.
I know what is right and what is wrong.
God's promise to Abraham still has authority
15 My Christian friends, I will use an example from our lives. Two people may make an agreement together and they both agree to it properly. If they do that, nobody else can change that agreement. They cannot take away its authority. 16 In the same way, God promised to bless Abraham and Abraham's descendant. The Bible does not say ‘descendants’. It does not speak about ‘many people’. No, God promised to bless Abraham's descendant. He speaks about one person, and that person is Christ.[a] 17 What I mean is this: God made an agreement with Abraham. He promised to bless him. Then, 430 years later, God gave his Law to Moses for the Jewish people. But that Law could not take away the authority of God's agreement with Abraham. It could not stop what God had already promised. 18 God has promised to give good things to his children. But that does not happen as a result of God's Law. If that were true, then we would not receive God's good things as a result of his promise. But God gave those good things to Abraham as a gift, because he had promised to bless Abraham.
The purpose of God's Law
19 So we could ask: Why did God give his Law to his people after his promise to Abraham? He gave his Law to show them which things are wrong. It would have authority until Abraham's special descendant would come. That was the descendant that God had promised to bless. God used angels to give his Law to his people.[b] It was Moses who received the Law from God, and Moses then took it to God's people. 20 But God himself gave his promise to Abraham. It was not necessary to have somebody in between, like Moses.
21 So should we say that God's Law works against God's promises? No, certainly that is not true! It is not possible for the rules of any law to give us life with God. If that could happen, then God would have accepted us as right if we obeyed those rules. 22 But the Bible says that sin has power over everyone. People can not get free. This means that we can only receive what God has promised when we trust Jesus Christ. God gives his promise to those who believe.
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