Psalms 81; Psalms 82; Psalms 83; Romans 11:19-36

1 Rejoice out loud to God, our strength! Shout for joy to Jacob's God!

2 Take up a song and strike the drum! Sweet lyre along with harp!

3 Blow the horn on the new moon, at the full moon, for our day of celebration!

4 Because this is the law for Israel; this is a rule of Jacob's God.

5 He made it a decree for Joseph when he went out against the land of Egypt, when I heard a language I did not yet know:

6 “I lifted the burden off your shoulders; your hands are free of the brick basket!

7 In distress you cried out, so I rescued you. I answered you in the secret of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

8 Listen, my people, I'm warning you! If only you would listen to me, Israel.

9 There must be no foreign god among you. You must not bow down to any strange deity.

10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up from Egypt's land. Open your mouth wide—I will fill it up!

11 But my people wouldn't listen to my voice. Israel simply wasn't agreeable toward me.

12 So I sent them off to follow their willful hearts; they followed their own advice.

13 How I wish my people would listen to me! How I wish Israel would walk in my ways!

14 Then I would subdue their enemies in a second; I would turn my hand against their foes.

15 Those who hate the LORD would grovel before me, and their doom would last forever!

16 But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”

1 God takes his stand in the divine council; he gives judgment among the gods:

2 "How long will you judge unjustly by granting favor to the wicked? Selah

3 Give justice to the lowly and the orphan; maintain the right of the poor and the destitute!

4 Rescue the lowly and the needy. Deliver them from the power of the wicked!

5 They don't know; they don't understand; they wander around in the dark. All the earth's foundations shake.

6 I hereby declare, "You are gods, children of the Most High—all of you!

7 But you will die like mortals; you will fall down like any prince."

8 Rise up, God! Judge the earth because you hold all nations in your possession!

1 God, don't be silent! Don't be quiet or sit still, God,

2 because—look!—your enemies are growling; those who hate you are acting arrogantly.

3 They concoct crafty plans against your own people; they plot against the people you favor.

4 "Come on," they say, "let's wipe them out as a nation! Let the name Israel be remembered no more!"

5 They plot with a single-minded heart; they make a covenant against you.

6 They are the clans of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites,

7 Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia along with the citizens of Tyre.

8 Assyria too has joined them— they are the strong arm for Lot's children. Selah

9 Do to them what you did to Midian, to Sisera, and to Jabin at the Kishon River.

10 They were destroyed at Endor; they become fertilizer for the ground.

11 Make their officials like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna—

12 those who said, "Let's take God's pastures for ourselves."

13 My God, make them like tumbleweeds, like chaff blown by wind.

14 Just like a fire consumes a forest, just like flames set mountains ablaze,

15 pursue them with your storm, terrify them with your hurricane.

16 Cover their faces with shame, LORD, so that they might seek your name.

17 Let them be shamed and terrified forever. Let them die in disgrace.

18 Let them know that you— your name is the LORD!— you alone are Most High over all the earth.

19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in."

20 Fine. They were broken off because they weren't faithful, but you stand only by your faithfulness. So don't think in a proud way; instead be afraid.

21 If God didn't spare the natural branches, he won't spare you either.

22 So look at God's kindness and harshness. It's harshness toward those who fell, but it's God's kindness for you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise, you could be cut off too.

23 And even those who were cut off will be grafted back in if they don't continue to be unfaithful, because God is able to graft them in again.

24 If you were naturally part of a wild olive tree and you were cut off from it, and then, contrary to nature, you were grafted into the cultivated olive tree, won't these natural branches stand an even better chance of being grafted back onto their own olive tree?

25 I don't want you to be unaware of this secret, brothers and sisters. That way you won't think too highly of yourselves. A part of Israel has become resistant until the full number of the Gentiles comes in.

26 In this way, all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove ungodly behavior from Jacob.

27 This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.

28 According to the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but according to God's choice, they are loved for the sake of their ancestors.

29 God's gifts and calling can't be taken back.

30 Once you were disobedient to God, but now you have mercy because they were disobedient.

31 In the same way, they have also been disobedient because of the mercy that you received, so now they can receive mercy too.

32 God has locked up all people in disobedience, in order to have mercy on all of them.

33 God's riches, wisdom, and knowledge are so deep! They are as mysterious as his judgments, and they are as hard to track as his paths!

34 Who has known the Lord's mind? Or who has been his mentor?

35 Or who has given him a gift and has been paid back by him?

36 All things are from him and through him and for him. May the glory be to him forever. Amen.