Psalms 63; Psalms 64; Psalms 65; Romans 6

1 O God, you are my God. At dawn I search for you. My soul thirsts for you. My body longs for you in a dry, parched land where there is no water.

2 So I look for you in the holy place to see your power and your glory.

3 My lips will praise you because your mercy is better than life [itself].

4 So I will thank you as long as I live. I will lift up my hands [to pray] in your name.

5 You satisfy my soul with the richest foods. My mouth will sing [your] praise with joyful lips.

6 As I lie on my bed, I remember you. Through the long hours of the night, I think about you.

7 You have been my help. In the shadow of your wings, I sing joyfully.

8 My soul clings to you. Your right hand supports me.

9 But those who try to destroy my life will go into the depths of the earth.

10 They will be cut down by swords. Their dead bodies will be left as food for jackals.

11 But the king will find joy in God. Everyone who takes an oath by God will brag, but the mouths of liars will be shut.

1 Hear my voice, O God, when I complain. Protect my life from a terrifying enemy.

2 Hide me from the secret plots of criminals, from the mob of troublemakers.

3 They sharpen their tongues like swords. They aim bitter words like arrows

4 to shoot at innocent people from their hiding places. They shoot at them suddenly, without any fear.

5 They encourage one another in their evil plans. They talk about setting traps and say, "Who can see them?"

6 They search for the perfect crime and say, "We have perfected a foolproof scheme!" Human nature and the human heart are a mystery!

7 But God will shoot them with an arrow. Suddenly, they will be struck dead.

8 They will trip over their own tongues. Everyone who sees them will shake his head.

9 Everyone will be afraid and conclude, "This is an act of God!" They will learn from what he has done.

10 Righteous people will find joy in the LORD and take refuge in him. Everyone whose motives are decent will be able to brag.

1 You are praised with silence in Zion, O God, and vows [made] to you must be kept.

2 You are the one who hears prayers. Everyone will come to you.

3 Various sins overwhelm me. You are the one who forgives our rebellious acts.

4 Blessed is the person you choose and invite to live with you in your courtyards. We will be filled with good food from your house, from your holy temple.

5 You answer us with awe-inspiring acts [done] in righteousness, O God, our savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the most distant sea,

6 the one who set the mountains in place with his strength, the one who is clothed with power,

7 the one who calms the roar of the seas, their crashing waves, and the uproar of the nations.

8 Those who live at the ends of the earth are in awe of your miraculous signs. The lands of the morning sunrise and evening sunset sing joyfully.

9 You take care of the earth, and you water it. You make it much richer than it was. (The river of God is filled with water.) You provide grain for them. Indeed, you even prepare the ground.

10 You drench plowed fields [with rain] and level their clumps of soil. You soften them with showers and bless what grows in them.

11 You crown the year with your goodness, and richness overflows wherever you are.

12 The pastures in the desert overflow [with richness]. The hills are surrounded with joy.

13 The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys are carpeted with grain. All of them shout triumphantly. Indeed, they sing.

1 What should we say then? Should we continue to sin so that God's kindness will increase?

2 That's unthinkable! As far as sin is concerned, we have died. So how can we still live under sin's influence?

3 Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

4 When we were baptized into his death, we were placed into the tomb with him. As Christ was brought back from death to life by the glorious power of the Father, so we, too, should live a new kind of life.

5 If we've become united with him in a death like his, certainly we will also be united with him when we come back to life as he did.

6 We know that the person we used to be was crucified with him to put an end to sin in our bodies. Because of this we are no longer slaves to sin.

7 The person who has died has been freed from sin.

8 If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

9 We know that Christ, who was brought back to life, will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.

10 When he died, he died once and for all to sin's power. But now he lives, and he lives for God.

11 So consider yourselves dead to sin's power but living for God in the power Christ Jesus gives you.

12 Therefore, never let sin rule your physical body so that you obey its desires.

13 Never offer any part of your body to sin's power. No part of your body should ever be used to do any ungodly thing. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have come back from death and are now alive. Offer all the parts of your body to God. Use them to do everything that God approves of.

14 Certainly, sin shouldn't have power over you because you're not controlled by laws, but by God's favor.

15 Then what is the implication? Should we sin because we are not controlled by laws but by God's favor? That's unthinkable!

16 Don't you know that if you offer to be someone's slave, you must obey that master? Either your master is sin, or your master is obedience. Letting sin be your master leads to death. Letting obedience be your master leads to God's approval.

17 You were slaves to sin. But I thank God that you have become wholeheartedly obedient to the teachings which you were given.

18 Freed from sin, you were made slaves who do what God approves of.

19 I'm speaking in a human way because of the weakness of your corrupt nature. Clearly, you once offered all the parts of your body as slaves to sexual perversion and disobedience. This led you to live disobedient lives. Now, in the same way, offer all the parts of your body as slaves that do what God approves of. This leads you to live holy lives.

20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from doing what God approves of.

21 What did you gain by doing those things? You're ashamed of what you used to do because it ended in death.

22 Now you have been freed from sin and have become God's slaves. This results in a holy life and, finally, in everlasting life.

23 The payment for sin is death, but the gift that God freely gives is everlasting life found in Christ Jesus our Lord.