Psalms 68; Psalms 69; Romans 8:1-21

Psalms 68

1 God arises. His enemies scatter, and those who hate Him flee from His presence.

2 As smoke is blown away, so You blow [them] away. As wax melts before the fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God.

3 But the righteous are glad; they rejoice before God and celebrate with joy.

4 Sing to God! Sing praises to His name. Exalt Him who rides on the clouds - His name is Yahweh-and rejoice before Him.

5 A father of the fatherless and a champion of widows is God in His holy dwelling.

6 God provides homes for those who are deserted. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a scorched land.

7 God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the desert, Selah

8 the earth trembled, and the skies poured down [rain] before God, the God of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

9 You, God, showered abundant rain; You revived Your inheritance when it languished.

10 Your people settled in it; by Your goodness You provided for the poor, God.

11 The Lord gave the command; a great company of women brought the good news:

12 "The kings of the armies flee-they flee!" She who stays at home divides the spoil.

13 While you lie among the sheepfolds, the wings of a dove are covered with silver, and its feathers with glistening gold.

14 When the Almighty scattered kings in the land, it snowed on Zalmon.

15 Mount Bashan is God's towering mountain; Mount Bashan is a mountain of many peaks.

16 Why gaze with envy, you mountain peaks, at the mountain God desired for His dwelling? The Lord will live [there] forever!

17 God's chariots are tens of thousands, thousands and thousands; the Lord is among them in the sanctuary as He was at Sinai.

18 You ascended to the heights, taking away captives; You received gifts from people, even from the rebellious, so that the Lord God might live [there].

19 May the Lord be praised! Day after day He bears our burdens; God is our salvation. Selah

20 Our God is a God of salvation, and escape from death belongs to the Lord God .

21 Surely God crushes the heads of His enemies, the hairy head of one who goes on in his guilty acts.

22 The Lord said, "I will bring [them] back from Bashan; I will bring [them] back from the depths of the sea

23 so that your foot may wade in blood and your dogs' tongues may have their share from the enemies."

24 People have seen Your procession, God, the procession of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.

25 Singers lead the way, with musicians following; among them are young women playing tambourines.

26 Praise God in the assemblies; [praise] the Lord from the fountain of Israel.

27 There is Benjamin, the youngest, leading them, the rulers of Judah in their assembly, the rulers of Zebulun, the rulers of Naphtali.

28 Your God has decreed your strength. Show Your strength, God, You who have acted on our behalf.

29 Because of Your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring tribute to You.

30 Rebuke the beast in the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample underfoot those with bars of silver. Scatter the peoples who take pleasure in war.

31 Ambassadors will come from Egypt; Cush will stretch out its hands to God.

32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth; sing praise to the Lord, Selah

33 to Him who rides in the ancient, highest heavens. Look, He thunders with His powerful voice!

34 Ascribe power to God. His majesty is over Israel, His power among the clouds.

35 God, You are awe-inspiring in Your sanctuaries. The God of Israel gives power and strength to His people. May God be praised!

Psalms 69

1 Save me, God, for the water has risen to my neck.

2 I have sunk in deep mud, and there is no footing; I have come into deep waters, and a flood sweeps over me.

3 I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.

4 Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head; my deceitful enemies, who would destroy me, are powerful. Though I did not steal, I must repay.

5 God, You know my foolishness, and my guilty acts are not hidden from You.

6 Do not let those who put their hope in You be disgraced because of me, Lord God of Hosts; do not let those who seek You be humiliated because of me, God of Israel.

7 For I have endured insults because of You, and shame has covered my face.

8 I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother's sons

9 because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.

10 I mourned and fasted, but it brought me insults.

11 I wore sackcloth as my clothing, and I was a joke to them.

12 Those who sit at the city gate talk about me, and drunkards make up songs about me.

13 But as for me, Lord, my prayer to You is for a time of favor. In Your abundant, faithful love, God, answer me with Your sure salvation.

14 Rescue me from the miry mud; don't let me sink. Let me be rescued from those who hate me, and from the deep waters.

15 Don't let the floodwaters sweep over me or the deep swallow me up; don't let the Pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, Lord, for Your faithful love is good; in keeping with Your great compassion, turn to me.

17 Don't hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly!

18 Draw near to me and redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies.

19 You know the insults I endure- my shame and disgrace. You are aware of all my adversaries.

20 Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I waited for sympathy, but there was none; for comforters, but found no one.

21 Instead, they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 Let their table set before them be a snare, and let it be a trap for [their] allies.

23 Let their eyes grow too dim to see, and let their loins continually shake.

24 Pour out Your rage on them, and let Your burning anger overtake them.

25 Make their fortification desolate; may no one live in their tents.

26 For they persecute the one You struck and talk about the pain of those You wounded.

27 Add guilt to their guilt; do not let them share in Your righteousness.

28 Let them be erased from the book of life and not be recorded with the righteous.

29 But as for me-poor and in pain- let Your salvation protect me, God.

30 I will praise God's name with song and exalt Him with thanksgiving.

31 That will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves.

32 The humble will see it and rejoice. You who seek God, take heart!

33 For the Lord listens to the needy and does not despise His own who are prisoners.

34 Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them,

35 for God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah. They will live there and possess it.

36 The descendants of His servants will inherit it, and those who love His name will live in it.

Romans 8:1-21

1 Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus,

2 because the Spirit's law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

3 What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin's domain, and as a sin offering,

4 in order that the law's requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 For those whose lives are according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those whose lives are according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit.

6 For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace.

7 For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God's law, for it is unable to do so.

8 Those whose lives are in the flesh are unable to please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

10 Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11 And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.

12 So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh,

13 for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14 All those led by God's Spirit are God's sons.

15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father!"

16 The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children,

17 and if children, also heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ-seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

19 For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed.

20 For the creation was subjected to futility-not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it-in the hope

21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God's children.