Psalms 74; Psalms 75; Psalms 76; Romans 9:16-33

Psalms 74

1 Why have you abandoned us like this, O God? Will you be angry with your own people forever?

2 Remember your people, whom you chose for yourself long ago, whom you brought out of slavery to be your own tribe. Remember Mount Zion, where once you lived.

3 Walk over these total ruins; our enemies have destroyed everything in the Temple.

4 Your enemies have shouted in triumph in your Temple; they have placed their flags there as signs of victory.

5 They looked like woodsmen cutting down trees with their axes.

6 They smashed all the wooden panels with their axes and sledge hammers.

7 They wrecked your Temple and set it on fire; they desecrated the place where you are worshiped.

8 They wanted to crush us completely; they burned down every holy place in the land.

9 All our sacred symbols are gone; there are no prophets left, and no one knows how long this will last.

10 How long, O God, will our enemies laugh at you? Will they insult your name forever?

11 Why have you refused to help us? Why do you keep your hands behind you?

12 But you have been our king from the beginning, O God; you have saved us many times.

13 With your mighty strength you divided the sea and smashed the heads of the sea monsters;

14 you crushed the heads of the monster Leviathan and fed his body to desert animals.

15 You made springs and fountains flow; you dried up large rivers.

16 You created the day and the night; you set the sun and the moon in their places;

17 you set the limits of the earth; you made summer and winter.

18 But remember, O Lord, that your enemies laugh at you, that they are godless and despise you.

19 Don't abandon your helpless people to their cruel enemies; don't forget your persecuted people!

20 Remember the covenant you made with us. There is violence in every dark corner of the land.

21 Don't let the oppressed be put to shame; let those poor and needy people praise you.

22 Rouse yourself, God, and defend your cause! Remember that godless people laugh at you all day long.

23 Don't forget the angry shouts of your enemies, the continuous noise made by your foes.

Psalms 75

1 We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks to you! We proclaim how great you are and tell of the wonderful things you have done.

2 "I have set a time for judgment," says God, "and I will judge with fairness.

3 Though every living creature tremble and the earth itself be shaken, I will keep its foundations firm.

4 I tell the wicked not to be arrogant;

5 I tell them to stop their boasting."

6 Judgment does not come from the east or from the west, from the north or from the south;

7 it is God who is the judge, condemning some and acquitting others.

8 The Lord holds a cup in his hand, filled with the strong wine of his anger. He pours it out, and all the wicked drink it; they drink it down to the last drop.

9 But I will never stop speaking of the God of Jacob or singing praises to him.

10 He will break the power of the wicked, but the power of the righteous will be increased.

Psalms 76

1 God is known in Judah; his name is honored in Israel.

2 He has his home in Jerusalem; he lives on Mount Zion.

3 There he broke the arrows of the enemy, their shields and swords, yes, all their weapons.

4 How glorious you are, O God! How majestic, as you return from the mountains where you defeated your foes.

5 Their brave soldiers have been stripped of all they had and now are sleeping the sleep of death; all their strength and skill was useless.

6 When you threatened them, O God of Jacob, the horses and their riders fell dead.

7 But you, Lord, are feared by all. No one can stand in your presence when you are angry.

8 You made your judgment known from heaven; the world was afraid and kept silent,

9 when you rose up to pronounce judgment, to save all the oppressed on earth.

10 Human anger only results in more praise for you; those who survive the wars will keep your festivals.

11 Give the Lord your God what you promised him; bring gifts to him, all you nearby nations. God makes everyone fear him;

12 he humbles proud princes and terrifies great kings.

Romans 9:16-33

16 So then, everything depends, not on what we humans want or do, but only on God's mercy.

17 For the scripture says to the king of Egypt, "I made you king in order to use you to show my power and to spread my fame over the whole world."

18 So then, God has mercy on anyone he wishes, and he makes stubborn anyone he wishes.

19 But one of you will say to me, "If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will?"

20 But who are you, my friend, to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, "Why did you make me like this?"

21 After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use.

22 And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to make his power known. But he was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of his anger, who were doomed to destruction.

23 And he also wanted to reveal his abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of his mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory.

24 For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles.

25 This is what he says in the book of Hosea: "The people who were not mine I will call "My People.' The nation that I did not love I will call "My Beloved.'

26 And in the very place where they were told, "You are not my people,' there they will be called the children of the living God."

27 And Isaiah exclaims about Israel: "Even if the people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few of them will be saved;

28 for the Lord will quickly settle his full account with the world."

29 It is as Isaiah had said before, "If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah."

30 So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with him through faith;

31 while God's people, who were seeking a law that would put them right with God, did not find it.

32 And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the "stumbling stone"

33 that the scripture speaks of: "Look, I place in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall. But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed."