Psalms 49; Psalms 50; Romans 1

Psalms 49

1 Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who inhabit the world,

2 both low and high, rich and poor together.

3 My mouth speaks wisdom; my heart's meditation [brings] understanding.

4 I turn my ear to a proverb; I explain my riddle with a lyre.

5 Why should I fear in times of trouble? The iniquity of my foes surrounds me.

6 They trust in their wealth and boast of their abundant riches.

7 Yet these cannot redeem a person or pay his ransom to God-

8 since the price of redeeming him is too costly, one should forever stop trying-

9 so that he may live forever and not see the Pit.

10 For one can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless also pass away. Then they leave their wealth to others.

11 Their graves are their eternal homes, their homes from generation to generation, though they have named estates after themselves.

12 But despite [his] assets, man will not last; he is like the animals that perish.

13 This is the way of those who are arrogant, and of their followers, who approve of their words. Selah

14 Like sheep they are headed for Sheol; Death will shepherd them. The upright will rule over them in the morning, and their form will waste away in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.

15 But God will redeem my life from the power of Sheol, for He will take me. Selah

16 Do not be afraid when a man gets rich, when the wealth of his house increases.

17 For when he dies, he will take nothing at all; his wealth will not follow him down.

18 Though he praises himself during his lifetime- and people praise you when you do well for yourself-

19 he will go to the generation of his fathers; they will never see the light.

20 A man with valuable possessions but without understanding is like the animals that perish.

Psalms 50

1 God, the Lord God speaks; He summons the earth from east to west.

2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God appears in radiance.

3 Our God is coming; He will not be silent! Devouring fire precedes Him, and a storm rages around Him.

4 On high, He summons heaven and earth in order to judge His people.

5 "Gather My faithful ones to Me, those who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice."

6 The heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God is the judge. Selah

7 "Listen, My people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel. I am God, your God.

8 I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or for your burnt offerings, which are continually before Me.

9 I will not accept a bull from your household or male goats from your pens,

10 for every animal of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

11 I know every bird of the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and everything in it is Mine.

13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

14 Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and pay your vows to the Most High.

15 Call on Me in a day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor Me."

16 But God says to the wicked: "What right do you have to recite My statutes and to take My covenant on your lips?

17 You hate instruction and turn your back on My words.

18 When you see a thief, you make friends with him, and you associate with adulterers.

19 You unleash your mouth for evil and harness your tongue for deceit.

20 You sit, maligning your brother, slandering your mother's son.

21 You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But I will rebuke you and lay out the case before you.

22 "Understand this, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no rescuer.

23 Whoever sacrifices a thank offering honors Me, and whoever orders his conduct, I will show him the salvation of God."

Romans 1

1 Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and singled out for God's good news-

2 which He promised long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures-

3 concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh

4 and was established as the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness.

5 We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name,

6 including yourselves who are also Jesus Christ's by calling:

7 To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world.

9 For God, whom I serve with my spirit in [telling] the good news about His Son, is my witness that I constantly mention you,

10 always asking in my prayers that if it is somehow in God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

11 For I want very much to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,

12 that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

13 Now I want you to know, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now) in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you, just as among the rest of the Gentiles.

14 I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish.

15 So I am eager to preach the good news to you also who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

17 For in it God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

18 For God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,

19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.

20 From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools

23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

24 Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.

25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. For even their females exchanged natural sexual intercourse for what is unnatural.

27 The males in the same way also left natural sexual intercourse with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty for their perversion.

28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong.

29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, disputes, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,

30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.

32 Although they know full well God's just sentence-that those who practice such things deserve to die-they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.