Psalms 66; Psalms 67; Romans 7

Psalms 66

1 Shout joyfully to God, all the earth!

2 Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious.

3 Say to God, "How awe-inspiring are Your works! Your enemies will cringe before You because of Your great strength.

4 All the earth will worship You and sing praise to You. They will sing praise to Your name." Selah

5 Come and see the works of God; His acts toward mankind are awe-inspiring.

6 He turned the sea into dry land, and they crossed the river on foot. There we rejoiced in Him.

7 He rules forever by His might; He keeps His eye on the nations. The rebellious should not exalt themselves. Selah

8 Praise our God, you peoples; let the sound of His praise be heard.

9 He keeps us alive and does not allow our feet to slip.

10 For You, God, tested us; You refined us as silver is refined.

11 You lured us into a trap; You placed burdens on our backs.

12 You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us out to abundance.

13 I will enter Your house with burnt offerings; I will pay You my vows

14 that my lips promised and my mouth spoke during my distress.

15 I will offer You fattened sheep as burnt offerings, with the fragrant smoke of rams; I will sacrifice oxen with goats. Selah

16 Come and listen, all who fear God, and I will tell what He has done for me.

17 I cried out to Him with my mouth, and praise was on my tongue.

18 If I had been aware of malice in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

19 However, God has listened; He has paid attention to the sound of my prayer.

20 May God be praised! He has not turned away my prayer or turned His faithful love from me.

Psalms 67

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us; look on us with favor Selah

2 so that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.

3 Let the peoples praise You, God; let all the peoples praise You.

4 Let the nations rejoice and shout for joy, for You judge the peoples with fairness and lead the nations on earth. Selah

5 Let the peoples praise You, God, let all the peoples praise You.

6 The earth has produced its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.

7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.

Romans 7

1 Since I am speaking to those who understand law, brothers, are you unaware that the law has authority over someone as long as he lives?

2 For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband.

3 So then, if she gives herself to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she gives herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.

4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the [crucified] body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another-to Him who was raised from the dead-that we may bear fruit for God.

5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us and bore fruit for death.

6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.

7 What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.

8 And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.

9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life

10 and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me.

11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

13 Therefore, did what is good cause my death? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin's power.

15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.

16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.

18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.

19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.

20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me.

21 So I discover this principle: when I want to do good, evil is with me.

22 For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God's law.

23 But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.