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

Psalms 74

1 Why have You rejected [us] forever, God? Why does Your anger burn against the sheep of Your pasture?

2 Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe for Your own possession. [Remember] Mount Zion where You dwell.

3 Make Your way to the everlasting ruins, to all that the enemy has destroyed in the sanctuary.

4 Your adversaries roared in the meeting place where You met with us. They set up their emblems as signs.

5 It was like men in a thicket of trees, wielding axes,

6 then smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.

7 They set Your sanctuary on fire; they utterly desecrated the dwelling place of Your name.

8 They said in their hearts, "Let us oppress them relentlessly." They burned down every place throughout the land where God met with us.

9 We don't see any signs for us. There is no longer a prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.

10 God, how long will the foe mock? Will the enemy insult Your name forever?

11 Why do You hold back Your hand? Stretch out Your right hand and destroy [them]!

12 God my king is from ancient times, performing saving acts on the earth.

13 You divided the sea with Your strength; You smashed the heads of the sea monsters in the waters;

14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.

15 You opened up springs and streams; You dried up ever-flowing rivers.

16 The day is Yours, also the night; You established the moon and the sun.

17 You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made summer and winter.

18 Remember this: the enemy has mocked the Lord, and a foolish people has insulted Your name.

19 Do not give the life of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your poor people forever.

20 Consider the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of violence.

21 Do not let the oppressed turn away in shame; let the poor and needy praise Your name.

22 Arise, God, defend Your cause! Remember the insults that fools bring against You all day long.

23 Do not forget the clamor of Your adversaries, the tumult of Your opponents that goes up constantly.

Psalms 75

1 We give thanks to You, God; we give thanks to You, for Your name is near. People tell about Your wonderful works.

2 "When I choose a time, I will judge fairly.

3 When the earth and all its inhabitants shake, I am the One who steadies its pillars. Selah

4 I say to the boastful, 'Do not boast,' and to the wicked, 'Do not lift up your horn.

5 Do not lift up your horn against heaven or speak arrogantly.' "

6 Exaltation does not come from the east, the west, or the desert,

7 for God is the judge: He brings down one and exalts another.

8 For there is a cup in the Lord's hand, full of wine blended with spices, and He pours from it. All the wicked of the earth will drink, draining it to the dregs.

9 As for me, I will tell about Him forever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.

10 "I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up."

Psalms 76

1 God is known in Judah; His name is great in Israel.

2 His tent is in Salem, His dwelling place in Zion.

3 There He shatters the bow's flaming arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

4 You are resplendent and majestic [coming down] from the mountains of prey.

5 The brave-hearted have been plundered; they have slipped into their [final] sleep. None of the warriors was able to lift a hand.

6 At Your rebuke, God of Jacob, both chariot and horse lay still.

7 And You-You are to be feared. When You are angry, who can stand before You?

8 From heaven You pronounced judgment. The earth feared and grew quiet

9 when God rose up to judge and to save all the lowly of the earth. Selah

10 Even human wrath will praise You; You will clothe Yourself with their remaining wrath.

11 Make and keep your vows to the Lord your God; let all who are around Him bring tribute to the awe-inspiring One.

12 He humbles the spirit of leaders; He is feared by the kings of the earth.

Romans 9:16-33

16 So then it does not depend on human will or effort, but on God who shows mercy.

17 For the Scripture tells Pharaoh: For this reason I raised you up: so that I may display My power in you, and that My name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

18 So then, He shows mercy to whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills.

19 You will say to me, therefore, "Why then does He still find fault? For who can resist His will?"

20 But who are you-anyone who talks back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"

21 Or has the potter no right over His clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?

22 And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath ready for destruction?

23 And [what if] He did this to make known the riches of His glory on objects of mercy that He prepared beforehand for glory-

24 on us whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

25 As He also says in Hosea: I will call "Not-My-People," "My-People," and she who is "Unloved," "Beloved."

26 And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not My people, there they will be called sons of the living God.

27 But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: Though the number of Israel's sons is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved;

28 for the Lord will execute His sentence completely and decisively on the earth.

29 And just as Isaiah predicted: If the Lord of Hosts had not left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

30 What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness-namely the righteousness that comes from faith.

31 But Israel, pursuing the law for righteousness, has not achieved the law.

32 Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

33 As it is written: Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over, and a rock to trip over, yet the one who believes on Him will not be put to shame.