Psalms 49; Psalms 50; Romans 1

1 Listen to this, all you people! Listen closely, all you citizens of the world—

2 people of every kind, rich and poor alike!

3 My mouth speaks wisdom; my heart's meditation is full of insight.

4 I will pay close attention to a proverb; I will explain my riddle on the lyre.

5 Why should I be afraid in times of trouble, when the wrongdoing of my bullies engulfs me—

6 those people who trust in their fortunes and boast of their fantastic wealth?

7 Wealth? It can't save a single person! It can't pay a life's ransom-price to God.

8 The price to save someone's life is too high— wealth will never be enough—

9 no one can live forever without experiencing the pit.

10 Everyone knows that the wise die too, just like foolish and stupid people do, all of them leaving their fortunes to others.

11 Their graves are their eternal homes, the place they live for all generations, even if they had counties named after them!

12 People won't live any longer because of wealth; they're just like the animals that pass away.

13 That's how it goes for those who are foolish, as well as for those who follow their lead, pleased with their talk. Selah

14 Like sheep, they're headed straight for the grave. Death will be their shepherd— but those who do right in their hearts will rule over them come morning!— their forms wasting away in the grave rather than having some dignified residence.

15 But God will save my life from the power of the grave, because he will take me. Selah

16 Don't be overly impressed when someone becomes rich, their house swelling to fantastic proportions,

17 because when they die, they won't take any of it with them. Their fantastic things won't accompany them down under.

18 Though they consider themselves blessed during their lives, and even thank you when you deal well with them,

19 they too will join the ancestors who've gone ahead; they too will never see the light again.

20 Wealthy people? They just don't understand; they're just like the animals that pass away.

1 From the rising of the sun to where it sets, God, the LORD God, speaks, calling out to the earth.

2 From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines brightly.

3 Our God is coming; he won't keep quiet. A devouring fire is before him; a storm rages all around him.

4 God calls out to the skies above and to the earth in order to judge his people:

5 "Bring my faithful to me, those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

6 The skies proclaim his righteousness because God himself is the judge. Selah

7 "Listen, my people, I will now speak; Israel, I will now testify against you. I am God—your God!

8 I'm not punishing you for your sacrifices or for your entirely burned offerings, which are always before me.

9 I won't accept bulls from your house or goats from your corrals

10 because every forest animal already belongs to me, as do the cattle on a thousand hills.

11 I know every mountain bird; even the insects in the fields are mine.

12 Even if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you because the whole world and everything in it already belong to me.

13 Do I eat bulls' meat? Do I drink goats' blood?

14 Offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving! Fulfill the promisesyou made to the Most High!

15 Cry out to me whenever you are in trouble; I will deliver you, then you will honor me."

16 But to the wicked God says, "Why do you talk about my laws? Why do you even mention my covenant?

17 You hate discipline, and you toss my words behind your back.

18 You make friends with thieves whenever you see one; you spend your time with adulterers.

19 You set your mouth free to do evil, then harness your tongue to tell lies.

20 You sit around, talking about your own siblings; you find fault with the children of your very own mother.

21 You've done these things and I've kept quiet. You thought I was just like you! But now I'm punishing you; I'm laying it all out, right in front of your face.

22 So consider this carefully, all you who forget God, or I'll rip you to pieces with no one to deliver you:

23 The one who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving is the one who honors me. And it is to the one who charts the correct path that I will show divine salvation."

1 From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for God's good news.

2 -

3 God promised this good news about his Son ahead of time through his prophets in the holy scriptures. His Son was descended from David.

4 He was publicly identified as God's Son with power through his resurrection from the dead, which was based on the Spirit of holiness. This Son is Jesus Christ our Lord.

5 Through him we have received God's grace and our appointment to be apostles. This was to bring all Gentiles to faithful obedience for his name's sake.

6 You who are called by Jesus Christ are also included among these Gentiles.

7 To those in Rome who are dearly loved by God and called to be God's people.

8 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because the news about your faithfulness is being spread throughout the whole world.

9 I serve God in my spirit by preaching the good news about God's Son, and God is my witness that I continually mention you

10 in all my prayers. I'm always asking that somehow, by God's will, I might succeed in visiting you at last.

11 I really want to see you to pass along some spiritual gift to you so that you can be strengthened.

12 What I mean is that we can mutually encourage each other while I am with you. We can be encouraged by the faithfulness we find in each other, both your faithfulness and mine.

13 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I planned to visit you many times, although I have been prevented from coming until now. I want to harvest some fruit among you, just as I have done among the other Gentiles.

14 I have a responsibility both to Greeks and to those who don't speak Greek, both to the wise and to the foolish.

15 That's why I'm ready to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

16 I'm not ashamed of the gospel: it is God's own power for salvation to all who have faith in God, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

17 God's righteousness is being revealed in the gospel, from faithfulness for faith, as it is written, The righteous person will live by faith.

18 God's wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodly behavior and the injustice of human beings who silence the truth with injustice.

19 This is because what is known about God should be plain to them because God made it plain to them.

20 Ever since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities—God's eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through the things God has made. So humans are without excuse.

21 Although they knew God, they didn't honor God as God or thank him. Instead, their reasoning became pointless, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

22 While they were claiming to be wise, they made fools of themselves.

23 They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that look like mortal humans: birds, animals, and reptiles.

24 So God abandoned them to their hearts' desires, which led to the moral corruption of degrading their own bodies with each other.

25 They traded God's truth for a lie, and they worshipped and served the creation instead of the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 That's why God abandoned them to degrading lust. Their females traded natural sexual relations for unnatural sexual relations.

27 Also, in the same way, the males traded natural sexual relations with females, and burned with lust for each other. Males performed shameful actions with males, and they were paid back with the penalty they deserved for their mistake in their own bodies.

28 Since they didn't think it was worthwhile to acknowledge God, God abandoned them to a defective mind to do inappropriate things.

29 So they were filled with all injustice, wicked behavior, greed, and evil behavior. They are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, deception, and malice. They are gossips,

30 they slander people, and they hate God. They are rude and proud, and they brag. They invent ways to be evil, and they are disobedient to their parents.

31 They are without understanding, disloyal, without affection, and without mercy.

32 Though they know God's decision that those who persist in such practices deserve death, they not only keep doing these things but also approve others who practice them.