Psalms 60; Psalms 61; Psalms 62; Romans 5

1 You have rejected us, God, and defeated us; you have been angry with us - but now turn back to us.

2 You have made the land tremble, and you have cut it open; now heal its wounds, because it is falling apart.

3 You have made your people suffer greatly; we stagger around as though we were drunk.

4 You have warned those who have reverence for you, so that they might escape destruction.

5 Save us by your might; answer our prayer, so that the people you love may be rescued.

6 From his sanctuary God has said, "In triumph I will divide Shechem and distribute Sukkoth Valley to my people.

7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh too; Ephraim is my helmet and Judah my royal scepter.

8 But I will use Moab as my washbowl, and I will throw my sandals on Edom, as a sign that I own it. Did the Philistines think they would shout in triumph over me?"

9 Who, O God, will take me into the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

10 Have you really rejected us? Aren't you going to march out with our armies?

11 Help us against the enemy; human help is worthless.

12 With God on our side we will win; he will defeat our enemies.

1 Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer!

2 In despair and far from home I call to you! Take me to a safe refuge,

3 for you are my protector, my strong defense against my enemies.

4 Let me live in your sanctuary all my life; let me find safety under your wings.

5 You have heard my promises, O God, and you have given me what belongs to those who honor you.

6 Add many years to the king's life; let him live on and on!

7 May he rule forever in your presence, O God; protect him with your constant love and faithfulness.

8 So I will always sing praises to you, as I offer you daily what I have promised.

1 I wait patiently for God to save me; I depend on him alone.

2 He alone protects and saves me; he is my defender, and I shall never be defeated.

3 How much longer will all of you attack someone who is no stronger than a broken-down fence?

4 You only want to bring him down from his place of honor; you take pleasure in lies. You speak words of blessing, but in your heart you curse him.

5 I depend on God alone; I put my hope in him.

6 He alone protects and saves me; he is my defender, and I shall never be defeated.

7 My salvation and honor depend on God; he is my strong protector; he is my shelter.

8 Trust in God at all times, my people. Tell him all your troubles, for he is our refuge.

9 Human beings are all like a puff of breath; great and small alike are worthless. Put them on the scales, and they weigh nothing; they are lighter than a mere breath.

10 Don't put your trust in violence; don't hope to gain anything by robbery; even if your riches increase, don't depend on them.

11 More than once I have heard God say that power belongs to him

12 and that his love is constant. You yourself, O Lord, reward everyone according to their deeds.

1 Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 He has brought us by faith into this experience of God's grace, in which we now live. And so we boast of the hope we have of sharing God's glory!

3 We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance,

4 endurance brings God's approval, and his approval creates hope.

5 This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to us.

6 For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose.

7 It is a difficult thing for someone to die for a righteous person. It may even be that someone might dare to die for a good person.

8 But God has shown us how much he loves us - it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!

9 By his blood we are now put right with God; how much more, then, will we be saved by him from God's anger!

10 We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life!

11 But that is not all; we rejoice because of what God has done through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has now made us God's friends.

12 Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned.

13 There was sin in the world before the Law was given; but where there is no law, no account is kept of sins.

14 But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, death ruled over all human beings, even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam did when he disobeyed God's command. Adam was a figure of the one who was to come.

15 But the two are not the same, because God's free gift is not like Adam's sin. It is true that many people died because of the sin of that one man. But God's grace is much greater, and so is his free gift to so many people through the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.

16 And there is a difference between God's gift and the sin of one man. After the one sin, came the judgment of "Guilty"; but after so many sins, comes the undeserved gift of "Not guilty!"

17 It is true that through the sin of one man death began to rule because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by the one man, Jesus Christ! All who receive God's abundant grace and are freely put right with him will rule in life through Christ.

18 So then, as the one sin condemned all people, in the same way the one righteous act sets all people free and gives them life.

19 And just as all people were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man, in the same way they will all be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man.

20 Law was introduced in order to increase wrongdoing; but where sin increased, God's grace increased much more.

21 So then, just as sin ruled by means of death, so also God's grace rules by means of righteousness, leading us to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.