Psalms 54; Psalms 55; Psalms 56; Romans 3

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Psalms 54

1 O God, save me by your name, and defend me with your might.

2 O God, hear my prayer, and open your ears to the words from my mouth.

3 Strangers have attacked me. Ruthless people seek my life. They do not think about God. Selah

4 God is my helper! The Lord is the provider for my life.

5 My enemies spy on me. Pay them back with evil. Destroy them with your truth!

6 I will make a sacrifice to you along with a freewill offering. I will give thanks to your good name, O LORD.

7 Your name rescues me from every trouble. My eyes will gloat over my enemies.

Psalms 55

1 Open your ears to my prayer, O God. Do not hide from my plea for mercy.

2 Pay attention to me, and answer me. My thoughts are restless, and I am confused

3 because my enemy shouts at me and a wicked person persecutes me. They bring misery crashing down on me, and they attack me out of anger.

4 My heart is in turmoil. The terrors of death have seized me.

5 Fear and trembling have overcome me. Horror has overwhelmed me.

6 I said, "If only I had wings like a dove-- I would fly away and find rest.

7 Indeed, I would run far away. I would stay in the desert. Selah

8 I would hurry to find shelter from the raging wind and storm."

9 Completely confuse their language, O Lord, because I see violence and conflict in the city.

10 Day and night they go around on [top of] the city walls. Trouble and misery are everywhere.

11 Destruction is everywhere. Oppression and fraud never leave the streets.

12 If an enemy had insulted me, then I could bear it. If someone who hated me had attacked me, then I could hide from him.

13 But it is you, my equal, my best friend, one I knew so well!

14 We used to talk to each other in complete confidence and walk into God's house with the festival crowds.

15 Let death suddenly take [wicked people]! Let them go into the grave while they are still alive, because evil lives in their homes as well as in their hearts.

16 But I call on God, and the LORD saves me.

17 Morning, noon, and night I complain and groan, and he listens to my voice.

18 With [his] peace, he will rescue my soul from the war waged against me, because there are many [soldiers fighting] against me.

19 God will listen. The one who has sat enthroned from the beginning will deal with them. Selah They never change. They never fear God.

20 [My best friend] has betrayed his friends. He has broken his solemn promise.

21 His speech is smoother than butter, but there is war in his heart. His words are more soothing than oil, but they are like swords ready to attack.

22 Turn your burdens over to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will never let the righteous person stumble.

23 But you, O God, will throw [wicked people] into the deepest pit. Bloodthirsty and deceitful people will not live out half their days. But I will trust you.

Psalms 56

1 Have pity on me, O God, because people are harassing me. All day long warriors oppress me.

2 All day long my enemies spy on me. They harass me. There are so many fighting against me.

3 Even when I am afraid, I still trust you.

4 I praise the word of God. I trust God. I am not afraid. What can mere flesh [and blood] do to me?

5 All day long my enemies twist my words. Their every thought is an evil plan against me.

6 They attack, and then they hide. They watch my every step as they wait to take my life.

7 With the wrong they do, can they escape? O God, angrily make the nations fall.

8 (You have kept a record of my wanderings. Put my tears in your bottle. They are already in your book.)

9 Then my enemies will retreat when I call [to you]. This I know: God is on my side.

10 I praise the word of God. I praise the word of the LORD.

11 I trust God. I am not afraid. What can mortals do to me?

12 I am bound by my vows to you, O God. I will keep my vows by offering songs of thanksgiving to you.

13 You have rescued me from death. You have kept my feet from stumbling so that I could walk in your presence, in the light of life.

Romans 3

1 Is there any advantage, then, in being a Jew? Or is there any value in being circumcised?

2 There are all kinds of advantages. First of all, God entrusted them with his word.

3 What if some of them were unfaithful? Can their unfaithfulness cancel God's faithfulness?

4 That would be unthinkable! God is honest, and everyone else is a liar, as Scripture says, "So you hand down justice when you speak, and you win your case in court."

5 But if what we do wrong shows that God is fair, what should we say? Is God unfair when he vents his anger on us? (I'm arguing the way humans would.)

6 That's unthinkable! Otherwise, how would God be able to judge the world?

7 If my lie increases the glory that God receives by showing that God is truthful, why am I still judged as a sinner?

8 Or can we say, "Let's do evil so that good will come from it"? Some slander us and claim that this is what we say. They are condemned, and that's what they deserve.

9 What, then, is the situation? Do we have any advantage? Not at all. We have already accused everyone (both Jews and Greeks) of being under the power of sin,

10 as Scripture says, "Not one person has God's approval.

11 No one understands. No one searches for God.

12 Everyone has turned away. Together they have become rotten to the core. No one does anything good, not even one person.

13 Their throats are open graves. Their tongues practice deception. Their lips hide the venom of poisonous snakes.

14 Their mouths are full of curses and bitter resentment.

15 They run quickly to murder people.

16 There is ruin and suffering wherever they go.

17 They have not learned to live in peace.

18 They are not terrified of God."

19 We know that whatever is in Moses' Teachings applies to everyone under their influence, and no one can say a thing. The whole world is brought under the judgment of God.

20 Not one person can have God's approval by following Moses' Teachings. Moses' Teachings show what sin is.

21 Now, the way to receive God's approval has been made plain in a way other than Moses' Teachings. Moses' Teachings and the Prophets tell us this.

22 Everyone who believes has God's approval through faith in Jesus Christ. There is no difference between people.

23 Because all people have sinned, they have fallen short of God's glory.

24 They receive God's approval freely by an act of his kindness through the price Christ Jesus paid to set us free [from sin].

25 God showed that Christ is the throne of mercy where God's approval is given through faith in Christ's blood. In his patience God waited to deal with sins committed in the past.

26 He waited so that he could display his approval at the present time. This shows that he is a God of justice, a God who approves of people who believe in Jesus.

27 So, do we have anything to brag about? Bragging has been eliminated. On what basis was it eliminated? On the basis of our own efforts? No, indeed! Rather, it is eliminated on the basis of faith.

28 We conclude that a person has God's approval by faith, not by his own efforts.

29 Is God only the God of the Jews? Isn't he also the God of people who are not Jewish? Certainly, he is,

30 since it is the same God who approves circumcised people by faith and uncircumcised people through this same faith.

31 Are we abolishing Moses' Teachings by this faith? That's unthinkable! Rather, we are supporting Moses' Teachings.