Psalms 60; Psalms 61; Psalms 62; Romans 5

1 O God, you have rejected us. You have broken down our defenses. You have been angry. Restore us!

2 You made the land quake. You split it wide open. Heal the cracks in it because it is falling apart.

3 You have made your people experience hardships. You have given us wine that makes us stagger.

4 Yet, you have raised a flag for those who fear you so that they can rally to it when attacked by bows [and arrows]. Selah

5 Save [us] with your powerful hand, and answer us so that those who are dear to you may be rescued.

6 God has promised the following through his holiness: "I will triumph! I will divide Shechem. I will measure the valley of Succoth.

7 Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim is the helmet on my head. Judah is my scepter.

8 Moab is my washtub. I will throw my shoe over Edom. I will shout in triumph over Philistia."

9 Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

10 Isn't it you, O God, who rejected us? Isn't it you, O God, who refused to accompany our armies?

11 Give us help against the enemy because human assistance is worthless.

12 With God we will display great strength. He will trample our enemies.

1 Listen to my cry for help, O God. Pay attention to my prayer.

2 From the ends of the earth, I call to you when I begin to lose heart. Lead me to the rock that is high above me.

3 You have been my refuge, a tower of strength against the enemy.

4 I would like to be a guest in your tent forever and to take refuge under the protection of your wings. Selah

5 O God, you have heard my vows. You have given me the inheritance that belongs to those who fear your name.

6 Add days upon days to the life of the king. May his years endure throughout every generation.

7 May he sit enthroned in the presence of God forever. May mercy and truth protect him.

8 Then I will make music to praise your name forever, as I keep my vows day after day.

1 My soul waits calmly for God alone. My salvation comes from him.

2 He alone is my rock and my savior--my stronghold. I cannot be severely shaken.

3 How long will all of you attack a person? How long will you try to murder him, as though he were a leaning wall or a sagging fence?

4 They plan to force him out of his high position. They are happy to lie. They bless with their mouths, but in their hearts they curse. Selah

5 Wait calmly for God alone, my soul, because my hope comes from him.

6 He alone is my rock and my savior--my stronghold. I cannot be shaken.

7 My salvation and my glory depend on God. God is the rock of my strength, my refuge.

8 Trust him at all times, you people. Pour out your hearts in his presence. God is our refuge. Selah

9 Common people are only a whisper in the wind. Important people are only a delusion. When all of them are weighed on a scale, they amount to nothing. They are less than a whisper in the wind.

10 Do not count on extortion [to make you rich]. Do not hope to gain anything through robbery. When riches increase, do not depend on them.

11 God has spoken once. I have heard it [said] twice: "Power belongs to God.

12 Mercy belongs to you, O Lord. You reward a person based on what he has done."

1 Now that we have God's approval by faith, we have peace with God because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done.

2 Through Christ we can approach God and stand in his favor. So we brag because of our confidence that we will receive glory from God.

3 But that's not all. We also brag when we are suffering. We know that suffering creates endurance,

4 endurance creates character, and character creates confidence.

5 We're not ashamed to have this confidence, because God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 Look at it this way: At the right time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for ungodly people.

7 Finding someone who would die for a godly person is rare. Maybe someone would have the courage to die for a good person.

8 Christ died for us while we were still sinners. This demonstrates God's love for us.

9 Since Christ's blood has now given us God's approval, we are even more certain that Christ will save us from God's anger.

10 If the death of his Son restored our relationship with God while we were still his enemies, we are even more certain that, because of this restored relationship, the life of his Son will save us.

11 In addition, our Lord Jesus Christ lets us continue to brag about God. After all, it is through Christ that we now have this restored relationship with God.

12 Sin came into the world through one person, and death came through sin. So death spread to everyone, because everyone sinned.

13 Sin was in the world before there were any laws. But no record of sin can be kept when there are no laws.

14 Yet, death ruled from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed. Adam is an image of the one who would come.

15 There is no comparison between [God's] gift and [Adam's] failure. If humanity died as the result of one person's failure, it is certainly true that God's kindness and the gift given through the kindness of one person, Jesus Christ, have been showered on humanity.

16 There is also no comparison between [God's] gift and the one who sinned. The verdict which followed one person's failure condemned everyone. But, even after many failures, the gift brought God's approval.

17 It is certain that death ruled because of one person's failure. It's even more certain that those who receive God's overflowing kindness and the gift of his approval will rule in life because of one person, Jesus Christ.

18 Therefore, everyone was condemned through one failure, and everyone received God's life-giving approval through one verdict.

19 Clearly, through one person's disobedience humanity became sinful, and through one person's obedience humanity will receive God's approval.

20 Laws were added to increase the failure. But where sin increased, God's kindness increased even more.

21 As sin ruled by bringing death, God's kindness would rule by bringing us his approval. This results in our living forever because of Jesus Christ our Lord.