Psalms 68; Psalms 69; Romans 8:1-21

1 Let God rise up and scatter his enemies; let those who hate him run away from him.

2 Blow them away as smoke is driven away by the wind. As wax melts before a fire, let the wicked be destroyed before God.

3 But those who do right should be glad and should rejoice before God; they should be happy and glad.

4 Sing to God; sing praises to his name. Prepare the way for him who rides through the desert, whose name is the Lord. Rejoice before him.

5 God is in his holy Temple. He is a father to orphans, and he defends the widows.

6 God gives the lonely a home. He leads prisoners out with joy, but those who turn against God will live in a dry land.

7 God, you led your people out when you marched through the desert.Selah

8 The ground shook and the sky poured down rain before God, the God of Mount Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

9 God, you sent much rain; you refreshed your tired land.

10 Your people settled there. God, in your goodness you took care of the poor.

11 The Lord gave the command, and a great army told the news:

12 "Kings and their armies run away. In camp they divide the wealth taken in war.

13 Those who stayed by the campfires will share the riches taken in battle."

14 The Almighty scattered kings like snow on Mount Zalmon.

15 The mountains of Bashan are high; the mountains of Bashan have many peaks.

16 Why do you mountains with many peaks look with envy on the mountain that God chose for his home? The Lord will live there forever.

17 God comes with millions of chariots; the Lord comes from Mount Sinai to his holy place.

18 When you went up to the heights, you led a parade of captives. You received gifts from the people, even from those who turned against you. And the Lord God will live there.

19 Praise the Lord, God our Savior, who helps us every day. Selah

20 Our God is a God who saves us; the Lord God saves us from death.

21 God will crush his enemies' heads, the hairy skulls of those who continue to sin.

22 The Lord said, "I will bring the enemy back from Bashan; I will bring them back from the depths of the sea.

23 Then you can stick your feet in their blood, and your dogs can lick their share."

24 God, people have seen your victory march; God my King marched into the holy place.

25 The singers are in front and the instruments are behind. In the middle are the girls with the tambourines.

26 Praise God in the meeting place; praise the Lord in the gathering of Israel.

27 There is the smallest tribe, Benjamin, leading them. their group. and of Naphtali.

28 God, order up your power; show the mighty power you have used for us before.

29 Kings will bring their wealth to you, to your Temple in Jerusalem.

30 Punish Egypt, the beast in the tall grass along the river. Punish the leaders of nations, those bulls among the cows. Defeated, they will bring you their silver. Scatter those nations that love war.

31 Messengers will come from Egypt; the people of Cush will pray to God.

32 Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord. Selah

33 Sing to the one who rides through the skies, which are from long ago. He speaks with a thundering voice.

34 Announce that God is powerful. He rules over Israel, and his power is in the skies.

35 God, you are wonderful in your Temple. and power.

1 God, save me, because the water has risen to my neck.

2 I'm sinking down into the mud, and there is nothing to stand on. I am in deep water, and the flood covers me.

3 I am tired from calling for help; my throat is sore. My eyes are tired from waiting for God to help me.

4 There are more people who hate me for no reason than hairs on my head; powerful enemies want to destroy me for no reason. They make me pay back what I did not steal.

5 God, you know what I have done wrong; I cannot hide my guilt from you.

6 Lord God All-Powerful, do not let those who hope in you be ashamed because of me. God of Israel, do not let your worshipers be disgraced because of me.

7 For you, I carry this shame, and my face is covered with disgrace.

8 I am like a stranger to my closest relatives and a foreigner to my mother's children.

9 My strong love for your Temple completely controls me. When people insult you, it hurts me.

10 When I cry and go without food, they make fun of me.

11 When I wear clothes of sadness, they joke about me.

12 They make fun of me in public places, and the drunkards make up songs about me.

13 But I pray to you, Lord, for favor. God, because of your great love, answer me. You are truly able to save.

14 Pull me from the mud, and do not let me sink. Save me from those who hate me and from the deep water.

15 Do not let the flood drown me or the deep water swallow me or the grave close its mouth over me.

16 Lord, answer me because your love is so good. Because of your great kindness, turn to me.

17 Do not hide from me, your servant. I am in trouble. Hurry to help me!

18 Come near and save me; rescue me from my enemies.

19 You see my shame and disgrace. You know all my enemies and what they have said.

20 Insults have broken my heart and left me weak. I looked for sympathy, but there was none; I found no one to comfort me.

21 They put poison in my food and gave me vinegar to drink.

22 Let their own feasts cause their ruin; let their feasts trap them and pay them back.

23 Let their eyes be closed so they cannot see and their backs be forever weak from troubles.

24 Pour your anger out on them; let your anger catch up with them.

25 May their place be empty; leave no one to live in their tents.

26 They chase after those you have hurt, and they talk about the pain of those you have wounded.

27 Charge them with crime after crime, and do not let them have anything good.

28 Wipe their names from the book of life, and do not list them with those who do what is right.

29 I am sad and hurting. God, save me and protect me.

30 I will praise God in a song and will honor him by giving thanks.

31 That will please the Lord more than offering him cattle, more than sacrificing a bull with horns and hoofs.

32 Poor people will see this and be glad. Be encouraged, you who worship God.

33 The Lord listens to those in need and does not look down on captives.

34 Heaven and earth should praise him, the seas and everything in them.

35 God will save Jerusalem and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will live there and own the land.

36 The descendants of his servants will inherit that land, and those who love him will live there.

1 So now, those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty.

2 Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made me free from the law that brings sin and death.

3 The law was without power, because the law was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that others use for sin. By sending his Son to be an offering to pay for sin, God used a human life to destroy sin.

4 He did this so that we could be the kind of people the law correctly wants us to be. Now we do not live following our sinful selves, but we live following the Spirit.

5 Those who live following their sinful selves think only about things that their sinful selves want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about the things the Spirit wants them to do.

6 If people's thinking is controlled by the sinful self, there is death. But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace.

7 When people's thinking is controlled by the sinful self, they are against God, because they refuse to obey God's law and really are not even able to obey God's law.

8 Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.

9 But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But the person who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ.

10 Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God.

11 God raised Jesus from the dead, and if God's Spirit is living in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who raised Christ from the dead, and he will give life through his Spirit that lives in you.

12 So, my brothers and sisters, we must not be ruled by our sinful selves or live the way our sinful selves want.

13 If you use your lives to do the wrong things your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit's help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life.

14 The true children of God are those who let God's Spirit lead them.

15 The Spirit we received does not make us slaves again to fear; it makes us children of God. With that Spirit we cry out, "Father."

16 And the Spirit himself joins with our spirits to say we are God's children.

17 If we are God's children, we will receive blessings from God together with Christ. But we must suffer as Christ suffered so that we will have glory as Christ has glory.

18 The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us.

19 Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children's glory completely.

20 Everything God made was changed to become useless, not by its own wish but because God wanted it and because all along there was this hope:

21 that everything God made would be set free from ruin to have the freedom and glory that belong to God's children.