Psalms 74; Psalms 75; Psalms 76; Romans 9:16-33

1 (73-1) <Understanding for Asaph.> O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

2 (73-2) Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.

3 (73-3) Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

4 (73-4) And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,

5 (73-5) And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,

6 (73-6) They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.

7 (73-7) They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.

8 (73-8) They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.

9 (73-9) Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.

10 (73-10) How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?

11 (73-11) Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?

12 (73-12) But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

13 (73-13) Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.

14 (73-14) Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.

15 (73-15) Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.

16 (73-16) Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.

17 (73-17) Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.

18 (73-18) Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.

19 (73-19) Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.

20 (73-20) Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

21 (73-21) Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.

22 (73-22) Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.

23 (73-23) Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.

1 (74-1) <Unto the end, corrupt not, a psalm of a canticle for Asaph.> (74-2) We will praise thee, O God: we will praise, and we will call upon thy name. We will relate thy wondrous works:

2 (74-3) When I shall take a time, I will judge justices.

3 (74-4) The earth is melted, and all that dwell therein: I have established the pillars thereof.

4 (74-5) I said to the wicked: Do not act wickedly: and to the sinners: Lift not up the horn.

5 (74-6) Lift not up your horn on high: speak not iniquity against God.

6 (74-7) For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert hills:

7 (74-8) For God is the judge. One he putteth down, and another he lifteth up:

8 (74-9) For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink.

9 (74-10) But I will declare for ever: I will sing to the God of Jacob.

10 (74-11) And I will break all the horns of sinners: but the horns of the just shall be exalted.

1 (75-1) <Unto the end, in praises, a psalm for Asaph: a canticle to the Assyrians.> (75-2) In Judea God is known: his name is great in Israel.

2 (75-3) And his place is in peace: and his abode in Sion:

3 (75-4) There hath he broken the powers of bows, the shield, the sword, and the battle.

4 (75-5) Thou enlightenest wonderfully from the everlasting hills.

5 (75-6) All the foolish of heart were troubled. They have slept their sleep; and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands.

6 (75-7) At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered that mounted on horseback.

7 (75-8) Thou art terrible, and who shall resist thee? from that time thy wrath.

8 (75-9) Thou hast caused judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth trembled and was still,

9 (75-10) When God arose in judgment, to save all the meek of the earth.

10 (75-11) For the thought of man shall give praise to thee: and the remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee.

11 (75-12) Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God: all you that are round about him bring presents. To him that is terrible,

12 (75-13) Even to him who taketh away the spirit of princes: to the terrible with the kings of the earth.

16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

17 For the scripture saith to Pharao: To this purpose have I raised thee, that I may shew my power in thee and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.

18 Therefore he hath mercy on whom he will. And whom he will, he hardeneth.

19 Thou wilt say therefore to me: Why doth he then find fault? For who resisteth his will?

20 O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it: Why hast thou made me thus?

21 Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour?

22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction,

23 That he might shew the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he hath prepared unto glory?

24 Even us, whom also he hath called, not only of the Jews but also of the Gentiles.

25 As in Osee he saith: I will call that which was not my people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved; and her that had not obtained mercy; one that hath obtained mercy.

26 And it shalt be in the place where it was said unto them: you are not my people; there they shall be called the sons of the living God.

27 And Isaias cried out concerning Israel: If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.

28 For he shall finish his word and cut it short in justice: because a short word shall the Lord make upon the earth.

29 And Isaias foretold: Unless the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed, we had been made as Sodom and we had been like unto Gomorrha.

30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles who followed not after justice have attained to justice, even the justice that is of faith.

31 But Israel, by following after the law of justice, is not come unto the law of justice.

32 Why so? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were of works. For they stumbled at the stumblingstone.

33 As it is written: Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and a rock of scandal. And whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded.