Psalm 44

English Standard Version

Come to Our Help

To the choirmaster. ^(A)A Maskil^[a] of the Sons of Korah.

44 O God, we have heard with our ears,
    ^(B)our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
    ^(C)in the days of old:
²you with your own hand ^(D)drove out the nations,
    but ^(E)them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
    but ^(F)them you set free;
³for not ^(G)by their own sword did they win the land,
    nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
    and ^(H)the light of your face,
    ^(I)for you delighted in them.

⁴^(J)You are my King, O God;
    ^(K)ordain salvation for Jacob!
⁵Through you we ^(L)push down our foes;
    through your name we ^(M)tread down those who rise up against us.
⁶For not in ^(N)my bow do I trust,
    nor can my sword save me.
⁷But you have saved us from our foes
    and have ^(O)put to shame those who hate us.
⁸^(P)In God we have boasted continually,
    and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah

⁹But you have ^(Q)rejected us and disgraced us
    and ^(R)have not gone out with our armies.
¹⁰You have made us ^(S)turn back from the foe,
    and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
¹¹You have made us like ^(T)sheep for slaughter
    and have ^(U)scattered us among the nations.
¹²^(V)You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.
¹³You have made us ^(W)the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and ^(X)scorn of those around us.
¹⁴You have made us ^(Y)a byword among the nations,
    ^(Z)a laughingstock^[b] among the peoples.
¹⁵All day long my disgrace is before me,
    and ^(AA)shame has covered my face
¹⁶at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
    at the sight of ^(AB)the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷^(AC)All this has come upon us,
    though we have not forgotten you,
    and we have not been false to your covenant.
¹⁸Our heart has not turned back,
    nor have our ^(AD)steps ^(AE)departed from your way;
¹⁹yet you have ^(AF)broken us in the place of ^(AG)jackals
    and covered us with ^(AH)the shadow of death.
²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God
    or ^(AI)spread out our hands to ^(AJ)a foreign god,
²¹^(AK)would not God discover this?
    ^(AL)For he knows the secrets of the heart.
²²Yet ^(AM)for your sake we are killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

²³^(AN)Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
    Rouse yourself! ^(AO)Do not reject us forever!
²⁴Why ^(AP)do you hide your face?
    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
²⁵For our ^(AQ)soul is bowed down to the dust;
    our belly clings to the ground.
²⁶Rise up; ^(AR)come to our help!
    ^(AS)Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

Footnotes

Psalm 44:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 44:14 Hebrew a shaking of the head

Jeremiah 51:24-40

English Standard Version

²⁴^(A)“I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the Lord.

²⁵“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,
declares the Lord,
    which destroys the whole earth;
I will stretch out my hand against you,
    and roll you down from the crags,
    ^(B)and make you a burnt mountain.
²⁶No ^(C)stone shall be taken from you for a corner
    and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be ^(D)a perpetual waste,
    declares the Lord.

²⁷^(E)“Set up a standard on the earth;
    ^(F)blow the trumpet among the nations;
^(G)prepare ^(H)the nations for war against her;
    summon against her ^(I)the kingdoms,
    ^(J)Ararat, Minni, and ^(K)Ashkenaz;
appoint a ^(L)marshal against her;
    ^(M)bring up horses like bristling locusts.
²⁸^(N)Prepare ^(O)the nations for war against her,
    the kings of ^(P)the Medes, ^(Q)with their governors ^(R)and deputies,
    and every ^(S)land under their dominion.
²⁹^(T)The land trembles and writhes in pain,
    ^(U)for the Lord's purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
    without inhabitant.
³⁰The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;
    they remain in their strongholds;
their strength has failed;
    ^(V)they have become women;
^(W)her dwellings are on fire;
    ^(X)her bars are broken.
³¹One ^(Y)runner runs to meet another,
    and one messenger to meet another,
to tell the king of Babylon
    that his city is taken on every side;
³²the fords have been ^(Z)seized,
    the marshes are burned with fire,
    and the soldiers are in panic.
³³For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
^(AA)The daughter of Babylon is like ^(AB)a threshing floor
    at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
    and ^(AC)the time of her harvest will come.”

³⁴“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon ^(AD)has devoured me;
    he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
    ^(AE)he has swallowed me like ^(AF)a monster;
he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
    he has rinsed me out.^[a]
³⁵The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”
    let the inhabitant of Zion say.
“My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
    let Jerusalem say.
³⁶Therefore thus says the Lord:
“Behold, ^(AG)I will plead your cause
    and take vengeance for you.
^(AH)I will dry up her sea
    and ^(AI)make her fountain dry,
³⁷and Babylon shall become ^(AJ)a heap of ruins,
    ^(AK)the haunt of jackals,
^(AL)a horror ^(AM)and a hissing,
    without inhabitant.

³⁸^(AN)“They shall roar together ^(AO)like lions;
    they shall growl like lions' cubs.
³⁹^(AP)While they are inflamed ^(AQ)I will prepare them a feast
    and ^(AR)make them drunk, that they may become merry,
^(AS)then sleep a perpetual sleep
    and not wake, declares the Lord.
⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
    like rams and male goats.

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Footnotes

Jeremiah 51:34 Or he has expelled me

Romans 14

English Standard Version

Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another

14 As for ^(A)the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. ²^(B)One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ³Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and ^(C)let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. ⁴^(D)Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master^[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵^(E)One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. ^(F)Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since ^(G)he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷For ^(H)none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. ⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, ^(I)whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. ⁹For to this end Christ ^(J)died and lived again, that he might be Lord both ^(K)of the dead and of the living.

¹⁰Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For ^(L)we will all stand before ^(M)the judgment seat of God; ¹¹for it is written,

^(N)“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess^[b] to God.”

¹²So then ^(O)each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Do Not Cause Another to Stumble

¹³^(P)Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide ^(Q)never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. ¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus ^(R)that nothing is unclean in itself, ^(S)but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ¹⁵For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, ^(T)you are no longer walking in love. ^(U)By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶^(V)So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷^(W)For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but ^(X)of righteousness and ^(Y)peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸Whoever thus serves Christ is ^(Z)acceptable to God and approved by men. ¹⁹So then let us ^(AA)pursue what makes for peace and for ^(AB)mutual upbuilding.

²⁰^(AC)Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. ^(AD)Everything is indeed clean, but ^(AE)it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. ²¹^(AF)It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.^[c] ²²The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. ^(AG)Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. ²³But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.^[d]