Old/New Testament

The God of Israel at Sinai

68 May God rise up. May those who hate Him be divided. And may they run away from Him. ² Drive them away like smoke in the wind. Let the sinful be destroyed before God like a candle melts by the fire. ³ But let those who are right and good be glad. Let them be happy before God. Yes, let them be full of joy. ⁴ Sing to God. Sing praises to His name. Make a road for Him Who goes through the deserts. The Lord is His name. Be full of joy before Him.

⁵ God in His holy house is a father to those who have no father. And He keeps the women safe whose husbands have died. ⁶ God makes a home for those who are alone. He leads men out of prison into happiness and well-being. But those who fight against Him live in an empty desert.

⁷ O God, when You went out before Your people, when You walked through the desert, ⁸ the earth shook. The heavens poured down rain before God. And Sinai shook before God, the God of Israel. ⁹ You sent a heavy rain, O God. You brought life back to Your promised land when it was dry. ¹⁰ Your people made it their home. O God, You gave the poor what they needed because You are good.

¹¹ The Lord gives the Word. And the women who tell the good news are many. ¹² The kings of armies run. They run away. And she who stays at home divides the riches. ¹³ When you lie down among the sheep, you are like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and the end of its wings with shining gold. ¹⁴ When the All-powerful divided the kings there, snow was falling in Zalmon.

¹⁵ A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan. A mountain of many high tops is the mountain of Bashan. ¹⁶ O mountains of many high tops, why do you look with jealousy at the mountain which God has chosen for His home? For sure, the Lord will live there forever. ¹⁷ The war-wagons of God are 20,000, even thousands of thousands. The Lord is among them, as at Sinai, in the holy place. ¹⁸ You have gone up on high. You have taken those who were held with You. You have received gifts of men, even among those who fought against You. So the Lord God may live there with them.

¹⁹ Honor and thanks be to the Lord, Who carries our heavy loads day by day. He is the God Who saves us. ²⁰ Our God is a God Who sets us free. The way out of death belongs to God the Lord. ²¹ But God will break the head of those who hate Him, the hair-covered head of him who goes on in his sins. ²² The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan. I will bring them back from the bottom of the sea. ²³ So your feet may crush them in blood. And the tongue of your dogs may have a share of those who hate you.”

²⁴ They have seen Your people walking together, O God. They have seen the people of my God and King walking into the holy place. ²⁵ Those who sing are in front. Those who play music are behind. And young women who beat timbrels are between. ²⁶ Give thanks to God in the meetings of worship. Give thanks to the Lord, you who are of the family of Israel. ²⁷ There is young Benjamin leading them. The rulers of Judah are among the people, and the rulers of Zebulun, and the rulers of Naphtali.

²⁸ Your God has called for your strength. Show Your strength, O God, Who has acted for us. ²⁹ Kings will bring gifts to You because of Your holy house at Jerusalem. ³⁰ Speak sharp words to the wild animals in the tall grass by the river, the group of bulls with the calves of the people. Walk on those who desire pieces of silver. Divide the people who have joy in war. ³¹ Princes will come from Egypt. Ethiopia will hurry to put her hands out to God.

³² Sing to God, O nations of the earth. Sing praises to the Lord. ³³ Sing to Him Who sits upon the heavens, the heavens of old. Listen, He sends out His voice, His powerful voice. ³⁴ Tell of the power of God. His great power is over Israel and His strength is in the sky. ³⁵ O God, You are honored with fear as You come from Your holy place. The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to His people. Honor and thanks be to God!

A Cry for Help

69 Save me, O God, for the waters have almost taken my life. ² I have gone down into deep mud and there is no place to put my feet. I have come into deep waters and a flood comes over me. ³ I have cried until I am tired. My mouth is dry. My eyes become weak while I wait for my God. ⁴ Those who hate me, without a reason, are more than the hairs on my head. Those who want to destroy me are powerful. I am made to return things that I did not steal.

⁵ O God, You know how foolish I am. My sins are not hidden from You. ⁶ May those who wait for You not be put to shame because of me, O Lord God of All. May those who look for You not lose respect because of me, O God of Israel. ⁷ I have been put to shame because of You. Shame has covered my face. ⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers, a stranger to my mother’s sons. ⁹ For the strong desire for Your house has burned me up. And the bad things said about You have fallen on me. ¹⁰ When I cried and went without food, I was put to shame. ¹¹ When I put on clothes made from hair, they made fun of me. ¹² Those who sit by the gate talk about me. And I am the song of those who drink too much.

¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to You at the right time, O Lord. Answer me with Your saving truth in Your great loving-kindness, O God. ¹⁴ Take me out of the mud and do not let me go down in it. Take me away from those who hate me and from the deep waters. ¹⁵ Keep the flood water from covering me. Do not let the sea swallow me up. Do not let the deep hole close its mouth over me.

¹⁶ Answer me, O Lord, for Your loving-kindness is good. Turn to me because of Your great loving-pity. ¹⁷ Do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble. Hurry to answer me. ¹⁸ Come near to me and save me. Pay the price to set me free from those who hate me. ¹⁹ You know how I have been put to shame by the bad things said about me. All those who hate me are before You.

²⁰ Being put to shame has broken my heart, and I feel very sick. I looked for pity but there was none. I looked for someone to comfort me but there was no one. ²¹ They gave me bitter drink in my food. And because I was thirsty they gave me sour wine.

²² May their table in front of them become a net. May it become a trap when they are in peace. ²³ May their eyes grow dark so they cannot see. And may their backs always shake. ²⁴ Pour out Your anger on them. May Your burning anger catch up with them. ²⁵ May their place of living be empty and may no one live in their tents. ²⁶ For they have made it hard for the one You have punished. And they talk about the pain of those You have hurt. ²⁷ Let their sins add up, and may they not become right with You. ²⁸ May they be taken out of the book of life, and not be written down with those who are right with You.

²⁹ But I am suffering and in pain. O God, may You save me and set me up on high. ³⁰ I will praise the name of God with song. And I will give Him great honor with much thanks. ³¹ This will please the Lord more than any ox or young bull with horns and hoofs. ³² Those without pride will see it and be glad. You who look for God, let your heart receive new strength. ³³ For the Lord hears those who are in need, and does not hate His people in prison.

³⁴ Let heaven and earth and the seas and all the things that move in them give thanks to Him. ³⁵ For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah. Then His people may live there and have it for their own. ³⁶ And the children of those who obey Him will have it given to them. Those who love His name will live there.

8 Now, because of this, those who belong to Christ will not suffer the punishment of sin. ² The power of the Holy Spirit has made me free from the power of sin and death. This power is mine because I belong to Christ Jesus. ³ The Law could not make me free from the power of sin and death. It was weak because it had to work with weak human beings. But God sent His own Son. He came to earth in a body of flesh which could be tempted to sin as we in our bodies can be. He gave Himself to take away sin. By doing that, He took away the power sin had over us. ⁴ In that way, Jesus did for us what the Law said had to be done. We do not do what our sinful old selves tell us to do anymore. Now we do what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. ⁵ Those who let their sinful old selves tell them what to do live under that power of their sinful old selves. But those who let the Holy Spirit tell them what to do are under His power. ⁶ If your sinful old self is the boss over your mind, it leads to death. But if the Holy Spirit is the boss over your mind, it leads to life and peace. ⁷ The mind that thinks only of ways to please the sinful old self is fighting against God. It is not able to obey God’s Laws. It never can. ⁸ Those who do what their sinful old selves want to do cannot please God.

⁹ But you are not doing what your sinful old selves want you to do. You are doing what the Holy Spirit tells you to do, if you have God’s Spirit living in you. No one belongs to Christ if he does not have Christ’s Spirit in him. ¹⁰ If Christ is in you, your spirit lives because you are right with God, and yet your body is dead because of sin. ¹¹ The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. If the same Holy Spirit lives in you, He will give life to your bodies in the same way.

¹² So then, Christian brothers, we are not to do what our sinful old selves want us to do. ¹³ If you do what your sinful old selves want you to do, you will die in sin. But if, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you destroy those actions to which the body can be led, you will have life. ¹⁴ All those who are led by the Holy Spirit are sons of God. ¹⁵ You should not act like people who are owned by someone. They are always afraid. Instead, the Holy Spirit makes us His sons, and we can call to Him, “My Father.” ¹⁶ For the Holy Spirit speaks to us and tells our spirit that we are children of God. ¹⁷ If we are children of God, we will receive everything He has promised us. We will share with Christ all the things God has given to Him. But we must share His suffering if we are to share His shining-greatness.

¹⁸ I am sure that our suffering now cannot be compared to the shining-greatness that He is going to give us. ¹⁹ Everything that has been made in the world is waiting for the day when God will make His sons known. ²⁰ Everything that has been made in the world is weak. It is not that the world wanted it to be that way. God allowed it to be that way. Yet there is hope. ²¹ Everything that has been made in the world will be set free from the power that can destroy. These will become free just as the children of God become free.