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Psalms 88-89 (Listen)

I Cry Out Day and Night Before You

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil [1] of Heman the Ezrahite.

88:1 O Lord, God of my salvation;
I cry out day and night before you.
Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!

For my soul is full of troubles,
  and my life draws near to Sheol.
I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
  I am a man who has no strength,
like one set loose among the dead,
  like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
  for they are cut off from your hand.
You have put me in the depths of the pit,
  in the regions dark and deep.
Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
  and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

You have caused my companions to shun me;
  you have made me a horror [2] to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
  my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O Lord;
  I spread out my hands to you.
Do you work wonders for the dead?
  Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
  or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Are your wonders known in the darkness,
  or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

But I, O Lord, cry to you;
  in the morning my prayer comes before you.
O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?
  Why do you hide your face from me?
Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
  I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. [3]
Your wrath has swept over me;
  your dreadful assaults destroy me.
They surround me like a flood all day long;
  they close in on me together.
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
  my companions have become darkness. [4]

I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord

A Maskil [5] of Ethan the Ezrahite.

89:1 I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;
  with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
  in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
  I have sworn to David my servant:
‘I will establish your offspring forever,
  and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah

Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
  your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
  Who among the heavenly beings [6] is like the Lord,
a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
  and awesome above all who are around him?
O Lord God of hosts,
  who is mighty as you are, O Lord,
  with your faithfulness all around you?
You rule the raging of the sea;
  when its waves rise, you still them.
You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
  you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
  the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
The north and the south, you have created them;
  Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
You have a mighty arm;
  strong is your hand, high your right hand.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
  steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
  who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,
who exult in your name all the day
  and in your righteousness are exalted.
For you are the glory of their strength;
  by your favor our horn is exalted.
For our shield belongs to the Lord,
  our king to the Holy One of Israel.

Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, [7] and said:
  “I have granted help to one who is mighty;
  I have exalted one chosen from the people.
I have found David, my servant;
  with my holy oil I have anointed him,
so that my hand shall be established with him;
  my arm also shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not outwit him;
  the wicked shall not humble him.
I will crush his foes before him
  and strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
  and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his hand on the sea
  and his right hand on the rivers.
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
  my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
And I will make him the firstborn,
  the highest of the kings of the earth.
My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
  and my covenant will stand firm [8] for him.
I will establish his offspring forever
  and his throne as the days of the heavens.
If his children forsake my law
  and do not walk according to my rules, [9]
if they violate my statutes
  and do not keep my commandments,
then I will punish their transgression with the rod
  and their iniquity with stripes,
but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
  or be false to my faithfulness.
I will not violate my covenant
  or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
  I will not lie to David.
His offspring shall endure forever,
  his throne as long as the sun before me.
Like the moon it shall be established forever,
  a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah

But now you have cast off and rejected;
  you are full of wrath against your anointed.
You have renounced the covenant with your servant;
  you have defiled his crown in the dust.
You have breached all his walls;
  you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
All who pass by plunder him;
  he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
  you have made all his enemies rejoice.
You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
  and you have not made him stand in battle.
You have made his splendor to cease
  and cast his throne to the ground.
You have cut short the days of his youth;
  you have covered him with shame. Selah

How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
  How long will your wrath burn like fire?
Remember how short my time is!
  For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
What man can live and never see death?
  Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
  which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
  and how I bear in my heart the insults [10] of all the many nations,
with which your enemies mock, O Lord,
  with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.

Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.

Romans 10 (Listen)

10:1 Brothers, [11] my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. [12]

The Message of Salvation to All

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? [13] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.”

But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,

“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”

Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,

“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”

But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Footnotes

[1] 88:1 Probably musical or liturgical terms
[2] 88:8 Or an abomination
[3] 88:15 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
[4] 88:18 Or darkness has become my only companion
[5] 89:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
[6] 89:6 Hebrew the sons of God, or the sons of might
[7] 89:19 Some Hebrew manuscripts godly ones
[8] 89:28 Or will remain faithful
[9] 89:30 Or my just decrees
[10] 89:50 Hebrew lacks the insults
[11] 10:1 Or Brothers and sisters
[12] 10:4 Or end of the law, that everyone who believes may be justified
[13] 10:14 Or him whom they have never heard