Psalms 94

 ¹  O LORD, the God of vengeance,
  O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice shine forth!
 ²  Arise, O judge of the earth.
  Give the proud what they deserve.
 ³  How long, O LORD?
  How long will the wicked be allowed to gloat?
 ⁴  How long will they speak with arrogance?
  How long will these evil people boast?
 ⁵  They crush your people, LORD,
  hurting those you claim as your own.
 ⁶  They kill widows and foreigners
  and murder orphans.
 ⁷  "The LORD isn't looking," they say,
  "and besides, the God of Israel [7]  doesn't care."

 ⁸  Think again, you fools!
  When will you finally catch on?
 ⁹  Is he deaf—the one who made your ears?
  Is he blind—the one who formed your eyes?
 ¹⁰  He punishes the nations—won't he also punish you?
  He knows everything—doesn't he also know what you are doing?
 ¹¹  The LORD knows people's thoughts;
  he knows they are worthless!

 ¹²  Joyful are those you discipline, LORD, those you teach with your instructions.  ¹³  You give them relief from troubled times
  until a pit is dug to capture the wicked.
 ¹⁴  The LORD will not reject his people;
  he will not abandon his special possession.
 ¹⁵  Judgment will again be founded on justice,
  and those with virtuous hearts will pursue it.

 ¹⁶  Who will protect me from the wicked?
  Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
 ¹⁷  "Unless the LORD had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave."  ¹⁸  I cried out, "I am slipping!"
  but your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me.
 ¹⁹  When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.  ²⁰  Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side—
  leaders whose decrees permit injustice?
 ²¹  They gang up against the righteous
  and condemn the innocent to death.
 ²²  But the LORD is my fortress; my God is the mighty rock where I hide.  ²³  God will turn the sins of evil people back on them.
  He will destroy them for their sins.
  The LORD our God will destroy them.

Psalms 95

 ¹  Come, let us sing to the LORD!
  Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
 ²  Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
  Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
 ³  For the LORD is a great God,
  a great King above all gods.
 ⁴  He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
  and the mightiest mountains.
 ⁵  The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
  His hands formed the dry land, too.

 ⁶  Come, let us worship and bow down.
  Let us kneel before the LORD our maker,
 ⁷  We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today!  ⁸  The LORD says, "Don't harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
  as they did at Massah in the wilderness.
 ⁹  For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
  even though they saw everything I did.
 ¹⁰  For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,
`They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.
  They refuse to do what I tell them.'
 <sup>11</sup>  So in my anger I took an oath:
  `They will never enter my place of rest.'"

Psalms 96

 ¹  Sing a new song to the LORD! Let the whole earth sing to the LORD!  ²  Sing to the LORD; praise his name.
  Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.
 ³  Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.  ⁴  Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise!
  He is to be feared above all gods.
 ⁵  The gods of other nations are mere idols,
  but the LORD made the heavens!
 ⁶  Honor and majesty surround him;
  strength and beauty fill his sanctuary.

 ⁷  O nations of the world, recognize the LORD;
  recognize that the LORD is glorious and strong.
 ⁸  Give to the LORD the glory he deserves!
  Bring your offering and come into his courts.
 ⁹  Worship the LORD in all his holy splendor.
  Let all the earth tremble before him.
 ¹⁰  Tell all the nations, "The LORD reigns!"
  The world stands firm and cannot be shaken.
  He will judge all peoples fairly.

 ¹¹  Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
  Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
 ¹²  Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
  Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise
 ¹³  before the LORD, for he is coming!
  He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
  and the nations with his truth.

<<  94:7 Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 44:4.

Romans 15 : 14-33

Paul's Reason for Writing
 ¹⁴  I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them.  ¹⁵  Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. For by God's grace,  ¹⁶  I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit.  ¹⁷  So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God.  ¹⁸  Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them.  ¹⁹  They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God's Spirit. [19]  In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum. [19] 
   ²⁰  My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else.  ²¹  I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says,

"Those who have never been told about him will see,
  and those who have never heard of him will understand." [21] 

 ²²  In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places.

Paul's Travel Plans
 ²³  But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you.  ²⁴  I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.
   ²⁵  But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers [25]  there.  ²⁶  For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia [26]  have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem.  ²⁷  They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially.  ²⁸  As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain.  ²⁹  And I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together.
   ³⁰  Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit.  ³¹  Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the believers there will be willing to accept the donation [31]  I am taking to Jerusalem.  ³²  Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other.
   ³³  And now may God, who gives us his peace, be with you all. Amen. [33] 

<<  15:14 Greek brothers; also in 15:30.
<<  15:19a Other manuscripts read the Spirit; still others read the Holy Spirit. 15:19b Illyricum was a region northeast of Italy.
<<  15:21 Isa 52:15 (Greek version).
<<  15:25 Greek God's holy people; also in 15:26, 31.
<<  15:26 Macedonia and Achaia were the northern and southern regions of Greece.
<<  15:31 Greek the ministry; other manuscripts read the gift.
<<  15:33 Some manuscripts do not include Amen. One very early manuscript places 16:25-27 here.