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Psalm 75

1  We give you thanks, O God, we give you thanks, ♦︎
   for your name is near, as your wonderful deeds declare.
2  ‘I will seize the appointed time; ♦︎
   I, the Lord, will judge with equity.
3  ‘Though the earth reels and all that dwell in her, ♦︎
   it is I that hold her pillars steady.
4  ‘To the boasters I say, “Boast no longer,” ♦︎
   and to the wicked, “Do not lift up your horn.
5  ‘ “Do not lift up your horn on high; ♦︎
   do not speak with a stiff neck.” ’
6  For neither from the east nor from the west, ♦︎
   nor yet from the wilderness comes exaltation.
7  But God alone is judge; ♦︎
   he puts down one and raises up another.
8  For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, ♦︎
   well mixed and full of foaming wine.
9  He pours it out for all the wicked of the earth; ♦︎
   they shall drink it, and drain the dregs.
10  But I will rejoice for ever ♦︎
   and make music to the God of Jacob.
11  All the horns of the wicked will I break, ♦︎
   but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

The Wickedness of Jerusalem

3Ah, soiled, defiled,
   oppressing city!
² It has listened to no voice;
   it has accepted no correction.
It has not trusted in the Lord;
   it has not drawn near to its God.

³ The officials within it
   are roaring lions;
its judges are evening wolves
   that leave nothing until the morning.
⁴ Its prophets are reckless,
   faithless persons;
its priests have profaned what is sacred,
   they have done violence to the law.
⁵ The Lord within it is righteous;
   he does no wrong.
Every morning he renders his judgement,
   each dawn without fail;
   but the unjust knows no shame.

⁶ I have cut off nations;
   their battlements are in ruins;
I have laid waste their streets
   so that no one walks in them;
their cities have been made desolate,
   without people, without inhabitants.
⁷ I said, ‘Surely the city^* will fear me,
   it will accept correction;
it will not lose sight^*
   of all that I have brought upon it.’
But they were the more eager
   to make all their deeds corrupt.

Punishment and Conversion of the Nations

⁸ Therefore wait for me, says the Lord,
   for the day when I arise as a witness.
For my decision is to gather nations,
   to assemble kingdoms,
to pour out upon them my indignation,
   all the heat of my anger;
for in the fire of my passion
   all the earth shall be consumed.

⁹ At that time I will change the speech of the peoples
   to a pure speech,
that all of them may call on the name of the Lord
   and serve him with one accord.
¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia^*
   my suppliants, my scattered ones,
   shall bring my offering.

¹¹ On that day you shall not be put to shame
   because of all the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;
for then I will remove from your midst
   your proudly exultant ones,
and you shall no longer be haughty
   in my holy mountain.
¹² For I will leave in the midst of you
   a people humble and lowly.
They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord—
¹³   the remnant of Israel;
they shall do no wrong
   and utter no lies,
nor shall a deceitful tongue
   be found in their mouths.
Then they will pasture and lie down,
   and no one shall make them afraid.

The Allegory of Hagar and Sarah

21 Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. ²³One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. ²⁴Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. ²⁵Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia^* and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷For it is written,
‘Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children,
   burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs;
for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous
   than the children of the one who is married.’
²⁸Now you,^* my friends,^* are children of the promise, like Isaac. ²⁹But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. ³⁰But what does the scripture say? ‘Drive out the slave and her child; for the child of the slave will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman.’ ³¹So then, friends,^* we are children, not of the slave but of the free woman. 5¹For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.