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Psalm 42

1  As the deer longs for the water brooks, ♦︎
   so longs my soul for you, O God.
2  My soul is athirst for God, even for the living God; ♦︎
   when shall I come before the presence of God?
3  My tears have been my bread day and night, ♦︎
   while all day long they say to me, ‘Where is now your God?’
4  Now when I think on these things, I pour out my soul: ♦︎
   how I went with the multitude
      and led the procession to the house of God,
5  With the voice of praise and thanksgiving, ♦︎
   among those who kept holy day.
6  Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul, ♦︎
   and why are you so disquieted within me?
7  O put your trust in God; ♦︎
   for I will yet give him thanks,
      who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
8  My soul is heavy within me; ♦︎
   therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan,
      and from Hermon and the hill of Mizar.
9  Deep calls to deep in the thunder of your waterfalls; ♦︎
   all your breakers and waves have gone over me.
10  The Lord will grant his loving-kindness in the daytime; ♦︎
   through the night his song will be with me,
      a prayer to the God of my life.
11  I say to God my rock,
      ‘Why have you forgotten me, ♦︎
   and why go I so heavily, while the enemy oppresses me?’
12  As they crush my bones, my enemies mock me; ♦︎
   while all day long they say to me, ‘Where is now your God?’
13  Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul, ♦︎
   and why are you so disquieted within me?
14  O put your trust in God; ♦︎
   for I will yet give him thanks,
      who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

Psalm 43

1  Give judgement for me, O God,
      and defend my cause against an ungodly people; ♦︎
   deliver me from the deceitful and the wicked.
2  For you are the God of my refuge;
      why have you cast me from you, ♦︎
   and why go I so heavily, while the enemy oppresses me?
3  O send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, ♦︎
   and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling,
4  That I may go to the altar of God,
      to the God of my joy and gladness; ♦︎
   and on the lyre I will give thanks to you, O God my God.
5  Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul, ♦︎
   and why are you so disquieted within me?
6  O put your trust in God; ♦︎
   for I will yet give him thanks,
      who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

¹⁴ ‘Those who withhold^* kindness from a friend
   forsake the fear of the Almighty.^*
15 My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed,
   like freshets that pass away,
¹⁶ that run dark with ice,
   turbid with melting snow.
¹⁷ In time of heat they disappear;
   when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
¹⁸ The caravans turn aside from their course;
   they go up into the waste, and perish.
¹⁹ The caravans of Tema look,
   the travellers of Sheba hope.
²⁰ They are disappointed because they were confident;
   they come there and are confounded.
²¹ Such you have now become to me;^*
   you see my calamity, and are afraid.
²² Have I said, “Make me a gift”?
   Or, “From your wealth offer a bribe for me”?
²³ Or, “Save me from an opponent’s hand”?
   Or, “Ransom me from the hand of oppressors”?

²⁴ ‘Teach me, and I will be silent;
   make me understand how I have gone wrong.
²⁵ How forceful are honest words!
   But your reproof, what does it reprove?
²⁶ Do you think that you can reprove words,
   as if the speech of the desperate were wind?
²⁷ You would even cast lots over the orphan,
   and bargain over your friend.

²⁸ ‘But now, be pleased to look at me;
   for I will not lie to your face.
²⁹ Turn, I pray, let no wrong be done.
   Turn now, my vindication is at stake.
³⁰ Is there any wrong on my tongue?
   Cannot my taste discern calamity?

The Promise to Abraham

15 Brothers and sisters,^* I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will^* has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it. ¹⁶Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring;^* it does not say, ‘And to offsprings’,^* as of many; but it says, ‘And to your offspring’,^* that is, to one person, who is Christ. ¹⁷My point is this: the law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. ¹⁸For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.

The Purpose of the Law

19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring^* would come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a mediator. ²⁰Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one.

21 Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law. ²²But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ^* might be given to those who believe.