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Psalm 62

1  On God alone my soul in stillness waits; ♦︎
   from him comes my salvation.
2  He alone is my rock and my salvation, ♦︎
   my stronghold, so that I shall never be shaken.
3  How long will all of you assail me to destroy me, ♦︎
   as you would a tottering wall or a leaning fence?
4  They plot only to thrust me down from my place of honour;
      lies are their chief delight; ♦︎
   they bless with their mouth, but in their heart they curse.
5  Wait on God alone in stillness, O my soul; ♦︎
   for in him is my hope.
6  He alone is my rock and my salvation, ♦︎
   my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken.
7  In God is my strength and my glory; ♦︎
   God is my strong rock; in him is my refuge.
8  Put your trust in him always, my people; ♦︎
   pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge.
9  The peoples are but a breath,
      the whole human race a deceit; ♦︎
   on the scales they are altogether lighter than air.
10  Put no trust in oppression; in robbery take no empty pride; ♦︎
   though wealth increase, set not your heart upon it.
11  God spoke once, and twice have I heard the same, ♦︎
   that power belongs to God.
12  Steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord, ♦︎
   for you repay everyone according to their deeds.

Psalm 82

1  God has taken his stand in the council of heaven; ♦︎
   in the midst of the gods he gives judgement:
2  ‘How long will you judge unjustly ♦︎
   and show such favour to the wicked?
3  ‘You were to judge the weak and the orphan; ♦︎
   defend the right of the humble and needy;
4  ‘Rescue the weak and the poor; ♦︎
   deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5  ‘They have no knowledge or wisdom;
      they walk on still in darkness: ♦︎
   all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6  ‘Therefore I say that though you are gods ♦︎
   and all of you children of the Most High,
7  ‘Nevertheless, you shall die like mortals ♦︎
   and fall like one of their princes.’
8  Arise, O God and judge the earth, ♦︎
   for it is you that shall take all nations for your possession.

Israel Rejects Correction

⁶ I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
   and lack of bread in all your places,
yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.

⁷ And I also withheld the rain from you
   when there were still three months to the harvest;
I would send rain on one city,
   and send no rain on another city;
one field would be rained upon,
   and the field on which it did not rain withered;
⁸ so two or three towns wandered to one town
   to drink water, and were not satisfied;
yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.

⁹ I struck you with blight and mildew;
   I laid waste^* your gardens and your vineyards;
   the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;
yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.

¹⁰ I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;
   I killed your young men with the sword;
I carried away your horses;^*
   and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.

¹¹ I overthrew some of you,
   as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
   and you were like a brand snatched from the fire;
yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.

¹² Therefore, thus I will do to you, O Israel;
   because I will do this to you,
   prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

¹³ For lo, the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind,
   reveals his thoughts to mortals,
makes the morning darkness,
   and treads on the heights of the earth—
   the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, ¹²waiting for and hastening^* the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? ¹³But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

Final Exhortation and Doxology

14 Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; ¹⁵and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, ¹⁶speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. ¹⁷You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.^*