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Psalm 68

1  Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered; ♦︎
   let those that hate him flee before him.
2  As the smoke vanishes, so may they vanish away; ♦︎
   as wax melts at the fire,
      so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
3  But let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; ♦︎
   let them make merry with gladness.
4  Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
      exalt him who rides on the clouds. ♦︎
   The Lord is his name; rejoice before him.
5  Father of the fatherless, defender of widows, ♦︎
   God in his holy habitation!
6  God gives the solitary a home
      and brings forth prisoners to songs of welcome, ♦︎
   but the rebellious inhabit a burning desert.
7  O God, when you went forth before your people, ♦︎
   when you marched through the wilderness,
8  The earth shook and the heavens dropped down rain,
      at the presence of God, the Lord of Sinai, ♦︎
   at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9  You sent down a gracious rain, O God; ♦︎
   you refreshed your inheritance when it was weary.
10  Your people came to dwell there; ♦︎
   in your goodness, O God, you provide for the poor.
11  The Lord gave the word;
      great was the company of women who bore the tidings: ♦︎
   ‘Kings and their armies they flee, they flee!’
      and women at home are dividing the spoil.
12  Though you stayed among the sheepfolds, ♦︎
   see now a dove’s wings covered with silver
      and its feathers with green gold.
13  When the Almighty scattered the kings, ♦︎
   it was like snowflakes falling on Zalmon.
14  You mighty mountain, great mountain of Bashan! ♦︎
   You towering mountain, great mountain of Bashan!
15  Why look with envy, you towering mountains,
      at the mount which God has desired for his dwelling, ♦︎
   the place where the Lord will dwell for ever?
16  The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
      even thousands upon thousands; ♦︎
   the Lord is among them, the Lord of Sinai in holy power.
17  You have gone up on high and led captivity captive; ♦︎
   you have received tribute,
      even from those who rebelled,
      that you may reign as Lord and God.
18  Blessed be the Lord who bears our burdens day by day, ♦︎
   for God is our salvation.
19  God is for us the God of our salvation; ♦︎
   God is the Lord who can deliver from death.
20  God will smite the head of his enemies, ♦︎
   the hairy scalp of those who walk in wickedness.
21  The Lord has said, ‘From the heights of Bashan, ♦︎
   from the depths of the sea will I bring them back,
22  ‘Till you dip your foot in blood ♦︎
   and the tongue of your dogs has a taste of your enemies.’
23  We see your solemn processions, O God, ♦︎
   your processions into the sanctuary, my God and my King.
24  The singers go before, the musicians follow after, ♦︎
   in the midst of maidens playing on timbrels.
25  In your companies, bless your God; ♦︎
   bless the Lord, you that are of the fount of Israel.
26  At the head there is Benjamin, least of the tribes,
      the princes of Judah in joyful company, ♦︎
   the princes of Zebulun and Naphtali.
27  Send forth your strength, O God; ♦︎
   establish, O God, what you have wrought in us.
28  For your temple’s sake in Jerusalem ♦︎
   kings shall bring their gifts to you.
29  Drive back with your word the wild beast of the reeds, ♦︎
   the herd of the bull-like, the brutish hordes.
30  Trample down those who lust after silver; ♦︎
   scatter the peoples that delight in war.
31  Vessels of bronze shall be brought from Egypt; ♦︎
   Ethiopia will stretch out her hands to God.
32  Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth; ♦︎
   make music in praise of the Lord;
33  He rides on the ancient heaven of heavens ♦︎
   and sends forth his voice, a mighty voice.
34  Ascribe power to God, whose splendour is over Israel, ♦︎
   whose power is above the clouds.
35  How terrible is God in his holy sanctuary, ♦︎
   the God of Israel, who gives power and strength to his people!
      Blessed be God.

11 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.’ ¹²He answered, ‘Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts into my mouth?’

Balaam’s Second Oracle

13 So Balak said to him, ‘Come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only part of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there.’ ¹⁴So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stand here beside your burnt-offerings, while I meet the Lord over there.’ ¹⁶The Lord met Balaam, put a word into his mouth, and said, ‘Return to Balak, and this is what you shall say.’ ¹⁷When he came to him, he was standing beside his burnt-offerings with the officials of Moab. Balak said to him, ‘What has the Lord said?’ ¹⁸Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying:
‘Rise, Balak, and hear;
   listen to me, O son of Zippor:
¹⁹ God is not a human being, that he should lie,
   or a mortal, that he should change his mind.
Has he promised, and will he not do it?
   Has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it?
²⁰ See, I received a command to bless;
   he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
²¹ He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob;
   nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
   acclaimed as a king among them.
²² God, who brings them out of Egypt,
   is like the horns of a wild ox for them.
²³ Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob,
   no divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
   “See what God has done!”
²⁴ Look, a people rising up like a lioness,
   and rousing itself like a lion!
It does not lie down until it has eaten the prey
   and drunk the blood of the slain.’

25 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.’ ²⁶But Balaam answered Balak, ‘Did I not tell you, “Whatever the Lord says, that is what I must do”?’

Life in the Spirit

8There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For the law of the Spirit^* of life in Christ Jesus has set you^* free from the law of sin and of death. ³For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin,^* he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.^{* 5}For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit^* set their minds on the things of the Spirit.^{* 6}To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit^* is life and peace. ⁷For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, ⁸and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit,^* since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit^* is life because of righteousness. ¹¹If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ^* from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through^* his Spirit that dwells in you.