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Psalm 71

1  In you, O Lord, do I seek refuge; ♦︎
   let me never be put to shame.
2  In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; ♦︎
   incline your ear to me and save me.
3  Be for me a stronghold to which I may ever resort; ♦︎
   send out to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
4  Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, ♦︎
   from the grasp of the evildoer and the oppressor.
5  For you are my hope, O Lord God, ♦︎
   my confidence, even from my youth.
6  Upon you have I leaned from my birth,
      when you drew me from my mother’s womb; ♦︎
   my praise shall be always of you.
7  I have become a portent to many, ♦︎
   but you are my refuge and my strength.
8  Let my mouth be full of your praise ♦︎
   and your glory all the day long.
9  Do not cast me away in the time of old age; ♦︎
   forsake me not when my strength fails.
10  For my enemies are talking against me, ♦︎
   and those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together.
11  They say, ‘God has forsaken him;
      pursue him and take him, ♦︎
   because there is none to deliver him.’
12  O God, be not far from me; ♦︎
   come quickly to help me, O my God.
13  Let those who are against me
      be put to shame and disgrace; ♦︎
   let those who seek to do me evil
      be covered with scorn and reproach.
14  But as for me I will hope continually ♦︎
   and will praise you more and more.
15  My mouth shall tell of your righteousness
      and salvation all the day long, ♦︎
   for I know no end of the telling.
16  I will begin with the mighty works of the Lord God; ♦︎
   I will recall your righteousness, yours alone.
17  O God, you have taught me since I was young, ♦︎
   and to this day I tell of your wonderful works.
18  Forsake me not, O God,
      when I am old and grey-headed, ♦︎
   till I make known your deeds to the next generation
      and your power to all that are to come.
19  Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens; ♦︎
   in the great things you have done, who is like you, O God?
20  What troubles and adversities you have shown me, ♦︎
   and yet you will turn and refresh me
      and bring me from the deep of the earth again.
21  Increase my honour; ♦︎
   turn again and comfort me.
22  Therefore will I praise you upon the harp
      for your faithfulness, O my God; ♦︎
   I will sing to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
23  My lips will sing out as I play to you, ♦︎
   and so will my soul, which you have redeemed.
24  My tongue also will tell of your righteousness all the day long, ♦︎
   for they shall be shamed and disgraced
      who sought to do me evil.

Job Maintains His Integrity

27Job again took up his discourse and said:
² ‘As God lives, who has taken away my right,
   and the Almighty,^* who has made my soul bitter,
³ as long as my breath is in me
   and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
⁴ my lips will not speak falsehood,
   and my tongue will not utter deceit.
⁵ Far be it from me to say that you are right;
   until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
⁶ I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go;
   my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

⁷ ‘May my enemy be like the wicked,
   and may my opponent be like the unrighteous.
⁸ For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts them off,
   when God takes away their lives?
⁹ Will God hear their cry
   when trouble comes upon them?
¹⁰ Will they take delight in the Almighty?^*
   Will they call upon God at all times?
¹¹ I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
   that which is with the Almighty^* I will not conceal.
¹² All of you have seen it yourselves;
   why then have you become altogether vain?

¹³ ‘This is the portion of the wicked with God,
   and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:^*
14 If their children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
   and their offspring have not enough to eat.
¹⁵ Those who survive them the pestilence buries,
   and their widows make no lamentation.
¹⁶ Though they heap up silver like dust,
   and pile up clothing like clay—
¹⁷ they may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
   and the innocent will divide the silver.
¹⁸ They build their houses like nests,
   like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.
¹⁹ They go to bed with wealth, but will do so no more;
   they open their eyes, and it is gone.
²⁰ Terrors overtake them like a flood;
   in the night a whirlwind carries them off.
²¹ The east wind lifts them up and they are gone;
   it sweeps them out of their place.
²² It^* hurls at them without pity;
   they flee from its^* power in headlong flight.
²³ It^* claps its^* hands at them,
   and hisses at them from its^* place.

All Israel Will Be Saved

25 So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters,^* I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written,
‘Out of Zion will come the Deliverer;
   he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.’
²⁷ ‘And this is my covenant with them,
   when I take away their sins.’
²⁸As regards the gospel they are enemies of God^* for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved, for the sake of their ancestors; ²⁹for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now^* receive mercy. ³²For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

33 O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!
³⁴ ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord?
   Or who has been his counsellor?’
³⁵ ‘Or who has given a gift to him,
   to receive a gift in return?’
³⁶For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen.