Psalm 49-50
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 49
The Folly of Trust in Riches
To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.
1 Hear this, all you peoples;
give ear, all inhabitants of the world,(A)
2 both low and high,
rich and poor together.
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom;
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.(B)
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp.(C)
5 Why should I fear in times of trouble,
when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,(D)
6 those who trust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?(E)
7 Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life;[a]
there is no price one can give to God for it.(F)
8 For the ransom of life is costly
and can never suffice,(G)
9 that one should live on forever
and never see the Pit.(H)
10 When we look at the wise, they die;
fool and dolt perish together
and leave their wealth to others.(I)
11 Their graves[b] are their homes forever,
their dwelling places to all generations,
though they named lands their own.(J)
12 Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;
they are like the animals that perish.(K)
13 Such is the fate of the foolhardy,
the end of those[c] who are pleased with their lot. Selah(L)
14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
Death shall be their shepherd;
straight to the grave they descend,[d]
and their form shall waste away;
Sheol shall be their home.[e](M)
15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
for he will receive me. Selah(N)
16 Do not be afraid when some become rich,
when the wealth of their houses increases.(O)
17 For when they die they will carry nothing away;
their wealth will not go down after them.(P)
18 Though in their lifetime they count themselves happy
—for you are praised when you do well for yourself—(Q)
19 they[f] will go to the company of their ancestors,
who will never again see the light.(R)
20 Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;
they are like the animals that perish.(S)
Psalm 50
The Acceptable Sacrifice
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 The mighty one, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.(T)
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.(U)
3 Our God comes and does not keep silent;
before him is a devouring fire
and a mighty tempest all around him.(V)
4 He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:(W)
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”(X)
6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge. Selah(Y)
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.(Z)
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.(AA)
9 I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.(AB)
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.(AC)
11 I know all the birds of the air,[g]
and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all that is in it is mine.(AD)
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,[h]
and pay your vows to the Most High.(AE)
15 Call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”(AF)
16 But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?(AG)
17 For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.(AH)
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one,
and you keep company with adulterers.(AI)
19 You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin;
you slander your own mother’s child.(AJ)
21 These things you have done, and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.(AK)
22 Mark this, then, you who forget God,
or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.(AL)
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me;
to those who go the right way,[i]
I will show the salvation of God.”
Footnotes
- 49.7 Or no one can ransom a brother
- 49.11 Gk Syr Compare Tg: Heb their inward thought
- 49.13 Tg: Heb after them
- 49.14 Cn: Heb the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning
- 49.14 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 49.19 Cn: Heb you
- 50.11 Gk Syr Tg: Heb mountains
- 50.14 Or make thanksgiving your sacrifice to God
- 50.23 Heb who set a way
Romans 1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Salutation
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,(A) 3 the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh(B) 4 and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit[a] of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,(C) 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the gentiles for the sake of his name,(D) 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
7 To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.(E)
Prayer of Thanksgiving
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world.(F) 9 For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel[b] of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers,(G) 10 asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift so that you may be strengthened— 12 or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you, as I have among the rest of the gentiles. 14 I am obligated both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish, 15 hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
The Power of the Gospel
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s saving power for everyone who believes,[c] for the Jew first and also for the Greek.(H) 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”[d](I)
The Guilt of Humankind
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those who by their injustice suppress the truth.(J) 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. So they are without excuse,(K) 21 for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless hearts were darkened.(L) 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.(M)
24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.(N) 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.(O)
26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Their females exchanged natural intercourse[e] for unnatural,(P) 27 and in the same way also the males, giving up natural intercourse[f] with females, were consumed with their passionate desires for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.(Q)
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind and to do things that should not be done.(R) 29 They were filled with every kind of injustice, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters,[g] insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents,(S) 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.(T) 32 They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die, yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.(U)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.