A Prayer for Rescue from Persecutors

571 To the chief Musician. 'Destroy not.' Of David. Michtam; when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be gracious unto me, O God, be gracious unto me; for my soul taketh refuge in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings do I take refuge, until the calamities be overpast. 2 I will call unto God, the Most High; unto God that performeth [all] for me. 3 He will send from the heavens and save me; he hath covered with reproach him that would swallow me up. Selah. God hath sent forth his loving-kindness and his truth. 4 My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down [among] them that breathe out flames, the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. 5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let thy glory be above all the earth! 6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down: they have digged a pit before me; they are fallen into the midst thereof. Selah.

7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing, yea, I will sing psalms. 8 Awake, my glory; awake, lute and harp: I will wake the dawn. 9 I will give thee thanks among the peoples, O Lord; of thee will I sing psalms among the nations: 10 For thy loving-kindness is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. 11 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let thy glory be above all the earth!

A Prayer for the Punishment of the Wicked

581 To the chief Musician. 'Destroy not.' Of David. Michtam. Is righteousness indeed silent? Do ye speak it? Do ye judge with equity, ye sons of men? 2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth. 3 The wicked go astray from the womb; they err as soon as they are born, speaking lies. 4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder which stoppeth her ear; 5 Which doth not hearken to the voice of enchanters, of one charming ever so wisely.

6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah. 7 Let them melt away as waters that flow off; when he aimeth his arrows, let them be as blunted: 8 Let them be as a snail that melteth as it passeth away; [like] the untimely birth of a woman, let them not see the sun. 9 Before your pots feel the thorns, green or burning,—they shall be whirled away. 10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his footsteps in the blood of the wicked: 11 And men shall say, Verily there is fruit for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.

A Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

591 To the chief Musician. 'Destroy not.' Of David. Michtam; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him. Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God; secure me on high from them that rise up against me. 2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from men of blood. 3 For behold, they lie in wait for my soul; strong ones are gathered against me: not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Jehovah. 4 They run and prepare themselves without [my] fault: awake to meet me, and behold. 5 Yea, do thou, Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, arise to visit all the nations: be not gracious to any plotters of iniquity. Selah. 6 They return in the evening; they howl like a dog, and go round about the city: 7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth; swords are in their lips: for who [say they] doth hear?

8 But thou, Jehovah, wilt laugh at them; thou wilt have all the nations in derision. 9 Their strength! ... I will take heed to thee; for God is my high fortress. 10 God, whose loving-kindness will come to meet me,—God shall let me see [my desire] upon mine enemies. 11 Slay them not, lest my people forget; by thy power make them wander, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield. 12 [Because of] the sin of their mouth, the word of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride; and because of cursing and lying which they speak. 13 Make an end in wrath, make an end, that they may be no more; that they may know that God ruleth in Jacob, unto the ends of the earth. Selah. 14 And in the evening they shall return, they shall howl like a dog, and go round about the city. 15 They shall wander about for meat, and stay all night if they be not satisfied. 16 But as for me, I will sing of thy strength; yea, I will sing aloud of thy loving-kindness in the morning; for thou hast been to me a high fortress, and a refuge in the day of my trouble. 17 Unto thee, my strength, will I sing psalms; for God is my high fortress, the God of my mercy.

The Example of Abraham

41 What shall we say then that Abraham our father according to flesh has found? 2 For if Abraham has been justified on the principle of works, he has whereof to boast: but not before God; 3 for what does the scripture say? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. 4 Now to him that works the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but of debt: 5 but to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. 6 Even as David also declares the blessedness of the man to whom God reckons righteousness without works: 7 Blessed [they] whose lawlessnesses have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered: 8 blessed [the] man to whom [the] Lord shall not at all reckon sin.

9 [Does] this blessedness then [rest] on the circumcision, or also on the uncircumcision? For we say that faith has been reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then has it been reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11 And he received [the] sign of circumcision [as] seal of the righteousness of faith which [he had] being in uncircumcision, that he might be [the] father of all them that believe being in uncircumcision, that righteousness might be reckoned to them also; 12 and father of circumcision, not only to those who are of [the] circumcision, but to those also who walk in the steps of the faith, during uncircumcision, of our father Abraham.

The Promise Realized through Faith

13 For [it was] not by law that the promise was to Abraham, or to his seed, that he should be heir of [the] world, but by righteousness of faith. 14 For if they which [are] of law be heirs, faith is made vain, and the promise made of no effect. 15 For law works wrath; but where no law is neither [is there] transgression. 16 Therefore [it is] on the principle of faith, that [it might be] according to grace, in order to the promise being sure to all the seed, not to that only which [is] of the law, but to that also which [is] of Abraham's faith, who is father of us all,

17 (according as it is written, I have made thee father of many nations,) before the God whom he believed, who quickens the dead, and calls the things which be not as being; 18 who against hope believed in hope to his becoming father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be: 19 and not being weak in faith, he considered not his own body already become dead, being about a hundred years old, and the deadening of Sarah's womb, 20 and hesitated not at the promise of God through unbelief; but found strength in faith, giving glory to God; 21 and being fully persuaded that what he has promised he is able also to do; 22 wherefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

23 Now it was not written on his account alone that it was reckoned to him, 24 but on ours also, to whom, believing on him who has raised from among [the] dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who has been delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification, it will be reckoned.