12The wicked plots against the righteous

And gnashes at him with his teeth.

13The Lord laughs at him,

For He sees his day is coming.

14The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow

To cast down the afflicted and the needy,

To slay those who are upright in conduct.

15Their sword will enter their own heart,

And their bows will be broken.

16Better is the little of the righteous

Than the abundance of many wicked.

17For the arms of the wicked will be broken,

But the Lord sustains the righteous.

18The Lord knows the days of the blameless,

And their inheritance will be forever.

19They will not be ashamed in the time of evil,

And in the days of famine they will have abundance.

20But the wicked will perish;

And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures,

They vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

21The wicked borrows and does not pay back,

But the righteous is gracious and gives.

22For those blessed by Him will inherit the land,

But those cursed by Him will be cut off.

23The steps of a man are established by the Lord,

And He delights in his way.

24When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,

Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.

25I have been young and now I am old,

Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

Or his descendants begging bread.

26All day long he is gracious and lends,

And his descendants are a blessing.

27Depart from evil and do good,

So you will abide forever.

28For the Lord loves justice

And does not forsake His godly ones;

They are preserved forever,

But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.

29The righteous will inherit the land

And dwell in it forever.

30The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,

And his tongue speaks justice.

31The law of his God is in his heart;

His steps do not slip.

32The wicked spies upon the righteous

And seeks to kill him.

33The Lord will not leave him in his hand

Or let him be condemned when he is judged.

34Wait for the Lord and keep His way,

And He will exalt you to inherit the land;

When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

35I have seen a wicked, violent man

Spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil.

36Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more;

I sought for him, but he could not be found.

37Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright;

For the man of peace will have a posterity.

38But transgressors will be altogether destroyed;

The posterity of the wicked will be cut off.

39But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

He is their strength in time of trouble.

40The Lord helps them and delivers them;

He delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

Because they take refuge in Him.

Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God

1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7for he who has died is freed from sin.

8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1) How do Psalm 37 and Romans 6 define the difference between temporary gain and everlasting life?

2) What does it mean to “choose life” in daily obedience and trust in יהוה?

3) How does freedom from sin through Messiah fulfill Moses’ call to walk in the way of life and blessing?

PSALM 92

Praise for the Lord’s Goodness.

A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day.

1It is good to give thanks to the Lord

And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;

2To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning

And Your faithfulness by night,

3With the ten-stringed lute and with the harp,

With resounding music upon the lyre.

4For You, O Lord, have made me glad by what You have done,

I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

5How great are Your works, O Lord!

Your thoughts are very deep.

6A senseless man has no knowledge,

Nor does a stupid man understand this:

7That when the wicked sprouted up like grass

And all who did iniquity flourished,

It was only that they might be destroyed forevermore.

8But You, O Lord, are on high forever.

9For, behold, Your enemies, O Lord,

For, behold, Your enemies will perish;

All who do iniquity will be scattered.

10But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;

I have been anointed with fresh oil.

11And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes,

My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.

12The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree,

He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13Planted in the house of the Lord,

They will flourish in the courts of our God.

14They will still yield fruit in old age;

They shall be full of sap and very green,

15To declare that the Lord is upright;

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Birth of the King in Bethlehem

1“Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops;

They have laid siege against us;

With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.

2But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Too little to be among the clans of Judah,

From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.

His goings forth are from long ago,

From the days of eternity.”

3Therefore He will give them up until the time

When she who is in labor has borne a child.

Then the remainder of His brethren

Will return to the sons of Israel.

4And He will arise and shepherd His flock

In the strength of the Lord,

In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.

And they will remain,

Because at that time He will be great

To the ends of the earth.

5This One will be our peace.

When the Assyrian invades our land,

When he tramples on our citadels,

Then we will raise against him

Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men.

6They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,

The land of Nimrod at its entrances;

And He will deliver us from the Assyrian

When he attacks our land

And when he tramples our territory.

7Then the remnant of Jacob

Will be among many peoples

Like dew from the Lord,

Like showers on vegetation

Which do not wait for man

Or delay for the sons of men.

8The remnant of Jacob

Will be among the nations,

Among many peoples

Like a lion among the beasts of the forest,

Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,

Which, if he passes through,

Tramples down and tears,

And there is none to rescue.

9Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries,

And all your enemies will be cut off.

10“It will be in that day,” declares the Lord,

“That I will cut off your horses from among you

And destroy your chariots.

11I will also cut off the cities of your land

And tear down all your fortifications.

12I will cut off sorceries from your hand,

And you will have fortune-tellers no more.

13I will cut off your carved images

And your sacred pillars from among you,

So that you will no longer bow down

To the work of your hands.

14I will root out your Asherim from among you

And destroy your cities.

15And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath

On the nations which have not obeyed.”