Psalm 68

¹Let God rise up, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him.

²As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish before God.

³But let the righteous be joyful; let them exult before God; let them be jubilant with joy.

⁴Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds—his name is the Lord— be exultant before him.

⁵Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.

⁶God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land.

⁷O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah

⁸the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God, the God of Sinai, at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

⁹Rain in abundance, O God, you showered abroad; you restored your heritage when it languished;

¹⁰your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

¹¹The Lord gives the command; great is the company of those who bore the tidings:

¹²“The kings of the armies, they flee, they flee!” The women at home divide the spoil,

¹³though they stay among the sheepfolds— the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with green gold.

¹⁴When the Almighty scattered kings there, snow fell on Zalmon.

¹⁵O mighty mountain, mountain of Bashan; O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!

¹⁶Why do you look with envy, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode, where the Lord will reside forever?

¹⁷With mighty chariotry, twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands, the Lord came from Sinai into the holy place.

¹⁸You ascended the high mount, leading captives in your train and receiving gifts from people, even from those who rebel against the Lord God’s abiding there.

¹⁹Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah

²⁰Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belongs escape from death.

²¹But God will shatter the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of those who walk in their guilty ways.

²²The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

²³so that you may bathe your feet in blood, so that the tongues of your dogs may have their share from the foe.”

²⁴Your solemn processions are seen, O God, the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—

²⁵the singers in front, the musicians last, between them girls playing tambourines:

²⁶“Bless God in the great congregation, the Lord, O you who are of Israel’s fountain!”

²⁷There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead, the princes of Judah in a body, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

²⁸Summon your might, O God; show your strength, O God, as you have done for us before.

²⁹Because of your temple at Jerusalem kings bear gifts to you.

³⁰Rebuke the wild animals that live among the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample under foot those who lust after tribute; scatter the peoples who delight in war.

³¹Let bronze be brought from Egypt; let Ethiopia hasten to stretch out its hands to God.

³²Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord, Selah

³³O rider in the heavens, the ancient heavens; listen, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.

³⁴Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel; and whose power is in the skies.

³⁵Awesome is God in his sanctuary, the God of Israel; he gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!

10Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. ²Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? ³But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. ⁴For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; ⁶in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

⁷Then I said, ‘See, God, I have come to do your will, O God’ (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).” ⁸When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), ⁹then he added, “See, I have come to do your will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ¹¹And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. ¹²But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” ¹³and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” ¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. ¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, ¹⁶“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” ¹⁷he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” ¹⁸Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

¹⁹Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. ²⁶For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. ²⁸Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” ²⁹How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ³¹It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. ³²But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, ³³sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. ³⁴For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting. ³⁵Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. ³⁶For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. ³⁷For yet “in a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay; ³⁸but my righteous one will live by faith. My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.” ³⁹But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.