Psalm 135

¹Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; give praise, O servants of the Lord,

²you that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.

³Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his name, for he is gracious.

⁴For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.

⁵For I know that the Lord is great; our Lord is above all gods.

⁶Whatever the Lord pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

⁷He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

⁸He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both human beings and animals;

⁹he sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.

¹⁰He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings—

¹¹Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan—

¹²and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel.

¹³Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.

¹⁴For the Lord will vindicate his people, and have compassion on his servants.

¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

¹⁶They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see;

¹⁷they have ears, but they do not hear, and there is no breath in their mouths.

¹⁸Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them.

¹⁹O house of Israel, bless the Lord! O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!

²⁰O house of Levi, bless the Lord! You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord!

²¹Blessed be the Lord from Zion, he who resides in Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

3Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ²Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. ³What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴By no means! Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written, “So that you may be justified in your words, and prevail in your judging.” ⁵But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) ⁶By no means! For then how could God judge the world? ⁷But if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? ⁸And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved! ⁹What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, ¹⁰as it is written: “There is no one who is righteous, not even one; ¹¹there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. ¹²All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one.” ¹³“Their throats are opened graves; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of vipers is under their lips.” ¹⁴“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” ¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶ruin and misery are in their paths, ¹⁷and the way of peace they have not known.” ¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. ²¹But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, ²²the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, ²³since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. ²⁷Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. ²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. ³¹Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.