October 9, 2024 PORTALS OF PRAYER READINGS

 

Colossians 2:13-15

¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities^[a] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.^[b]

Footnotes

1. Colossians 2:15 Probably demonic rulers and authorities
2. Colossians 2:15 Or in it (that is, the cross)

Psalm 68:1-20

God Shall Scatter His Enemies

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

68 God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
    and those who hate him shall flee before him!
² As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
    as wax melts before fire,
    so the wicked shall perish before God!
³ But the righteous shall be glad;
    they shall exult before God;
    they shall be jubilant with joy!

⁴ Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
    lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the Lord;
    exult before him!
⁵ Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
    is God in his holy habitation.
⁶ God settles the solitary in a home;
    he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
    but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

⁷ O God, when you went out before your people,
    when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
⁸ the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,
    before God, the One of Sinai,
    before God,^[a] the God of Israel.
⁹ Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;
    you restored your inheritance as it languished;
¹⁰ your flock^[b] found a dwelling in it;
    in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

¹¹ The Lord gives the word;
    the women who announce the news are a great host:
¹²     “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”
The women at home divide the spoil—
¹³     though you men lie among the sheepfolds—
the wings of a dove covered with silver,
    its pinions with shimmering gold.
¹⁴ When the Almighty scatters kings there,
    let snow fall on Zalmon.

¹⁵ O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;
    O many-peaked^[c] mountain, mountain of Bashan!
¹⁶ Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,
    at the mount that God desired for his abode,
    yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?
¹⁷ The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
    thousands upon thousands;
    the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
¹⁸ You ascended on high,
    leading a host of captives in your train
    and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

¹⁹ Blessed be the Lord,
    who daily bears us up;
    God is our salvation. Selah
²⁰ Our God is a God of salvation,
    and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 68:8 Or before God, even Sinai before God
2. Psalm 68:10 Or your congregation
3. Psalm 68:15 Or hunch-backed; also verse 16

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Source for Bible text - www.biblegateway.com