Category: Psalms

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm.

[81:1] Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!

[81:2] Raise a song; sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.

[81:3] Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.

[81:4] For it is a statute for Israel, a rule of the God of Jacob.

[81:5] He made it a decree in Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt. I hear a language I had not known:

[81:6] “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket.

[81:7] In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

[81:8] Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

[81:9] There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

[81:10] I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

[81:11] “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.

[81:12] So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.

[81:13] Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!

[81:14] I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.

[81:15] Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever.

[81:16] But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.

[82:1] God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

[82:2] “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

[82:3] Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

[82:4] Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

[82:5] They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

[82:6] I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;

[82:7] nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.”

[82:8] Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!

A Psalm of Asaph.

[83:1] O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!

[83:2] For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads.

[83:3] They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones.

[83:4] They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

[83:5] For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant—

[83:6] the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites,

[83:7] Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;

[83:8] Asshur also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah

[83:9] Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

[83:10] who were destroyed at En-Dor, who became dung for the ground.

[83:11] Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

[83:12] who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God.”

[83:13] O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind.

[83:14] As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,

[83:15] so may you pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane!

[83:16] Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord.

[83:17] Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace,

[83:18] that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.

[84:1] How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!

[84:2] My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

[84:3] Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

[84:4] Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah

[84:5] Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

[84:6] As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.

[84:7] They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.

[84:8] O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

[84:9] Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!

[84:10] For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

[84:11] For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

[84:12] O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

[85:1] Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

[85:2] You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah

[85:3] You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.

[85:4] Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!

[85:5] Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?

[85:6] Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

[85:7] Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

[85:8] Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly.

[85:9] Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.

[85:10] Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

[85:11] Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky.

[85:12] Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.

[85:13] Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

[86:1] Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

[86:2] Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.

[86:3] Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day.

[86:4] Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

[86:5] For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

[86:6] Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace.

[86:7] In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me.

[86:8] There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.

[86:9] All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.

[86:10] For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

[86:11] Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

[86:12] I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.

[86:13] For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

[86:14] O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.

[86:15] But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

[86:16] Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant.

[86:17] Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

A Prayer of David.

[87:1] On the holy mount stands the city he founded;

[87:2] the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

[87:3] Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah

[87:4] Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush — “This one was born there,” they say.

[87:5] And of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; for the Most High himself will establish her.

[87:6] The Lord records as he registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah

[87:7] Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.”

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song.

[88:1] O Lord, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you.

[88:2] Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!

[88:3] For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.

[88:4] I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength,

[88:5] like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.

[88:6] You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep.

[88:7] Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

[88:8] You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;

[88:9] my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you.

[88:10] Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah

[88:11] Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

[88:12] Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

[88:13] But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.

[88:14] O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?

[88:15] Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.

[88:16] Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me.

[88:17] They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together.

[88:18] You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

[89:1] I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

[89:2] For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”

[89:3] You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:

[89:4] ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah

[89:5] Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!

[89:6] For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,

[89:7] a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?

[89:8] O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you?

[89:9] You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.

[89:10] You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

[89:11] The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.

[89:12] The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.

[89:13] You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand.

[89:14] Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

[89:15] Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,

[89:16] who exult in your name all the day and in your righteousness are exalted.

[89:17] For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted.

[89:18] For our shield belongs to the Lord, our king to the Holy One of Israel.

[89:19] Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: “I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

[89:20] I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him,

[89:21] so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him.

[89:22] The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him.

[89:23] I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.

[89:24] My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

[89:25] I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers.

[89:26] He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’

[89:27] And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

[89:28] My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him.

[89:29] I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.

[89:30] If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules,

[89:31] if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments,

[89:32] then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes,

[89:33] but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness.

[89:34] I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

[89:35] Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David.

[89:36] His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me.

[89:37] Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah

[89:38] But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed.

[89:39] You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust.

[89:40] You have breached all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins.

[89:41] All who pass by plunder him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors.

[89:42] You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice.

[89:43] You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not made him stand in battle.

[89:44] You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground.

[89:45] You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with shame. Selah

[89:46] How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?

[89:47] Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man!

[89:48] What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

[89:49] Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

[89:50] Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,

[89:51] with which your enemies mock, O Lord, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.

[89:52] Blessed be the Lord forever!

A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

[90:1] Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

[90:2] Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

[90:3] You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!”

[90:4] For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

[90:5] You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning:

[90:6] in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.

[90:7] For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed.

[90:8] You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

[90:9] For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.

[90:10] The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

[90:11] Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?

[90:12] So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

[90:13] Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants!

[90:14] Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

[90:15] Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.

[90:16] Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.

[90:17] Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!