Category: Psalms

A Call to Obedience

For the choir director: on the Gittith. Of Asaph.

1 Sing for joy to God our strength;

shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.

2 Lift up a song — play the tambourine,

the melodious lyre, and the harp.

3 Blow the horn on the day of our feasts

during the new moon

and during the full moon.

4 For this is a statute for Israel,

a judgment of the God of Jacob.

5 He set it up as an ordinance for Joseph

when He went throughoutthe land of Egypt.

I heard an unfamiliar language:

6 “I relieved his shoulder from the burden;

his hands were freed from carrying the basket.

7 You called out in distress, and I rescued you;

I answered you from the thundercloud.

I tested you at the waters of Meribah.Selah

8 Listen, My people, and I will admonish you.

Israel, if you would only listen to Me!

9 There must not be a strange god among you;

you must not bow down to a foreign god.

10 I am Yahweh your God,

who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 “But My people did not listen to Me;

Israel did not obey Me.

12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts

to follow their own plans.

13 If only My people would listen to Me

and Israel would follow My ways,

14 I would quickly subdue their enemies

and turn My hand against their foes.”

15 Those who hate theLord

would pretend submission to Him;

their doom would last forever.

16 But He would feed Israelwith the best wheat.

“I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/PSA/81-84665881c1ec8c8dd9ee5e85982f6cb6.mp3?version_id=72—

A Plea for Righteous Judgment

A psalm of Asaph.

1 God has taken His place in the divine assembly;

He judges among the gods:

2 “How long will you judge unjustly

and show partiality to the wicked?Selah

3 Provide justice for the needy and the fatherless;

uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.

4 Rescue the poor and needy;

save them from the power of the wicked.”

5 They do not know or understand;

they wander in darkness.

All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I said, “You are gods;

you are all sons of the Most High.

7 However, you will die like men

and fall like any other ruler.”

8 Rise up, God, judge the earth,

for all the nations belong to You.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/PSA/82-f0100e50e3167481cd1c7d167dc1206c.mp3?version_id=72—

Prayer against Enemies

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

1 God, do not keep silent.

Do not be deaf, God; do not be idle.

2 See how Your enemies make an uproar;

those who hate You have acted arrogantly.

3 They devise clever schemes against Your people;

they conspire against Your treasured ones.

4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation

so that Israel’s name will no longer be remembered.”

5 For they have conspired with one mind;

they form an allianceagainst You—

6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites,

7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,

Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre.

8 Even Assyria has joined them;

they lend supportto the sons of Lot.Selah

9 Deal with them as You did with Midian,

as You did with Sisera

and Jabin at the Kishon River.

10 They were destroyed at En-dor;

they became manure for the ground.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

and all their tribal leaders like Zebah and Zalmunna,

12 who said, “Let us seize God’s pastures for ourselves.”

13 Make them like tumbleweed, my God,

like straw before the wind.

14 As fire burns a forest,

as a flame blazes through mountains,

15 so pursue them with Your tempest

and terrify them with Your storm.

16 Cover their faces with shame

so that they will seek Your name Yahweh.

17 Let them be put to shame and terrified forever;

let them perish in disgrace.

18 May they know that You alone —

whose name is Yahweh —

are the Most High over all the earth.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/PSA/83-bc8c38dda0d108aa1a43c1b895639a38.mp3?version_id=72—

Longing for God’s House

For the choir director: on the Gittith. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

1 How lovely is Your dwelling place,

Lordof Hosts.

2 I long and yearn

for the courts of theLord;

my heart and flesh cry out forthe living God.

3 Even a sparrow finds a home,

and a swallow, a nest for herself

where she places her young —

near Your altars,Lordof Hosts,

my King and my God.

4 How happy are those who reside in Your house,

who praise You continually.Selah

5 Happy are the people whose strength is in You,

whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,

they make it a source of springwater;

even the autumn rain will cover it with blessings.

7 They go from strength to strength;

each appears before God in Zion.

8 LordGod of Hosts, hear my prayer;

listen, God of Jacob.Selah

9 Consider our shield,God;

look on the face of Your anointed one.

10 Better a day in Your courts

than a thousand anywhere else.

I would rather be at the door of the house of my God

than to live in the tents of wicked people.

11 For theLordGod is a sun and shield.

TheLordgives grace and glory;

He does not withhold the good

from those who live with integrity.

12 Happy is the person who trusts in You,

Lordof Hosts!

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/PSA/84-e94213b451fe8825abd44330bbe07f92.mp3?version_id=72—

Restoration of Favor

For the choir director. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

1 Lord, You showed favor to Your land;

You restored Jacob’s prosperity.

2 You took away Your people’s guilt;

You covered all their sin.Selah

3 You withdrew all Your fury;

You turned from Your burning anger.

4 Return to us, God of our salvation,

and abandon Your displeasure with us.

5 Will You be angry with us forever?

Will You prolong Your anger for all generations?

6 Will You not revive us again

so that Your people may rejoice in You?

7 Show us Your faithful love,Lord,

and give us Your salvation.

8 I will listen to what God will say;

surely theLordwill declare peace

to His people, His godly ones,

and not let them go back to foolish ways.

9 His salvation is very near those who fear Him,

so that glory may dwell in our land.

10 Faithful love and truth will join together;

righteousness and peace will embrace.

11 Truth will spring up from the earth,

and righteousness will look down from heaven.

12 Also, theLordwill provide what is good,

and our land will yield its crops.

13 Righteousness will go before Him

to prepare the way for His steps.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/PSA/85-9b15f214e4de8acfefa9a636ea6f600c.mp3?version_id=72—

Lament and Petition

A Davidic prayer.

1 Listen,Lord, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

2 Protect my life, for I am faithful.

You are my God; save Your servant who trusts in You.

3 Be gracious to me, Lord,

for I call to You all day long.

4 Bring joy to Your servant’s life,

because I turn to You, Lord.

5 For You, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive,

rich in faithful love to all who call on You.

6 Lord, hear my prayer;

listen to my plea for mercy.

7 I call on You in the day of my distress,

for You will answer me.

8 Lord, there is no one like You among the gods,

and there are no works like Yours.

9 All the nations You have made

will come and bow down before You, Lord,

and will honor Your name.

10 For You are great and perform wonders;

You alone are God.

11 Teach me Your way, Yahweh,

and I will live by Your truth.

Give me an undivided mind to fear Your name.

12 I will praise You with all my heart, Lord my God,

and will honor Your name forever.

13 For Your faithful love for me is great,

and You deliver my life from the depths of Sheol.

14 God, arrogant people have attacked me;

a gang of ruthless men seeks my life.

They have no regard for You.

15 But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,

slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me.

Give Your strength to Your servant;

save the son of Your female servant.

17 Show me a sign of Your goodness;

my enemies will see and be put to shame

because You,Lord, have helped and comforted me.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/PSA/86-80bbe4aa62569ab810235dad92fa8365.mp3?version_id=72—

Zion, the City of God

A psalm of the sons of Korah. A song.

1 His foundation is on the holy mountains.

2 TheLordloves the gates of Zion

more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

3 Glorious things are said about you,

city of God.Selah

4 “I will mention those who know Me:

Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush —

each one was born there.”

5 And it will be said of Zion,

“This one and that one were born in her.”

The Most High Himself will establish her.

6 When He registers the peoples,

theLordwill record,

“This one was born there.”Selah

7 Singers and dancers alike will say,

“My whole source of joy isin you.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/PSA/87-959a39de36db8de6c6d388fa86120765.mp3?version_id=72—

A Cry of Desperation

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

1 Lord, God of my salvation,

I cry out before You day and night.

2 May my prayer reach Your presence;

listen to my cry.

3 For I have had enough troubles,

and my life is near Sheol.

4 I am counted among those going down to the Pit.

I am like a man without strength,

5 abandonedamong the dead.

I am like the slain lying in the grave,

whom You no longer remember,

and who are cut off from Your care.

6 You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit,

in the darkest places, in the depths.

7 Your wrath weighs heavily on me;

You have overwhelmed me with all Your waves.Selah

8 You have distanced my friends from me;

You have made me repulsive to them.

I am shut in and cannot go out.

9 My eyes are worn out from crying.

Lord, I cry out to You all day long;

I spread out my hands to You.

10 Do You work wonders for the dead?

Do departed spirits rise up to praise You?Selah

11 Will Your faithful love be declared in the grave,

Your faithfulness in Abaddon?

12 Will Your wonders be known in the darkness

or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

13 But I call to You for help,Lord;

in the morning my prayer meets You.

14 Lord, why do You reject me?

Why do You hide Your face from me?

15 From my youth,

I have been afflicted and near death.

I suffer Your horrors; I am desperate.

16 Your wrath sweeps over me;

Your terrors destroy me.

17 They surround me like water all day long;

they close in on me from every side.

18 You have distanced loved one and neighbor from me;

darkness is my only friend.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/PSA/88-b95334e263eb4ab676f656277e06cd82.mp3?version_id=72—

Perplexity about God’s Promises

A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

1 I will sing about theLord’s faithful love forever;

I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations

with my mouth.

2 For I will declare,

“Faithful love is built up forever;

You establish Your faithfulness in the heavens.”

3 TheLordsaid,

“I have made a covenant with My chosen one;

I have sworn an oath to David My servant:

4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever

and build up your throne for all generations.’ ”Selah

5 Lord, the heavens praise Your wonders—

Your faithfulness also —

in the assembly of the holy ones.

6 For who in the skies can compare with theLord?

Who among the heavenly beingsis like theLord?

7 God is greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,

more awe-inspiring thanall who surround Him.

8 LordGod of Hosts,

who is strong like You,Lord?

Your faithfulness surrounds You.

9 You rule the raging sea;

when its waves surge, You still them.

10 You crushed Rahab like one who is slain;

You scattered Your enemies with Your powerful arm.

11 The heavens are Yours; the earth also is Yours.

The world and everything in it — You founded them.

12 North and south — You created them.

Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.

13 You have a mighty arm;

Your hand is powerful;

Your right hand is lifted high.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation

of Your throne;

faithful love and truth go before You.

15 Happy are the people who know the joyful shout;

Yahweh, they walk in the light of Your presence.

16 They rejoice in Your name all day long,

and they are exalted by Your righteousness.

17 For You are their magnificent strength;

by Your favor our horn is exalted.

18 Surely our shieldbelongs to theLord,

our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19 You once spoke in a vision to Your loyal ones

and said: “I have granted help to a warrior;

I have exalted one chosenfrom the people.

20 I have found David My servant;

I have anointed him with My sacred oil.

21 My hand will always be with him,

and My arm will strengthen him.

22 The enemy will not afflicthim;

no wicked man will oppress him.

23 I will crush his foes before him

and strike those who hate him.

24 My faithfulness and love will be with him,

and through My name

his horn will be exalted.

25 I will extend his power to the sea

and his right hand to the rivers.

26 He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father,

my God, the rock of my salvation.’

27 I will also make him My firstborn,

greatest of the kings of the earth.

28 I will always preserve My faithful love for him,

and My covenant with him will endure.

29 I will establish his line forever,

his throne as long as heaven lasts.

30 If his sons forsake My instruction

and do not live by My ordinances,

31 if they dishonor My statutes

and do not keep My commands,

32 then I will call their rebellion

to account with the rod,

their sin with blows.

33 But I will not withdraw

My faithful love from him

or betray My faithfulness.

34 I will not violate My covenant

or change what My lips have said.

35 Once and for all

I have sworn an oath by My holiness;

I will not lie to David.

36 His offspring will continue forever,

his throne like the sun before Me,

37 like the moon, established forever,

a faithful witness in the sky.”Selah

38 But You have spurned and rejected him;

You have become enraged with Your anointed.

39 You have repudiated the covenant with Your servant;

You have completely dishonored his crown.

40 You have broken down all his walls;

You have reduced his fortified cities to ruins.

41 All who pass by plunder him;

he has become an object of ridicule

to his neighbors.

42 You have lifted high the right hand of his foes;

You have made all his enemies rejoice.

43 You have also turned back his sharp sword

and have not let him stand in battle.

44 You have made his splendorcease

and have overturned his throne.

45 You have shortened the days of his youth;

You have covered him with shame.Selah

46 How long,Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever?

Will Your anger keep burning like fire?

47 Remember how short my life is.

Have You created everyone for nothing?

48 What man can live and never see death?

Who can save himself from the power of Sheol?Selah

49 Lord, where are the former acts of Your faithful love

that You swore to David in Your faithfulness?

50 Remember, Lord, the ridicule against Your servants —

in my heart I carry abuse from all the peoples —

51 how Your enemies have ridiculed,Lord,

how they have ridiculed every step of Your anointed.

52 May theLordbe praised forever.

Amen and amen.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/PSA/89-7964d8f8010f392cfdea633cdea06372.mp3?version_id=72—

Eternal God and Mortal Man

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

1 Lord, You have been our refuge

in every generation.

2 Before the mountains were born,

before You gave birth to the earth and the world,

from eternity to eternity, You are God.

3 You return mankind to the dust,

saying, “Return, descendants of Adam.”

4 For in Your sight a thousand years

are like yesterday that passes by,

like a few hours of the night.

5 You end their lives;they sleep.

They are like grass that grows in the morning —

6 in the morning it sprouts and grows;

by evening it withers and dries up.

7 For we are consumed by Your anger;

we are terrified by Your wrath.

8 You have set our unjust ways before You,

our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

9 For all our days ebb away under Your wrath;

we end our years like a sigh.

10 Our lives lastseventy years

or, if we are strong, eighty years.

Even the best of them arestruggle and sorrow;

indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.

11 Who understands the power of Your anger?

Your wrath matches the fear that is due You.

12 Teach us to number our days carefully

so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.

13 Lord— how long?

Turn and have compassion on Your servants.

14 Satisfy us in the morning with Your faithful love

so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days.

15 Make us rejoice for as many days as You have humbled us,

for as many years as we have seen adversity.

16 Let Your work be seen by Your servants,

and Your splendor by their children.

17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us;

establish for us the work of our hands —

establish the work of our hands!

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/PSA/90-7cd16758a12a6a15a7c67f817517b9e7.mp3?version_id=72—