Psalms 73; Psalms 74; Psalms 75; Psalms 76; Psalms 77; Psalms 78; Psalms 79; Psalms 80; Psalms 81; Psalms 82; Psalms 83

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Psalms 73

1 Truly God is good to the upright, to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped.

3 For I was envious of the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pain; their bodies are sound and sleek.

5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not plagued like other people.

6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them like a garment.

7 Their eyes swell out with fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.

8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.

9 They set their mouths against heaven, and their tongues range over the earth.

10 Therefore the people turn and praise them, and find no fault in them.

11 And they say, "How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?"

12 Such are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.

13 All in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.

14 For all day long I have been plagued, and am punished every morning.

15 If I had said, "I will talk on in this way," I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.

16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,

17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end.

18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.

19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!

20 They are like a dream when one awakes; on awaking you despise their phantoms.

21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,

22 I was stupid and ignorant; I was like a brute beast toward you.

23 Nevertheless I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.

24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me with honor.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27 Indeed, those who are far from you will perish; you put an end to those who are false to you.

28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, to tell of all your works.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalms 74

1 O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

2 Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago, which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage. Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.

3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.

4 Your foes have roared within your holy place; they set up their emblems there.

5 At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes.

6 And then, with hatchets and hammers, they smashed all its carved work.

7 They set your sanctuary on fire; they desecrated the dwelling place of your name, bringing it to the ground.

8 They said to themselves, "We will utterly subdue them"; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

9 We do not see our emblems; there is no longer any prophet, and there is no one among us who knows how long.

10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

11 Why do you hold back your hand; why do you keep your hand in your bosom?

12 Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the earth.

13 You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.

14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

15 You cut openings for springs and torrents; you dried up ever-flowing streams.

16 Yours is the day, yours also the night; you established the luminaries and the sun.

17 You have fixed all the bounds of the earth; you made summer and winter.

18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs, and an impious people reviles your name.

19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals; do not forget the life of your poor forever.

20 Have regard for your covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.

21 Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.

22 Rise up, O God, plead your cause; remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.

23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.

Psalms 75

1 We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks; your name is near. People tell of your wondrous deeds.

2 At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity.

3 When the earth totters, with all its inhabitants, it is I who keep its pillars steady. (Selah)

4 I say to the boastful, "Do not boast," and to the wicked, "Do not lift up your horn;

5 do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with insolent neck."

6 For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up;

7 but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.

8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed; he will pour a draught from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

9 But I will rejoice forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

10 All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

Psalms 76

1 In Judah God is known, his name is great in Israel.

2 His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.

3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. (Selah)

4 Glorious are you, more majestic than the everlasting mountains.

5 The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; none of the troops was able to lift a hand.

6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.

7 But you indeed are awesome! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?

8 From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still

9 when God rose up to establish judgment, to save all the oppressed of the earth. (Selah)

10 Human wrath serves only to praise you, when you bind the last bit of your wrath around you.

11 Make vows to the Lord your God, and perform them; let all who are around him bring gifts to the one who is awesome,

12 who cuts off the spirit of princes, who inspires fear in the kings of the earth.

Psalms 77

1 I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, that he may hear me.

2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.

3 I think of God, and I moan; I meditate, and my spirit faints. (Selah)

4 You keep my eyelids from closing; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5 I consider the days of old, and remember the years of long ago.

6 I commune with my heart in the night; I meditate and search my spirit:

7 "Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable?

8 Has his steadfast love ceased forever? Are his promises at an end for all time?

9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?" (Selah)

10 And I say, "It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed."

11 I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your wonders of old.

12 I will meditate on all your work, and muse on your mighty deeds.

13 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is so great as our God?

14 You are the God who works wonders; you have displayed your might among the peoples.

15 With your strong arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. (Selah)

16 When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; the very deep trembled.

17 The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered; your arrows flashed on every side.

18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.

19 Your way was through the sea, your path, through the mighty waters; yet your footprints were unseen.

20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalms 78

1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,

3 things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us.

4 We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.

5 He established a decree in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children;

6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and rise up and tell them to their children,

7 so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;

8 and that they should not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.

10 They did not keep God's covenant, but refused to walk according to his law.

11 They forgot what he had done, and the miracles that he had shown them.

12 In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.

13 He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.

14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all night long with a fiery light.

15 He split rocks open in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

16 He made streams come out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

17 Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

18 They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.

19 They spoke against God, saying, "Can God spread a table in the wilderness?

20 Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out and torrents overflowed, can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people?"

21 Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage; a fire was kindled against Jacob, his anger mounted against Israel,

22 because they had no faith in God, and did not trust his saving power.

23 Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven;

24 he rained down on them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven.

25 Mortals ate of the bread of angels; he sent them food in abundance.

26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;

27 he rained flesh upon them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas;

28 he let them fall within their camp, all around their dwellings.

29 And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.

30 But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths,

31 the anger of God rose against them and he killed the strongest of them, and laid low the flower of Israel.

32 In spite of all this they still sinned; they did not believe in his wonders.

33 So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.

34 When he killed them, they sought for him; they repented and sought God earnestly.

35 They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.

36 But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.

37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not true to his covenant.

38 Yet he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; often he restrained his anger, and did not stir up all his wrath.

39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not come again.

40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!

41 They tested God again and again, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42 They did not keep in mind his power, or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;

43 when he displayed his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.

44 He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.

45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.

46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar, and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost.

48 He gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts.

49 He let loose on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.

50 He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.

51 He struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52 Then he led out his people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54 And he brought them to his holy hill, to the mountain that his right hand had won.

55 He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56 Yet they tested the Most High God, and rebelled against him. They did not observe his decrees,

57 but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors; they twisted like a treacherous bow.

58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.

59 When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.

60 He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mortals,

61 and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe.

62 He gave his people to the sword, and vented his wrath on his heritage.

63 Fire devoured their young men, and their girls had no marriage song.

64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.

65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a warrior shouting because of wine.

66 He put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting disgrace.

67 He rejected the tent of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;

68 but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.

69 He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.

70 He chose his servant David, and took him from the sheepfolds;

71 from tending the nursing ewes he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel, his inheritance.

72 With upright heart he tended them, and guided them with skillful hand.

Psalms 79

1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

2 They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.

3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.

4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.

5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?

6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.

7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.

8 Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.

9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name's sake.

10 Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes.

11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power preserve those doomed to die.

12 Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord!

13 Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Psalms 80

1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth

2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us!

3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

4 O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?

5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.

6 You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves.

7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.

9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches;

11 it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River.

12 Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?

13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.

14 Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,

15 the stock that your right hand planted.

16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.

17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.

18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.

19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Psalms 81

1 Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob.

2 Raise a song, sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.

3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our festal day.

4 For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

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

6 "I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket.

7 In distress you called, and I rescued you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. (Selah)

8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you; O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

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

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.

11 "But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.

12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.

13 O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!

14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes.

15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, and their doom would last forever.

16 I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

Psalms 82

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

2 "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? (Selah)

3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.

4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I say, "You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you;

7 nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince."

8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you!

Psalms 83

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

2 Even now your enemies are in tumult; those who hate you have raised their heads.

3 They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against those you protect.

4 They say, "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more."

5 They conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant—

6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites,

7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;

8 Assyria also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. (Selah)

9 Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the Wadi Kishon,

10 who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

12 who said, "Let us take the pastures of God for our own possession."

13 O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind.

14 As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,

15 so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane.

16 Fill their faces with shame, so that they may seek your name, O Lord.

17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace.

18 Let them know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.