 chapters 21 through 30 of the Book of Psalms from the World English Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Reading by Robin Cotter December 2007 The Book of Psalms from the World English Bible, chapters 21 through 30 Psalm 21 For the Chief Musician, a Psalm by David The King rejoices in your strength, Yahweh, how greatly he rejoices in your salvation. You have given him his heart's desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Sela. For you meet him with the blessings of goodness, you set a crown of fine gold on his head. He asked life of you, you gave it to him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in your salvation, you lay honour and majesty on him. For you make him most blessed for ever. You make him glad with joy in your presence, for the King trusts in Yahweh. Through the loving-kindness of the most high, he shall not be moved. Your hand will find out all of your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them. You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from among the children of men. For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed. For you will make them turn their back when you aim drawn bows at their face. Be exalted, Yahweh, in your strength, so we will sing and praise your power. Psalm 22 For the chief musician, set to the doe of the morning, a Psalm by David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning? My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don't answer. In the night season and them not silent. But you are holy, you who inhabit the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in you. They trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were delivered. They trusted in you and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and no man. A reproach of men and despised by the people. All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads saying, He trusts in Yahweh. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, since he delights in him. But you brought me out of the womb. You made me trust at my mother's breasts. I was thrown on you from my mother's womb. You are my God since my mother bore me. Don't be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open their mouths wide against me. Lions tearing prey and roaring. I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a pot-sert. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. Like a lion they pin my hands and feet. I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing. But don't be far off, Yahweh. You are my help. Hurry to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword. My precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth. Yes, from the horns of the wild oxen you have answered me. I will declare your name to my brothers. In the midst of the assembly I will praise you. You who fear Yahweh, praise him. All you descendants of Jacob glorify him. Stand in awe of him. All you descendants of Israel. For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Neither has he hidden his face from him. But when he cried to him he heard. Of you comes my praise in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him. The humble shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise Yahweh who seek after him. Let your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you. For the kingdom is Yahweh's. He is the ruler over the nations. All the rich ones of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him. Even he who can't keep his soul alive. Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about the Lord. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born for he has done it. Psalm 23 A Psalm by David Yahweh is my shepherd. I shall lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely goodness and loving-kindness shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in Yahweh's house forever. Psalm 24 A Psalm by David The earth is Yahweh's with its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it on the seas and established it on the floods. Who may ascend to Yahweh's hill? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from Yahweh, righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, even Jacob. Selah, lift up your heads, you gates. Be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of Glory will come in. Who is the King of Glory? Yahweh, strong and mighty. Yahweh, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates. Yes, lift them up, you everlasting doors, and the King of Glory will come in. Who is this King of Glory? Yahweh of Armies is the King of Glory. Selah Psalm 25 By David To you, Yahweh, do I lift up my soul. My God, I have trusted in you. Don't let me be shamed. Don't let my enemies triumph over me. Yes, no one who waits for you shall be shamed. They shall be shamed who deal treacherously without cause. Show me your ways, Yahweh. Teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. I wait for you all day long. Yahweh, remember your tender mercies and your loving kindness, for they are from old times. Don't remember the sins of my youth nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness, for your goodness is sake, Yahweh. Good and upright is Yahweh. Therefore he will instruct sinners in the way. He will guide the humble injustice. He will teach the humble his way. All the paths of Yahweh are loving kindness and truth. To such is keep his covenant and his testimonies. For your name's sake, Yahweh, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. What man is he who fears Yahweh? He shall instruct him in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease. His seed shall inherit the land. The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant. My eyes are ever on Yahweh, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Oh, bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my travail. Forgive all my sins. Consider my enemies, for there are many. They hate me with cruel hatred. Oh, keep my soul and deliver me. Let me not be disappointed, for I take refuge in you. That integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. Redeem Israel God out all of his troubles. Psalm 26 by David. Judge me, Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity. I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering. Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind, for your loving kindness is before my eyes. I have walked in your truth. I have not sat with deceitful men. Neither will I go in with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked. I will wash my hands in innocence, so I will go about your altar, Yahweh. That I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard, and tell of all your wondrous works. Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house. The place where your glory dwells. Don't gather my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands is wickedness. Their right hand is full of bribes. But as for me, I will walk in my integrity. Redeem me, and be merciful to me. My foot stands in an even place. In the congregations I will bless Yahweh. Psalm 27 by David. Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers come at me to eat at my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell. Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, even then I will be confident. One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh, all the days of my life, to see Yahweh's beauty, and to inquire in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the covert of his tent he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock. Now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me. I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tent. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Yahweh. Here, Yahweh, when I cry with my voice, have mercy also on me, and answer me. When you said, Seek my face, my heart said to you, I will seek your face, Yahweh. Don't hide your face from me. Don't put your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Don't abandon me. Here forsake me, God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake me, then Yahweh will take me up. Teach me your way, Yahweh. Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies. Don't deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries. For false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty. I am still confident of this. I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living. Wait for Yahweh. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for Yahweh. Psalm 28 by David. To you, Yahweh, I call. My rock, don't be deaf to me. Lest if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit. Hear the voice of my petitions when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy place. Don't draw me away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors. But mischief is in their hearts. Give them according to their work and according to the wickedness of their doings. Give them according to the operation of their hands. Bring back on them what they deserve, because they don't regard the works of Yahweh nor the operation of his hands. He will break them down and not build them up. Blessed be Yahweh, as he has heard the voice of my petitions. Yahweh is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song I will thank him. Yahweh is their strength. He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed. Save your people, and bless your inheritance. Be their shepherd also, and bear them up for ever. Psalm 29 A Psalm by David Ascribe to Yahweh, you sons of the mighty. Ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength. Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due to his name. Worship Yahweh in holy array. Yahweh's voice is on the waters. The God of glory thunders. Even Yahweh on many waters. Yahweh's voice is powerful. Yahweh's voice is full of majesty. The voice of Yahweh breaks the cedars. Yes, Yahweh breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them all to skip like a calf. Lebanon and Syrion like a young wild ox. Yahweh's voice strikes with flashes of lightning. Yahweh's voice shakes the wilderness. Yahweh shakes the wilderness of Qadesh. Yahweh's voice makes the deer cav and strips the forests bare. In his temple everything says, Glory! Yahweh sat and throned at the flood. Yes, Yahweh sits as king forever. Yahweh will give strength to his people. Yahweh will bless his people with peace. Psalm 30 A Psalm A Psalm for the dedication of the temple by David. I will extol you, Yahweh, for you have raised me up and have not made my foes to rejoice over me. Yahweh, my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me. Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit. Sing praise to Yahweh, you saints of His. Give thanks to His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning. As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved. You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountains stand strong. But when you hid your face, I was troubled. I cried to you, Yahweh. To Yahweh I made supplication. What profit is there in my destruction if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth? Hear Yahweh and have mercy on me. Yahweh, be my helper. You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sack cloth and clothed me with gladness. To the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent. Yahweh, my God, I will give thanks to you, for ever. End of chapters 21 through 30, chapters 31 through 40 of the Book of Psalms from the World English Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Reading by Robin Cotter, December 2007. The Book of Psalms from the World English Bible, chapters 31 through 40. Psalm 31, for the Chief Musician, a Psalm by David. In you, Yahweh, I take refuge. Let me never be disappointed. Deliver me in your righteousness. Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me. For you are my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for your name's sake, lead me and guide me. Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me. For you are my stronghold. Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth. I hate those who regard lying vanities. But I trust in Yahweh. I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness. For you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities. You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place. Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief. For my life is spent with sorrow. My years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away. Because of all my adversaries, I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors. A fear to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me. I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery. For I have heard the slander of many terror on every side, while they conspire together against me. They plot to take away my life. But I trust in you, Yahweh. I said, you are my God. My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your loving kindness. Let me not be disappointed, Yahweh, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be disappointed. Let them be silent in shield. Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt. Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men. In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues. Praise be to Yahweh, for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city. As for me, I said in my haste, I am cut off from before your eyes. Nevertheless, you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you. Oh, love, Yahweh, all you, his saints. Yahweh preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly. Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in Yahweh. Psalm 32 by David, a contemplative Psalm. Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn't impute iniquity. In whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer. Cella. I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn't hide my iniquity. I said I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Cella. For this let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow they shall not reach to him. You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Cella. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you. Don't be like the horse or like the mule which have no understanding, who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you. Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh. Be glad in Yahweh and rejoice you righteous. Shout for joy all you who are upright in heart. Psalm 33. Rejoice in Yahweh you righteous. Praise is fitting for the upright. Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre. Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings. Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy. For the word of Yahweh is right. All his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the loving kindness of Yahweh. By Yahweh's word the heavens were made, all their army by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear Yahweh. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood firm. Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect. The counsel of Yahweh stands fast forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. Yahweh looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth. He who fashions all of their hearts and he considers all of their works. There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety. Neither does he deliver any by his great power. Behold Yahweh's eye is on those who fear him. On those who hope in his loving kindness to deliver their soul from death to keep them alive in famine. Our soul has waited for Yahweh. He is our hope and our shield. For our heart rejoices in him because we have trusted in his holy name. Let your loving kindness be on us, Yahweh, since we have hoped in you. Psalm 34 By David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed, I will bless Yahweh at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth. My soul shall boast in Yahweh. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. O magnify Yahweh with me. Let us exalt his name together. I sought Yahweh and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to him and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame. This poor man cried and Yahweh heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of Yahweh encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. O taste and see that Yahweh is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. O fear, Yahweh, you his saints, for there is no lack with those who fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh, who is someone who desires life and loves many days that he may see good. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. Yahweh's eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry. Yahweh's face is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry and Yahweh hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart and saves those who have a crushed spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all. He protects all of his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned. Psalm 35 by David. Contend, Yahweh, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler and stand up for my help. Brandish the spear and block those who pursue me. Tell my soul I am your salvation. Let those who seek after my soul be disappointed and brought to dishonor. Let those who plot my ruin be turned back and confounded. Let them be as chaff before the wind. Yahweh's angel driving them on. Let their way be dark and slippery. Yahweh's angel pursuing them. For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul. Let destruction come on him unawares. Let his net that he is hidden catch himself. Let him fall into that destruction. My soul shall be joyful in Yahweh. It shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, Yahweh, who is like you, who delivers the poor from him, who is too strong for him. Yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him. Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don't know about. They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom. I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning as one who mourns his mother. But in my adversity they rejoiced and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn't know it. They tore at me and didn't cease. Like the profane mockers in feasts they gnashed their teeth at me. Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my soul from their destruction. My precious life from the lions. I will give you thanks in the great assembly. I will praise you among many people. Don't let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me. Neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes. For they don't speak peace. But they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land. Yes, they opened their mouth wide against me. They said, Aha! Aha! Our eye has seen it. You have seen it, Yahweh. Don't keep silent. Lord, don't be far from me. Wake up. Rise up to defend me, my God. My Lord, contend for me. Vindicate me, Yahweh, my God, according to your righteousness. Don't let them gloat over me. Don't let them say in their heart, Aha! That's the way we want it. Don't let them say we have swallowed him up. Let them be disappointed and confounded together, who rejoiced my calamity. Let them be clothed with shame and dishonour, who magnify themselves against me. Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favour my righteous cause. Yes, let them say continually, Yahweh, be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. My tongue shall talk about your righteousness and about your praise all day long. Psalm 36 For the Chief Musician by David, the Servant of Yahweh An oracle is within my heart about the disobedience of the wicked. There is no fear of God before his eyes, for he flatters himself in his own eyes too much to detect and hate his sin. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good. He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn't abhor evil. Your loving-kindness, Yahweh, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. Yahweh, you preserve man and animal. How precious is your loving-kindness, God. The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures. For with you is the spring of life. In your light shall we see light. O, continue your loving-kindness to those who know you. Your righteousness to the upright in heart. Don't let the foot of pride come against me. Don't let the hand of the wicked drive me away. They are the workers of iniquity or fallen. They are thrust down and shall not be able to rise. Psalm 37 by David. Don't fret because of evildoers. Neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in Yahweh and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to Yahweh. Trust also in Him, and He will do this. He will make your righteousness go forth as the light and your justice as the noonday sun. Rest in Yahweh and wait patiently for Him. Don't fret because of Him who prospers in His way, because of the man who makes wicked plots happen. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Don't fret. It leads only to evildoing. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for Yahweh shall inherit the land. For yet a little while and the wicked will be no more. Yes, though you look for His place, He isn't there. But the humble shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at Him with His teeth. The Lord will laugh at Him, for He sees that His day is coming. The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill those who are upright in the way. Their sword shall enter into their own heart, their bows shall be broken. Better is a little than the righteous has, than the abundance of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but Yahweh upholds the righteous. Yahweh knows the days of the perfect, their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be disappointed in the time of evil. In the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish. The enemies of Yahweh shall be like the beauty of the fields. They will vanish, vanish like smoke. The wicked borrow and don't pay back, but the righteous give generously. For such as are blessed by Him shall inherit the land. Those who are cursed by Him shall be cut off. A man's goings are established by Yahweh. He delights in his way. Though he stumble, he shall not fall. For Yahweh holds him up with his hand. I have been young and now am old. Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread. All day long he deals graciously and lends. His seed is blessed. Depart from evil and do good. Live securely forever. For Yahweh loves justice, and doesn't forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, and live in it forever. The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom. His tongue speaks justice. The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to kill him. Yahweh will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. Wait for Yahweh and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. But he passed away, and to behold he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, and see the upright. For there is a future for the man of peace. As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed together. The future of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh. He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. Yahweh helps them and rescues them. He rescues them from the wicked, and saves them, because they have taken refuge in him. Psalm 38 A Psalm by David for a memorial. Yahweh, don't rebuke me in your wrath. Neither trust in me in your hot displeasure. For your arrows have pierced me. Your hand presses hard on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation. Neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. My wounds are loathsome and corrupt because of my foolishness. I am pained and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long. For my waist is filled with burning. There is no soundness in my flesh. I am faint and severely bruised. I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before you. My groaning is not hidden from you. My heart throbs. My strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes it has also left me. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away. They also who seek after my life lay snares. Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things and meditate deceits all day long. But I as a deaf man don't hear. I am as a mute man who doesn't open his mouth. Yes, I am as a man who doesn't hear. In whose mouth are no reproofs. For in you, Yahweh, do I hope? You will answer, Lord, my God. For I said, Don't let them gloat over me or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips. For I am ready to fall. My pain is continually before me. For I will declare my iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin. But my enemies are vigorous and many. Those who hate me without reason are numerous. They who also render evil for good are adversaries to me. Because I follow what is good. Don't forsake me, Yahweh. My God, don't be far from me. Hurry to help me, Lord, my salvation. Psalm 39. For the chief musician. For Jeddathan. A Psalm by David. I said, I will watch my ways so that I don't sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned. I spoke with my tongue. Yahweh, show me my end. What is the measure of my days? Let me know how frail I am. Behold, you have made my days handbreds. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath. Sela. Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up and doesn't know who shall gather. Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don't make me reproach of the foolish. I was mute. I didn't open my mouth because you did it. Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand. When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath. Sela. Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry. Don't be silent at my tears, for I am a stranger with you, a foreigner as all my fathers were. Oh, spare me that I may recover strength before I go away and exist no more. Psalm 40 for the chief musician, a Psalm by David. I waited patiently for Yahweh. He turned to me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of the horrible pit out of the Myrie clay. He said my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in Yahweh. Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust and doesn't respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many Yahweh, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us. They can't be declared back to you. If I would declare and speak of them, there are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering you didn't desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering. Then I said, Behold, I have come. It is written about me in the book and the scroll. I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart. I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the Great Assembly. Behold, I will not seal my lips, Yahweh. You know. I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart. I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the Great Assembly. Don't withhold your tender mercies from me, Yahweh. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have surrounded me. My inequities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. There are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me. Be pleased, Yahweh, to deliver me. Hurry to help me, Yahweh. Let them be disappointed and confounded together, who seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor, who delight in my hurt. Let them be desolate by reason of their shame that tell me, Aha! Aha! Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let such as love your salvation say continually, Let Yahweh be exalted. But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don't delay, my God. End of CHAPTERS 41 THROUGH FOURTY CHAPTERS 41 THROUGH FIFTY of the book of Psalms from the World English Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Book of Psalms from the World English Bible, CHAPTERS 41-50 Psalm 41 For the Chief Musician, a Psalm by David. Blessed is he who considers the poor, Yahweh will deliver him in the Day of Evil. Yahweh will preserve him and keep him alive. He shall be blessed on the earth, and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies. Yahweh will sustain him on his sick bed and restore him from his bed of illness. I said, Yahweh, have mercy on me. Heal me, for I have sinned against you. My enemies speak evil against me. When will he die, and his name perish? If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it. All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the worst for me. An evil disease, they say, has afflicted him. Now that he lies, he shall rise up no more. Yes, my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me. But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them. By this I know that you delighted me, because my enemy doesn't triumph over me. As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set me in your presence forever. Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting. Amen and amen. Psalm 42 For the chief musician, a contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the dear pants for the water-brooks, sew my soul pants after you, God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, Where is your God? These things I remember and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day. Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence. My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizer. Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me. Yahweh will command his loving kindness in the daytime. In the night his song shall be with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I will ask God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, Where is your God? Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall praise him, the saving help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 43 Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation. O, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men, for you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, to your tents. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God. Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall praise him, my Saviour, my Helper, and my God. Psalm 44 For the chief musician, by the sons of Korah, a contemplative Psalm We have heard with our ears, God, our fathers have told us what work you did in their days in the days of old. You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad. For they didn't get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arms save them, but your right hand and your arm and the light of your face, because you were favourable to them. You are my King, God. Command victories for Jacob. Through you we will push down our adversaries. Through your name we will tread them under, who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But you have saved us from our adversaries, and have shamed those who hate us. In God we have made our boast all day long. We will give thanks to your name forever. But now you rejected us and brought us to dishonour, and you don't go out with our armies. You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take spoil for themselves. You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations. You sell your people for nothing, and have gained nothing from their sale. You make us a reproach to our neighbours, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us. You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the people. All day long my dishonour is before me, and shame covers my face, at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses, because of the enemy in the Avenger. All this has come upon us. Yet we have not forgotten you, neither have we been false to your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, neither have our steps strayed from your path, though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death. If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread forth our hands to a strange God, won't God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart. Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter. Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don't reject us forever. Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the earth, our body cleaves to the earth. Rise up to help us, redeem us for your loving kindness's sake. Psalm 45 For the chief musician, set to the lilies, a contemplation by the sons of Korah, a wedding song. My heart overflows with a noble theme. I recite my verses for the king. My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer. You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever. Guard your sword on your thigh, mighty one, your splendor and your majesty. In your majesty, ride on victoriously in behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness. Let your right hand display awesome deeds. Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you with arrows in the heart of the king's enemies. Your throne, God, is forever and ever. A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. All your garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia. Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad. King's daughters are among your honorable women. At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir. Listen, daughter, consider and turn your ear, forget your own people, and also your father's house, so the king will desire your beauty. Honor him, for he is your Lord. The daughter of tear comes with a gift. The rich among the people entreat your favor. The princess inside is all glorious. Her clothing is interwoven with gold. She shall be led to the king in embroidered work. The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you. With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led. They shall enter into the king's palace. Your sons will take the place of your fathers. You shall make them princes in all the earth. I will make your name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore the people shall give you thanks for ever and ever. Psalm 46 For the chief musician, by the sons of Korah, according to Alamoth. God is our revenge and strength, a very present help and trouble. Therefore we won't be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas, though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling, Sela. There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tents of the Most High. God is in her midst. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn. The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He lifted his voice and the earth melted. Yahweh of armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge, Sela. Psalm 46 Come, see Yahweh's works. What desolations he has made in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. Yahweh of armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge, Sela. Psalm 47 For the chief musician, a Psalm by the sons of Korah. Oh, clap your hands all you nations. Shout to God with the voice of triumph. For Yahweh Most High is awesome. He is a great king over all the earth. He subdues nations under us and peoples under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom he loved, Sela. God has gone up with a shout. Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praise to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our king. Sing praises. For God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with understanding. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted. Psalm 48 A song, a Psalm by the sons of Korah. Great is Yahweh and greatly to be praised in the city of our God in his holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great king. God has shown himself in her citadels as a refuge. For behold, the kings assembled themselves. They passed by together. They saw it. Then they were amazed. They were dismayed. They hurried away. Trembling to cold of them there, pain as of a woman in travail. With the east wind you break the ships of Tarshish. As we have seen, so we have seen, in the city of Yahweh of Armes, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever, sela. We have thought about your loving kindness, God, in the midst of your temple. As is your name, God, so is your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad. Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments. Walk about Zion and go around her. Number its towers. Mark well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces that you may tell it to the next generation. For this God is our God for ever and ever. He will be our guide even to death. Psalm 49 for the chief musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart shall utter understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will open my riddle on the harp. Why should I fear in the days of evil when iniquity at my heels surrounds me? Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough, that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption. For he sees that wise men die, likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is that their houses were in door forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves. But man, despite his riches, doesn't endure. He is like the animals that perish. This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. Selah. They are appointed as a flock for shill. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in shill, far from their mansion. But God will redeem my soul from the power of shill, for he will receive me. Selah. Don't be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased, for when he dies he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul, and men praise you when you do well for others, he shall go to the generation of his fathers, they shall never see the light. A man who has riches without understanding is like the animals that perish. Psalm 50. A Psalm by Asaph. The mighty one, God, Yahweh, speaks, and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him. He calls to the heavens above, gather to the earth that he may judge his peoples. Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah. Hear my peoples, and I will speak, Israel, and I will testify against you. I am God, your God. I don't rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me. I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens. For every animal of the forest is mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, the wild animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and all that is in it. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Pay your vows to the most high. Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me. But to the wicked, God says, what right do you have to declare my statutes that you have taken my covenant on your lips, seeing you hate instruction and throw my words behind you? When you saw a thief you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son. You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you and accuse you in front of your eyes. Now consider this, you forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, and prepares his way so that I will show God's salvation to him. CHAPTER 51 For the chief musician, a Psalm by David, when Nathan the Prophet came to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me against you, and you only have I sinned. And done that which is evil in your sight, that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities. Salvation me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Don't throw me from your presence, and don't take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me, with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressions your ways. Sinners shall be converted to you. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness. Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall declare your praise. For you don't delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness. In burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings, then they will offer bulls on your altar. Psalm 52 For the chief musician, a contemplation by David when Daogh the Edomite came and told Saul, David has come to a Vimalek's house. Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man? God's loving kindness endures continually. Your tongue plots destruction like a sharp razor working deceitfully. You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking the truth. Selah. You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue. God will likewise destroy you forever. He will take you up and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah. The righteous also will see it and fear and laugh at him, saying, Behold, this is the man who didn't make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness. But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in God's house. I trust in God's loving kindness forever and ever. I will give you thanks forever because you have done it. I will hope in your name for it is good in the presence of your saints. Psalm 53 For the chief musician, to the tune of Mahalath, a contemplation by David. The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt and have done abominable iniquity. There is no one who does good. God looks down from heaven on the children of men to see if there are any who understood, who seek after God. Every one of them has gone back. They have become filthy together. There is no one who does good. No, not one. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread and don't call on God. There they were in great fear, where no fear was, for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you. You have put them to shame because God has rejected them. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion. When God brings back his people from captivity, then Jacob shall rejoice and Israel should be glad. Psalm 54 For the chief musician, on stringed instruments, a contemplation by David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, Isn't David hiding himself among us? Save me, God, by your name. Vindicate me in your might. Hear my prayer, God. Listen to the words of my mouth, for strangers have risen up against me. Different men have sought after my soul. They haven't set God before them. Sela. Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the one who sustains my soul. He will repay the evil to my enemies. Destroy them in your truth. With a free offering I will sacrifice to you. I will give thanks to your name, Yahweh, for it is good. For he has delivered me out of all trouble. My eye has seen triumph over my enemies. Psalm 55 For the chief musician, on stringed instruments, a contemplation by David. Listen to my prayer, God. Don't hide yourself from my supplication. Attend to me and answer me. I am restless in my complaint and moan because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked, for they bring suffering on me. In anger they hold grudge against me. My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on me. Fearfulness and trembling have come on me. Horror has overwhelmed me. I said, Oh, that I had wings like a dove. Then I would fly away and be at rest. Behold, then I would wander far off. I would lodge in the wilderness. Sela. I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and storm. Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language, for I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day and night they prowl around on its walls. Malice and abuse are also within her. Destructive forces are within her. Threats and lies don't depart from her streets. For it was not an enemy who insulted me. Then I could have endured it. Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me. Then I would have hid myself from him. But it was you, a man like me, my companion and my familiar friend. We took sweet fellowship together. We walked in God's house with company. Let death come suddenly on them. Let them go down alive into shill. For wickedness is in their dwelling in the midst of them. As for me I will call on God. Yahweh will save me. Evening, morning, and at noon I will cry out in distress. He will hear my voice. He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, although there are many who oppose me. God who is enthroned forever will hear and answer them. Sela. They never change, who don't fear God. He raises his hands against his friends. He has violated his covenant. His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved. But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you. Psalm 56 For the chief musician to the tune of silent dove in distant lands. A poem by David, when the Philistines seized him in gath. Be merciful to me, God, for a man wants to swallow me up. All day long he attacks and oppresses me. My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me. When I am afraid I will put my trust in you. In God I praise his word. In God I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? All day long they twist my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. They conspire and lurk, watching my steps. They are eager to take my life. Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the people's God. You number my wanderings. You put my tears into your book. Aren't they in your book? Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this, that God is for me. In God I will praise his word. In Yahweh I will praise his word. I have put my trust in God. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Your vows are on me, God. I will give thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death and prevented my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living. Psalm 57 For the chief musician, to the tune of Do Not Destroy, a poem by David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in you. Yes, in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge until disaster has passed. I cry out to God, most high, to God who accomplishes my requests for me. He will send from heaven and save me. He rebukes the one who is pursuing me. Salah. God will send out his loving kindness and his truth. My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. Be exalted, God, above the heavens. Let your glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They dig a pit before me. They fall into its midst themselves. Salah. My heart is steadfast, God. My heart is steadfast. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises. Wake up, my glory. Wake up, psaltery and harp. I will wake up the dawn. I will give thanks to you, Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your great loving kindness reaches to the heavens and your truth to the skies. Be exalted, God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth. Psalm 58. For the chief musician. To the tune of Do Not Destroy, a poem by David. Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men? No, in your hearts you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a snake, like a deaf cobra that stops its ear, which doesn't listen to the voice of charmers, no matter how skillful the charmer may be. Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh. Let them vanish as water flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt. Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child who has not seen the sun. Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike. The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, so that men shall say, Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth. Psalm 59 For the chief musician, to the tune of Do not destroy, a poem by David when Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him. Deliver me from my enemies, my God. Set me on high from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Save me from the bloodthirsty men. For, behold, they lie and wait for my soul. The mighty gathered themselves together against me. Not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, Yahweh. I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. Rise up, behold, and help me. You, Yahweh, God of armies, the God of Israel, rouse yourself to punish the nations. Show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah. They return at evening, howling like dogs, and prowl around the city. Behold, they spew with their mouth. Swords are in their lips. For, they say, who hears us? But you, Yahweh, laugh at them. You scoff at all the nations. Oh, my strength I watch for you, for God is my high tower. My God will go before me with His loving kindness. God will let me look at my enemies in triumph. Don't kill them or my people will forget. Scatter them by your power and bring them down, Lord, our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. For the curses and lies which they utter. Consume them in wrath. Consume them and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah. At evening let them return. Let them howl like a dog and go around the city. They shall wander up and down for food and wait all night if they aren't satisfied. But I will sing of your strength. Yes, I will sing aloud of your loving kindness in the morning. For you have been my high tower, a refuge in the day of my distress. To you my strength I will sing praises, for God is my high tower, the God of my mercy. Psalm 60. For the chief musician to the tune of The Lily of the Covenant, a teaching poem by David, when he fought with Aram Naharem and with Aram Zoba and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand of Edam in the Valley of Salt. God, you have rejected us. You have broken us down. You have been angry. Restore us again. You have made the land tremble. You have torn it. Mend its fractures, for it quakes. You have shown your people hard things. You have made us drink the wine that makes us stagger. You have been a banner to those who fear you that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. So that your beloved may be delivered. Save with your right hand and answer us. God has spoken from his sanctuary. I will triumph. I will divide Shechem and measure out the Valley of Sukkoth. And Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is the defense of my head. Judah is my scepter. Moab is my washbasin. I will throw my shoe on Edam. I shout in triumph over Philistia. Who will bring me into the strong city? Who has led me to Edam? Haven't you God rejected us? You don't go out with our army's God. Give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is vain. Through God we shall do valiantly, for it is he who will tread down our adversaries. End of Psalms 51 through 60. CHAPTERS 61 THROUGH SEVENTY For the chief musician for a stringed instrument by David. Hear my cry, God, listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will call to you when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been a refuge for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will dwell in your tent forever. I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah. For you, God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. You will prolong the king's life, his years shall be for generations. He shall be enthroned in God's presence forever. Appoint your loving kindness and truth that they may preserve him. So I will sing praise to your name forever that I may fulfill my vows daily. Psalm 62 For the chief musician to Jeddothan, a Psalm by David. My soul rests in God alone. My salvation is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I will never be greatly shaken. How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw him down like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence? They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my expectation is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I will not be shaken. With God is my salvation and my honor. The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah. Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath. Don't trust in oppression. Don't become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don't set your heart on them. God has spoken once. Twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God. Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness. For you reward every man according to his work. Psalm 63, a Psalm by David when he was in the desert of Judah. God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory. Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you. So will I bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips when I remember you on my bed, and think about you in the night watches. For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings. My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up. But those who seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall be given over to the power of the sword. They shall be jackal food. But the king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him will praise him. For the mouth of those who speak lies shall be silenced. Psalm 64, for the Chief Musician, a Psalm by David. Hear my voice, God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil, who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words, to shoot innocent men from ambushes. They shoot at him suddenly and fearlessly. They encourage themselves in evil plans. They talk about laying snares secretly. They say, who will see them? They plot injustice, saying, we have made a perfect plan. Surely man's mind and heart are cunning. But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow. Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake their heads. All mankind shall be afraid. They shall declare the work of God, and shall wisely ponder what he has done. The righteous shall be glad in Yahweh, and shall take refuge in him. All the upright in heart shall praise him. Psalm 65. For the chief musician, a Psalm by David, a song. Praise waits for you, God, in Zion. To you shall vows be performed. You who hear prayer, to you all men will come. Sins overwhelmed me, but you atoned for our transgressions. Blessed is the one whom you choose, and cause to come near, that he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your holy temple. By awesome deeds of righteousness you answer us, God of our salvation. You who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, of those who are far away on the sea, who by his power forms the mountains, having armed yourself with strength, who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. They also who dwell in faraway places are afraid at your wonders. You call the mornings dawn, and the evening with songs of joy. You visit the earth and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop. You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance. The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness. The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed with grain. They shout for joy. They also sing. Psalm 66 for the chief musician, a song, a Psalm. Make a joyful shout to God all the earth. Sing to the glory of his name. Offer glory and praise. Tell God how awesome are your deeds. Through the greatness of your power your enemies submit themselves to you. All the earth will worship you and will sing to you. They will sing to your name. Selah Come and see God's deeds. Awesome work on behalf of the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the water on foot. There we rejoiced in him. He rules by his might forever. His eyes watch the nations. Don't let the rebellious rise up against him. Selah Praise our God, you peoples. Make the sound of his praise heard, who preserves our life among the living and doesn't allow our feet to be moved. For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs. You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance. I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you, which my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in distress. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals with the offering of rams. I will offer bowls with goats. Selah Come and hear all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth. He was extolled with my tongue. If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn't have listened. But most certainly God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer nor his loving-kindness from me. Psalm 67 For the chief musician with stringed instruments, a Psalm, a song. May God be merciful to us, bless us, and cause his face to shine on us. Selah That your way may be known on earth and your salvation among all nations, let the peoples praise you, God. Let all the peoples praise you. O, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you will judge the peoples with equity and govern the nations on earth. Selah Let the peoples praise you, God. Let all the peoples praise you. The earth has yielded its increase. God, even our own God, will bless us. God will bless us. All the ends of the earth shall fear him. Psalm 68 For the chief musician, a Psalm by David, a song. Let God arise. Let his enemies be scattered. Let them who hate him also flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish in the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yes, let them rejoice with gladness. Sing to God. Sing praises to his name. Extole him who rides on the clouds. To YAH his name. Rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless and a defender of the widows is God in his holy habitation. God sets the lonely in families. He brings out the prisoners with singing, but the rebellious dwell in a sunscorched land. God, when you went forth before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Silah. The earth trembled. The sky also poured down rain at the presence of the God of Sinai, at the presence of God, the God of Israel. You, God, sent a plentiful rain. You confirmed your inheritance when it was weary. Your congregation lived therein. You, God, prepared your goodness for the poor. The Lord announced the word. The ones who proclaim it are a great company. Kings of armies flee, they flee. She who waits at home divides the spoil, while you sleep among the campfires, the wings of a dove sheathed with silver, her feathers with shining gold. When the Almighty scattered kings in her, it snowed on Zalman. The mountains of Bashun are majestic mountains. The mountains of Bashun are rugged. Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign? Yes, Yahweh will dwell there forever. The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands. The Lord is among them from Sinai into the sanctuary. You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have received gifts among men. Yes, among the rebellious also, that Yah, God, might dwell there. Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burdens, even the God who is our salvation, Silah. God is to us a God of deliverance. To Yahweh the Lord belongs escaped from death. But God will strike through the head of his enemies, the hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness. The Lord said, I will bring you again from Bashun. I will bring you again from the depths of the sea, that you may crush them, dipping your foot in blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies. They have seen your processions, God, even the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, in the midst of the ladies playing with tambourines, blessed God in the congregations, even the Lord in the assembly of Israel. There is little Benjamin, their ruler, the princes of Judah, their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naftali. Your God has commanded your strength. Strengthen, God, that which you have done for us. Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings shall bring presents to you. Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples. Being humbled may it bring bars of silver. Scatter the nations that delight in war. Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God. Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth. Sing praises to the Lord. Sila. To him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old, behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice. Ascribe strength to God. His Excellency is over Israel. His strength is in the skies. You are awesome, God, in your sanctuaries. The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people. Praise be to God. Psalm 69 For the chief musician to the tune of Lillies by David Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail looking for my God. Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn't take away. God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren't hidden from you. Don't let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of armies. Don't let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel. Because for your sake I have borne reproach, shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's children. For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards. But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving-kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and don't let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me and out of the deep waters. Don't let the floodwaters overwhelm me. Neither let the deep swallow me up. Don't let the pit shut its mouth on me. Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving-kindness is good. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me. Don't hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily. Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies. You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you. Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none. For comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food. In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap. Let their eyes be darkened so that they can't see. Let their backs be continually bent. Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them. Let their habitation be desolate. Let no one dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt. Charge them with crime upon crime. Don't let them come into your righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the Book of Life and not be written with the righteous. But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me. I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with thanksgiving. He will please Yahweh better than an ox or a bull that has horns and hoofs. The humble have seen it and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live. For Yahweh hears the needy and doesn't despise his captive people. Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves therein. For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there and own it. The children also of his servants shall inherit it. Those who love his name shall dwell therein. Psalm 70 For the chief musician by David, a reminder. Hurry, God, to deliver me. Come quickly to help me, Yahweh. Let them be disappointed and confounded who seek my soul. Let those who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. Let them be turned because of their shame who say, Aha, Aha. Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation continually say, Let God be exalted. But I am poor and needy. Come quickly to me, God. You are my help and my deliverer. Yahweh, don't delay. End of the Book of Psalms, chapters 61 through 70. Chapter 71 through 80 of the Book of Psalms from the World English Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Book of Psalms from the World English Bible, chapters 71 through 80. Psalm 71 In you, Yahweh, I take refuge. Never let me be disappointed. Deliver me in your righteousness and rescue me. Turn your ear to me and save me. Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may always go. Give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For you are my hope, Lord Yahweh, my confidence from my youth. I have relied on you from the womb. You are he who took me out of my mother's womb. I will always praise you. I am a marvel to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, with your honor all the day. Don't reject me in my old age. Don't forsake me when my strength fails. For my enemies talk about me. Those who watch for my soul conspire together, saying, God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him. God, don't be far from me. My God, hurry to help me. Let my accusers be disappointed and consumed. Let them be covered with disgrace and scorn who want to harm me. But I will always hope and will add to all of your praise. My mouth will tell about your righteousness and of your salvation all day, though I don't know its full measure. I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord Yahweh. I will make mention of your righteousness, even of yours alone. God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now I have declared your wondrous works. Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don't forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come. Your righteousness also, God, reaches to the heavens. You have done great things. God, who is like you? You who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth. Increase my honor and comfort me again. I will also praise you with the heart for your faithfulness, my God. I will sing praises to you with the lear Holy One of Israel. My lips shall shout for joy. My soul, which you have redeemed, sings praises to you. My tongue will also talk of your righteousness all day long. For they are disappointed and they are confounded who want to harm me. Psalm 72 by Solomon God, give the king your justice, your righteousness to the royal son. He will judge your people with righteousness and your poor with justice. The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people. The hills bring the fruit of righteousness. He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy and will break the oppressor in pieces. They shall fear you while the sun endures and as long as the moon throughout all generations. He will come down like rain on the mown grass as showers that water the earth. In his days the righteous shall flourish and abundance of peace until the moon is no more. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. His enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute. The kings of Sheba and Siba shall offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him. For he will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor who has no helper. He will have pity on the poor and needy. He shall save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight. They shall live and to him shall be given the gold of Sheba. Men shall pray for him continually. They shall bless him all day long. There shall be abundance of grain throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish thriving like the grass of the field. His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed. Praise be to Yahweh God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Blessed be his glorious name forever. Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. This ends the prayers by David, the son of Jesse. Psalm 73, a Psalm by Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm. They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit. They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance they threaten oppression. They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance. They say, How does God know is their knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease they increase in riches. Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart and washed my hands of innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and punished every morning. If I had said I will speak thus, behold I would have betrayed the generation of your children. When I tried to understand this it was too painful for me, until I entered God's sanctuary and considered their latter end. Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction. How they are suddenly destroyed, they are completely swept away with terrors. As a dream when one wakes up, so Lord when you awake you will despise their fantasies. For my soul was grieved I was embittered in my heart. I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you. Nevertheless I am continually with you. You have held my right hand. You will guide me with your counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Who do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth who I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you. But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge that I may tell of all your works. Psalm 74 A Contemplation by Asa God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? Remember your congregation which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance. Mount Zion, in which you have lived. Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary. Your adversaries have roared in the midst of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs. They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees. Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers. They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling-place of your name. They said in their heart, we will crush them completely. They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped. We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet. Neither is there among us anyone who knows how long. How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever? Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it out of your pocket and consume them. Yet God is my king of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters. You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him his food to people and desert creatures. You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers. The day is yours. The night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun. You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter. Remember this that the enemy has mocked you, Yahweh. Foolish people have blasphemed your name. Don't deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Don't forget the life of your poor forever. Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth. Don't let the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name. Arise, God, plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day. Don't forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually. Psalm 75 For the chief musician to the tune of Do not destroy, a Psalm by Asaph, a song. We give thanks to you, God. We give thanks for your name is near. Men tell about your wondrous works. When I choose the appointed time, I will judge blamelessly. The earth and all its inhabitants quake. I firmly hold its pillars. Sila I said to the arrogant. Don't boast. I said to the wicked. Don't lift up the horn. Don't lift up your horn on high. Don't speak with a stiff neck. For neither from the east nor from the west, nor yet from the south comes exaltation. But God is the judge. He puts down one and lifts up another. For in the hand of Yahweh there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very drags. But I will declare this forever. I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up. Psalm 76 For the chief musician on stringed instruments, a Psalm by Asaph, a song. In Judah God is known. His name is great in Israel. His tent is also in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion. There he broke the flaming arrows of the bow, the shield and the sword and the weapons of war. Silah Glorious are you and excellent, more than mountains of gain. Valiant men lie plundered. They have slept their last sleep. None of the men of war can lift their hands. At your rebuke, God of Jacob, both chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep. You, even you, are to be feared. Who can stand in your sight when you are angry? You pronounced judgment from heaven. The earth feared and was silent when God rose to judgment to save all the afflicted ones of the earth. Silah Surely the wrath of man praises you. The survivors of your wrath are restrained. Make vows to Yahweh your God and fulfill them. Let all of his neighbors bring presents to him who is to be feared. He will cut off the spirit of princes. He is feared by the kings of the earth. Psalm 77 For the chief musician, to Jedithun, a Psalm by Asaph. My cry goes to God. Indeed I cry to God for help and for him to listen to me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night and didn't get tired. My soul refused to be comforted. I remember God and I groan. I complain and my spirit is overwhelmed. Silah You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can't speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I remember my song in the night. I consider in my own heart, my spirit diligently inquires. Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more? Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger withheld his compassion? Silah Then I thought I will appeal to this, the years of the right hand of the most high. I will remember Yah's deeds, for I will remember your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all your work and consider your doings. Your way, God, is in the sanctuary. What God is great, like God? You are the God who does wonders. You have made your strength known among the peoples. You have redeemed your people with your arm, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Silah The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you and they writhed. The depths also convulsed. The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around. The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea. Your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Psalm 78 A Contemplation by Asaph Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, his strength and his wondrous works that he has done. For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a teaching in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born, who should arise and tell their children that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments, and not be as their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn't make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God. The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They didn't keep God's covenant and refused to walk in his law. They forgot his doings, his wondrous works that he had shown them. He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt in the field of Zohan. He split the sea and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand as a heap. In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire. He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths. He brought streams also out of the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers. Yet they still went on to sin against him, to rebel against the most high in the desert. They tempted God in their heart by asking food according to their desire. Yes, they spoke against God. They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, he struck the rock so that waters gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people? Therefore Yahweh heard and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob. Anger also went up against Israel. Because they didn't believe in God and didn't trust in his salvation. Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven. He rained down manna on them to eat and gave them food from the sky. Men ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full. He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the self-wind. He rained also flesh on them as the dust, winged birds as the sand of the seas. He let them fall in the midst of their camp around their habitations. So they ate and were well filled. He gave them their own desire. They didn't turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths when the anger of God went up against them, killed some of the fattest of them and struck down the young men of Israel. For all this they still sinned and didn't believe in his wondrous works. Therefore he consumed their days in vanity and their years in terror. When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly. They remembered that God was their rock, the most high God their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouth and lied to him with their tongue. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they faithful in his covenant. But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity and didn't destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away and didn't stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they are but flesh, a wind that passes away and doesn't come again. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert. They turned again and tempted God and provoked the Holy One of Israel. They didn't remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary. How he set his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the field of Zohan, he turned their rivers into blood and their streams so that they could not drink. He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them and frogs which destroyed them. He gave also their increase to the caterpillar and their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail, their sycamore fig trees with frost. He gave over their livestock also to the hail and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation and trouble, and a band of angels of evil. He made a path for his anger. He didn't spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence and struck all the first born in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham. But he led forth his own people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them safely so that they weren't afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. He brought them to the border of his sanctuary to this mountain which his right hand had taken. He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and rebelled against the most high God, and didn't keep his testimonies, but turned back and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow, for they provoked him to anger with their high places and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images. When God heard this he was angry and greatly abhorred Israel, so that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men, and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the adversary's hand. He also gave his people over to the sword and was angry with his inheritance. Fire devoured their young men, their virgins had no wedding song. Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows couldn't weep. Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine. He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach. Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph and didn't choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever. He also chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds. From following the youths that have their young, he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. Psalm 79, a Psalm by Asaph God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints to the animals of the earth. Their blood they have shed like water around Jerusalem. There was no one to bury them. We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us. How long, Yahweh, will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your wrath on the nations that don't know you, on the kingdoms that don't call on your name, for they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his homeland. Don't hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake. Why should the nations say, Where is their God? Let it be known among the nations before our eyes that vengeance for your servant's blood is being poured out. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death. Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom, their reproach, with which they have reproached you, Lord. So we, your people, and sheep of your pasture, will give you thanks forever. We will praise you forever to all generations. Psalm 80 For the Chief Musician To the tune of The Lilies of the Covenant A Psalm by Asaph Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up your might, come to save us. Turn us again, God, cause your face to shine, and we will be saved. Yahweh, God of armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure. You make us a source of contention to our neighbors. Our enemies laugh among themselves. Turn us again, God of armies, cause your face to shine, and we will be saved. You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shadow. Its boughs were like God's cedars. It sent out its branches to the sea. Its shoots to the river. Why have you broken down its walls, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it? The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals of the field feed on it. Turn again, we beg you, God of armies. Look down from heaven and sea and visit this vine, the stock which your right hand planted, the branch that you made strong for yourself. It's burned with fire. It's cut down. They perish at your rebuke. Let your hand be on the man of your right hand, on the son of man whom you made strong for yourself. So we will not turn away from you. Revive us and we will call on your name. Turn us again, Yahweh God of armies. Cause your face to shine and we will be saved. End of the book of Psalms, chapters 71 through 80.