Psalm 68

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How Awesome Are Your Deeds

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.

66  bShout for joy to God, all the earth;

sing the glory of his name;

cgive to him glorious praise!

Say to God, dHow awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power that your enemies ecome cringing to you.

fAll the earth worships you

and sings praises to you;

they sing praises to your name. Selah

gCome and see what God has done:

dhe is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.

He hturned the sea into dry land;

they ipassed through the river on foot.

There did we rejoice in him,

who rules by his might forever,

whose jeyes keep watch on the nations

let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

Bless our God, O peoples;

let the sound of his praise be heard,

who has kept our soul among the living

and khas not let our feet slip.

10  For you, O God, have ltested us;

you have tried us as silver is tried.

11  You brought us into mthe net;

you laid a crushing burden on our backs;

12  you let men nride over our heads;

we went through fire and through owater;

yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

13  I will come into your house with burnt offerings;

I will pperform my vows to you,

14  that which my lips uttered

and my mouth promised qwhen I was in trouble.

15  I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,

with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;

I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

16  rCome and hear, all you who fear God,

and I will tell what he has done for my soul.

17  I cried to him with my mouth,

and high praise was on1 my tongue.2

18  If I had scherished iniquity in my heart,

tthe Lord would not have listened.

19  But truly uGod has listened;

he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20  Blessed be God,

because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me!

Make Your Face Shine upon Us

To the choirmaster: with vstringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

67  May God wbe gracious to us and bless us

and make his face to xshine upon us, Selah

that yyour way may be known on earth,

your zsaving power among all nations.

aLet the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you bjudge the peoples with equity

and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

aLet the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

The earth has cyielded its increase;

God, our God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us;

let dall the ends of the earth fear him!

God Shall Scatter His Enemies

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

68  eGod shall arise, his enemies shall be fscattered;

and those who hate him shall flee before him!

As gsmoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;

has wax melts before fire,

so the wicked shall perish before God!

But ithe righteous shall be glad;

they shall exult before God;

they shall be jubilant with joy!

Sing to God, jsing praises to his name;

klift up a song to him who lrides through mthe deserts;

his name is nthe Lord;

exult before him!

oFather of the fatherless and pprotector of widows

is God in his holy habitation.

God qsettles the solitary in a home;

he rleads out the prisoners to prosperity,

but sthe rebellious dwell in ta parched land.

O God, when you uwent out before your people,

vwhen you marched through wthe wilderness, Selah

xthe earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,

before God, the One of Sinai,

before God,1 the God of Israel.

yRain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;

you restored your inheritance as it languished;

10  your flock2 found a dwelling in it;

in your goodness, O God, you zprovided for the needy.

11  The Lord gives athe word;

bthe women who announce the news are a great host:

12  cThe kings of the armiesthey flee, they flee!

The women at home ddivide the spoil

13  though you men lie among ethe sheepfolds

the wings of a dove covered with silver,

its pinions with shimmering gold.

14  When the Almighty scatters kings there,

let snow fall on fZalmon.

15  O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;

O many-peaked3 mountain, mountain of Bashan!

16  Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,

at the mount that God gdesired for his abode,

yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?

17  hThe chariots of God are twice ten thousand,

thousands upon thousands;

the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.

18  iYou ascended on high,

jleading a host of captives in your train

and kreceiving gifts among men,

even among lthe rebellious, mthat the Lord God may dwell there.

19  Blessed be the Lord,

who daily nbears us up;

God is our salvation. Selah

20  Our God is a God of salvation,

oand to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

21  pBut God will strike the heads of his enemies,

the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.

22  The Lord said,

I will bring them back qfrom Bashan,

rI will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

23  that you may sstrike your feet in their blood,

that tthe tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.

24  Your procession is4 seen, O God,

the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary

25  uthe singers in front, vthe musicians last,

between them wvirgins playing tambourines:

26  xBless God in the great congregation,

the Lord, O you5 who are of yIsrael’s fountain!

27  There is zBenjamin, the least of them, in the lead,

the princes of Judah in their throng,

the princes of aZebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

28  bSummon your power, O God,6

the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.

29  Because of your temple at Jerusalem

kings shall cbear gifts to you.

30  Rebuke dthe beasts that dwell among the reeds,

the herd of ebulls with the calves of the peoples.

fTrample underfoot those who lust after tribute;

scatter the peoples who delight in war.7

31  Nobles shall come from gEgypt;

hCush shall hasten to istretch out her hands to God.

32  jO kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;

sing praises to the Lord, Selah

33  to him kwho rides in lthe heavens, the ancient heavens;

behold, he msends out his voice, his mighty voice.

34  nAscribe power to God,

whose majesty is over Israel,

and whose opower is in pthe skies.

35  qAwesome is God from his8 rsanctuary;

the God of Israelhe is the one who gives spower and strength to his people.

Blessed be God!

Save Me, O God

To the choirmaster: according to tLilies. Of David.

69  Save me, O God!

For uthe waters have come up to my neck.1

I sink in deep vmire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the flood wsweeps over me.

xI am weary with my crying out;

ymy throat is parched.

zMy eyes grow dim

with awaiting for my God.

bMore in number than the hairs of my head

are cthose who hate me dwithout cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

ethose who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal

must I now restore?

O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

Let not those who hope in you fbe put to shame through me,

O Lord God of hosts;

let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,

O God of Israel.

For it is gfor your sake that I have borne reproach,

that dishonor has covered my face.

I have become ha stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother’s sons.

For izeal for your house has consumed me,

and jthe reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10  When I wept and humbled2 my soul with fasting,

it became my reproach.

11  When I made ksackcloth my clothing,

I became la byword to them.

12  I am the talk of those who msit in the gate,

and the drunkards make nsongs about me.

13  But as for me, my oprayer is to you, O Lord.

At pan acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

14  Deliver me

from sinking in qthe mire;

rlet me be delivered from my enemies

and from sthe deep waters.

15  Let not the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or tthe pit close uits mouth over me.

16  Answer me, O Lord, for your vsteadfast love is good;

according to your abundant wmercy, xturn to me.

17  yHide not your face from your servant,

zfor I am in distress; amake haste to answer me.

18  Draw near to my soul, redeem me;

ransom me because of my enemies!

19  You know my breproach,

and my shame and my dishonor;

my foes are all known to you.

20  bReproaches have broken my heart,

so that I am in cdespair.

I dlooked for epity, but there was none,

and for fcomforters, but I found none.

21  They gave me gpoison for food,

and for my thirst they gave me hsour wine to drink.

22  iLet their own jtable before them become a snare;

kand when they are at peace, let it become a trap.3

23  lLet their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,

mand make their loins tremble continually.

24  Pour out your indignation upon them,

and let your burning anger overtake them.

25  nMay their camp be a desolation;

let no one dwell in their tents.

26  For they opersecute him whom pyou have struck down,

and they recount the pain of qthose you have wounded.

27  rAdd to them punishment upon punishment;

may they have no acquittal from you.4

28  Let them be sblotted out of the book of the living;

let them not be tenrolled among the righteous.

29  But I am afflicted and in pain;

let your salvation, O God, uset me on high!

30  I will vpraise the name of God with a song;

I will wmagnify him with xthanksgiving.

31  This will yplease the Lord more than an ox

or a bull zwith horns and hoofs.

32  When athe humble see it they will be glad;

you who seek God, alet your hearts revive.

33  For the Lord hears the needy

and bdoes not despise his own people who are prisoners.

34  Let cheaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

35  For dGod will save Zion

and build up the cities of Judah,

and people shall dwell there and possess it;

36  ethe offspring of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

O Lord, Do Not Delay

To the choirmaster. Of David, ffor the memorial offering.

70  gMake haste, O God, to deliver me!

O Lord, make haste to help me!

Let them be put to shame and confusion

who seek my life!

Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor

who delight in my hurt!

Let them turn back because of their shame

who say, Aha, Aha!

May all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you!

May those who love your salvation

say evermore, God is great!

But I am poor and needy;

hhasten to me, O God!

You are my help and my deliverer;

O Lord, do not delay!