God Shall Scatter His Enemies
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
68 mGod shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
2 nAs smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
3 But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall oexult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!
4 Sing to God, psing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the Lord;
exult before him!
5 qFather of the fatherless and protector of widows
is God in rhis holy habitation.
6 sGod settles the solitary in a home;
he tleads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
7 O God, uwhen you went out before your people,
vwhen you marched through the wilderness, Selah
8 wthe earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai,
before God,1 the God of Israel.
9 Rain 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 provided for the needy.
11 The Lord gives the word;
xthe women who announce the news are a great host:
12 “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”
The women at home divide the spoil—
13 though you men lie among the 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 Zalmon.
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 yGod desired for his abode,
yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?
17 The zchariots of God are twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands;
the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
18 aYou ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.
19 Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bbears us up;
God is our salvation. Selah
20 Our God is a God of salvation,
and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
21 But God will cstrike 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 from Bashan,
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
23 that you may strike your dfeet in their blood,
that ethe 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 the singers in front, the musicians last,
between them virgins playing tambourines:
26 “Bless God in the great congregation,
the Lord, O you5 who are of Israel’s fountain!”
27 There is Benjamin, fthe least of them, in the lead,
the princes of Judah in their throng,
the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
28 Summon your power, O God,6
the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.
29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem
gkings shall bear hgifts to you.
30 Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds,
the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.
Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute;
scatter the peoples who delight in war.7
31 Nobles shall come from Egypt;
iCush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.
32 O jkingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
sing praises to the Lord, Selah
33 to him who krides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;
behold, he sends out his voice, his lmighty voice.
34 mAscribe power to God,
whose majesty is over Israel,
and whose power is in the skies.
35 Awesome is God from his8 sanctuary;
the God of Israel—he is the one who ngives power and strength to his people.
Blessed be God!
Save Me, O God
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.
69 Save me, O God!
For the owaters have come up to my neck.1
2 I sink in deep pmire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the qflood sweeps over me.
3 rI am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
sMy eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God.
4 More in number than the hairs of my head
are tthose who hate me uwithout cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
must I now restore?
5 O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
6 vLet not those who hope in you be 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.
7 For it is wfor your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
8 xI have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s sons.
9 For yzeal for your house has consumed me,
and zthe reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and humbled2 my soul with afasting,
it became my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make bsongs about me.
13 cBut as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the dabundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
14 Deliver me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the edeep waters.
15 Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, fturn to me.
17 gHide not your face from your servant,
for hI am in distress; make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!
19 You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
20 Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me poison for food,
22 kLet their own table before them become a snare;
and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.3
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.
24 lPour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 mMay their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
27 Add to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from you.4
28 Let them be nblotted out of the obook of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
29 But pI am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
30 I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 qThis will please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 rWhen the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33 For the Lord hears the needy
and sdoes not despise his own people who are prisoners.
34 tLet heaven and earth praise him,
uthe seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
36 the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who vlove his name shall dwell in it.
O Lord, Do Not Delay
To the choirmaster. Of David, wfor the memorial offering.
70 xMake haste, O God, to deliver me!
O Lord, ymake haste to help me!
2 zLet 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!
3 Let them turn back because of their shame
who say, a“Aha, Aha!”
4 May all who seek you
rejoice and be bglad in you!
May those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
5 But cI am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!
Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent
71 dIn you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
elet me never be put to shame!
2 fIn your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
3 Be to me a grock of refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
hyou are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is icontinually of you.
7 I have been as a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day.
9 jDo not cast me off in the time of old age;
kforsake me not when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who lwatch for my life mconsult together
11 and nsay, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”
12 O God, obe not far from me;
O my God, pmake haste to help me!
13 May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace may they be qcovered
who seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for rtheir number is past my knowledge.
16 With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So seven to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
19 tYour righteousness, O God,
ureaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, vwho is like you?
20 wYou who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will xrevive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
22 yI will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.
24 And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been put to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.
Give the King Your Justice
zOf Solomon.
72 Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to the royal son!
2 aMay he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
3 Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!
5 May they fear you1 bwhile the sun endures,
and as long as the moon, cthroughout all generations!
6 May he be dlike rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth!
7 In his days may ethe righteous flourish,
and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
8 fMay he have dominion gfrom sea to sea,
and hfrom the River2 to the iends of the earth!
9 May desert tribes bow down before him,
and his enemies jlick the dust!
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
render him tribute;
may the kkings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts!
11 May all kings fall down before him,
all nations serve him!
12 lFor he mdelivers the needy when he calls,
the poor and him who has nno helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and osaves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
and pprecious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live;
may qgold of Sheba be given to him!
May prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all the day!
16 May there be abundance of grain in the land;
on the tops of the mountains may it wave;
may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people blossom in the cities
rlike the grass of the field!
17 May his name endure forever,
his fame continue as long as the sun!
sMay people be blessed in him,
all nations call him blessed!
18 tBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone does uwondrous things.
19 vBlessed be his glorious name forever;
may wthe whole earth be filled with his glory!
xAmen and Amen!
20 The yprayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.
