Psalms 68–70; Psalm 86; Psalm 95

red bookmark icon blue bookmark icon gold bookmark icon
Psalms 68–70

God Shall Scatter His Enemies

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

1  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.

1  Save me, O God!

For the owaters have come up to my neck.9

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 humbled10 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,

and for my ithirst they gave me jsour wine to drink.

22  kLet their own table before them become a snare;

and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.11

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.12

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.

1  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!


Psalm 86

Great Is Your Steadfast Love

A Prayer of David.

1  Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,

sfor I am poor and needy.

2  Preserve my life, for I am godly;

save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.

3  Be gracious to me, O Lord,

for to you do I cry tall the day.

4  Gladden the soul of your servant,

for uto you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5  For you, O Lord, are good and vforgiving,

wabounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

6  Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;

listen to my plea for grace.

7  In the day of my trouble I call upon you,

for xyou answer me.

8  yThere is none like you among the gods, O Lord,

nor are there any works like yours.

9  zAll the nations you have made shall come

and worship before you, O Lord,

and shall glorify your name.

10  For ayou are great and do bwondrous things;

cyou alone are God.

11  dTeach me your way, O Lord,

that I may walk ein your truth;

unite my heart to fear your name.

12  I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,

and I will glorify your name forever.

13  For great is your steadfast love toward me;

you have fdelivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

14  O God, ginsolent men have risen up against me;

a band of ruthless men seeks my life,

and they do not set you before them.

15  But you, O Lord, are a God hmerciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

16  iTurn to me and be gracious to me;

jgive your strength to kyour servant,

and save the son of your maidservant.

17  Show me a sign of your favor,

that those who hate me may see and lbe put to shame

because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.


Psalm 95

Let Us Sing Songs of Praise

1  Oh come, let us psing to the Lord;

let us qmake a joyful noise to the rrock of our salvation!

2  Let us come into his presence swith thanksgiving;

let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

3  For tthe Lord is a great God,

and a great uKing vabove all gods.

4  In his hand are the depths of the earth;

the heights of the mountains are his also.

5  The sea is his, for whe made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.

6  Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

7  For he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture,

and the sheep of his hand.

xToday, if you hear his voice,

8  do not harden your hearts, yas at Meribah,

as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

9  when your fathers zput me to the test

and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

10  For forty years I loathed that generation

and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,

and they have not known my ways.”

11  aTherefore I bswore in my wrath,

“They shall not enter my rest.”