Psalm 81

By Asaph

Sing out to the god who is our strength
Sing out to the god of Jacob.
Sing a song, bring the tambourine,
The sweet-sounding harp and psaltery.
Blow the ram’s horn at the new moon,
And again when the moon is full,
Upon the day of our festival.
This is a statute for Israel,
An ordinance of Jacob’s god,
A decree he ordained for Joseph
When he went out against Egypt.

I heard a language I did not know:
“I took the burden off your shoulders
And freed your hands from the brick baskets.
In your troubles you called to me.
I answered and delivered you
From a thundercloud; I tested you
At the waters of Meribah.”

“Hear, O people, my admonition;
Heed my warning, O Israel.
If only you will listen to me!
There shall be no new god among you,
Nor shall you worship a foreign god,
For I am Jehovah, your god,
Who ushered you out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth; I will fill it.”

“But my people would not listen to me,
And Israel would not consent to me.
So I left them to their obstinate hearts,
To  conduct their lives by their own counsel.
If only my people would listen to me,
If only Israel would follow my ways,
How quickly would I thwart their enemies
And deploy my power against their foes.
Those who hate Jehovah cower before him
But their punishment will last forever.
You, though, I would feed with the finest wheat
And honey from the rock, till you be full.”

Psalm 80

By Asaph

Listen to us, O Shepherd of Israel,
You who led Joseph’s people like a flock,
You who is enthroned between the Cherubim,
To Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh
Shine forth, summon your power, come, rescue us.
Revive us, O God and let your face beam
Upon us with favor and we will be saved.
O Jehovah, God of armies, how long
Will you seethe at the prayers of your people?
You have fed them with tears instead of food
And made them drink their full measure of tears.
To our neighbors we are a source of strife
And our enemies view us with derision.
Revive us, O God of armies.  Let your face
Shine upon us so that we may be saved.

You dug up and brought a vine out of Egypt;
You expelled foreign peoples and planted it.
You cleared the ground, it took root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered by its shadow
And its boughs were like the cedars of God.
Its branches reached the sea, its shoots, the river.
Why then have you broken down its walls,
So that all who pass by may pluck its grapes?
The boar from the forest tramples it down,
And the wild beasts of the field feed on it.
Come back, O God of armies, we beseech you.
Look down from Heaven. See! Watch over this vine,
The root you planted with your own right hand,
The shoot you nourished and made strong for yourself.
Enemies have cut down and burned the vine.
Let them perish at your censorious glance.

Support with your power your chosen people,
And their sons whom you have reared to be strong.
Then we will not turn away from you again.
Revive us, and we will call upon your name.
Restore us, O Jehovah, God of armies.
Smile down upon us and we will be saved.

Psalm 79

By Asaph

O God, foreign nations have invaded
The country that is your inheritance;
They have desecrated your holy temple;
They have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
They have left the corpses of your servants
As carrion for scavengers from the sky,
The flesh of your people, food for wild beasts.
Around Jerusalem blood flowed like water
And there was none left to bury the dead.
We are an object of scorn to our neighbors,
A mockery to those who live around us.

How long, O Jehovah, will you remain angry?
Forever?  Will your jealousy burn like a fire?
Vent your ire on nations that do not recognize you,
On the kingdoms that do not call upon your name,
For it they who have consumed Jacob’s people
And have made his homeland a scene of desolation.
Do not hold against us the sins of our forefathers.
Let your mercy quickly aid us, for we are laid low.
Help us, God, our savior, for the glory of your name;
Deliver us and forgive our sins in your name’s sake.

Why should foreign nations scoff, “Where is their god?”
Let the nations know and before our eyes
Avenge yourself on those who shed your servants’ blood.
May the groans of prisoners reach your ears.
With your great power save those condemned to die.

Pay back our neighbors sevenfold
For their taunts of you, Jehovah.
Then we, the sheep of your pasture,
Your people, will thank you forever
And praise you through the generations.

Psalm 78

By Asaph

O people, hear my instructions,
Listen to the words of my mouth.
I will speak in a parable,
And reveal ancient mysteries,
Stories we have heard and long known,
Passed down to us by our forebears.
From their children we will not hide them,
But to the coming generation,
Sing the praises of Jehovah,
The great deeds he has accomplished
And the miracles he has performed.

He issued decrees to Jacob
And established laws in Israel,
Commanding that our ancestors
Should explain them to their children,
So that the next generation
Even children unborn, should know them
And then teach them to their children,
So they will put their trust in God,
Not forget his wondrous deeds,
But always obey his commandments.
Then they will be not like their fathers,
A  generation rebellious
And stubborn: their hearts wavered
In loyalty, nor were their spirits
Steadfast in their devotion to God.

Ephraim’s army, pulling the bow,
Slackened on the day of battle.
They did not keep God’s covenant
And refused to live by his laws.
They had forgotten what he had done,
The miracles he had shown them,
The marvelous things he performed
In the sight of their ancestors
In Egypt, on the plain of Zoan.
He split the sea and let them pass;
He made the waters stand like a heap.
He led them in a cloud by day,
And with a fiery light by night.
In the desert he split the rocks
And gave them drink, as of from the depths.
From a stone he produced a stream
And made it to flow like a river.
Still did they sin against the Most High
And in the desert defied him.
In their minds they put God to the test
By demanding the food they craved.
They even spoke against God and asked
“Can God serve a meal in the desert?
He struck a rock and water gushed out
And it flowed like a torrent, sure,
But can he give us bread as well
And give his people meat to eat?”
Jehovah was full of anger
When he heard this. His wrath was kindled
Against the descendants of Jacob,
And indeed he vented his ire
Upon the nation of Israel,
For they had no belief in God
And had no faith in his salvation.
Yet he commanded the skies above
And opened the doors of heaven.
He rained down manna for them to eat
And gave them the food of Heaven,
So that mortal man might consume
The sustenance of the Mighty Ones.
(He sent them all the food they needed).
He stirred up an easterly wind
And with his power over the sky
Caused breezes from the south to blow.
He rained meat down on them like dust,
Fowls like the sands of the seashore.
He made them fall inside their camp,
All around their tabernacles.
They ate until they gorged themselves.
He had given them what they craved.
But before they had sated themselves,
While the food was still in their mouths,
The wrath of God was upon them:
He slew the hardiest among them
And cut down Israel’s young men.
Despite this, they keep on sinning
And did not believe his wondrous works.
And so he brought to an end their days,
Futile, their years full of terror.

Whenever God slew them, they sought him.
Eagerly would they turn back to him.
They remembered God was their rock,
The God Most High, their deliverer.
But with their mouths they flattered him,
And with their tongues they lied to him.
Disloyal were their hearts to him,
Unfaithful, they, to his covenant.
But he, being full of mercy,
Forgave their sins and destroyed them not.
Often did he quell his anger
And did not vent all his fury.
He remembered they were but flesh,
A wind that blows but does not return.
How often did they provoke him
And distress him in the desert.
Again and again they tested God,
Vexing Israel’s Holy One.
They did not remember his power,
The day he saved them from their foe,
When he worked his wonders in Egypt,
His marvels on the plain of Zoan.
He turned their rivers into blood,
So they could not drink from their streams.
He sent flies to prey upon them
And frogs to wreak havoc on them.
He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
And their labor to the locust.
He destroyed their grapevines with hail
And their sycamore trees with downpours.
He left their cattle to the hail
And their herds to bolts of lightning.
He loosed upon them his fury,
The fiery rage of his wrath,
His indignation and rancor,
And dispatched against them a band,
The emissaries of destruction.
He gave full vent to his anger;
He did not spare their bodies from death,
But delivered their lives to the plague.
He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
The first issue of their manhood,
In the tabernacles of Ham.
He freed his people from bondage,
He led them like sheep, and like a flock
He guided them through the desert.
With safety he conducted them
So that they would not be afraid,
But the sea engulfed their enemies.
To the border of his holy land
He brought them, to the hill country
That by his might he had secured.
He expelled nations before them
And by lot apportioned their lands
As an inheritance, settling
The tribes of Israel in their homes.
Yet the people disputed with him,
Rebelling against the God Most High.
Nor would they obey his commandments.
They turned away with treachery
And proved as faithless as their fathers,
Like arrows shot from a crooked bow.
They made him angry with their shrines
And made him jealous with their idols.
God heard and he was furious,
Utterly rejecting Israel.
The tabernacle of Shiloh,
His sanctuary where he lived
Among mortal men, he forsook.
The sacred symbols of his power
He sent into captivity,
His glory, into the hands of the foe.
He gave up his people to the sword,
Despising his inheritance.
The young men were consumed by fire;
The young women heard no wedding songs.
The priests had fallen by the sword
And their widows could not mourn them.
Jehovah awakened from his sleep,
Like a warrior who shouts out
When aroused from a drunken stupor.
Then he put his enemies to rout
And made them a disgrace forever.

He rejected the clan of Joseph
And chose not the tribe of Ephraim,
Instead he chose the tribe of Judah
And the Mount of Zion, which he loved.
And he built his sanctuary,
Sky high and solid as the earth
That he established forever.
He chose as his servant David,
Taking him out of the sheep pens.
From tending lambs and nursing ewes
He brought him in to be the shepherd
Of his people, the sons of Jacob,
His inheritance, Israel.
And David ruled them faithfully
And with his skillful hands he led them.

Psalm 77

By Asaph

With my voice I called out to God;
With my voice I cried out to him
And he has given his ear to me.

In a time of trouble I sought Jehovah.
All night long I lifted my arms in prayer,
Never slacking, but my soul found no solace.
I remember God and emit a groan;
I meditate and my spirit grows weak.
You have kept open my sleepy eyelids;
I am troubled and cannot even speak.
I think of the olden days, long since past.
I remember my music in the night.
I search my soul and my spirit ponders.
Will Jehovah forever reject me?
Will he ever look upon me with favor?
Has his devotion vanished forever?
Are his promises annulled for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has his anger suppressed his compassion?

Thus I say: “This is my grievance:
The might of the Most High has altered.”
Then I recall Jehovah’s acts,
Your miracles of long ago.
I will reflect upon all you’ve done
And give thought to your mighty deeds.
O God, your ways are of holiness;
No other god is as great as you.
You are the god who works wonders;
You have shown your strength to the world.
Your power has redeemed your people,
The sons of Jacob and Joseph.

The waters saw you, O God, they saw you.
They trembled and even their depths were troubled.
Torrential rain poured down from the thick clouds,
The sky rumbled with the roar of thunder
And your bolts of lightning shot up and down.
Thunder crashes were heard in the whirlwind
The lightning illuminated the world,
And all the earth convulsed, indeed it shook.
Your road led through the midst of the ocean,
A pathway you made through the great waters,
Yet your own footprints were never to be seen.
You led your people like a flock of sheep
With Moses and Aaron as its shepherds.

Psalm 76

By Asaph

God is of renown in Judah;
Great is his name in Israel.
He pitches his tent in Salem;
Zion is his habitation.
There he deflected the arrows,
The shield and the sword of battle.

You are glorious and more majestic
Than mountainsides ever teeming with game!

The valiant have been plundered in their sleep;
No warrior was able to raise a hand.
At your admonishment, O God of Jacob,
Both horse and rider are stopped in their tracks.
It is you alone who is to be feared.
Who can stand before you in your anger?
From Heaven we hear you pronounce judgment.
The earth is afraid and is struck silent
When God rises up to establish justice
And to save all the earth’s afflicted and oppressed.
Surely your wrath against man will earn you praise
And those who escape it will be relieved.

Make vows to Jehovah your god and keep them;
Let all the people from neighboring nations
Bring tribute to the one who should be revered.
He will humble the spirit of princes
And will be feared by the kings of the earth.