A Psalm of David
O God, whom I praise, do not be silent.
For the mouths of the evil and deceitful
Are speaking against me with lying tongues.
They have surrounded me with words of hatred
And fight against me without any cause.
They return my friendship by accusing me,
Even as I give myself to pray for them.
They repay me evil for good, hate for love.
Find an evil man to betray him,
An adversary to be his counsel.
When he is tried, let him be guilty,
May his prayer be counted an offence.
Let his days in office be few
And another take his position.
May his children be fatherless,
And his wife become a widow.
May his children be vagabonds,
Driven far from their ruined homes
And reduced to beg for their bread.
May the creditor seize all he owns
And strangers loot his property.
Let there be none to show him kindness
Or pity his fatherless children.
Let his line be cut off and his name
Not passed to the next generation.
Let his father’s iniquities
Be remembered by Jehovah.
Erase not the sins of his mother.
Let them be forever recalled
By Jehovah that he may blot out
The memory of them on earth.
Because he never thought to show kindness:
He persecuted the poor and the needy,
Broke their spirits, even drove them to their graves.
He loved cursings; may they fall upon him.
He hated blessings; may they be far from him.
He wore cursings as if they were a garment.
May they soak into his body like water
And seep into his bones like olive oil.
May they be like a robe clinging to him,
Like a belt girded round him forever.
May these curses be Jehovah’s punishment
For accusers who speak evil of me.
You, O Jehovah, Sovereign Master,
Treat me kindly for the sake of your name,
Deliver me through the goodness of your love,
For I am afflicted and destitute,
And my heart within me is full of pain.
I fade away like an evening shadow.
I have been shaken away like a locust.
My knees are weak and shaky from fasting.
My body is gaunt; I am skin and bones.
I have become an object of scorn to them;
When they look upon me, they shake their heads.
Help me, O Jehovah, my god!
Save me with your loving kindness.
Let them know this is your handiwork,
That you, Jehovah, have done it.
They may curse me, but you will bless me.
Let those who attack me be disgraced,
But your servant, he will rejoice.
Let my accusers be robed with shame,
And may disgrace be their mantle.
With my mouth I give thanks to Jehovah,
And in the midst of many I praise him.
For he stands at the right hand of the needy
To save his soul from his persecutors.
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Psalm 108
A Psalm of David
My heart is steadfast in its faith in you, O God,
I will sing and give praise to you with all my soul.
Awaken, O harp and lyre, and bring up the dawn.
I will extol you among the people, Jehovah
And sing your praises among the heathen nations.
For great is your devotion, higher than the heavens,
And your faithfulness reaches to the firmament.
Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens
And may your glory be spread across the whole world
That those who are your beloved may be delivered.
Answer me and save me with your divine power.
God has spoken from his sanctuary,
“With pleasure will I apportion Shechem
And divide up the Valley of Succoth.
Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim, my helmet; Judah, my scepter;
Moab will I use as my washbasin;
Upon Edom do I toss my sandal;
Over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
Who will bring me into the fortress?
Who will lead me into Edom?
Have you not rejected us, O God?
Will you not go out to battle
With our armies any more, O God?
Give us aid against the enemy,
For human help is of no avail.
With God we will fight with valor,
And he will trample down our foes.
My heart is steadfast in its faith in you, O God,
I will sing and give praise to you with all my soul.
Awaken, O harp and lyre, and bring up the dawn.
I will extol you among the people, Jehovah
And sing your praises among the heathen nations.
For great is your devotion, higher than the heavens,
And your faithfulness reaches to the firmament.
Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens
And may your glory be spread across the whole world
That those who are your beloved may be delivered.
Answer me and save me with your divine power.
God has spoken from his sanctuary,
“With pleasure will I apportion Shechem
And divide up the Valley of Succoth.
Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim, my helmet; Judah, my scepter;
Moab will I use as my washbasin;
Upon Edom do I toss my sandal;
Over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
Who will bring me into the fortress?
Who will lead me into Edom?
Have you not rejected us, O God?
Will you not go out to battle
With our armies any more, O God?
Give us aid against the enemy,
For human help is of no avail.
With God we will fight with valor,
And he will trample down our foes.
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Psalm 107
Give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good,
And his constant love endures forever.
Let those redeemed by Jehovah speak out,
Those he rescued from the hand of the foe,
Gathered from east and west, from north and south,
Some wandering in the desert wastes, finding no way
To a city that they might inhabit.
Hungry and thirsty, they were perishing.
In their troubles; they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.
He set them aright and put them on the path
To a city that they might inhabit.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them.
He satisfies the thirst of the body
And fills the hungry with good things to eat.
Some sat in darkness, in the shadow of death,
Prisoners in misery, bound by chains,
For they rebelled against the commands of God
And despised the counsel of the Most High.
And so he broke their spirit in hard labor.
When they stumbled, there was no one to help them.
In their troubles, they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.
He brought them out of the place of darkness
And death’s shadow and broke their chains apart.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them,
For he has broken down the gates of bronze
And has cut asunder the bars of iron.
Some, made fools because of their transgressions
And afflicted for their iniquities,
Shunned all food and were drawing near to death’s door.
In their troubles, they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.
He sent forth his message and thus healed them,
Delivering them from their destruction.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them.
Let them make sacrifices of thanksgiving
And proclaim his acts with songs of rejoicing.
Those that have gone down to the sea in ships,
Engaging in commerce on the oceans,
Have witnessed the handiwork of Jehovah,
The deeds of wonder performed on the deep.
For at his command he would raise a tempest
That would lift high the waves of the ocean.
They would rise to the sky and sink to the depths,
Their courage dissolving in their terror.
They reeled about, staggering like drunken men,
And found all their knowledge useless to them.
In their troubles, they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.
He stilled the tempest to a mere whisper
And hushed to silence the waves of the sea.
They rejoiced in the quiet of the waters.
He guided them to the port they were bound for.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them.
Exalt him before the congregation
And praise him in the council of the elders.
He turns rivers into wasteland,
Springs of water into dry ground,
Fruitful land into a salt marsh,
Owing to the sins of its dwellers.
He turns a desert into a pool,
Dry land into springs of water.
He brought the hungry to settle there
And build a city in which to live.
They sowed their fields, planted their vineyards,
Providing a fruitful harvest.
He blessed them and they multiplied,
Nor did he let their herds decrease.
When they were diminished and humbled
By oppression, evil, and sorrow,
He poured out his scorn and disdain
Upon their princes and forced them
To wander in the trackless wastes.
But he lifts the needy from poverty
And, like flocks, increases their families.
The upright will witness it and rejoice,
While all who are wicked will be silenced.
Let he who is wise take heed of these things
And ponder the loving acts of Jehovah.
And his constant love endures forever.
Let those redeemed by Jehovah speak out,
Those he rescued from the hand of the foe,
Gathered from east and west, from north and south,
Some wandering in the desert wastes, finding no way
To a city that they might inhabit.
Hungry and thirsty, they were perishing.
In their troubles; they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.
He set them aright and put them on the path
To a city that they might inhabit.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them.
He satisfies the thirst of the body
And fills the hungry with good things to eat.
Some sat in darkness, in the shadow of death,
Prisoners in misery, bound by chains,
For they rebelled against the commands of God
And despised the counsel of the Most High.
And so he broke their spirit in hard labor.
When they stumbled, there was no one to help them.
In their troubles, they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.
He brought them out of the place of darkness
And death’s shadow and broke their chains apart.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them,
For he has broken down the gates of bronze
And has cut asunder the bars of iron.
Some, made fools because of their transgressions
And afflicted for their iniquities,
Shunned all food and were drawing near to death’s door.
In their troubles, they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.
He sent forth his message and thus healed them,
Delivering them from their destruction.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them.
Let them make sacrifices of thanksgiving
And proclaim his acts with songs of rejoicing.
Those that have gone down to the sea in ships,
Engaging in commerce on the oceans,
Have witnessed the handiwork of Jehovah,
The deeds of wonder performed on the deep.
For at his command he would raise a tempest
That would lift high the waves of the ocean.
They would rise to the sky and sink to the depths,
Their courage dissolving in their terror.
They reeled about, staggering like drunken men,
And found all their knowledge useless to them.
In their troubles, they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.
He stilled the tempest to a mere whisper
And hushed to silence the waves of the sea.
They rejoiced in the quiet of the waters.
He guided them to the port they were bound for.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them.
Exalt him before the congregation
And praise him in the council of the elders.
He turns rivers into wasteland,
Springs of water into dry ground,
Fruitful land into a salt marsh,
Owing to the sins of its dwellers.
He turns a desert into a pool,
Dry land into springs of water.
He brought the hungry to settle there
And build a city in which to live.
They sowed their fields, planted their vineyards,
Providing a fruitful harvest.
He blessed them and they multiplied,
Nor did he let their herds decrease.
When they were diminished and humbled
By oppression, evil, and sorrow,
He poured out his scorn and disdain
Upon their princes and forced them
To wander in the trackless wastes.
But he lifts the needy from poverty
And, like flocks, increases their families.
The upright will witness it and rejoice,
While all who are wicked will be silenced.
Let he who is wise take heed of these things
And ponder the loving acts of Jehovah.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)