69

For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David.

1Save me, God,

for the waters have come up to my neck!

2I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold.

I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

3I am weary with my crying.

My throat is dry.

My eyes fail looking for my God.

4Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.

Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty.

I have to restore what I didn’t take away.

5God, you know my foolishness.

My sins aren’t hidden from you.

6Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Armies.

Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.

7Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.

Shame has covered my face.

8I have become a stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother’s children.

9For the zeal of your house consumes me.

The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10When I wept and I fasted,

that was to my reproach.

11When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

12Those who sit in the gate talk about me.

I am the song of the drunkards.

13But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time.

God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.

14Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink.

Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.

15Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me,

neither let the deep swallow me up.

Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.

16Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good.

According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.

17Don’t hide your face from your servant,

for I am in distress.

Answer me speedily!

18Draw near to my soul and redeem it.

Ransom me because of my enemies.

19You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor.

My adversaries are all before you.

20Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.

I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;

for comforters, but I found none.

21They also gave me poison for my food.

In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

22Let their table before them become a snare.

May it become a retribution and a trap.

23Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see.

Let their backs be continually bent.

24Pour out your indignation on them.

Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.

25Let their habitation be desolate.

Let no one dwell in their tents.

26For they persecute him whom you have wounded.

They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.

27Charge them with crime upon crime.

Don’t let them come into your righteousness.

28Let them be blotted out of the book of life,

and not be written with the righteous.

29But I am in pain and distress.

Let your salvation, God, protect me.

30I will praise the name of God with a song,

and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31It will please Yahweh better than an ox,

or a bull that has horns and hoofs.

32The humble have seen it, and are glad.

You who seek after God, let your heart live.

33For Yahweh hears the needy,

and doesn’t despise his captive people.

34Let heaven and earth praise him;

the seas, and everything that moves therein!

35For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah.

They shall settle there, and own it.

36The children also of his servants shall inherit it.

Those who love his name shall dwell therein.

70

For the Chief Musician. By David. A reminder.

1Hurry, God, to deliver me.

Come quickly to help me, Yahweh.

2Let them be disappointed and confounded who seek my soul.

Let those who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.

3Let them be turned because of their shame

who say, “Aha! Aha!”

4Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.

Let those who love your salvation continually say,

“Let God be exalted!”

5But I am poor and needy.

Come to me quickly, God.

You are my help and my deliverer.

Yahweh, don’t delay.

71

1In you, Yahweh, I take refuge.

Never let me be disappointed.

2Deliver me in your righteousness, and rescue me.

Turn your ear to me, and save me.

3Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may always go.

Give the command to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

4Rescue me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

5For you are my hope, Lord Yahweh,

my confidence from my youth.

6I have relied on you from the womb.

You are he who took me out of my mother’s womb.

I will always praise you.

7I am a marvel to many,

but you are my strong refuge.

8My mouth shall be filled with your praise,

with your honor all day long.

9Don’t reject me in my old age.

Don’t forsake me when my strength fails.

10For my enemies talk about me.

Those who watch for my soul conspire together,

11saying, “God has forsaken him.

Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him.”

12God, don’t be far from me.

My God, hurry to help me.

13Let my accusers be disappointed and consumed.

Let them be covered with disgrace and scorn who want to harm me.

14But I will always hope,

and will add to all of your praise.

15My mouth will tell about your righteousness,

and of your salvation all day,

though I don’t know its full measure.

16I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord Yahweh.

I will make mention of your righteousness, even of yours alone.

17God, you have taught me from my youth.

Until now, I have declared your wondrous works.

18Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me,

until I have declared your strength to the next generation,

your might to everyone who is to come.

19God, your righteousness also reaches to the heavens.

You have done great things.

God, who is like you?

20You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles,

you will let me live.

You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.

21Increase my honor

and comfort me again.

22I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God.

I sing praises to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel.

23My lips shall shout for joy!

My soul, which you have redeemed, sings praises to you!

24My tongue will also talk about your righteousness all day long,

for they are disappointed, and they are confounded,

who want to harm me.

72

By Solomon.

1God, give the king your justice;

your righteousness to the royal son.

2He will judge your people with righteousness,

and your poor with justice.

3The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people.

The hills bring the fruit of righteousness.

4He will judge the poor of the people.

He will save the children of the needy,

and will break the oppressor in pieces.

5They shall fear you while the sun endures;

and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.

6He will come down like rain on the mown grass,

as showers that water the earth.

7In his days, the righteous shall flourish,

and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.

8He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,

from the River to the ends of the earth.

9Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him.

His enemies shall lick the dust.

10The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute.

The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.

11Yes, all kings shall fall down before him.

All nations shall serve him.

12For he will deliver the needy when he cries;

the poor, who has no helper.

13He will have pity on the poor and needy.

He will save the souls of the needy.

14He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence.

Their blood will be precious in his sight.

15He will live; and Sheba’s gold will be given to him.

Men will pray for him continually.

They will bless him all day long.

16Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land.

Its fruit sways like Lebanon.

Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.

17His name endures forever.

His name continues as long as the sun.

Men shall be blessed by him.

All nations will call him blessed.

18Praise be to Yahweh God, the God of Israel,

who alone does marvelous deeds.

19Blessed be his glorious name forever!

Let the whole earth be filled with his glory!

Amen and amen.

20This ends the prayers by David, the son of Jesse.

73

BOOK 3

A Psalm by Asaph.

1Surely God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart.

2But as for me, my feet were almost gone.

My steps had nearly slipped.

3For I was envious of the arrogant,

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4For there are no struggles in their death,

but their strength is firm.

5They are free from burdens of men,

neither are they plagued like other men.

6Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck.

Violence covers them like a garment.

7Their eyes bulge with fat.

Their minds pass the limits of conceit.

8They scoff and speak with malice.

In arrogance, they threaten oppression.

9They have set their mouth in the heavens.

Their tongue walks through the earth.

10Therefore their people return to them,

and they drink up waters of abundance.

11They say, “How does God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

12Behold, these are the wicked.

Being always at ease, they increase in riches.

13Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain,

and washed my hands in innocence,

14For all day long I have been plagued,

and punished every morning.

15If I had said, “I will speak thus”,

behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

16When I tried to understand this,

it was too painful for me—

17until I entered God’s sanctuary,

and considered their latter end.

18Surely you set them in slippery places.

You throw them down to destruction.

19How they are suddenly destroyed!

They are completely swept away with terrors.

20As a dream when one wakes up,

so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.

21For my soul was grieved.

I was embittered in my heart.

22I was so senseless and ignorant.

I was a brute beast before you.

23Nevertheless, I am continually with you.

You have held my right hand.

24You will guide me with your counsel,

and afterward receive me to glory.

25Whom do I have in heaven?

There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you.

26My flesh and my heart fails,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish.

You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.

28But it is good for me to come close to God.

I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge,

that I may tell of all your works.