87

A Psalm by the sons of Korah; a Song.

1His foundation is in the holy mountains.

2Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

3Glorious things are spoken about you, city of God. Selah.

4I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me.

Behold, Philistia, Tyre, and also Ethiopia:

“This one was born there.”

5Yes, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one was born in her;”

the Most High himself will establish her.

6Yahweh will count, when he writes up the peoples,

“This one was born there.” Selah.

7Those who sing as well as those who dance say,

“All my springs are in you.”

88

A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Suffering of Affliction.” A contemplation by Heman, the Ezrahite.

1Yahweh, the God of my salvation,

I have cried day and night before you.

2Let my prayer enter into your presence.

Turn your ear to my cry.

3For my soul is full of troubles.

My life draws near to Sheol.

4I am counted among those who go down into the pit.

I am like a man who has no help,

5set apart among the dead,

like the slain who lie in the grave,

whom you remember no more.

They are cut off from your hand.

6You have laid me in the lowest pit,

in the darkest depths.

7Your wrath lies heavily on me.

You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah.

8You have taken my friends from me.

You have made me an abomination to them.

I am confined, and I can’t escape.

9My eyes are dim from grief.

I have called on you daily, Yahweh.

I have spread out my hands to you.

10Do you show wonders to the dead?

Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah.

11Is your loving kindness declared in the grave?

Or your faithfulness in Destruction?

12Are your wonders made known in the dark?

Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13But to you, Yahweh, I have cried.

In the morning, my prayer comes before you.

14Yahweh, why do you reject my soul?

Why do you hide your face from me?

15I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up.

While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.

16Your fierce wrath has gone over me.

Your terrors have cut me off.

17They came around me like water all day long.

They completely engulfed me.

18You have put lover and friend far from me,

and my friends into darkness.

89

A contemplation by Ethan, the Ezrahite.

1I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever.

With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

2I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever.

You established the heavens.

Your faithfulness is in them.”

3“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,

I have sworn to David, my servant,

4‘I will establish your offspring forever,

and build up your throne to all generations.’” Selah.

5The heavens will praise your wonders, Yahweh,

your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.

6For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?

Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like Yahweh,

7a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones,

to be feared above all those who are around him?

8Yahweh, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you?

Yah, your faithfulness is around you.

9You rule the pride of the sea.

When its waves rise up, you calm them.

10You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain.

You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

11The heavens are yours.

The earth also is yours,

the world and its fullness.

You have founded them.

12You have created the north and the south.

Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.

13You have a mighty arm.

Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted.

14Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.

Loving kindness and truth go before your face.

15Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you.

They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh.

16In your name they rejoice all day.

In your righteousness, they are exalted.

17For you are the glory of their strength.

In your favor, our horn will be exalted.

18For our shield belongs to Yahweh,

our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19Then you spoke in vision to your saints,

and said, “I have given strength to the warrior.

I have exalted a young man from the people.

20I have found David, my servant.

I have anointed him with my holy oil,

21with whom my hand shall be established.

My arm will also strengthen him.

22No enemy will tax him.

No wicked man will oppress him.

23I will beat down his adversaries before him,

and strike those who hate him.

24But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him.

In my name, his horn will be exalted.

25I will set his hand also on the sea,

and his right hand on the rivers.

26He will call to me, ‘You are my Father,

my God, and the rock of my salvation!’

27I will also appoint him my firstborn,

the highest of the kings of the earth.

28I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more.

My covenant will stand firm with him.

29I will also make his offspring endure forever,

and his throne as the days of heaven.

30If his children forsake my law,

and don’t walk in my ordinances;

31if they break my statutes,

and don’t keep my commandments;

32then I will punish their sin with the rod,

and their iniquity with stripes.

33But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him,

nor allow my faithfulness to fail.

34I will not break my covenant,

nor alter what my lips have uttered.

35Once I have sworn by my holiness,

I will not lie to David.

36His offspring will endure forever,

his throne like the sun before me.

37It will be established forever like the moon,

the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah.

38But you have rejected and spurned.

You have been angry with your anointed.

39You have renounced the covenant of your servant.

You have defiled his crown in the dust.

40You have broken down all his hedges.

You have brought his strongholds to ruin.

41All who pass by the way rob him.

He has become a reproach to his neighbors.

42You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries.

You have made all of his enemies rejoice.

43Yes, you turn back the edge of his sword,

and haven’t supported him in battle.

44You have ended his splendor,

and thrown his throne down to the ground.

45You have shortened the days of his youth.

You have covered him with shame. Selah.

46How long, Yahweh?

Will you hide yourself forever?

Will your wrath burn like fire?

47Remember how short my time is,

for what vanity you have created all the children of men!

48What man is he who shall live and not see death,

who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

49Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses,

which you swore to David in your faithfulness?

50Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants,

how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples,

51With which your enemies have mocked, Yahweh,

with which they have mocked the footsteps of your anointed one.

52Blessed be Yahweh forever more.

Amen, and Amen.

90

BOOK 4

A Prayer by Moses, the man of God.

1Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations.

2Before the mountains were born,

before you had formed the earth and the world,

even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

3You turn man to destruction, saying,

“Return, you children of men.”

4For a thousand years in your sight are just like yesterday when it is past,

like a watch in the night.

5You sweep them away as they sleep.

In the morning they sprout like new grass.

6In the morning it sprouts and springs up.

By evening, it is withered and dry.

7For we are consumed in your anger.

We are troubled in your wrath.

8You have set our iniquities before you,

our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9For all our days have passed away in your wrath.

We bring our years to an end as a sigh.

10The days of our years are seventy,

or even by reason of strength eighty years;

yet their pride is but labor and sorrow,

for it passes quickly, and we fly away.

11Who knows the power of your anger,

your wrath according to the fear that is due to you?

12So teach us to count our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13Relent, Yahweh!

How long?

Have compassion on your servants!

14Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness,

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

for as many years as we have seen evil.

16Let your work appear to your servants,

your glory to their children.

17Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us.

Establish the work of our hands for us.

Yes, establish the work of our hands.

91

1He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2I will say of Yahweh, “He is my refuge and my fortress;

my God, in whom I trust.”

3For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler,

and from the deadly pestilence.

4He will cover you with his feathers.

Under his wings you will take refuge.

His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.

5You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,

nor of the arrow that flies by day,

6nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,

nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7A thousand may fall at your side,

and ten thousand at your right hand;

but it will not come near you.

8You will only look with your eyes,

and see the recompense of the wicked.

9Because you have made Yahweh your refuge,

and the Most High your dwelling place,

10no evil shall happen to you,

neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.

11For he will put his angels in charge of you,

to guard you in all your ways.

12They will bear you up in their hands,

so that you won’t dash your foot against a stone.

13You will tread on the lion and cobra.

You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.

14“Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him.

I will set him on high, because he has known my name.

15He will call on me, and I will answer him.

I will be with him in trouble.

I will deliver him, and honor him.

16I will satisfy him with long life,

and show him my salvation.”

92

A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.

1It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh,

to sing praises to your name, Most High,

2to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning,

and your faithfulness every night,

3with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp,

and with the melody of the lyre.

4For you, Yahweh, have made me glad through your work.

I will triumph in the works of your hands.

5How great are your works, Yahweh!

Your thoughts are very deep.

6A senseless man doesn’t know,

neither does a fool understand this:

7though the wicked spring up as the grass,

and all the evildoers flourish,

they will be destroyed forever.

8But you, Yahweh, are on high forever more.

9For behold, your enemies, Yahweh,

for behold, your enemies shall perish.

All the evildoers will be scattered.

10But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox.

I am anointed with fresh oil.

11My eye has also seen my enemies.

My ears have heard of the wicked enemies who rise up against me.

12The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.

He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13They are planted in Yahweh’s house.

They will flourish in our God’s courts.

14They will still produce fruit in old age.

They will be full of sap and green,

15to show that Yahweh is upright.

He is my rock,

and there is no unrighteousness in him.