Category: Psalms

The Psalmist in Sickness Complains of Enemies and False Friends.

1 How blessed is he who considers the helpless;

The Lordwill deliver him in a day of trouble.

2 The Lordwill protect him and keep him alive,

And he shall be called blessed upon the earth;

And do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.

3 The Lordwill sustain him upon his sickbed;

In his illness, Yourestore him to health.

4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;

Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

5 My enemies speak evil against me,

“When will he die, and his name perish?”

6 And when he comes to seeme,he speaks falsehood;

His heart gathers wickedness to itself;

When he goes outside, he tells it.

7 All who hate me whisper together against me;

Against me they devise my hurt,saying,

8 “A wicked thing is poured out upon him,

That when he lies down, he will not rise up again.”

9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,

Who ate my bread,

Has lifted up his heel against me.

10 But You, O Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up,

That I may repay them.

11 By this I know that You are pleased with me,

Because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.

12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,

And You set me in Your presence forever.

13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

From everlasting to everlasting.

Amen and Amen.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/PSA/41-e59b66e71ce3bf3ccbb7c558a7cd1853.mp3?version_id=100—

Thirsting for God in Trouble and Exile.

1 As the deerpants for the water brooks,

So my soul pants for You, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;

When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night,

Whiletheysay to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

4 These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.

For I used to go along with the throngandlead them in procession to the house of God,

With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.

5 Why are you in despair, O my soul?

Andwhyhave you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him

Forthe help of His presence.

6 O my God, my soul is in despair within me;

Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan

And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;

All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.

8 The Lordwill command His lovingkindness in the daytime;

And His song will be with me in the night,

A prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,

While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

11 Why are you in despair, O my soul?

And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/PSA/42-718d9eee5388f6e3b5af7a8e5bc4c5d1.mp3?version_id=100—

Prayer for Deliverance.

1 Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation;

O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

2 For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

3 O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me;

Let them bring me to Your holy hill

And to Your dwelling places.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God,

To God my exceeding joy;

And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.

5 Why are you in despair, O my soul?

And why are you disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/PSA/43-21b002f3f7ec6331162afb01f2ed34b5.mp3?version_id=100—

Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.

1 O God, we have heard with our ears,

Our fathers have told us

The work that You did in their days,

In the days of old.

2 You with Your own hand drove out the nations;

Then You planted them;

You afflicted the peoples,

Then You spread them abroad.

3 For by their own sword they did not possess the land,

And their own arm did not save them,

But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,

For You favored them.

4 You are my King, O God;

Command victories for Jacob.

5 Through You we will push back our adversaries;

Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.

6 For I will not trust in my bow,

Nor will my sword save me.

7 But You have saved us from our adversaries,

And You have put to shame those who hate us.

8 In God we have boasted all day long,

And we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.

9 Yet You have rejectedusand brought us to dishonor,

And do not go out with our armies.

10 You cause us to turn back from the adversary;

And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.

11 You give us as sheep to be eaten

And have scattered us among the nations.

12 You sell Your people cheaply,

And have notprofited by their sale.

13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,

A scoffing and a derision to those around us.

14 You make us a byword among the nations,

A laughingstock among the peoples.

15 All day long my dishonor is before me

And my humiliation has overwhelmed me,

16 Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,

Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.

17 All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You,

And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant.

18 Our heart has not turned back,

And our steps have not deviated from Your way,

19 Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals

And covered us with the shadow of death.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God

Or extended our hands to a strange god,

21 Would not God find this out?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

22 But for Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

23 Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord?

Awake, do not reject us forever.

24 Why do You hide Your face

Andforget our affliction and our oppression?

25 For our soul has sunk down into the dust;

Our body cleaves to the earth.

26 Rise up, be our help,

And redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/PSA/44-22d3bb2b1cc6883ec7dc15fa447c7e00.mp3?version_id=100—

A Song Celebrating the King’s Marriage.

1 My heartoverflows with a good theme;

I address my verses to the King;

My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

2 You are fairer than the sons of men;

Grace is poured upon Your lips;

Therefore God has blessed You forever.

3 Gird Your sword onYourthigh, O Mighty One,

InYour splendor and Your majesty!

4 And in Your majesty ride on victoriously,

For the cause of truth and meeknessandrighteousness;

Let Your right hand teach You awesome things.

5 Your arrows are sharp;

The peoples fall under You;

Your arrows arein the heart of the King’s enemies.

6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;

A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.

7 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;

Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You

With the oil of joy above Your fellows.

8 All Your garments arefragrant withmyrrh and aloesandcassia;

Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made You glad.

9 Kings’ daughters are among Your noble ladies;

At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.

10 Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear:

Forget your people and your father’s house;

11 Then the King will desire your beauty.

Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.

12 The daughter of Tyrewill comewith a gift;

The rich among the people will seek your favor.

13 The King’s daughter is all glorious within;

Her clothing is interwoven with gold.

14 She will be led to the King in embroidered work;

The virgins, her companions who follow her,

Will be brought to You.

15 They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing;

They will enter into the King’s palace.

16 In place of your fathers will be your sons;

You shall make them princes in all the earth.

17 I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations;

Therefore the peoples will give You thanks forever and ever.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/PSA/45-375462d6af1c306ea1bb9ac0923121c5.mp3?version_id=100—

God the Refuge of His People.

1 God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change

And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;

3 Though its waters roarandfoam,

Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

The holy dwelling places of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.

6 The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;

He raised His voice, the earth melted.

7 The Lordof hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,

Who has wrought desolations in the earth.

9 He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariots with fire.

10 “Ceasestrivingand know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lordof hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/PSA/46-7dfdd0465cb69d164805ebf38c92b8f8.mp3?version_id=100—

God the King of the Earth.

1 O clap your hands, all peoples;

Shout to God with the voice of joy.

2 For the LordMost High is to be feared,

A great King over all the earth.

3 He subdues peoples under us

And nations under our feet.

4 He chooses our inheritance for us,

The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah.

5 God has ascended with a shout,

The Lord, with the sound of a trumpet.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;

Sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7 For God is the King of all the earth;

Sing praises with a skillful psalm.

8 God reigns over the nations,

God sits on His holy throne.

9 The princes of the people have assembled themselvesasthe people of the God of Abraham,

For the shields of the earth belong to God;

He is highly exalted.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/PSA/47-48c820ef70146e6df299255ec9b6b43b.mp3?version_id=100—

The Beauty and Glory of Zion.

1 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,

In the city of our God, His holy mountain.

2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,

Is Mount Zioninthe far north,

The city of the great King.

3 God, in her palaces,

Has made Himself known as a stronghold.

4 For, lo, the kings assembled themselves,

They passed by together.

5 They sawit,then they were amazed;

They were terrified, they fled in alarm.

6 Panic seized them there,

Anguish, as of a woman in childbirth.

7 With the east wind

You break the ships of Tarshish.

8 As we have heard, so have we seen

In the city of the Lordof hosts, in the city of our God;

God will establish her forever. Selah.

9 We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God,

In the midst of Your temple.

10 As is Your name, O God,

So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;

Your right hand is full of righteousness.

11 Let Mount Zion be glad,

Let the daughters of Judah rejoice

Because of Your judgments.

12 Walk about Zion and go around her;

Count her towers;

13 Consider her ramparts;

Go through her palaces,

That you may tellitto the next generation.

14 For such is God,

Our God forever and ever;

He will guide usuntil death.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/PSA/48-06290a039911abee0d89a77bf64a5614.mp3?version_id=100—

The Folly of Trusting in Riches.

1 Hear this, all peoples;

Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

2 Both low and high,

Rich and poor together.

3 My mouth will speak wisdom,

And the meditation of my heartwill beunderstanding.

4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;

I will express my riddle on the harp.

5 Why should I fear in days of adversity,

When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me,

6 Even those who trust in their wealth

And boast in the abundance of their riches?

7 No man can by any means redeemhisbrother

Or give to God a ransom for him—

8 For the redemption of his soul is costly,

And he should ceasetryingforever—

9 That he should live on eternally,

That he should notundergo decay.

10 For he seesthat evenwise men die;

The stupid and the senseless alike perish

And leave their wealth to others.

11 Theirinner thought isthattheir houses are forever

Andtheir dwelling places to all generations;

They have called their lands after their own names.

12 But man inhispomp will not endure;

He is like the beasts that perish.

13 This is the way of those who are foolish,

And of those after them who approve their words. Selah.

14 As sheep they are appointed for Sheol;

Death shall be their shepherd;

And the upright shall rule over them in the morning,

And their form shall be for Sheol to consume

So that they have no habitation.

15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,

For He will receive me. Selah.

16 Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich,

When theglory of his house is increased;

17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away;

Hisglory will not descend after him.

18 Though while he lives he congratulates himself—

And thoughmenpraise you when you do well for yourself—

19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers;

They will never see the light.

20 Man inhispomp, yet without understanding,

Is like the beasts that perish.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/PSA/49-6b804dcba38aa4588118912242b77430.mp3?version_id=100—

God the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked.

1 The Mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken,

And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God has shone forth.

3 May our God come and not keep silence;

Fire devours before Him,

And it is very tempestuous around Him.

4 He summons the heavens above,

And the earth, to judge His people:

5 “Gather My godly ones to Me,

Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

6 And the heavens declare His righteousness,

For God Himself is judge. Selah.

7 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak;

O Israel, I will testify against you;

I am God, your God.

8 I do not reprove you for your sacrifices,

And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.

9 I shall take no young bull out of your house

Nor male goats out of your folds.

10 For every beast of the forest is Mine,

The cattle on a thousand hills.

11 I know every bird of the mountains,

And everything that moves in the field isMine.

12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,

For the world is Mine, and all it contains.

13 Shall I eat the flesh of bulls

Or drink the blood of male goats?

14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving

And pay your vows to the Most High;

15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble;

I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

16 But to the wicked God says,

“What right have you to tell of My statutes

And to take My covenant in your mouth?

17 For you hate discipline,

And you cast My words behind you.

18 When you see a thief, you are pleased with him,

And you associate with adulterers.

19 You let your mouth loose in evil

And your tongue frames deceit.

20 You sit and speak against your brother;

You slander your own mother’s son.

21 These things you have done and I kept silence;

You thought that I was just like you;

I will reprove you and statethe casein order before your eyes.

22 “Now consider this, you who forget God,

Or I will tearyouin pieces, and there will be none to deliver.

23 He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me;

And to him who ordershiswayaright

I shall show the salvation of God.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/PSA/50-52b48002f3385a3172f64083700db532.mp3?version_id=100—