Psalm
71
In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline
thine ear unto me, and save me.
Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast
given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand
of the unrighteous and cruel man.
For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth.
By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took
me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.
I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.
Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.
Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.
For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for
my soul take counsel together,
Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for
there is none to deliver him.
O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.
Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul;
let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.
My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the
day; for I know not the numbers thereof.
I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy
righteousness, even of thine only.
O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I
declared thy wondrous works.
Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed
thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great
things: O God, who is like unto thee!
Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken
me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.
I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my
God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.
My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my
soul, which thou hast redeemed.
My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for
they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.
Psalm 72 - A
Psalm for Solomon.
Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.
He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.
The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the
little hills, by righteousness.
He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy,
and shall break in pieces the oppressor.
They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure,
throughout all generations.
He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.
In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace
so long as the moon endureth.
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river
unto the ends of the earth.
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his
enemies shall lick the dust.
The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings
of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.
For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also,
and him that hath no helper.
He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.
He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious
shall their blood be in his sight.
And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer
also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.
There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains;
the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall
flourish like grass of the earth.
His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the
sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, And
blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be
filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.
The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
Psalm 73
- A Psalm of Asaph
Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence
covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue
walketh through the earth.
Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full
cup are wrung out to them.
And they say, How doth God know?
and is there knowledge in the most High?
Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against
the generation of thy children.
When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst
them down into destruction.
How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment!
they are utterly consumed with terrors.
As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest,
thou shalt despise their image.
Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but thee?
and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my
heart, and my portion for ever.
For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed
all them that go a whoring from thee.
But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord
God, that I may declare all thy works.
Psalm 74
- Maschil of Asaph.
O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever?
why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine
inheritance, which thou hast redeemed;
this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy
hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set
up their ensigns for signs.
A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the
dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up
all the synagogues of God in the land.
We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there
among us any that knoweth how long.
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach?
shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand?
pluck it out of thy bosom.
For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads
of the dragons in the waters.
Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to
the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the
foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget
not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are
full of the habitations of cruelty.
O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish
man reproacheth thee daily.
Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up
against thee increaseth continually.
Psalm 75 - To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.
Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy
name is near thy wondrous works declare.
When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.
The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I
bear up the pillars of it.
Selah.
I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:
Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.
For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the
west, nor from the south.
But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is
full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof,
all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.
But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of
the righteous shall be exalted.