Psalms 66; Psalms 67; Psalms 68; Psalms 69

Psalms 66

1 Shout happily to God, all the earth!

2 Make music to praise the glory of his name. Make his praise glorious.

3 Say to God, "How awe-inspiring are your deeds! Your power is so great that your enemies will cringe in front of you.

4 The whole earth will worship you. It will make music to praise you. It will make music to praise your name." Selah

5 Come and see what God has done-- his awe-inspiring deeds for Adam's descendants.

6 He turned the sea into dry land. They crossed the river on foot. We rejoiced because of what he did there.

7 He rules forever with his might. His eyes watch the nations. Rebels will not be able to oppose him. Selah

8 Thank our God, you nations. Make the sound of his praise heard.

9 He has kept us alive and has not allowed us to fall.

10 You have tested us, O God. You have refined us in the same way silver is refined.

11 You have trapped us in a net. You have laid burdens on our backs.

12 You let people ride over our heads. We went through fire and water, but then you brought us out and refreshed us.

13 I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will keep my vows to you,

14 the vows made by my lips and spoken by my [own] mouth when I was in trouble.

15 I will offer you a sacrifice of fattened livestock for burnt offerings with the smoke from rams. I will offer cattle and goats. Selah

16 Come and listen, all who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for me.

17 With my mouth I cried out to him. High praise was on my tongue.

18 If I had thought about doing anything sinful, the Lord would not have listened [to me].

19 But God has heard me. He has paid attention to my prayer.

20 Thanks be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or taken away his mercy from me.

Psalms 67

1 May God have pity on us and bless us! May he smile on us. Selah

2 Then your ways will be known on earth, your salvation throughout all nations.

3 Let everyone give thanks to you, O God. Let everyone give thanks to you.

4 Let the nations be glad and sing joyfully because you judge everyone with justice and guide the nations on the earth. Selah

5 Let the people give thanks to you, O God. Let all the people give thanks to you.

6 The earth has yielded its harvest. May God, our God, bless us.

7 May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth worship him.

Psalms 68

1 God will arise. His enemies will be scattered. Those who hate him will flee from him.

2 Blow them away like smoke. Let wicked people melt in God's presence like wax next to a fire.

3 But let righteous people rejoice. Let them celebrate in God's presence. Let them overflow with joy.

4 Sing to God; make music to praise his name. Make a highway for him to ride through the deserts. The LORD is his name. Celebrate in his presence.

5 The God who is in his holy dwelling place is the father of the fatherless and the defender of widows.

6 God places lonely people in families. He leads prisoners out of prison into productive lives, but rebellious people must live in an unproductive land.

7 O God, when you went in front of your people, when you marched through the desert, Selah

8 the earth quaked and the sky poured in the presence of the God of Sinai, in the presence of the God of Israel.

9 You watered the land with plenty of rain, O God. You refreshed it when your land was exhausted.

10 Your flock settled there. Out of your goodness, O God, you provided for oppressed people.

11 The Lord gives instructions. The women who announce the good news are a large army.

12 [They say,] "The kings of the armies flee; they run away. The women who remained at home will divide the goods.

13 Though you stayed among the sheep pens, [you will be like] the wings of a dove covered with silver, its feathers with yellow gold.

14 Meanwhile, the Almighty was still scattering kings there like snow falling on Mount Zalmon."

15 The mountain of Bashan is the mountain of God. The mountain of Bashan is the mountain with many peaks.

16 Why do you look with envy, you mountains with many peaks, at the mountain where God has chosen to live? Certainly, the LORD will live there forever.

17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand in number, thousands upon thousands. The Lord is among them. [The God of] Sinai is in his holy place.

18 You went to the highest place. You took prisoners captive. You received gifts from people, even from rebellious people, so that the LORD God may live there.

19 Thanks be to the Lord, who daily carries our burdens for us. God is our salvation. Selah

20 Our God is the God of victories. The Almighty LORD is our escape from death.

21 Certainly, God will crush the heads of his enemies [and destroy even] the hair on the heads of those who continue to be guilty.

22 The Lord said, "I will bring them back from Bashan. I will bring them back from the depths of the sea

23 so that you, [my people,] may bathe your feet in blood and the tongues of your dogs may lick the blood of your enemies."

24 Your festival processions, O God, can be seen by everyone. They are the processions for my God, my king, into the holy place.

25 The singers are in front. The musicians are behind them. The young women beating tambourines are between them.

26 Thank God, the Lord, the source of Israel, with the choirs.

27 Benjamin, the youngest, is leading them, [next] the leaders of Judah with their noisy crowds, [then] the leaders of Zebulun, [then] the leaders of Naphtali.

28 Your God has decided you will be strong. Display your strength, O God, as you have for us before.

29 Kings will bring you gifts because of your temple high above Jerusalem.

30 Threaten the beast who is among the cattails, the herd of bulls with the calves of the nations, until it humbles itself with pieces of silver. Scatter the people who find joy in war.

31 Ambassadors will come from Egypt. Sudan will stretch out its hands to God [in prayer].

32 You kingdoms of the world, sing to God. Make music to praise the Lord. Selah

33 God rides through the ancient heaven, the highest heaven. Listen! He makes his voice heard, his powerful voice.

34 Acknowledge the power of God. His majesty is over Israel, and his power is in the skies.

35 God, the God of Israel, is awe-inspiring in his holy place. He gives strength and power to his people. Thanks be to God!

Psalms 69

1 Save me, O God! The water is already up to my neck!

2 I am sinking in deep mud. There is nothing to stand on. I am in deep water. A flood is sweeping me away.

3 I am exhausted from crying for help. My throat is hoarse. My eyes are strained [from] looking for my God.

4 Those who hate me for no reason outnumber the hairs on my head. Those who want to destroy me are mighty. They have no reason to be my enemies. I am forced to pay back what I did not steal.

5 O God, you know my stupidity, and the things of which I am guilty are not hidden from you.

6 Do not let those who wait with hope for you be put to shame because of me, O Almighty LORD of Armies. Do not let those who come to you for help be humiliated because of me, O God of Israel.

7 Indeed, for your sake I have endured insults. Humiliation has covered my face.

8 I have become a stranger to my [own] brothers, a foreigner to my mother's sons.

9 Indeed, devotion for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

10 I cried and fasted, but I was insulted for it.

11 I dressed myself in sackcloth, but I became the object of ridicule.

12 Those who sit at the gate gossip about me, and drunkards make up songs about me.

13 May my prayer come to you at an acceptable time, O LORD. O God, out of the greatness of your mercy, answer me with the truth of your salvation.

14 Rescue me from the mud. Do not let me sink [into it]. I want to be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep water.

15 Do not let floodwaters sweep me away. Do not let the ocean swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, O LORD, because your mercy is good. Out of your unlimited compassion, turn to me.

17 I am in trouble, so do not hide your face from me. Answer me quickly!

18 Come close, and defend my soul. Set me free because of my enemies.

19 You know that I have been insulted, put to shame, and humiliated. All my opponents are in front of you.

20 Insults have broken my heart, and I am sick. I looked for sympathy, but there was none. I looked for people to comfort me, but I found no one.

21 They poisoned my food, and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 Let the table set for them become a trap and a snare for their friends.

23 Let their vision become clouded so that they cannot see. Let their thighs continually shake.

24 Pour your rage on them. Let your burning anger catch up with them.

25 Let their camp be deserted and their tents empty.

26 They persecute the one you have struck, and they talk about the pain of those you have wounded.

27 Charge them with one crime after another. Do not let them be found innocent.

28 Let their [names] be erased from the Book of Life. Do not let them be listed with righteous people.

29 I am suffering and in pain. Let your saving power protect me, O God.

30 I want to praise the name of God with a song. I want to praise its greatness with a song of thanksgiving.

31 This will please the LORD more than [sacrificing] an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.

32 Oppressed people will see [this] and rejoice. May the hearts of those who look to God for help be refreshed.

33 The LORD listens to needy people. He does not despise his own who are in prison.

34 Let heaven and earth, the seas, and everything that moves in them, praise him.

35 When God saves Zion, he will rebuild the cities of Judah. His servants will live there and take possession of it.

36 The descendants of his servants will inherit it. Those who love him will live there.