Psalm 70; Psalm 71; Psalm 72; Psalm 73

1 God, hurry and save me. Lord, come quickly and help me. 2 Let those who are trying to kill me be put to shame. Let them not be honored. Let all those who want to destroy me be turned back in shame. 3 Some people make fun of me. Let them be turned back when their plans fail. 4 But let all those who look to you be joyful and glad because of what you have done. Let those who love you because you save them always say, "May God be honored!" 5 But I am poor and needy. God, come quickly to me. You are the One who helps me and saves me. Lord, please don't wait any longer.

1 Lord, I have gone to you for safety. Let me never be put to shame. 2 You do what is right. Save me and help me. Pay attention to me and save me. 3 Be my rock of safety that I can always go to. Give the command to save me. You are my rock and my fort. 4 My God, save me from the power of sinners. Save me from the hands of those who are mean and evil. 5 You are the King and the Lord. You have always been my hope. I have trusted in you ever since I was young. 6 From the time I was born I have depended on you. You brought me out of my mother's body. I will praise you forever. 7 To many people I am an example of how much you care. You are strong. You are my place of safety. 8 My mouth is filled with praise for you. All day long I will talk about your glory. 9 Don't push me away when I'm old. Don't desert me when my strength is gone. 10 My enemies speak against me. Those who want to kill me get together and make evil plans. 11 They say, "God has deserted him. Go after him and grab him. No one will save him." 12 God, don't stay so far away from me. My God, come quickly and help me. 13 May those who bring charges against me die in shame. May those who want to harm me be covered with shame and dishonor. 14 But I will always have hope. I will praise you more and more. 15 I will say that what you have done is right. All day long I will talk about how you have saved your people. It is more than I can understand. 16 LORD and King, I will come and announce your mighty acts. I will announce that you alone do what is right. 17 God, ever since I was young you have taught me about what you have done. To this very day I tell about your wonderful acts. 18 God, don't leave me even when I'm old and have gray hair. Let me live to tell my children about your power. Let me tell all of them about your mighty acts. 19 God, your saving acts reach to the skies. You have done great things. God, who is like you? 20 You have sent many bitter troubles my way. But you will give me new life. Even if I'm almost in the grave, you will bring me back. 21 You will honor me more and more. You will comfort me once again. 22 My God, I will use the harp to praise you because you are always faithful. Holy One of Israel, I will use the lyre to sing praise to you. 23 My lips will shout with joy when I sing praise to you. You have saved me. 24 All day long my tongue will say that you have done what is right. Those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame. They have not been honored.

1 God, give the king the ability to judge fairly. He is your royal son. Help him to do what is right. 2 Then he will rule your people in the right way. He will be fair to those among your people who are hurting. 3 The mountains and the hills will produce rich crops, because the people will do what is right. 4 The king will stand up for those who are hurting. He will save the children of those who are in need. He will crush those who beat others down. 5 He will rule as long as the sun shines and the moon gives its light. He will rule for all time to come. 6 He will be like rain falling on the fields. He will be like showers watering the earth. 7 Godly people will do well as long as he rules. They will have more than they need as long as the moon lasts. 8 He will rule from ocean to ocean. His kingdom will reach from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth. 9 The desert tribes will bow down to him. His enemies will lick the dust. 10 The kings of Tarshish and of places far away will bring him gifts. The kings of Sheba and Seba will give him presents. 11 All kings will bow down to him. All nations will serve him. 12 People who are in need will cry out, and he will save them. He will save those who are hurting. They don't have anyone else who can help them. 13 He will take pity on those who are weak and in need. He will save them from death. 14 He will save them from people who beat others down. He will save them from people who do mean things to them. Their lives are very special to him. 15 May he live a long time! May gold from Sheba be given to him. May people always pray for him. May they ask the LORD to bless him all day long. 16 Let there be plenty of grain everywhere in the land. May it sway in the wind on the tops of the hills. Let crops grow well, like those in Lebanon. Let them grow like the grass of the field. 17 May the king's name be remembered forever. May his fame last as long as the sun shines. All nations will be blessed because of him. They will call him blessed. 18 Give praise to the LORD God, the God of Israel. Only he can do wonderful things. 19 Give praise to his glorious name forever. May his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen. 20 The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, end here.

1 God is truly good to Israel. He is good to those who have pure hearts. 2 But my feet had almost slipped. I had almost tripped and fallen. 3 I saw that proud and sinful people were doing well. And I began to long for what they had. 4 They don't have any troubles. Their bodies are healthy and strong. 5 They don't have the problems others have. They don't suffer as other people do. 6 Their pride is like a necklace. They put on meanness as if it were their clothes. 7 Many sins come out of their hard and stubborn hearts. There is no limit to their proud and evil thoughts. 8 They laugh at others and speak words of hatred. They are proud. They warn others about the harm they can do to them. 9 They brag as if they owned heaven itself. They talk as if they controlled the earth. 10 So people listen to them. They lap up their words like water. 11 They say, "How can God know what we're doing? Does the Most High God really know that much?" 12 Here is what sinful people are like. They don't have a care in the world. They keep getting richer and richer. 13 It seems as if I have kept my heart pure without any reason. It didn't do me any good to wash my hands to show that I wasn't guilty of doing anything wrong. 14 Day after day I've been in pain. God has punished me every morning. 15 What if I had said, "I will speak as evil people do"? Then I wouldn't have been faithful to God's children. 16 I tried to understand it all. But it was more than I could handle. 17 It troubled me until I entered God's temple. Then I understood what will happen to bad people in the end. 18 God, I'm sure you will make them slip and fall. You will throw them down and destroy them. 19 It will happen very suddenly. A terrible death will take them away completely. 20 A dream goes away when a person wakes up. Lord, it will be like that when you rise up. It will be as if those people were only a dream. 21 At one time my heart was sad and my spirit was bitter. 22 I didn't have any sense. I didn't know anything. I acted like a wild animal toward you. 23 But I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand. 24 You give me wise advice to guide me. And when I die, you will take me away into the glory of heaven. 25 I don't have anyone in heaven but you. I don't want anything on earth besides you. 26 My body and my heart may grow weak. God, you give strength to my heart. You are everything I will ever need. 27 Those who don't want anything to do with you will die. You destroy all those who aren't faithful to you. 28 But I am close to you. And that's good. LORD and King, I have made you my place of safety. I will talk about everything you have done.