Psalms 44; Psalms 74; Psalms 79; Psalms 80; Psalms 85; Psalms 89

Psalms 44

1 We have heard it with our ears, O God; our ancestors have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.

2 With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our ancestors; you crushed the peoples and made our ancestors flourish.

3 It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.

4 You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob.

5 Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes.

6 I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory;

7 but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame.

8 In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.

9 But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies.

10 You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us.

11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations.

12 You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale.

13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us.

14 You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us.

15 I live in disgrace all day long, and my face is covered with shame

16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.

17 All this came upon us, though we had not forgotten you; we had not been false to your covenant.

18 Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path.

19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals; you covered us over with deep darkness.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

21 would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?

22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

23 Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.

24 Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?

25 We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground.

26 Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love.

Psalms 74

1 O God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

2 Remember the nation you purchased long ago, the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed— Mount Zion, where you dwelt.

3 Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins, all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.

4 Your foes roared in the place where you met with us; they set up their standards as signs.

5 They behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees.

6 They smashed all the carved paneling with their axes and hatchets.

7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.

8 They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!” They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.

9 We are given no signs from God; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.

10 How long will the enemy mock you, God? Will the foe revile your name forever?

11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!

12 But God is my King from long ago; he brings salvation on the earth.

13 It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.

14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.

15 It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever-flowing rivers.

16 The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon.

17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.

18 Remember how the enemy has mocked you, LORD, how foolish people have reviled your name.

19 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever.

20 Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.

21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name.

22 Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long.

23 Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries, the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.

Psalms 79

1 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

2 They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.

3 They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.

4 We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.

5 How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name;

7 for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.

8 Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.

9 Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake.

10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.

11 May the groans of the prisoners come before you; with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.

12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord.

13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise.

Psalms 80

1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth

2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us.

3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.

4 How long, LORD God Almighty, will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people?

5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

6 You have made us an object of derision to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us.

7 Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.

8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.

9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.

11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea,its shoots as far as the River.

12 Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes?

13 Boars from the forest ravage it, and insects from the fields feed on it.

14 Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine,

15 the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself.

16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish.

17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself.

18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.

19 Restore us, LORD God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.

Psalms 85

1 You, LORD, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

2 You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins.

3 You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger.

4 Restore us again, God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us.

5 Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations?

6 Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

7 Show us your unfailing love, LORD, and grant us your salvation.

8 I will listen to what God the LORD says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants— but let them not turn to folly.

9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.

10 Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.

12 The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.

13 Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.

Psalms 89

1 I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.

2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.

3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant,

4 ‘I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.’ ”

5 The heavens praise your wonders, LORD, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.

6 For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings?

7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him.

8 Who is like you, LORD God Almighty? You, LORD, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

9 You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.

10 You crushed Rahab like one of the slain; with your strong arm you scattered your enemies.

11 The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it.

12 You created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.

13 Your arm is endowed with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, LORD.

16 They rejoice in your name all day long; they celebrate your righteousness.

17 For you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn.

18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19 Once you spoke in a vision, to your faithful people you said: “I have bestowed strength on a warrior; I have raised up a young man from among the people.

20 I have found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed him.

21 My hand will sustain him; surely my arm will strengthen him.

22 The enemy will not get the better of him; the wicked will not oppress him.

23 I will crush his foes before him and strike down his adversaries.

24 My faithful love will be with him, and through my name his horn will be exalted.

25 I will set his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers.

26 He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.’

27 And I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth.

28 I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail.

29 I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.

30 “If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes,

31 if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands,

32 I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging;

33 but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.

34 I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered.

35 Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness— and I will not lie to David—

36 that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun;

37 it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.”

38 But you have rejected, you have spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one.

39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust.

40 You have broken through all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruins.

41 All who pass by have plundered him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors.

42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice.

43 Indeed, you have turned back the edge of his sword and have not supported him in battle.

44 You have put an end to his splendor and cast his throne to the ground.

45 You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with a mantle of shame.

46 How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?

47 Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created all humanity!

48 Who can live and not see death, or who can escape the power of the grave?

49 Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?

50 Remember, Lord, how your servant has been mocked, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations,

51 the taunts with which your enemies, LORD, have mocked, with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one.

52 Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.