Psalms 6; Psalms 32; Psalms 38; Psalms 51; Psalms 102; Psalms 130; Psalms 143

Psalms 6

1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

2 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint; heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.

3 My soul is in deep anguish. How long, LORD, how long?

4 Turn, LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.

5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?

6 I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.

7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.

8 Away from me, all you who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping.

9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.

10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

Psalms 32

1 Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

2 Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.

3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.

7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.

10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.

11 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Psalms 38

1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

2 Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me.

3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.

4 My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.

5 My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.

6 I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.

7 My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body.

8 I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.

9 All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.

10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes.

11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away.

12 Those who want to kill me set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they scheme and lie.

13 I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak;

14 I have become like one who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply.

15 LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.

16 For I said, “Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”

17 For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me.

18 I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.

19 Many have become my enemies without cause ; those who hate me without reason are numerous.

20 Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me, though I seek only to do what is good.

21 LORD, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God.

22 Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.

Psalms 51

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

18 May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Psalms 102

1 Hear my prayer, LORD; let my cry for help come to you.

2 Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.

3 For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers.

4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food.

5 In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones.

6 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.

7 I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.

8 All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse.

9 For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears

10 because of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.

11 My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.

12 But you, LORD, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.

13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.

14 For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity.

15 The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

16 For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory.

17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.

18 Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:

19 “The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,

20 to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.”

21 So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem

22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the LORD.

23 In the course of my life he broke my strength; he cut short my days.

24 So I said: “Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days; your years go on through all generations.

25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.

27 But you remain the same, and your years will never end.

28 The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.”

Psalms 130

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD;

2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

3 If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

5 I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.

6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

7 Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.

8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Psalms 143

1 LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.

2 Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.

3 The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in the darkness like those long dead.

4 So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.

5 I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.

6 I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land.

7 Answer me quickly, LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit.

8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.

9 Rescue me from my enemies, LORD, for I hide myself in you.

10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

11 For your name’s sake, LORD, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.

12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant.