it is the God of Israel who gives might and power to the
people.
Blessed is God.
69For the leader. On shoshannim.a Of David.
2Deliver me, O God,
for the waters have reached my neck;
3I am sinking into the slimy deep
and find no foothold;
I have come into the watery depths;
the flood sweeps me away.
4I am weary with calling;
my throat is dry;
my eyes fail
while I wait for God.
5More numerous than the hairs of my head
are those who hate me without reason;
many are those who would destroy me,
my treacherous enemies.
Must I restore what I have not stolen?
6God, You know my folly;
my guilty deeds are not hidden from You.
7Let those who look to You,
O LORD, God of hosts,
not be disappointed on my account;
let those who seek You,
O God of Israel,
not be shamed because of me.
8It is for Your sake that I have been reviled,
that shame covers my face;
9I am a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my kin.
10My zeal for Your house has been my undoing;
the reproaches of those who revile You have fallen upon me.
11When I wept and fasted,
I was reviled for it.
12I made sackcloth my garment;
I became a byword among them.
13Those who sit in the gate talk about me;
I am the taunt of drunkards.
14As for me, may my prayer come to You, O LORD,
at a favorable moment;
O God, in Your abundant faithfulness,
answer me with Your sure deliverance.
15Rescue me from the mire;
let me not sink;
let me be rescued from my enemies,
and from the watery depths.
16Let the floodwaters not sweep me away;
let the deep not swallow me;
let the mouth of the Pit not close over me.
17Answer me, O LORD,
according to Your great steadfastness;
in accordance with Your abundant mercy
turn to me;
18do not hide Your face from Your servant,
for I am in distress;
answer me quickly.
19Come near to me and redeem me;
free me from my enemies.
20You know my reproach,
my shame, my disgrace;
You are aware of all my foes.
21Reproach breaks my heart,
I am in despair;a
I hope for consolation, but there is none,
for comforters, but find none.
22They give me gall for food,
vinegar to quench my thirst.
23May their table be a trap for them,
a snare for their allies.
24May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see;
may their loins collapse continually.
25Pour out Your wrath on them;
may Your blazing anger overtake them;
26may their encampments be desolate;
may their tents stand empty.
27For they persecute those You have struck;
they talk about the pain of those You have felled.
28Add that to their guilt;
let them have no share of Your beneficence;
29may they be erased from the book of life,
and not be inscribed with the righteous.
30But I am lowly and in pain;
Your help, O God, keeps me safe.
31I will extol God’s name with song,
and exalt Him with praise.
32That will please the LORD more than oxen,
than bulls with horns and hooves.
33The lowly will see and rejoice;
you who are mindful of God, take heart!
34For the LORD listens to the needy,
and does not spurn His captives.
35Heaven and earth shall extol Him,
the seas, and all that moves in them.
36For God will deliver Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah;
they shall live there and inherit it;
37the offspring of His servants shall possess it;
those who cherish His name shall dwell there.
70 For the leader. Of David. Lehazkir.a
2bHasten, O God, to save me;
O LORD, to aid me!
3Let those who seek my life
be frustrated and disgraced;
let those who wish me harm,
fall back in shame.
4Let those who say, “Aha! Aha!”
turn back because of their frustration.
5But let all who seek You be glad and rejoice in You;
let those who are eager for Your deliverance always say,
“Extolled be God!”
6But I am poor and needy;
O God, hasten to me!
You are my help and my rescuer;
O LORD, do not delay.
71I seek refuge in You, O LORD;
may I never be disappointed.
2As You are beneficent, save me and rescue me;
incline Your ear to me and deliver me.
3Be a sheltering rock for me to which I may always repair;
decree my deliverance,
for You are my rock and my fortress.
4My God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and the lawless.
5For You are my hope,
O Lord God,
my trust from my youth.
6While yet unborn, I depended on You;
in the womb of my mother, You were my support;a
I sing Your praises always.
7I have become an example for many,
since You are my mighty refuge.
8My mouth is full of praise to You,
glorifying You all day long.
9Do not cast me off in old age;
when my strength fails, do not forsake me!
10For my enemies talk against me;
those who wait for me are of one mind,
11saying, “God has forsaken him;
chase him and catch him,
for no one will save him!”
12O God, be not far from me;
my God, hasten to my aid!
13Let my accusers perish in frustration;
let those who seek my ruin be clothed in reproach and disgrace!
14As for me, I will hope always,
and add to the many praises of You.
15My mouth tells of Your beneficence,
of Your deliverance all day long,
though I know not how to tell it.
16I come with praise of Your mighty acts, O Lord GOD;
I celebrate Your beneficence, Yours alone.
17You have let me experience it, God, from my youth;
until now I have proclaimed Your wondrous deeds,
18and even in hoary old age do not forsake me, God,
until I proclaim Your strength to the next generation,
19Your mighty acts, to all who are to come,
Your beneficence, high as the heavens, O God,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is Your peer!
20You who have made me undergo many troubles and
misfortunes
will revive me again,
and raise me up from the depths of the earth.
21You will grant me much greatness,
You will turn and comfort me.
22Then I will acclaim You to the music of the lyre
for Your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing a hymn to You with a harp,
O Holy One of Israel.
23My lips shall be jubilant, as I sing a hymn to You,
my whole being, which You have redeemed.
24All day long my tongue shall recite Your beneficent acts,
how those who sought my ruin were frustrated and
disgraced.
72 Of Solomon.
O God, endow the king with Your judgments,
the king’s son with Your righteousness;
2that he may judge Your people rightly,
Your lowly ones, justly.
3Let the mountains produce well-being for the people,
the hills, the reward of justice.
4Let him champion the lowly among the people,
deliver the needy folk,
and crush those who wrong them.
5Let them fear You as long as the sun shines,
while the moon lasts, generations on end.
6Let him be like rain that falls on a mown field,
like a downpour of rain on the ground,
7that the righteous may flourish in his time,
and well-being abound, till the moon is no more.
8Let him rule from sea to sea,
from the river to the ends of the earth.
9Let desert-dwellers kneel before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10Let kings of Tarshish and the islands pay tribute,
kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
11Let all kings bow to him,
and all nations serve him.
12For he saves the needy who cry out,
the lowly who have no helper.
13He cares about the poor and the needy;
He brings the needy deliverance.
14He redeems them from fraud and lawlessness;
a-the shedding of their blood weighs heavily upon him.-a
15So let him live, and receive gold of Sheba;
let prayers for him be said always,
blessings on him invoked at all times.
16b-Let abundant grain be in the land, to the tops of the
mountains;
let his crops thrive like the forest of Lebanon;
and let men sprout up in towns like country grass.
17May his name be eternal;
while the sun lasts, may his name endure;-b
let men invoke his blessedness upon themselves;
let all nations count him happy.
18Blessed is the LORD God, God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous things;
19Blessed is His glorious name forever;
His glory fills the whole world.
Amen and Amen.
20End of the prayers of David son of Jesse.
book three
73 A psalm of Asaph.
God is truly good to Israel,
to those whose heart is pure.
2As for me, my feet had almost strayed,
my steps were nearly led off course,
3for I envied the wanton;
I saw the wicked at case.
4Death has no pangs for them;
their body is healthy.
5They have no part in the travail of men;
they are not afflicted like the rest of mankind.
6So pride adorns their necks,
lawlessness enwraps them as a mantle.
7a-Fat shuts out their eyes;
their fancies are extravagant.-a
8They scoff and plan evil;
from their eminence they plan wrongdoing.
9They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues range over the earth.
10a-So they pound His people again and again,
until they are drained of their very last tear.-a
11Then they say, “How could God know?
Is there knowledge with the Most High?”
12Such are the wicked;
ever tranquil, they amass wealth.
13It was for nothing that I kept my heart pure
and washed my hands in innocence,
14seeing that I have been constantly afflicted,
that each morning brings new punishments.
15Had I decided to say these things,
I should have been false to the circle of Your disciples.
16So I applied myself to understand this,
but it seemed a hopeless task
17till I entered God’s sanctuary
and reflected on their fate.
18You surround them with flattery;
You make them fall through blandishments.
19How suddenly are they ruined,
wholly swept away by terrors.
20a-When You are aroused You despise their image,
as one does a dream after waking, O LORD,-a
21My mind was stripped of its reason,
b-my feelings were numbed.-b
22I was a dolt, without knowledge;
I was brutish toward You.
23Yet I was always with You,
You held my right hand;
24You guided me by Your counsel
c-and led me toward honor.-c
25Whom else have I in heaven?
And having You, I want no one on earth.
26My body and mind fail;
but God is the stayd of my mind, my portion forever.
27Those who keep far from You perish;
You annihilate all who are untrue to You.
28As for me, nearness to God is good;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may recount all Your works.
74 A maskil of Asaph.
Why, O God, do You forever reject us,
do You fume in anger at the flock that You tend?
2Remember the community You made
