Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that sittest between the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up thy strength, and come to our deliverance. O God, restore us; and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Jehovah, God of hosts, how long will thine anger smoke against the prayer of thy people? Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure: Thou hast made us a strife unto our neighbours, and our enemies mock among themselves. Restore us, O God of hosts; and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.

⁸Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt; thou didst cast out the nations, and plant it: ⁹Thou preparedst space before it, and it took deep root, and filled the land; ¹⁰The mountains were covered with its shadow, and the branches thereof were like cedars of •God; ¹¹It sent out its boughs unto the sea, and its shoots unto the river. ¹²Why hast thou broken down its fences, so that all who pass by the way do pluck it? ¹³The boar out of the forest doth waste it, and the beast of the field doth feed off it. ¹⁴O God of hosts, return, we beseech thee; look down from the heavens, and behold, and visit this vine; ¹⁵Even the stock which thy right hand hath planted, and the young plant thou madest strong for thyself. ¹⁶It is burned with fire, it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. ¹⁷Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou hast made strong for thyself. ¹⁸So will we not go back from thee. Revive us, and we will call upon thy name. ¹⁹Restore us, O Jehovah, God of hosts; cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.

Psalm 81

To the chief Musician. Upon the Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph.

Sing ye joyously unto God our strength, shout aloud unto the God of Jacob; Raise a song, and sound the tambour, the pleasant harp with the lute. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the set time, on our feast day: For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob; He ordained it in Joseph for a testimony, when he went forth over the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I knew not. I removed his shoulder from the burden; his hands were freed from the basket. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder; I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

⁸Hear, my people, and I will testify unto thee; O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken unto me! ⁹There shall no strange •god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any foreign •god. ¹⁰I am Jehovah thy God, that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. ¹¹But my people hearkened not to my voice, and Israel would none of me. ¹²So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ stubbornness: they walked after their own counsels. ¹³Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, that Israel had walked in my ways! ¹⁴I would soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. ¹⁵The haters of Jehovah would have come cringing unto him; but their time would have been for ever. ¹⁶And he would have fed them with the finest of wheat; yea, with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied thee.

Psalm 82

A Psalm of Asaph.

God standeth in the assembly of •God, he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge unrighteously, and accept the person of the wicked? Selah. Judge the poor and the fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and the destitute; Rescue the poor and needy, deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither do they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are moved.

⁶I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High; ⁷But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. ⁸Arise, O God, judge the earth; for thou shalt inherit all the nations.

Psalm 83

A Song; a Psalm of Asaph.

O God, keep not silence; hold not thy peace, and be not still, O •God: For behold, thine enemies make a tumult; and they that hate thee lift up the head. They take crafty counsel against thy people, and consult against thy hidden ones: They say, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, and let the name of Israel be mentioned no more. For they have consulted together with one heart: they have made an alliance together against thee. The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarites; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre; Asshur also is joined with them: they are an arm to the sons of Lot. Selah.

⁹Do unto them as to Midian; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the torrent of Kishon: ¹⁰Who were destroyed at Endor; they became as dung for the ground. ¹¹Make their nobles as Oreb and as Zeeb; and all their chiefs as Zebah and as Zalmunna. ¹²For they have said, Let us take to ourselves God’s dwelling-places in possession. ¹³O my God, make them like a whirling thing, like stubble before the wind. ¹⁴As fire burneth a forest, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire, ¹⁵So pursue them with thy tempest, and terrify them with thy whirlwind. ¹⁶Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O Jehovah. ¹⁷Let them be put to shame and be dismayed for ever, and let them be confounded and perish: ¹⁸That they may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth.

Psalm 84

To the chief Musician. Upon the Gittith. Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm.

How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Jehovah of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of Jehovah; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living •God. Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she layeth her young, thine altars, O Jehovah of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be constantly praising thee. Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, —they, in whose heart are the highways. Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a well-spring; yea, the early rain covereth it with blessings. They go from strength to strength: each one will appear before God in Zion.

⁸Jehovah, God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. ⁹Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. ¹⁰For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness. ¹¹For Jehovah Elohim is a sun and shield: Jehovah will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. ¹²Jehovah of hosts, blessed is the man that confideth in thee!

Read in Logos

Public Domain