Psalm 71–72

Psalm 71

¹A psalm on Solomon.

²Give to the king thy judgment, O God, and to the king’s son thy justice: To judge thy people with justice, and thy poor with judgment.

³Let the mountains receive peace for the people: and the hills justice.

⁴He shall judge the poor of the people, and he shall save the children of the poor: and he shall humble the oppressor.

⁵And he shall continue with the sun and before the moon, throughout all generations.

⁶He shall come down like rain upon the fleece; and as showers falling gently upon the earth.

⁷In his days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away.

⁸And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

⁹Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down: and his enemies shall lick the ground.

¹⁰The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts:

¹¹And all kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall serve him.

¹²For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty: and the needy that had no helper.

¹³He shall spare the poor and needy: and he shall save the souls of the poor.

¹⁴He shall redeem their souls from usuries and iniquity: and their names shall be honourable in his sight.

¹⁵And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Arabia, for him they shall always adore: they shall bless him all the day.

¹⁶And there shall be a firmament on the earth on the tops of mountains, above Libanus shall the fruit thereof be exalted: and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth.

¹⁷Let his name be blessed for evermore: his name continueth before the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify him.

¹⁸Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone doth wonderful things.

¹⁹And blessed be the name of his majesty for ever: and the whole earth shall be filled with his majesty. So be it. So be it.

²⁰The praises of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

Psalm 72

¹A psalm for Asaph.

How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart!

²But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped.

³Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners.

⁴For there is no regard to their death, nor is there strength in their stripes.

⁵They are not in the labour of men: neither shall they be scourged like other men.

⁶Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness.

⁷Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they have passed into the affection of the heart.

⁸They have thought and spoken wickedness: they have spoken iniquity on high.

⁹They have set their mouth against heaven: and their tongue hath passed through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be found in them.

¹¹And they said: How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?

¹²Behold these are sinners; and yet, abounding in the world they have obtained riches.

¹³And I said: Then have I in vain justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent.

¹⁴And I have been scourged all the day; and my chastisement hath been in the mornings.

¹⁵If I said: I will speak thus; behold I should condemn the generation of thy children.

¹⁶I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight:

¹⁷Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning their last ends.

¹⁸But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were lifted up thou hast cast them down.

¹⁹How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity.

²⁰As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing.

²¹For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed:

²²And I am brought to nothing, and I knew not.

²³I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee.

²⁴Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by thy will thou hast conducted me, and with thy glory thou hast received me.

²⁵For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth?

²⁶For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.

²⁷For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee.

²⁸But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the daughter of Sion.