Psalm 72–73

Give the King Your Justice

72Of ^qSolomon.

¹Give the king your ^rjustice, O God,

and your righteousness to the royal son!

²May he ^sjudge your people with righteousness,

and your poor with justice!

³Let the mountains bear ^tprosperity for the people,

and the hills, in righteousness!

⁴May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,

give deliverance to the children of the needy,

and crush the oppressor!

⁵May they fear you¹ while ^uthe sun endures,

and as long as the moon, ^vthroughout all generations!

⁶May he be like ^wrain that falls on ^xthe mown grass,

like ^yshowers that water the earth!

⁷In his days may ^zthe righteous flourish,

and ^apeace abound, till the moon be no more!

⁸May he have dominion from ^bsea to sea,

and from ^bthe River² to the ^cends of the earth!

⁹May desert tribes ^dbow down before him,

and his enemies ^elick the dust!

¹⁰May the kings of ^fTarshish and of ^gthe coastlands

render him ^htribute;

may the kings of ⁱSheba and ^jSeba

bring gifts!

¹¹May all kings ^kfall down before him,

all nations serve him!

¹²For he delivers ^lthe needy when he calls,

the poor and him who has no helper.

¹³He has pity on the weak and the needy,

and saves the lives of the needy.

¹⁴From oppression and violence he redeems their life,

and ^mprecious is their blood in his sight.

¹⁵Long may he live;

may ⁿgold of Sheba be given to him!

May prayer be made ^ofor him continually,

and blessings invoked for him all the day!

¹⁶May there be abundance of grain in the land;

on the tops of the mountains may it wave;

may its fruit be like Lebanon;

and may people ^pblossom in the cities

like the ^qgrass of the field!

^17rMay his name endure forever,

his fame continue as long as the sun!

^sMay people be blessed in him,

^tall nations call him blessed!

^18uBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

who alone does ^vwondrous things.

¹⁹Blessed be his ^wglorious name forever;

may ^xthe whole earth be filled with his glory!

^yAmen and Amen!

^20zThe prayers of ^aDavid, the son of Jesse, are ended.

Book Three

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

73A Psalm of ^bAsaph.

¹Truly God is good to ^cIsrael,

to those who are ^dpure in heart.

²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,

my steps had nearly slipped.

^3eFor I was ^fenvious of the arrogant

when I saw the ^gprosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pangs until death;

their bodies are fat and sleek.

⁵They are not in trouble as others are;

they are not ^hstricken like the rest of mankind.

⁶Therefore pride is ⁱtheir necklace;

violence covers them as ^ja garment.

⁷Their ^keyes swell out through fatness;

their hearts overflow with follies.

⁸They scoff and ^lspeak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

⁹They set their mouths against the heavens,

and their tongue struts through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people turn back to them,

and find ^mno fault in them.¹

¹¹And they say, ⁿ“How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

¹²Behold, these are the wicked;

always at ease, they ^oincrease in riches.

¹³All in vain have I ^pkept my heart clean

and ^qwashed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴For all the day long I have been ^hstricken

and ^rrebuked ^severy morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

I would have betrayed ^tthe generation of your children.

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me ^ua wearisome task,

¹⁷until I went into ^vthe sanctuary of God;

then I discerned their ^wend.

¹⁸Truly you set them in ^xslippery places;

you make them fall to ruin.

¹⁹How they are destroyed ^yin a moment,

swept away utterly by ^zterrors!

²⁰Like ^aa dream when one awakes,

O Lord, when ^byou rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

²¹When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

²²I was ^cbrutish and ignorant;

I was like ^da beast toward you.

²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you;

you ^ehold my right hand.

²⁴You ^fguide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will ^greceive me to glory.

^25hWhom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

²⁶ⁱMy flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is ^jthe strength² of my heart and my ^kportion ^lforever.

²⁷For behold, those who are ^mfar from you shall perish;

you put an end to everyone who is ⁿunfaithful to you.

²⁸But for me it is good to ^obe near God;

I have made the Lord God my ^prefuge,

that I may ^qtell of all your works.