Psalm 73–83

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.

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause

74A Maskil¹ of ^rAsaph.

¹O God, why do you ^scast us off forever?

Why does your anger ^tsmoke against ^uthe sheep of your pasture?

^2vRemember your congregation, which you have ^wpurchased of old,

which you have ^xredeemed to be ^ythe tribe of your heritage!

Remember Mount Zion, ^zwhere you have dwelt.

³Direct your steps to ^athe perpetual ruins;

the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

⁴Your foes have ^broared in the midst of your meeting place;

^cthey set up their ^down signs for ^esigns.

⁵They were like those who swing ^faxes

in a forest of trees.²

⁶And all its ^gcarved wood

they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

⁷They ^hset your sanctuary on fire;

they ⁱprofaned ^jthe dwelling place of your name,

bringing it down to the ground.

⁸They ^ksaid to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;

they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹We do not see our ^lsigns;

^mthere is no longer any prophet,

and there is none among us who knows how long.

¹⁰How long, O God, ⁿis the foe to scoff?

Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

¹¹Why ^odo you hold back your hand, your right hand?

Take it from the fold of your garment³ and destroy them!

¹²Yet ^pGod my King is from of old,

working salvation in the midst of the earth.

¹³You ^qdivided the sea by your might;

you ^rbroke the heads of ^sthe sea monsters⁴ on the waters.

¹⁴You crushed the heads of ^tLeviathan;

you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

¹⁵You ^usplit open springs and brooks;

you ^vdried up ever-flowing streams.

¹⁶Yours is the day, yours also the night;

you have established ^wthe heavenly lights and the sun.

¹⁷You have ^xfixed all the boundaries of the earth;

you have made ^ysummer and winter.

^18zRemember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,

and ^aa foolish people reviles your name.

¹⁹Do not deliver the soul of your ^bdove to the wild beasts;

^cdo not forget the life of your poor forever.

²⁰Have regard for ^dthe covenant,

for ^ethe dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

²¹Let not ^fthe downtrodden ^gturn back in shame;

let ^hthe poor and needy praise your name.

²²Arise, O God, ⁱdefend your cause;

^jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!

²³Do not forget the clamor of your foes,

^kthe uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

God Will Judge with Equity

75To the choirmaster: according to ^lDo Not Destroy. ^mA Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

¹We give thanks to you, O God;

we give thanks, for your name is ⁿnear.

We¹ recount your wondrous deeds.

²“At ^othe set time that I appoint

I will judge ^pwith equity.

³When the earth ^qtotters, and all its inhabitants,

it is I who keep steady its ^rpillars. Selah

⁴I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’

and to the wicked, ^s‘Do not lift up your horn;

⁵do not lift up your horn on high,

or speak with haughty neck.’ ”

⁶For not from the east or from the west

and not from the wilderness comes ^tlifting up,

⁷but it is ^uGod who executes judgment,

^vputting down one and lifting up another.

^8wFor in the hand of the Lord there is ^xa cup

with foaming wine, ^ywell mixed,

and he pours out from it,

and all the wicked of the earth

shall ^zdrain it down to the dregs.

⁹But I will declare it forever;

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

^10aAll the horns of the wicked I will cut off,

^bbut the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Who Can Stand Before You?

76To the choirmaster: with ^cstringed instruments. A Psalm of ^dAsaph. A Song.

¹In Judah God is ^eknown;

his name is great in Israel.

²His ^fabode has been established in ^gSalem,

his ^hdwelling place in Zion.

³There he ⁱbroke the flashing arrows,

the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

⁴Glorious are you, more majestic

^jthan the mountains full of ^kprey.

^5lThe stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;

^mthey sank into sleep;

all the men of war

were unable to use their hands.

⁶At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,

both ⁿrider and horse lay stunned.

^7oBut you, you are to be feared!

Who can ^pstand before you

when once your anger is roused?

⁸From the heavens you uttered judgment;

^qthe earth feared and was still,

⁹when God ^rarose to establish judgment,

to save all the humble of the earth. Selah

¹⁰Surely ^sthe wrath of man shall praise you;

the remnant¹ of wrath you will put on like a belt.

^11tMake your vows to the Lord your God and perform them;

let all around him ^ubring gifts

to him who ^vis to be feared,

¹²who ^wcuts off the spirit of princes,

who ^xis to be feared by the kings of the earth.

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

77To the choirmaster: according to ^yJeduthun. A Psalm of ^zAsaph.

¹I ^acry aloud to God,

aloud to God, and he will hear me.

^2bIn the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in ^cthe night my ^dhand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul ^erefuses to be comforted.

³When I remember God, I ^fmoan;

when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

⁴You hold my eyelids open;

I am so ^gtroubled that I cannot speak.

⁵I consider ^hthe days of old,

the years long ago.

⁶I said,¹ “Let me remember my ⁱsong in the night;

let me ^jmeditate in my heart.”

Then my spirit made a diligent search:

⁷“Will the Lord ^kspurn forever,

and never again ^lbe favorable?

⁸Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

Are his ^mpromises at an end for all time?

⁹ⁿHas God forgotten to be gracious?

^oHas he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

¹⁰Then I said, “I will appeal to this,

to the years of the ^pright hand of the Most High.”²

¹¹I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

yes, I will ^qremember your wonders of old.

¹²I will ponder all your ^rwork,

and meditate on your ^smighty deeds.

¹³Your way, O God, is ^tholy.

^uWhat god is great like our God?

¹⁴You are the God who ^vworks wonders;

you have ^wmade known your might among the peoples.

¹⁵You ^xwith your arm redeemed your people,

the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

¹⁶When ^ythe waters saw you, O God,

when the waters saw you, they were afraid;

indeed, the deep trembled.

¹⁷The clouds poured out water;

the skies ^zgave forth thunder;

your ^aarrows flashed on every side.

^18bThe crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

^cyour lightnings lighted up the world;

the earth ^dtrembled and shook.

¹⁹Your ^eway was through the sea,

your path through the great waters;

yet your footprints ^fwere unseen.³

²⁰You ^gled your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Tell the Coming Generation

78A Maskil¹ of ^hAsaph.

¹ⁱGive ear, O my people, to my teaching;

incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

^2jI will open my mouth ^kin a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old,

³things that we have heard and known,

that our ^lfathers have told us.

⁴We will not ^mhide them from their children,

but ⁿtell to the coming generation

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

and ^othe wonders that he has done.

⁵He established ^pa testimony in ^qJacob

and appointed a law in ^qIsrael,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children,

⁶that ^rthe next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn,

and arise and tell them to their children,

⁷so that they should set their hope in God

and not forget ^sthe works of God,

but ^tkeep his commandments;

⁸and that they should not be ^ulike their fathers,

^va stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation ^wwhose heart was not steadfast,

whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹The Ephraimites, armed with² the bow,

^xturned back on the day of battle.

¹⁰They ^ydid not keep God’s covenant,

but refused to walk according to his law.

¹¹They ^zforgot his works

and ^athe wonders that he had shown them.

¹²In the sight of their fathers ^bhe performed wonders

in the land of Egypt, in ^cthe fields of Zoan.

¹³He ^ddivided the sea and let them pass through it,

and made the…