Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

81 To the choirmaster: according to fThe Gittith.1 Of gAsaph.

1  hSing aloud to God our strength;

ishout for joy to the God of Jacob!

2  Raise a song; sound jthe tambourine,

kthe sweet lyre with kthe harp.

3  Blow the trumpet at lthe new moon,

at the full moon, on our feast day.

4  For it is a statute for Israel,

a rule2 of the God of Jacob.

5  He made it ma decree in nJoseph

when he owent out over3 the land of Egypt.

pI hear a language qI had not known:

6  “I rrelieved your4 shoulder of sthe burden;

your hands were freed from the basket.

7  In distress you tcalled, and I delivered you;

I uanswered you in the secret place of thunder;

I vtested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

8  wHear, O my people, while I admonish you!

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

9  There shall be no xstrange god among you;

you shall not bow down to a yforeign god.

10  zI am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

aOpen your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11  “But my people did not listen to my voice;

Israel bwould not submit to me.

12  So I cgave them over to their dstubborn hearts,

to follow their own ecounsels.

13  fOh, that my people would listen to me,

that Israel would gwalk in my ways!

14  I would soon subdue their enemies

and hturn my hand against their foes.

15  Those who hate the Lord would icringe toward him,

and their fate would last forever.

16  But he would feed you5 with jthe finest of the wheat,

and with khoney from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Rescue the Weak and Needy

82 A Psalm of lAsaph.

1  mGod nhas taken his place in the divine council;

in the midst of pthe gods he qholds judgment:

2  “How long will you judge unjustly

and rshow partiality to sthe wicked? Selah

3  tGive justice to uthe weak and the fatherless;

vmaintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

4  wRescue the weak and the needy;

xdeliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

5  yThey have neither knowledge nor understanding,

zthey walk about in darkness;

aall the foundations of the earth are bshaken.

6  cI said, “You are gods,

sons of the Most High, all of you;

7  nevertheless, like men dyou shall die,

and fall like any prince.”1

8  eArise, O God, judge the earth;

for you shall finherit all the nations!

O God, Do Not Keep Silence

83 A Song. A Psalm of gAsaph.

1  O God, do not keep silence;

hdo not hold your peace or be still, O God!

2  For behold, your enemies imake an uproar;

those who hate you have jraised their heads.

3  They lay kcrafty plans against your people;

they consult together against your ltreasured ones.

4  They say, “Come, mlet us wipe them out as a nation;

let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

5  For they conspire with one accord;

against you they make a covenant—

6  the tents of nEdom and othe Ishmaelites,

pMoab and qthe Hagrites,

7  rGebal and pAmmon and sAmalek,

tPhilistia with the inhabitants of uTyre;

8  vAsshur also has joined them;

they are the strong arm of wthe children of Lot. Selah

9  Do to them as you did to xMidian,

as to ySisera and Jabin at zthe river Kishon,

10  who were destroyed at aEn-dor,

who became bdung for the ground.

11  Make their nobles like cOreb and Zeeb,

all their princes like dZebah and Zalmunna,

12  who said, e“Let us take possession for ourselves

of the pastures of God.”

13  O my God, make them like fwhirling dust,1

like gchaff before the wind.

14  As hfire consumes the forest,

as the flame isets the mountains ablaze,

15  so may you pursue them jwith your tempest

and terrify them with your hurricane!

16  kFill their faces with shame,

that they may seek your name, O Lord.

17  Let them be lput to shame and dismayed forever;

let them perish in disgrace,

18  that they may mknow that you alone,

nwhose name is the Lord,

are othe Most High over all the earth.

My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord

84 To the choirmaster: according to pThe Gittith.1 A Psalm of qthe Sons of Korah.

1  How rlovely is your sdwelling place,

O Lord of hosts!

2  My soul tlongs, yes, ufaints

for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to vthe living God.

3  Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

wmy King and my God.

4  xBlessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever ysinging your praise! Selah

5  Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

zin whose heart are the highways to Zion.2

6  As they go through the Valley of Baca

they make it a place of springs;

athe early rain also covers it with bpools.

7  They go cfrom strength to strength;

each one dappears before God in Zion.

8  O eLord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

9  fBehold our gshield, O God;

look on the face of your anointed!

10  For a day hin your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be ia doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11  For the Lord God is ja sun and gshield;

the Lord bestows favor and honor.

kNo good thing does he withhold

from those who lwalk uprightly.

12  O Lord of hosts,

mblessed is the one who trusts in you!

Revive Us Again

85 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of nthe Sons of Korah.

1  Lord, you were ofavorable to your land;

you prestored the fortunes of Jacob.

2  You qforgave the iniquity of your people;

you qcovered all their sin. Selah

3  You withdrew all your wrath;

you rturned from your hot anger.

4  sRestore us again, O God of our salvation,

and put away your indignation toward us!

5  tWill you be angry with us forever?

Will you prolong your anger to all generations?

6  Will you not urevive us again,

that your people may vrejoice in you?

7  Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,

and grant us your salvation.

8  wLet me hear what God the Lord will speak,

for he will xspeak peace to his people, to his ysaints;

but let them not zturn back to afolly.

9  Surely his bsalvation is near to those who fear him,

that cglory may dwell in our land.

10  dSteadfast love and faithfulness meet;

erighteousness and peace kiss each other.

11  Faithfulness springs up from the ground,

and righteousness looks down from the sky.

12  Yes, fthe Lord will give what is good,

and our land gwill yield its increase.

13  hRighteousness will go before him

and make his footsteps a way.

Great Is Your Steadfast Love

86 iA Prayer of David.

1  jIncline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,

for I am kpoor and needy.

2  Preserve my life, for I am lgodly;

save your servant, who mtrusts in you—you are my God.

3  nBe gracious to me, O Lord,

for to you do I cry all the day.

4  Gladden the soul of your servant,

for oto you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5  For you, O Lord, are good and pforgiving,

qabounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

6  rGive ear, O Lord, to my prayer;

listen to my plea for grace.

7  In sthe day of my trouble I call upon you,

tfor you answer me.

8  There is unone like you among the gods, O Lord,

vnor are there any works like yours.

9  wAll the nations you have made shall come

and worship before you, O Lord,

and shall glorify your name.

10  For xyou are great and ydo wondrous things;

zyou alone are God.

11  aTeach me your way, O Lord,

that I may bwalk in your truth;

cunite my heart to fear your name.

12  I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,

and I will glorify your name forever.

13  dFor great is your steadfast love toward me;

you have edelivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

14  O God, insolent men have frisen up against me;

a band of ruthless men seeks my life,

and they do not set you before them.

15  But you, O Lord, are a God gmerciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

16  hTurn to me and be gracious to me;

give your strength to iyour servant,

and save ithe son of your maidservant.

17  jShow me a sign of your kfavor,

that those who hate me may see and be put to shame

because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

Glorious Things of You Are Spoken

87 A Psalm of lthe Sons of Korah. A Song.

1  On mthe holy mount nstands the city he founded;

2  the Lord oloves the gates of Zion

more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

3  pGlorious things of you are spoken,

O qcity of God. Selah

4  Among those who rknow me I mention sRahab and Babylon;

behold, Philistia and Tyre, with tCush1—

“This one was born there,” they say.

5  And of Zion it shall be said,

“This one and that one were born in her”;

for the Most High himself will uestablish her.

6  The Lord records as he vregisters the peoples,

“This one was born there.” Selah

7  wSingers and xdancers alike say,

“All my ysprings are in you.”