Psalm 68:1–70:5

¹God will arise; his enemies will be scattered,

and those who hate him will flee from before him.

²As smoke is driven off, you will drive them off.

As wax melts before fire,

the wicked will perish before God.

³But the righteous will be glad; they will exalt before God,

and will rejoice with joy.

⁴Sing to God, sing praises to his name.

Lift up a song to the rider on the clouds—his name is Yah—^b

and rejoice before him.

⁵A father to orphans and a judge for widows

is God in his holy habitation.

⁶God settles the lonely in a home;

he brings prisoners out into prosperity.

But the rebellious abide in a barren land.

⁷O God, when you went out before your people,

when you marched through the desert, Selah

⁸the earth shook; the heavens also dripped rain

at the presence of God who was at Sinai,

at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

⁹You caused abundant rain to fall, O God.

When your inheritance was weary you revived it.

¹⁰Your community dwelled in it.

You provided in your goodness for the poor, O God.

¹¹The Lord gives the word.

Great is the company of women who announce:

¹²“The kings of armies flee, they flee,

and she who remains at home divides the spoil.

¹³Though you men lie down between the sheepfolds,

you will be like the wings of a dove covered in silver

and its pinions in yellow gold.”

¹⁴When Shaddai scattered kings on it,

on Zalmon it snowed.^c

¹⁵A mountain of God^d is the mountain of Bashan;

a mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan.

¹⁶Why do you look with hostility, O many-peaked mountains?

This^e mountain God desires for his dwelling.

Yes, Yahweh will abide in it forever.

¹⁷The chariots of God

are twice ten thousand, with thousands doubled.

The Lord is among them at Sinai, distinctive in victory.^f

¹⁸You have ascended on high; you have led away captives.

You have received gifts from among humankind,

and even from the rebellious, so that Yah^g God may dwell there.

¹⁹Blessed be the Lord. Daily he loads us with benefits,^h

the God of our salvation.ⁱ Selah

²⁰Our God is a God of deliverances,

and to the Yahweh the Lord belong escapes from death.

²¹But God will shatter the head of his enemies,

the hairy scalp of the one who continues on^j in his guilt.

²²The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan;

I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

²³so that your foot may shatter them bloody

for the tongues of your dogs to have their share from the enemies.”

²⁴They have seen your processions, O God,

the processions of my God, my king, distinctive in victory.^k

²⁵Singers went up front, those playing stringed instruments last,

between them young women playing tambourines.

²⁶Bless God in the assemblies,

Yahweh from the fountain of Israel.

²⁷There is little Benjamin ruling them,

with the princes of Judah in their throng,

the princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali.

²⁸Your God has commanded your strength.

Show yourself strong, O God, by what you perform^l for us.

²⁹Because your temple is above Jerusalem,

kings will bring tribute to you.

³⁰Rebuke the beasts in^m the reeds,

the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples,

trampling the pieces of silver.ⁿ

Scatter the nations who delight in battles.

³¹Ambassadors^o will come from Egypt;

Cush will quickly stretch out her hands to God.

³²O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;

sing praise to the Lord, Selah

³³to the one who rides in the highest heavens of old.

See, he gives forth his voice, a mighty voice.

³⁴Ascribe strength to God.

His majesty is over Israel,

and his strength is in the clouds.

³⁵Awesome are you, O God, from your sanctuary.^p

The God of Israel, it is he who gives strength and might to the people.

Blessed be God.

A Plea for Deliverance from Persecution

69For the music director, according to The Lilies. Of David.^a

¹Save me, O God,

because waters have come up to my neck.^b

²I sink in the mud of the deep, and there is no foothold.

I have come to watery depths,

and the torrent floods over me.

³I am weary with my calling out; my throat is parched.

My eyes are exhausted in my waiting for my God.

⁴More numerous than the hairs of my head

are those hating me without a cause.

Those who are destroying me—my enemies wrongfully^c— are mighty.

What I did not steal, I then must restore.

⁵O God, you yourself know^d my foolishness,

and my guilty deeds are not hidden from you.

⁶Let those who wait for you not be put to shame because of me,

O Lord Yahweh of hosts.

Let those who seek you not be disgraced because of me,

O God of Israel.

⁷Because on account of you I have borne reproach;

disgrace has covered my face.

⁸I have become a stranger to my brothers

and a foreigner to my mother’s sons,

⁹because the zeal for your house^e has consumed me,

and the reproaches of those reproaching you have fallen on me.

¹⁰When I wept in the fasting of my soul,

it became reproaches for me.

¹¹When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became for them a byword.

¹²Those sitting at the gate talk about me

as also^f the songs of the drunkards.

¹³But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Yahweh, for a favorable time,

O God, according to the abundance of your loyal love.

Answer me with the faithfulness of your salvation.

¹⁴Deliver me from the mud and do not let me sink.

Let me be delivered from those who hate me

and from the watery depths.

¹⁵Do not let the torrent of waters flood over me,

or the deep swallow me,

or the pit close its mouth over me.

¹⁶Answer me, O Yahweh, because your loyal love is good;

according to your abundant mercies, turn to me,

¹⁷and do not hide your face from your servant.

Because I am in trouble, answer me quickly.

¹⁸Draw near to my soul; redeem it.

Because of my enemies, ransom me.

¹⁹You know my reproach, my shame and my disgrace.

Fully known^g to you are all my adversaries.

²⁰Reproach has broken my heart and I am sick.

And I hoped for sympathy, but there was none,

and for comforters, but I found none.

²¹They also gave me gall for food,^h

and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

²²Let their table before them be a trap,

and their times of peace a snare.

²³Let their eyes be dark so they cannot see,

and make their loins continually tremble.

²⁴Pour out your indignation on them,

and let your burning anger overtake them.

²⁵Let their camp be desolate.

Let none dwell in their tents,

²⁶because they persecute those whom you, yourself, have struck,

and they tell of the pain of those you have wounded.

²⁷Add guilt on top of their guilt,ⁱ

and do not let them be acquitted.^j

²⁸Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,

and let them not be recorded with the righteous.

²⁹But as for me, though I am afflicted and pained,

your salvation will protect^k me, O God.

³⁰I will praise the name of God in song,

and magnify him with thanksgiving.

³¹For Yahweh it will be better than an ox or bull,

horned and hoofed.^l

³²The afflicted will see and rejoice.

O God seekers, let your heart revive,^m

³³because Yahweh hears the needy

and does not despise his own who are prisoners.

³⁴Let heavens and earth praise him,

the seas and all that moves in them,

³⁵because God will save Zion

and build the cities of Judah,

that they may dwell there and possess it.

³⁶And the offspring of his servants will inherit it,

and those who love his name will abide in it.

A Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

70For the music director. Of David. To bring to remembrance.^a

¹O God, make haste to deliver me.

O Yahweh, make haste to help me.

²Let them be ashamed and abashed

who seek my life.

Let them be repulsed and humiliated

who desire my harm.

³let them turn back because of their shame,

those who say, “Aha! Aha!”

⁴Let them rejoice and be glad in you,

all those who seek you.

Let them say continually, “God is great!”

those who love your salvation.

⁵But I am poor and needy;

O God hasten to me.

You are my help and my deliverer.

O Yahweh, do not delay.