Psalm 72–83

A Prayer for the Prosperity of God’s Anointed King

72Of Solomon.^a

¹O God, give your judgments to the king,

and your righteousness to the king’s son.

²May he judge your people with righteousness,

and your poor with justice.

³Let the mountains yield prosperity^b for the people,

and the hills in righteousness.

⁴May he provide justice for the poor of the people,

save the children of the needy,

and crush the oppressor.

⁵May he live long^c while the sun endures^d

as long as the moon^e for all generations.^f

⁶May he descend like rain on mown grass,

like showers watering the earth.

⁷May what is right blossom in his days

and an abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.

⁸And may he rule from sea up to sea,

and from the River^g to the edges of the land.

⁹Let the desert dwellers bow down before him,

and his enemies lick the dust.

¹⁰Let the kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute.

Let the kings of Sheba and Seba present gifts,

¹¹and let all kings bow down to him.

Let all nations serve him.

¹²Indeed he will deliver the needy who is crying for help,

and the afflicted who has no helper.

¹³He will take pity on the helpless and needy,

and the lives of the needy he will save.

¹⁴From oppression and from violence

he will redeem their lives,

and their blood will be precious in his eyes.

¹⁵So may he live, and may gold from Sheba be given to him,

and may prayers be offered for him continually.

May blessings be invoked for him all day long.^h

¹⁶May there be an abundance of grain in the land

even on the top of the mountains.

May his cropⁱ sway like the trees of Lebanon,

and may those from the city blossom like the grass of the earth.

¹⁷May his name endure forever.

May his name increase as long as the sun shines,^j

and let them be blessed in him.

Let all nations call him blessed.

¹⁸Blessed be Yahweh God, the God of Israel,

who alone does wonderful things.

¹⁹And blessed be his glorious name forever,

and may the whole earth be filled with his glory.

Amen and Amen.

²⁰The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are completed.

The Wicked and the Righteous Contrasted

73A song of Asaph.^a

¹Surely God is good to Israel,

to those pure of heart.

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

My steps had nearly slipped,

³because I envied the boastful

when I saw the well-being^b of the wicked.

⁴For there are no pains up to their death,

and their bodies are healthy.^c

⁵They do not have ordinary trouble,^d

and they are not plagued as other people.^e

⁶Therefore pride is their necklace;

an outfit of violence covers them.

⁷Their eye bulges from fat.^f

Imaginings overflow their heart.

⁸They mock and speak maliciously of oppression;

they speak as though from on high.

⁹They set their mouth against the heavens,

and their tongue roams the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people turn there,^g

and abundant waters are slurped up by them.

¹¹And they say, “How does God know?”

and, “Does the Most High have knowledge?”

¹²See, these are the wicked,

and they increase wealth, ever carefree.

¹³Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure,

and washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴And I have been plagued all day

and rebuked every morning.^h

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

behold, I would have acted treacherously

against your children’s generation.

¹⁶When I thought about how to understand this,

it was troubling in my eyes

¹⁷until I went into the sanctuary of God.

Then I understood their fate.

¹⁸Surely you set them on slippery places.

You cause them to fall onto ruin.ⁱ

¹⁹How they become a desolation in a moment!

They come to a complete end by terrors.

²⁰Like a dream upon awakening,

when you wake up, O Lord,

you will despise their fleeting form.^j

²¹When my heart was embittered

and I felt stabbed in my kidneys,

²²then I was brutish and ignorant.

With you I was like the beasts.

²³But I am continually with you;

you have hold of my right hand.

²⁴You will guide me with your advice,

and afterward you will take me into honor.^k

²⁵Whom do I have in the heavens except you?

And with you I have no other desire on earth.

²⁶My flesh and heart failed,

but God is the strength^l of my heart and my reward forever.

²⁷For indeed, those distancing themselves from you will be ruined.

You destroy each who abandons you for harlotry.

²⁸But as for me, the approach to God is for my good.

I have set the Lord Yahweh as my refuge,

in order to tell all your works.

A Lament in Time of National Defeat

74A maskil of Asaph.^a

¹Why, O God, have you rejected us forever?

Why does your anger smoke

against the sheep of your pasture?

²Remember your congregation that you bought long ago,

when you redeemed the tribe of your inheritance.

Remember Mount Zion^b where you have dwelt.

³Lift your steps to the perpetual ruins,

to all that the enemy has ruined in the sanctuary.

⁴Your enemies have roared in the midst of your meeting place;

they have set up their signs for signs.

⁵They are^c known to be like those who wield^d

axes in a thicket of trees.

⁶And now^e its^f carved works altogether

they have smashed with axe and hammer.

⁷They have set fire to your sanctuary.

They have defiled to the ground,

the dwelling place for your name.

⁸They have said in their heart,

“We will completely^g oppress them.”

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

⁹We do not see our signs,

and there is no longer a prophet.

No one with us knows how long.

¹⁰How long, O God, will the adversary taunt?

Will the enemy treat your name with contempt forever?

¹¹Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?

Take it from your bosom;^h destroy them!

¹²But God has been my king from long ago,

working salvation in the midst of the earth.

¹³You split open the sea by your strength;

You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

¹⁴You crushed the heads of Leviathan;

you gave him as food to the desert dwelling creatures.

¹⁵You split open spring and wadi.ⁱ

You dried up ever-flowing rivers.

¹⁶Yours is the day, yours is the night also.

You established light and the sun.

¹⁷You defined^j all the boundaries of the earth;

Summer and winter—you formed them.

¹⁸O Yahweh, remember this: the enemy taunts,

and foolish people treat your name with contempt.

¹⁹Do not give to beasts the life of your dove;

do not ever forget the life of your afflicted ones.

²⁰Have regard for the covenant,

because the dark places of the land are full of

the haunts of violence.

²¹Do not let the oppressed turn back humiliated;

let the poor and needy praise your name.

²²Rise up, O God, plead your cause;

remember the reproaching of you by the foolish all day long.^k

²³Do not forget the sound of your adversaries,

the roar of those rising up against you ascending continually.

Thanksgiving for God’s Future Help

75For the music director, according to Do Not Destroy.

A psalm of Asaph. A song.^a

¹We give thanks to you, O God;

we give thanks, and your name is near.

Your wonderful deeds are told.^b

²“I will indeed set an appointed time;

I will judge fairly.^c

³The earth and all its inhabitants are shaking;^d

I steady^e its columns. Selah

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

and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn!

⁵Do not lift up high your^f horn.

Do not speak with arrogant pride.’ ”^g

⁶For it is not from the east or the west

and not from the south^h that lifting up comes,

⁷rather God is the judge;

one he brings low, and another he lifts up.

⁸For there is a cup in the hand of Yahweh

withⁱ wine that foams, fully mixed,

and he pours out from this.

Surely all the wicked of the land

will quaff it down to its dregs. ^j

⁹But as for me, I will proclaim forever;

I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰“And all the horns of the wicked I will cut off.

The horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”

Praise to God for His Rescue of Israel

76For the music director, with stringed instruments.

A psalm of Asaph. A song.^a

¹God is known in Judah.

His name is great in Israel.

²His den^b has been in Salem,

his lair^c in Zion.

³There he broke the flames of the bow,

the shield and sword and battle. Selah

⁴Radiant^d you are, majestic,

from^e the mountains of prey.

⁵The stouthearted are plundered;

they sleep their sleep,

and all the able men cannot use^f their hands.

⁶At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,

both rider^g and horse slumber.

⁷You, indeed, are to be feared,^h

and who can stand before you

when you are angry? ⁱ

⁸From heaven you proclaimed judgment.

The earth feared and was still

⁹when God rose for justice,

to save all the afflicted of the land. Selah

¹⁰For the anger of humankind will praise you.

You will put on the remnant of anger.^j

¹¹Make vows and fulfill them to Yahweh, your God;

let all surrounding him

bring tribute to the one to be feared.^k

¹²He cuts off the spirit of leaders.

He is to be feared by the kings of the earth.

Remembering God’s Help for Israel

77For the music director, on Jeduthun.^a

Of Asaph. A psalm.^b

¹I cry out with my voice to God;

with my voice to God, that he may hear me.

²In the day I have trouble, I seek^c the Lord.

At night my hand stretches out continually;^d

my soul refuses to be comforted.

³I remember God and I groan loudly;

I meditate and my spirit grows faint. Selah

⁴You hold open my eyelids.

I am troubled and cannot speak.

⁵I think about the days from long ago,

the years of ancient times.

⁶I remember my song in the night.

With my heart I meditate,

and my spirit searches to understand.

⁷Will the Lord reject us forever,

and will he never be pleased with us again?

⁸Has his loyal love ceased forever?

Is his promise^e ended throughout generations?

⁹Has God forgotten to have compassion?

Or has he closed off his mercies in anger? Selah

¹⁰So I said, “This pierces me—^f

the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

¹¹I will remember the deeds of Yah.^g

Surely I will remember your wonders^h from long ago.

¹²I will also muse on all your work,

and meditate on your deeds.

¹³O God, your way is distinctive.ⁱ

Who is a great god like our God?

¹⁴You are the God who works wonders;^j

you have made known your might among the…