Psalm 80–84

A Prayer to Restore Israel

80For the music director, according to The Lilies.

A testimony. Of Asaph. A psalm.^a

¹Give ear, O shepherd of Israel,

who leads Joseph like a flock.

Shine forth, you who sits enthroned above the cherubim.

²Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,

stir up your power

and come for our salvation.

³O God, restore us,

and cause your face to shine that we may be saved.

⁴O Yahweh God of hosts,

how long will you be angry^b

against the prayer of your people?

⁵You have fed them the bread of tears;

you have given them tears to drink in full measure.^c

⁶You have made us an object of strife to our neighbors,

and our enemies mock among themselves.

⁷O God of hosts, restore us

and cause your face to shine that we may be saved.

⁸You uprooted a vine from Egypt;

you drove out the nations and planted it.

⁹You prepared a place before it,

and it took deep root^d and filled the land.

¹⁰The mountains were covered with its shade,

and the mighty cedars with its boughs.

¹¹It spread its branches to the sea

and its shoots to the river.

¹²Why have you broken down its walls,

so that all who pass on the road pluck fruit from it?

¹³Swine from the forests devour^e it

and creatures of the field feed on it.

¹⁴Please return, O God of hosts.

Observe from heaven and see,

and pay attention to this vine,

¹⁵even the stalk that your right hand planted,

and concerning the shoot^f you strengthened for yourself.

¹⁶It is burned with fire, cut down.

They perish at the rebuke of your face.

¹⁷Let your hand be on the man of your right hand,

on the son of humankind whom you made strong for yourself.

¹⁸Then we will not turn back from you.

Restore us to life, and we will proclaim your name.

¹⁹O Yahweh God of hosts, restore us;

cause your face to shine that we may be saved.

An Appeal from God to Israel

81For the music director; on the Gittith. Of Asaph.^a

¹Shout out to God our strength;

shout joyfully to the God of Jacob.

²Lift up a song and strike^b the tambourine,

the pleasant lyre, together with the harp.

³Blow the horn at new moon,

at full moon, for our feast day,

⁴because it is a statute for Israel,

an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵He made it a statute^c in Joseph

when he went out against the land of Egypt,

where I heard a language I did not know.^d

⁶“I removed his shoulder from a burden.

His hands were freed from the basket.

⁷In this^e trouble you called, and I rescued you.

Within the secret place of thunder I answered you;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

⁸Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you;

O Israel, if you would but listen to me.

⁹There shall be no strange god among you,

and you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

¹⁰I am Yahweh your God,

who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

¹¹But my people did not listen to my voice,

and Israel did not yield to me.

¹²So I let them^f go in the stubbornness of their heart;

they walked in their counsels.

¹³Oh that my people would listen to me;

that Israel would walk in my ways.

¹⁴I would subdue their enemies quickly,

and turn my hand against their adversaries.

¹⁵Those who hate Yahweh would cringe before him,

and their fate^g would be forever.

¹⁶But he would feed him^h from the choicest wheat,ⁱ

and I would satisfy you with honey from a rock.”

God Commands Justice

82A psalm of Asaph.^a

¹God stands in the divine assembly;^b

he administers judgment in the midst of the gods.^c

²“How long will you judge unjustly

and show favoritism to the wicked?^d Selah

³Judge on behalf of the helpless and the orphan;

provide justice to the afflicted and the poor.

⁴Rescue the helpless and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

⁵They do not know or consider.^e

They go about in the darkness,

so that all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶I have said,^f “You are gods,

and sons of the Most High, all of you.

⁷However, you will die like men,^g

and you will fall like one of the princes.”

⁸Rise up, O God, judge the earth,

because you shall inherit^h all the nations.

A Request to Act against Israel’s Neighbors

83A song. A psalm of Asaph.^a

¹O God, do not rest silently.

Do not keep silent or be still, O God.

²For look, your enemies roar,

and those who hate you have lifted their head.

³They devise cunning schemes^b against your people,

and consult together against your protected ones.^c

⁴They say, “Come, let us annihilate them from being a nation,

so that the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

⁵For they have consulted together with a unified purpose.^d

They have made a covenant against you:

⁶the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,

Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.

⁸Assyria also has joined with them.

They provide help^e to the children of Lot. Selah

⁹Do to them as you did with Midian,

as with Sisera, as with Jabin at the wadi of Kishon.

¹⁰They were destroyed at En-dor;

they became dung for the ground.

¹¹Make their leaders like Oreb and Zeeb,

and all their chiefs like Zebah and Zalmunna,

¹²who said, “Let us take as our possession

the pastures of God.”

¹³O my God, make them like the tumbleweed,

like the chaff before wind.

¹⁴As fire burns a forest,

and as a flame sets afire mountains,

¹⁵so pursue them with your tempest

and terrify them with your storm.

¹⁶Fill their faces with shame,

that they may seek your name, O Yahweh.

¹⁷Let them be ashamed and terrified forever,

and let them be humiliated and perish

¹⁸that they may know that you,

whose name is Yahweh, you alone,

are the Most High over the whole earth.

The Joy of Worshiping in the Temple

84For the music director; on the Gittith.

Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.^a

¹How lovely are your dwelling places,

O Yahweh of hosts!

²My soul longs and even fails

for the courtyards of Yahweh.

My heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

³Even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

near your altars, O Yahweh of hosts,

my king and my God.

⁴Blessed are those who dwell in your house;^b

they can ever praise you. Selah

⁵Blessed is the man whose strength is in you;

in their heart are the highways to Zion.

⁶Passing through the Valley of Baca,^c

they make it a spring.

The early rain covers it with blessings^d as well.

⁷They go from strength to strength,

until each appears before God in Zion.^e

⁸O Yahweh, God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah

⁹Look at our shield, O God,

and have regard for the face of your anointed one.

¹⁰Because better is a day in your courtyards

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be at the threshold of the house^f of my God

than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

¹¹Because Yahweh God is a sun and a shield;

Yahweh gives grace and honor.

He does not withhold good from those who walk blamelessly.

¹²O Yahweh of hosts,

blessed is the man who trusts you.