Psalm 72–83

A Prayer for the King

Of Solomon.

72God, give the king your good judgment

and the king’s son your goodness.

²Help him judge your people fairly

and decide what is right for the poor.

³Let there be peace on the mountains

and goodness on the hills for the people.

⁴Help him be fair to the poor

and save the needy

and punish those who hurt them.

⁵May they respect you as long as the sun shines

and as long as the moon glows.

⁶Let him be like rain on the grass,

like showers that water the earth.

⁷Let goodness be plentiful while he lives.

Let peace continue as long as there is a moon.

⁸Let his kingdom go from sea to sea,

and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

⁹Let the people of the desert bow down to him,

and make his enemies lick the dust.

¹⁰Let the kings of Tarshish and the faraway lands

bring him gifts.

Let the kings of Sheba and Seba

bring their presents to him.

¹¹Let all kings bow down to him

and all nations serve him.

¹²He will help the poor when they cry out

and will save the needy when no one else will help.

¹³He will be kind to the weak and poor,

and he will save their lives.

¹⁴He will save them from cruel people who try to hurt them,

because their lives are precious to him.

¹⁵Long live the king!

Let him receive gold from Sheba.

Let people always pray for him

and bless him all day long.

¹⁶Let the fields grow plenty of grain

and the hills be covered with crops.

Let the land be as fertile as Lebanon,

and let the cities grow like the grass in a field.

¹⁷Let the king be famous forever;

let him be remembered as long as the sun shines.

Let the nations be blessed because of him,

and may they all bless him.

¹⁸Praise the Lord God, the God of Israel,

who alone does such miracles.

¹⁹Praise his glorious name forever.

Let his glory fill the whole world.

Amen and amen.

²⁰This ends the prayers of David son of Jesse.

Should the Wicked Be Rich?

A psalm of Asaph.

73God is truly good to Israel,

to those who have pure hearts.

²But I had almost stopped believing;

I had almost lost my faith

³because I was jealous of proud people.

I saw wicked people doing well.

⁴They are not suffering;

they are healthy and strong.

⁵They don’t have troubles like the rest of us;

they don’t have problems like other people.

⁶They wear pride like a necklace

and put on violence as their clothing.

⁷They are looking for profits

and do not control their selfish desires.

⁸They make fun of others and speak evil;

proudly they speak of hurting others.

⁹They brag to the sky.

They say that they own the earth.

¹⁰So their people turn to them

and give them whatever they want.

¹¹They say, “How can God know?

What does God Most High know?”

¹²These people are wicked,

always at ease, and getting richer.

¹³So why have I kept my heart pure?

Why have I kept my hands from doing wrong?

¹⁴I have suffered all day long;

I have been punished every morning.

¹⁵God, if I had decided to talk like this,

I would have let your people down.

¹⁶I tried to understand all this,

but it was too hard for me to see

¹⁷until I went to the Temple of God.

Then I understood what will happen to them.

¹⁸You have put them in danger;

you cause them to be destroyed.

¹⁹They are destroyed in a moment;

they are swept away by terrors.

²⁰It will be like waking from a dream.

Lord, when you rise up, they will disappear.

²¹When my heart was sad

and I was angry,

²²I was senseless and stupid.

I acted like an animal toward you.

²³But I am always with you;

you have held my hand.

²⁴You guide me with your advice,

and later you will receive me in honor.

²⁵I have no one in heaven but you;

I want nothing on earth besides you.

²⁶My body and my mind may become weak,

but God is my strength.

He is mine forever.

²⁷Those who are far from God will die;

you destroy those who are unfaithful.

²⁸But I am close to God, and that is good.

The Lord God is my protection.

I will tell all that you have done.

A Nation in Trouble Prays

A maskil of Asaph.

74God, why have you rejected us for so long?

Why are you angry with us, the sheep of your pasture?

²Remember the people you bought long ago.

You saved us, and we are your very own.

After all, you live on Mount Zion.

³Make your way through these old ruins;

the enemy wrecked everything in the Temple.

⁴Those who were against you shouted in your meeting place

and raised their flags there.

⁵They came with axes raised

as if to cut down a forest of trees.

⁶They smashed the carved panels

with their axes and hatchets.

⁷They burned your Temple to the ground;

they have made the place where you live unclean.

⁸They thought, “We will completely crush them!”

They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.

⁹We do not see any signs.

There are no more prophets,

and no one knows how long this will last.

¹⁰God, how much longer will the enemy make fun of you?

Will they insult you forever?

¹¹Why do you hold back your power?

Bring your power out in the open and destroy them!

¹²God, you have been our king for a long time.

You bring salvation to the earth.

¹³You split open the sea by your power

and broke the heads of the sea monster.

¹⁴You smashed the heads of the monster Leviathan

and gave it to the desert creatures as food.

¹⁵You opened up the springs and streams

and made the flowing rivers run dry.

¹⁶Both the day and the night are yours;

you made the sun and the moon.

¹⁷You set all the limits on the earth;

you created summer and winter.

¹⁸Lord, remember how the enemy insulted you.

Remember how those foolish people made fun of you.

¹⁹Do not give us, your doves, to those wild animals.

Never forget your poor people.

²⁰Remember the agreement you made with us,

because violence fills every dark corner of this land.

²¹Do not let your suffering people be disgraced.

Let the poor and helpless praise you.

²²God, arise and defend yourself.

Remember the insults that come from those foolish people all day long.

²³Don’t forget what your enemies said;

don’t forget their roar as they rise against you always.

God the Judge

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A psalm of Asaph. A song.

75God, we thank you;

we thank you because you are near.

We tell about the miracles you do.

²You say, “I set the time for trial,

and I will judge fairly.

³The earth with all its people may shake,

but I am the one who holds it steady.

Selah

⁴I say to those who are proud, ‘Don’t brag,’

and to the wicked, ‘Don’t show your power.

⁵Don’t try to use your power against heaven.

Don’t be stubborn.’ ”

⁶No one from the east or the west

or the desert can judge you.

⁷God is the judge;

he judges one person as guilty and another as innocent.

⁸The Lord holds a cup of anger in his hand;

it is full of wine mixed with spices.

He pours it out even to the last drop,

and the wicked drink it all.

⁹I will tell about this forever;

I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰He will take all power away from the wicked,

but the power of good people will grow.

The God Who Always Wins

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song.

76People in Judah know God;

his fame is great in Israel.

²His Tent is in Jerusalem;

his home is on Mount Zion.

³There God broke the flaming arrows,

the shields, the swords, and the weapons of war.

Selah

⁴God, how wonderful you are!

You are more splendid than the hills full of animals.

⁵The brave soldiers were stripped

as they lay asleep in death.

Not one warrior

had the strength to stop it.

⁶God of Jacob, when you spoke strongly,

horses and riders fell dead.

⁷You are feared;

no one can stand against you when you are angry.

⁸From heaven you gave the decision,

and the earth was afraid and silent.

⁹God, you stood up to judge

and to save the needy people of the earth.

Selah

¹⁰People praise you for your anger against evil.

Those who live through your anger are stopped from doing more evil.

¹¹Make and keep your promises to the Lord your God.

From all around, gifts should come to the God we worship.

¹²God breaks the spirits of great leaders;

the kings on earth fear him.

Remembering God’s Help

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of Asaph.

77I cry out to God;

I call to God, and he will hear me.

²I look for the Lord on the day of trouble.

All night long I reach out my hands,

but I cannot be comforted.

³When I remember God, I become upset;

when I think, I become afraid.

Selah

⁴You keep my eyes from closing.

I am too upset to say anything.

⁵I keep thinking about the old days,

the years of long ago.

⁶At night I remember my songs.

I think and I ask myself:

⁷“Will the Lord reject us forever?

Will he never be kind to us again?

⁸Is his love gone forever?

Has he stopped speaking for all time?

⁹Has God forgotten mercy?

Is he too angry to pity us?”

Selah

¹⁰Then I say “This is what makes me sad:

For years the power of God Most High was with us.”

¹¹I remember what the Lord did;

I remember the miracles you did long ago.

¹²I think about all the things you did

and consider your deeds.

¹³God, your ways are holy.

No god is as great as our God.

¹⁴You are the God who does miracles;

you have shown people your power.

¹⁵By your power you have saved your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.Selah

¹⁶God, the waters saw you;

they saw you and became afraid;

the deep waters shook with fear.

¹⁷The clouds poured down their rain.

The sky thundered.

Your lightning flashed back and forth like arrows.

¹⁸Your thunder sounded in the whirlwind.

Lightning lit up the world.

The earth trembled and shook.

¹⁹You made a way through the sea

and paths through the deep waters,

but your footprints were not seen.

²⁰You led your people like a flock

by using Moses and Aaron.

God Saved Israel from Egypt

A maskil of Asaph.

78My people, listen to my teaching;

listen to what I say.

²I will speak using stories;

I will tell secret things from long ago.

³We have heard them and known them

by what our ancestors have told us.

⁴We will not keep them from our children;

we will tell those who come later

about the praises of the Lord.

We will tell about his power

and the miracles he has done.

⁵The Lord made an agreement with Jacob

and gave the teachings to Israel,

which he commanded our ancestors

to teach to their children.

⁶Then their children would know them,

even their children not…