Psalm 72–83

Psalm 72

A psalm of Solomon.

¹God, give the king the ability to judge fairly.

He is your royal son. Help him to do what is right.

²Then he will rule your people in the right way.

He will be fair to those among your people who are hurting.

³The mountains and the hills will produce rich crops,

because the people will do what is right.

⁴The king will stand up for those who are hurting.

He will save the children of those who are in need.

He will crush those who beat others down.

⁵He will rule as long as the sun shines

and the moon gives its light.

He will rule for all time to come.

⁶He will be like rain falling on the fields.

He will be like showers watering the earth.

⁷Godly people will do well as long as he rules.

They will have more than they need as long as the moon lasts.

⁸He will rule from ocean to ocean.

His kingdom will reach from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

⁹The desert tribes will bow down to him.

His enemies will lick the dust.

¹⁰The kings of Tarshish and of places far away

will bring him gifts.

The kings of Sheba and Seba

will give him presents.

¹¹All kings will bow down to him.

All nations will serve him.

¹²People who are in need will cry out, and he will save them.

He will save those who are hurting.

They don’t have anyone else who can help them.

¹³He will take pity on those who are weak and in need.

He will save them from death.

¹⁴He will save them from people who beat others down.

He will save them from people who do mean things to them.

Their lives are very special to him.

¹⁵May he live a long time!

May gold from Sheba be given to him.

May people always pray for him.

May they ask the Lord to bless him all day long.

¹⁶Let there be plenty of grain everywhere in the land.

May it sway in the wind on the tops of the hills.

Let crops grow well, like those in Lebanon.

Let them grow like the grass of the field.

¹⁷May the king’s name be remembered forever.

May his fame last as long as the sun shines.

All nations will be blessed because of him.

They will call him blessed.

¹⁸Give praise to the Lord God, the God of Israel.

Only he can do wonderful things.

¹⁹Give praise to his glorious name forever.

May his glory fill the whole earth.

Amen and Amen.

²⁰The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, end here.

BOOK III

Psalms 73–89

Psalm 73

A psalm of Asaph.

¹God is truly good to Israel.

He is good to those who have pure hearts.

²But my feet had almost slipped.

I had almost tripped and fallen.

³I saw that proud and sinful people were doing well.

And I began to long for what they had.

⁴They don’t have any troubles.

Their bodies are healthy and strong.

⁵They don’t have the problems others have.

They don’t suffer as other people do.

⁶Their pride is like a necklace.

They put on meanness as if it were their clothes.

⁷Many sins come out of their hard and stubborn hearts.

There is no limit to their proud and evil thoughts.

⁸They laugh at others and speak words of hatred.

They are proud. They warn others about the harm they can do to them.

⁹They brag as if they owned heaven itself.

They talk as if they controlled the earth.

¹⁰So people listen to them.

They lap up their words like water.

¹¹They say, “How can God know what we’re doing?

Does the Most High God really know that much?”

¹²Here is what sinful people are like.

They don’t have a care in the world.

They keep getting richer and richer.

¹³It seems as if I have kept my heart pure without any reason.

It didn’t do me any good to wash my hands

to show that I wasn’t guilty of doing anything wrong.

¹⁴Day after day I’ve been in pain.

God has punished me every morning.

¹⁵What if I had said, “I will speak as evil people do”?

Then I wouldn’t have been faithful to God’s children.

¹⁶I tried to understand it all.

But it was more than I could handle.

¹⁷It troubled me until I entered God’s temple.

Then I understood what will happen to bad people in the end.

¹⁸God, I’m sure you will make them slip and fall.

You will throw them down and destroy them.

¹⁹It will happen very suddenly.

A terrible death will take them away completely.

²⁰A dream goes away when a person wakes up.

Lord, it will be like that when you rise up.

It will be as if those people were only a dream.

²¹At one time my heart was sad

and my spirit was bitter.

²²I didn’t have any sense. I didn’t know anything.

I acted like a wild animal toward you.

²³But I am always with you.

You hold me by my right hand.

²⁴You give me wise advice to guide me.

And when I die, you will take me away

into the glory of heaven.

²⁵I don’t have anyone in heaven but you.

I don’t want anything on earth besides you.

²⁶My body and my heart may grow weak.

God, you give strength to my heart.

You are everything I will ever need.

²⁷Those who don’t want anything to do with you will die.

You destroy all those who aren’t faithful to you.

²⁸But I am close to you. And that’s good.

Lord and King, I have made you my place of safety.

I will talk about everything you have done.

Psalm 74

A maskil of Asaph.

¹God, why have you turned your back on us for so long?

Why does your anger burn against us? We are your very own sheep.

²Remember that you chose us to be your own people a long time ago.

Remember that you set us free from slavery to be your very own tribe.

Remember Mount Zion, where you lived.

³Walk through this place that has been torn down beyond repair.

See how completely your enemies have destroyed the temple!

⁴In the place where you used to meet with us,

your enemies have shouted, “We’ve won the battle!”

They have set up their flags to show they have beaten us.

⁵They acted like people cutting down a forest with axes.

⁶They smashed all of the beautiful wooden walls

with their axes and hatchets.

⁷They burned your temple to the ground.

They polluted the place where your Name is.

⁸They had said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!”

They burned every place where you were worshiped in the land.

⁹You don’t give us miraculous signs anymore.

There aren’t any prophets left.

None of us knows how long that will last.

¹⁰God, how long will your enemies make fun of you?

Will they attack you with their words forever?

¹¹Why don’t you help us? Why do you hold back your powerful right hand?

Use your strong arms to destroy your enemies!

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

The whole earth has seen you save us over and over again.

¹³You parted the Red Sea by your power.

You broke the heads of that sea monster in Egypt.

¹⁴You crushed the heads of the sea monster Leviathan.

You fed it to the creatures of the desert.

¹⁵You opened up streams and springs.

You dried up rivers that flow all year long.

¹⁶You rule over the day and the night.

You created the sun and the moon.

¹⁷You decided where the borders of the earth would be.

You made both summer and winter.

¹⁸Lord, remember how your enemies have made fun of you.

Remember how foolish people have attacked you with their words.

¹⁹Don’t hand Israel, your dove, over to those wild animals.

Don’t forget your suffering people forever.

²⁰Honor the covenant you made with us.

Horrible things are happening in every dark corner of the land.

²¹Don’t let your suffering people be put to shame.

May those who are poor and needy praise you.

²²God, rise up. Stand up for your cause.

Remember how foolish people make fun of you all day long.

²³Pay close attention to the shouts of your enemies.

The trouble they cause never stops.

Psalm 75

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

¹God, we give thanks to you.

We give thanks because your Name is near.

People talk about the wonderful things you have done.

²You say, “I choose the appointed time to judge people.

And I judge them fairly.

³When the earth and all of its people tremble,

I keep everything from falling to pieces. Selah

⁴To the proud I say, ‘Don’t brag anymore.’

To sinners I say, ‘Don’t show off your power.

⁵Don’t show it off against me.

Don’t speak with your noses in the air.’ ”

⁶No one from east or west or north or south

can act as judge.

⁷God is the One who judges.

He says to one person, “You are guilty.”

To another he says, “You are not guilty.”

⁸In the hand of the Lord is a cup.

It is full of wine mixed with spices.

It is the wine of his anger.

He pours it out. All of the evil people on earth

drink it down to the very last drop.

⁹I will speak about this forever.

I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰God will destroy the power of all sinful people.

But he will make godly people more powerful.

Psalm 76

For the director of music. A psalm of Asaph. A song to be played on stringed instruments.

¹In the land of Judah, God is known.

His name is great in Israel.

²His tent is in Jerusalem.

The place where he lives is on Mount Zion.

³There he broke the deadly arrows of his enemies.

He broke their shields and swords.

He broke their weapons of war. Selah

⁴God, you shine like a very bright light.

You are more majestic than mountains full of wild animals.

⁵Brave soldiers have been robbed of everything they had.

Now they lie there, sleeping in death.

Not one of them can even lift his hands.

⁶God of Jacob, at your command

both horse and chariot lie still.

⁷People should have respect for you alone.

Who can stand in front of you when you are angry?

⁸From heaven you handed down your sentence.

The land was afraid and became quiet.

⁹God, that happened when you rose up to judge.

It happened when you came to save all of your suffering people in the land. Selah

¹⁰Your anger against sinners brings you praise.

Those who live through your anger gather to worship you.

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

Let all of the neighboring nations

bring gifts to the One who should be respected.

¹²He breaks the proud spirit of rulers.

The kings of the earth have respect for him.

Psalm 77

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

¹I cried out to God for help.

I cried out to God to hear me.

²When I was in trouble, I looked to the Lord.

During the night I lifted up my hands in prayer.

But I refused to be comforted.

³God, I…