Psalm 80–84

PSALM 80

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony of Asaph. A Psalm.

¹Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

thou who leadest Joseph like a flock!

Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth

²before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh!

Stir up thy might,

and come to save us!

³Restore us, O God;

let thy face shine, that we may be saved!

⁴O Lord God of hosts,

how long wilt thou be angry with thy people’s prayers?

⁵Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears,

and given them tears to drink in full measure.

⁶Thou dost make us the scorn of our neighbors;

and our enemies laugh among themselves.

⁷Restore us, O God of hosts;

let thy face shine, that we may be saved!

⁸Thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt;

thou didst drive out the nations and plant it.

⁹Thou didst clear the ground for it;

it took deep root and filled the land.

¹⁰The mountains were covered with its shade,

the mighty cedars with its branches;

¹¹it sent out its branches to the sea,

and its shoots to the River.

¹²Why then hast thou broken down its walls,

so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?

¹³The boar from the forest ravages it,

and all that move in the field feed on it.

¹⁴Turn again, O God of hosts!

Look down from heaven, and see;

have regard for this vine,

¹⁵the stock which thy right hand planted.

¹⁶They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;

may they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance!

¹⁷But let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,

the son of man whom thou hast made strong for thyself!

¹⁸Then we will never turn back from thee;

give us life, and we will call on thy name!

¹⁹Restore us, O Lord God of hosts!

let thy face shine, that we may be saved!

PSALM 81

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph.

¹Sing aloud to God our strength;

shout for joy to the God of Jacob!

²Raise a song, sound the timbrel,

the sweet lyre with the harp.

³Blow the trumpet at the new moon,

at the full moon, on our feast day.

⁴For it is a statute for Israel,

an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵He made it a decree in Joseph,

when he went out over the land of Egypt.

I hear a voice I had not known:

⁶“I relieved your shoulder of the burden;

your hands were freed from the basket.

⁷In distress you called, and I delivered you;

I answered you in the secret place of thunder;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah. [Selah]

⁸Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

⁹There shall be no strange god among you;

you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

¹⁰I am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹“But my people did not listen to my voice;

Israel would have none of me.

¹²So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,

to follow their own counsels.

¹³O that my people would listen to me,

that Israel would walk in my ways!

¹⁴I would soon subdue their enemies,

and turn my hand against their foes.

¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,

and their fate would last for ever.

¹⁶I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,

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

PSALM 82

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹God has taken his place in the divine council;

in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

²“How long will you judge unjustly

and show partiality to the wicked? [Selah]

³Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;

maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

⁴Rescue the weak and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

⁵They have neither knowledge nor understanding,

they walk about in darkness;

all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶I say, “You are gods,

sons of the Most High, all of you;

⁷nevertheless, you shall die like men,

and fall like any prince.”

⁸Arise, O God, judge the earth;

for to thee belong all the nations!

PSALM 83

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.

¹O God, do not keep silence;

do not hold thy peace or be still, O God!

²For lo, thy enemies are in tumult;

those who hate thee have raised their heads.

³They lay crafty plans against thy people;

they consult together against thy protected ones.

⁴They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;

let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

⁵Yea, they conspire with one accord;

against thee they make a covenant—

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 them;

they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. [Selah]

⁹Do to them as thou didst to Midian,

as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

¹⁰who were destroyed at En-dor,

who became dung for the ground.

¹¹Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

¹²who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves

of the pastures of God.”

¹³O my God, make them like whirling dust,

like chaff before the wind.

¹⁴As fire consumes the forest,

as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,

¹⁵so do thou pursue them with thy tempest

and terrify them with thy hurricane!

¹⁶Fill their faces with shame,

that they may seek thy name, O Lord.

¹⁷Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever;

let them perish in disgrace.

¹⁸Let them know that thou alone,

whose name is the Lord,

art the Most High over all the earth.

PSALM 84

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

¹How lovely is thy dwelling place,

O Lord of hosts!

²My soul longs, yea, faints

for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

³Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at thy altars, O Lord of hosts,

my King and my God.

⁴Blessed are those who dwell in thy house,

ever singing thy praise! [Selah]

⁵Blessed are the men whose strength is in thee,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

⁶As they go through the valley of Baca

they make it a place of springs;

the early rain also covers it with pools.

⁷They go from strength to strength;

the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

⁸O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob! [Selah]

⁹Behold our shield, O God;

look upon the face of thine anointed!

¹⁰For a day in thy courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

he bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does the Lord withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

¹²O Lord of hosts,

blessed is the man who trusts in thee!