Psalm 73–83

PSALM 73

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹Truly God is good to the upright,

to those who are pure in heart.^t

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

my steps had well nigh slipped.

³For I was envious of the arrogant,

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pangs;

their bodies are sound and sleek.

⁵They are not in trouble as other men are;

they are not stricken like other men.

⁶Therefore pride is their necklace;

violence covers them as a garment.

⁷Their eyes swell out with fatness,

their hearts overflow with follies.

⁸They scoff and speak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

⁹They set their mouths against the heavens,

and their tongue struts through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore the people turn and praise them;^u

and find no fault in them.^v

¹¹And they say, “How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

¹²Behold, these are the wicked;

always at ease, they increase in riches.

¹³All in vain have I kept my heart clean

and washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴For all the day long I have been stricken,

and chastened every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

I would have been untrue to the generation of thy children.

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me a wearisome task,

¹⁷until I went into the sanctuary of God;

then I perceived their end.

¹⁸Truly thou dost set them in slippery places;

thou dost make them fall to ruin.

¹⁹How they are destroyed in a moment,

swept away utterly by terrors!

²⁰They are^w like a dream when one awakes,

on awaking you despise their phantoms.

²¹When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

²²I was stupid and ignorant,

I was like a beast toward thee.

²³Nevertheless I am continually with thee;

thou dost hold my right hand.

²⁴Thou dost guide me with thy counsel,

and afterward thou wilt receive me to glory.^x

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but thee?

And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee.

²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength^y of my heart and my portion for ever.

²⁷For lo, those who are far from thee shall perish;

thou dost put an end to those who are false to thee.

²⁸But for me it is good to be near God;

I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,

that I may tell of all thy works.

PSALM 74

A Maskil of Asaph.

¹O God, why dost thou cast us off for ever?

Why does thy anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

²Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old,

which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thy heritage!

Remember Mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt.

³Direct thy steps to the perpetual ruins;

the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

⁴Thy foes have roared in the midst of thy holy place;

they set up their own signs for signs.

⁵At the upper entrance they hacked

the wooden trellis with axes.^z

⁶And then all its carved wood

they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

⁷They set thy sanctuary on fire;

to the ground they desecrated the dwelling place of thy name.

⁸They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;

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

⁹We do not see our signs;

there is no longer any prophet,

and there is none among us who knows how long.

¹⁰How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?

Is the enemy to revile thy name for ever?

¹¹Why dost thou hold back thy hand,

why dost thou keep thy right hand in^a thy bosom?

¹²Yet God my King is from of old,

working salvation in the midst of the earth.

¹³Thou didst divide the sea by thy might;

thou didst break the heads of the dragons on the waters.

¹⁴Thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan,

thou didst give him as food^b for the creatures of the wilderness.

¹⁵Thou didst cleave open springs and brooks;

thou didst dry up ever-flowing streams.

¹⁶Thine is the day, thine also the night;

thou hast established the luminaries and the sun.

¹⁷Thou hast fixed all the bounds of the earth;

thou hast made summer and winter.

¹⁸Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,

and an impious people reviles thy name.

¹⁹Do not deliver the soul of thy dove to the wild beasts;

do not forget the life of thy poor for ever.

²⁰Have regard for thy^c covenant;

for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

²¹Let not the downtrodden be put to shame;

let the poor and needy praise thy name.

²²Arise, O God, plead thy cause;

remember how the impious scoff at thee all the day!

²³Do not forget the clamor of thy foes,

the uproar of thy adversaries which goes up continually!

PSALM 75

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

¹We give thanks to thee, O God; we give thanks;

we call on thy name and recount^d thy wondrous deeds.

²At the set time which I appoint

I will judge with equity.

³When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,

it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah

⁴I say to the boastful, “Do not boast,”

and to the wicked, “Do not lift up your horn;

⁵do not lift up your horn on high,

or speak with insolent neck.”

⁶For not from the east or from the west

and not from the wilderness comes lifting up;

⁷but it is God who executes judgment,

putting down one and lifting up another.

⁸For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup,

with foaming wine, well mixed;

and he will pour a draught from it,

and all the wicked of the earth

shall drain it down to the dregs.

⁹But I will rejoice^e for ever,

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰All the horns of the wicked he^f will cut off,

but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

PSALM 76

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

¹In Judah God is known,

his name is great in Israel.

²His abode has been established in Salem,

his dwelling place in Zion.

³There he broke the flashing arrows,

the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

⁴Glorious art thou, more majestic

than the everlasting mountains.^g

⁵The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;

they sank into sleep;

all the men of war

were unable to use their hands.

⁶At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob,

both rider and horse lay stunned.

⁷But thou, terrible art thou!

Who can stand before thee

when once thy anger is roused?

⁸From the heavens thou didst utter judgment;

the earth feared and was still,

⁹when God arose to establish judgment

to save all the oppressed of the earth. Selah

¹⁰Surely the wrath of men shall praise thee;

the residue of wrath thou wilt gird upon thee.

¹¹Make your vows to the Lord your God, and perform them;

let all around him bring gifts

to him who is to be feared,

¹²who cuts off the spirit of princes,

who is terrible to the kings of the earth.

PSALM 77

To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

¹I cry aloud to God,

aloud to God, that he may hear me.

²In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul refuses to be comforted.

³I think of God, and I moan;

I meditate, and my spirit faints. Selah

⁴Thou dost hold my eyelids from closing;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

⁵I consider the days of old,

I remember the years long ago.

⁶I commune^h with my heart in the night;

I meditate and search my spirit:ⁱ

⁷“Will the Lord spurn for ever,

and never again be favorable?

⁸Has his steadfast love for ever ceased?

Are his promises at an end for all time?

⁹Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

¹⁰And I say, “It is my grief

that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

¹¹I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;

yea, I will remember thy wonders of old.

¹²I will meditate on all thy work,

and muse on thy mighty deeds.

¹³Thy way, O God, is holy.

What god is great like our God?

¹⁴Thou art the God who workest wonders,

who hast manifested thy might among the peoples.

¹⁵Thou didst with thy arm redeem thy people,

the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

¹⁶When the waters saw thee, O God,

when the waters saw thee, they were afraid,

yea, the deep trembled.

¹⁷The clouds poured out water;

the skies gave forth thunder;

thy arrows flashed on every side.

¹⁸The crash of thy thunder was in the whirlwind;

thy lightnings lighted up the world;

the earth trembled and shook.

¹⁹Thy way was through the sea,

thy path through the great waters;

yet thy footprints were unseen.

²⁰Thou didst lead thy people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

PSALM 78

A Maskil of Asaph.

¹Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;

incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

²I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old,

³things that we have heard and known,

that our fathers have told us.

⁴We will not hide them from their children,

but tell to the coming generation

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

and the wonders which he has wrought.

⁵He established a testimony in Jacob,

and appointed a law in Israel,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children;

⁶that the next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn,

and arise and tell them to their children,

⁷so that they should set their hope in God,

and not forget the works of God,

but keep his commandments;

⁸and that they should not be like their fathers,

a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation whose heart was not steadfast,

whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,

turned back on the day of battle.

¹⁰They did not keep God’s covenant,

but refused to walk according to his law.

¹¹They forgot what he had done,

and the miracles that he had shown them.

¹²In the sight of their fathers he wrought marvels

in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.

¹³He divided the sea and let them pass through it,

and made the waters stand like a heap.

¹⁴In the daytime he led them with a cloud,

and all the night with a fiery light.

¹⁵He cleft rocks in the wilderness,

and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

¹⁶He made streams come out of the rock,

and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

¹⁷Yet they sinned still more against him,

rebelling against the Most High in the…