Psalms 80 - 89
80
Hear us, O shepherd of Israel,
who leadest Joseph like a flock of sheep.
Show thyself, thou that art throned on the cherubim,
to Ephraim and to Benjamin.
Rouse thy victorious might from slumber,
come to our rescue.
Restore us, O God,
and make thy face shine upon us that we may be saved.
O LORD God of Hosts,
how long wilt thou resist thy people's prayer?
Thou hast made sorrow their daily bread
and tears of threefold grief their drink.
Thou hast humbled thyself before our neighbours,
and our enemies mock us to their hearts' content.
O God of Hosts, restore us;
make thy face shine upon us that we may be saved.
Thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt;
thou didst drive out nations and plant it,
thou didst clear the ground before it,
so that it made good roots and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
and its branches were like those of mighty cedars.
It put out boughs all the way to the Sea
and its shoots as far as the River.
Why hast thou broken down the wall round it
so that every passer-by can pluck its fruit?
The wild boar from the thicket gnaws it,
and swarming insects from the field feed on it.
O God of Hosts, once more look down from heaven,
take thought for this vine and tend it,
this stock that thy right hand has planted,
let them set fire to it or cut it down
perish before thy angry face.
Let thy hand rest upon the man at thy right side,
the man whom thou hast made strong for thy service.
We have not turned back from thee,
so grant us new life, and we will invoke thee by name.
LORD God of Hosts, restore us;
make thy face shine upon us that we may be saved.
81
Sing out in praise of God our refuge,
acclaim the God of Jacob.
Take pipe and tabor,
take tuneful harp and lute.
Blow the horn for the new month,
for the full moon on the day of our pilgrim-feast.
This is the law for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob,
laid as a solemn charge on Joseph
when he came out of Egypt.
When I lifted the load from his shoulders,
his hands let go the builder's basket.
When you cried to me in distress, I rescued you;
unseen, I answered you in thunder.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah,
where I opened your mouths and filled them.
I fed Israel with the finest wheat-flour
and satisfied him with honey from the rocks.
Listen, my people, while I give you a solemn charge——
but do listen to me, O Israel:
you shall have no strange god
nor bow down to any foreign god;
I am the LORD your God
who brought you up from Egypt.
But my people did not listen to my words
and Israel would have none of me;
so I sent them off, stubborn as they were,
to follow their own devices.
If my people would but listen to me,
if Israel would only conform to my ways,
I would soon bring their enemies to their knees
and lay a heavy hand upon their persecutors.
Let those who hate them come cringing to them,
and meet with everlasting troubles.
82
God takes his stand in the court of heaven
to deliver judgement among the gods themselves.
How long will you judge unjustly
and show favour to the wicked?
You ought to give judgement for the weak and the orphan,
and see right done to the destitute and downtrodden,
you ought to rescue the weak and the poor,
and save them from the clutches of wicked men.
But you know nothing, you understand nothing,
you walk in the dark
while earth's foundations are giving way.
This is my sentence: Gods you may be,
sons all of you of a high god,
yet you shall die as men die;
princes fall, every one of them, and so shall you.
Arise, O God, and judge the earth;
for thou dost pass all nations through thy sieve.
83
Rest not, O God;
O God, be neither silent nor still,
for thy enemies are making a tumult,
and those that hate thee carry their heads high.
They devise cunning schemes against thy people
and conspire against those thou hast made thy treasure:
'Come, away with them,' they cry,
'let them be a nation no longer,
let Israel's name be remembered no more.'
With one mind they have agreed together
to make a league against thee:
the families of Edom, the Ishmaelites,
Moabites and Hagarenes,
Gebal, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia and the citizens of Tyre,
Asshur too their ally,
all of them lending aid to the descendants of Lot.
Deal with them as with Sisera,
as with Jabin by the torrent of Kishon,
who fell vanquished as Midian fell at En-harod,
and were spread on the battlefield like dung.
Make their princes like Oreb and Zeeb,
make all their nobles like Zebah and Zalmunna;
for they said, 'We will seize for ourselves
all the pastures of Gods people.'
Scatter them, O God, like thistledown,
like chaff before the wind.
Like fire raging through the forest
or flames which blaze across the hills,
hunt them down with thy tempest,
and dismay them with thy storm-wind.
Heap shame upon their heads, O LORD,
until they confess the greatness of thy name.
Let them be abashed, and live in perpetual dismay;
let them feel their shame and perish.
So let them learn that thou alone art LORD,
God Most High over all the earth.
84
How dear is thy dwelling-place,
thou LORD of Hosts!
I pine, I faint with longing
for the courts of the LORD's temple;
my whole being cries out with joy
to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow has her nest,
where she rears her brood beside thy altars,
O LORD of Hosts, my King and my God.
Happy are those who dwell in thy house;
they never cease from praising thee.
Happy the men whose refuge is in thee,
whose hearts are set on the pilgrim ways!
As they pass through the thirsty valley
they find water from a spring;
and the LORD provides even men who lose their way
with pools to quench their thirst.
So they pass on from outer wall to inner,
and the God of gods shows himself in Zion.
O LORD God of Hosts, hear my prayer;
listen, O God of Jacob.
O God, look upon our lord he king
and accept thy anointed prince with favour.
Better one day in thy courts
than a thousand days at home;
better to linger by the threshold of God's house
than to live in the dwellings of the wicked.
The LORD God is a battlement and a shield;
grace and honour are his to give.
The LORD will hold back no good thing
from those whose life is blameless.
O LORD of Hosts,
happy the man who trusts in thee!
85
LORD, thou hast been gracious to thy land
and turned the tide of Jacob's fortunes.
Thou hast forgiven the guilt of thy people
and put away all their sins.
Thou hast taken back all thy anger
and turned from thy bitter wrath.
Turn back to us, O God our saviour,
and cancel thy displeasure.
Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?
Must thy wrath last for all generations?
Wilt thou not give us new life
that thy people may rejoice in thee?
O LORD, show us thy true love
and grant us thy deliverance.
Let me hear the words of the LORD:
are they not words of peace,
peace to his people and his loyal servants
and to all who turn and trust in him?
Deliverance is near to those who worship him,
so that glory may dwell in our land.
Love and fidelity have come together;
justice and peace join hands.
Fidelity springs up from earth
and justice looks down from heaven.
The LORD will add prosperity,
and our land shall yield its harvest.
Justice shall go in front of him
and the path before his feet shall be peace.
86
Turn to me, LORD, and answer;
I am downtrodden and poor.
Guard me, for I am constant and true;
save thy servant who puts his trust in thee.
O Lord my God, show me thy favour;
I call to thee all day long.
Fill thy servant's heart with joy, O Lord,
for I lift up my heart to thee.
Thou, O Lord, art kind and forgiving,
full of true love for all who cry to thee.
Listen, O LORD, to my prayer
and hear my pleading.
In the day of my distress I call on thee;
for thou wilt answer me.
Among the gods none is like thee, O Lord,
no deeds are like thine.
All nations thou hast made, O Lord, will come,
will bow down before thee and honour thy name;
for thou art great, thy works are wonderful,
thou alone art God.
Guide me, O LORD,
that I may be true to thee and follow thy path;
let me be one in heart
with those who revere thy name.
I will praise thee, O Lord my God, will all my heart
and honour thy name for ever.
For thy true love stands high above me;
thou hast rescued my soul from the depths of Sheol.
O God, proud men attack me;
a mob of ruffians seek my life
and give no thought to thee.
Thou, Lord, art God, compassionate and gracious,
forbearing, ever constant and true.
Turn towards me and show me thy favour;
grant thy slave protection
and rescue thy slave-girl's son.
Give me proof of thy kindness;
let those who hate thee see to their shame
that thou, O LORD, hast been my help and comfort.
87
The LORD loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob;
her foundations are laid upon holy hills,
and he has made her his home.
I will count Egypt and Babylon among my friends;
Philistine, Tyrian and Nubian shall be there;
and Zion shall be called a mother
in whom men of every race are born.
The LORD shall write against each a roll of nations:
'This one was born in her.'
Singers and dancers alike all chant your praises,
proclaiming glorious things of you, O city of God.
88
O LORD, my God, by day I call for help,
by night I cry aloud in thy presence.
Let my prayer come before thee,
hear my loud lament;
for I have had my fill of woes,
and they have brought me to the threshold of Sheol.
I am numbered with those who go down to the abyss
and have become like a man beyond help,
like a man who lies dead
or the slain who sleep in the grave,
whom thou rememberest no more
because they are cut off from thy care.
Thou hast plunged me into the lowest abyss,
in dark places, in depths.
Thy wrath rises against me,
thou hast turned on me the full force of thy anger.
Thou hast taken all my friends far from me,
and made me loathsome to them.
I am a prisoner and cannot escape;
my eyes are failing and dim with anguish.
I have called upon thee, O LORD, every day
and spread out my hands in prayer to thee.
Dost thou work wonders for the dead?
Shall their company rise up and praise thee?
Will they speak of thy faithful love in the grave,
of thy sure help in the place of Destruction?
Will thy wonders be known in the dark,
thy victories in the land of oblivion?
But, LORD, I cry to thee,
my prayer comes before thee in the morning.
Why hast thou cast me off, O LORD,
why dost thou hide thy face from me?
I have suffered from boyhood and come near to death;
I have borne thy terrors, I cower beneath thy blows.
Thy burning fury has swept over me,
thy onslaughts have put me to silence;
all the day long they surge round me like a flood,
they engulf me in a moment.
Thou hast taken lover and friend far from me,
and parted me from my companions.
88
I will sing the story of thy love, O LORD, for ever;
I will proclaim thy faithfulness to all generations.
Thy true love is firm as the ancient earth,
thy faithfulness fixed as the heavens.
The heavens praise thy wonders, O LORD,
and the council of the holy ones exalts in thy faithfulness.
In the skies who is there like the LORD,
who like the LORD in the court of heaven,
like God who is dreaded among the assembled holy ones,
great and terrible above all who stand about him?
O LORD God of Hosts, who is like thee?
Thy strength and faithfulness, O LORD, surround thee.
Thou rulest the surging sea,
calming the turmoil of its waves.
Thou didst crush the monster Rahab with a mortal blow
and scatter thy enemies with thy strong arm.
Thine are the heavens, the earth is thine also;
the world with all that is in it is of thy foundation.
Thou didst create Zaphon and Amanus;
Tabor and Hermon echo thy name.
Strength of arm and valour are thine;
thy hand is mighty, thy right hand lifted high;
thy throne is built upon righteousness and justice,
true love ad faithfulness herald thy coming.
Happy the people who have learnt to acclaim thee,
who walk, O LORD, in the light of thy presence!
In thy name they shall rejoice all day long;
thy righteousness shall lift them up.
Thou art thyself the strength in which they glory;
through thy favour we hold our heads high.
The LORD, he is our shield;
the Holy One of Israel, he is our king.
Then thou didst announce a vision
and declare to thy faithful servants:
I have made a covenant with him I have chosen,
I have sworn to my servant David:
'I will establish your posterity for ever,
I will make your throne endure for all generations.'
I have endowed a warrior with princely gifts,
so that the youth I have chosen towers over his people.
I have discovered David my servant;
I have anointed him with holy oil.
My hand shall be ready to help him
and my arm to give him strength.
No enemy shall strike at him
and no rebel bring him low;
I will shatter his foes before him
and vanquish those who hate him.
My faithfulness and true love shall be with him
and through my name he shall hold his head high.
I will extend his rule over the Sea
and his dominion as far as the River.
He will say to me, 'Thou art my father,
my God, my rock and my safe refuge.'
And I will name him my first-born,
highest among the kings of the earth.
I will maintain my love for him for ever
and be faithful in my covenant with him.
I will establish his posterity for ever
and his throne as long as the heavens endure.
If his son forsake my law
and do not conform to my judgements,
if they renounce my statutes
and do not observe my commands,
I will punish their disobedience with a rod
and their iniquity with lashes.
Yet I will not deprive him of my true love
nor let my faithfulness prove false;
I will not renounce my covenant
nor change my promised purpose.
I have sworn by my holiness once and for all,
I will not break my word to David:
his posterity shall continue for ever,
his throne before me like the sun;
it shall be sure for ever as the moon's return,
faithful so long as the skies remain.
Yet thou hast rejected thy anointed king,
thou hast spurned him and raged against him,
thou hast denounced the covenant with thy servant,
defiled his crown and flung it on the ground.
Thou hast breached his walls
and laid his fortress in ruin;
all who pass by plunder him,
and he suffers the taunts of the neighbours.
Thou hast increased the power of his enemies
and brought joy to all his foes;
thou hast let his sharp sword be driven back
and left him without help in the battle.
Thou hast put an end to his glorious rule
and hurled his throne on the ground;
thou hast cut short the days of his youth and vigour
and covered him with shame.
How long, O LORD, wilt thou hide thyself from sight?
How long must thy wrath blaze like fire?
Remember that I shall not live for ever;
hast thou created man in vain?
What man shall live and not see death
or save himself from the power of Sheol?
Where are those former acts of thy love, O Lord,
those faithful promises given to David?
Remember, O Lord, the taunts hurled at thy servant,
how I have borne in my heart the calumnies of the nations;
so that my enemies taunted us, O LORD,
taunted the successors of thy anointed king.
Blessed is the LORD for ever.
Amen, Amen.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Jul 2, 2019, 4:25 PM UTC
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