Bible in 90 Days

²² Let their joys^[a] turn to ashes and their peace disappear; ²³ let darkness, blindness, and great feebleness be theirs. ²⁴ Pour out your fury upon them; consume them with the fierceness of your anger. ²⁵ Let their homes be desolate and abandoned. ²⁶ For they persecute the one you have smitten and scoff at the pain of the one you have pierced. ²⁷ Pile their sins high and do not overlook them. ²⁸ Let these men be blotted from the list of the living;^[b] do not give them the joys of life with the righteous.

²⁹ But rescue me, O God, from my poverty and pain. ³⁰ Then I will praise God with my singing! My thanks will be his praise— ³¹ that will please him more than sacrificing a bullock or an ox. ³² The humble shall see their God at work for them. No wonder they will be so glad! All who seek for God shall live in joy. ³³ For Jehovah hears the cries of his needy ones and does not look the other way.

³⁴ Praise him, all heaven and earth! Praise him, all the seas and everything in them! ³⁵ For God will save Jerusalem;^[c] he rebuilds the cities of Judah. His people shall live in them and not be dispossessed. ³⁶ Their children shall inherit the land; all who love his name shall live there safely.

70 Rescue me, O God! Lord, hurry to my aid! ^2-3 They are after my life and delight in hurting me. Confuse them! Shame them! Stop them! Don’t let them keep on mocking me! ⁴ But fill the followers of God with joy. Let those who love your salvation exclaim, “What a wonderful God he is!” ⁵ But I am in deep trouble. Rush to my aid, for only you can help and save me. O Lord, don’t delay.

71 Lord, you are my refuge! Don’t let me down! ² Save me from my enemies, for you are just! Rescue me! Bend down your ear and listen to my plea and save me. ³ Be to me a great protecting Rock, where I am always welcome, safe from all attacks. For you have issued the order to save me. ⁴ Rescue me, O God, from these unjust and cruel men. ⁵ O Lord, you alone are my hope; I’ve trusted you from childhood. ⁶ Yes, you have been with me from birth and have helped me constantly—no wonder I am always praising you! ⁷ My success—at which so many stand amazed—is because you are my mighty protector. ⁸ All day long I’ll praise and honor you, O God, for all that you have done for me.

⁹ And now, in my old age, don’t set me aside. Don’t forsake me now when my strength is failing. ¹⁰ My enemies are whispering, ¹¹ “God has forsaken him! Now we can get him. There is no one to help him now!” ¹² O God, don’t stay away! Come quickly! Help! ¹³ Destroy them! Cover them with failure and disgrace—these enemies of mine.

¹⁴ I will keep on expecting you to help me. I praise you more and more. ¹⁵ I cannot count the times when you have faithfully rescued me from danger. I will tell everyone how good you are, and of your constant, daily care. ¹⁶ I walk in the strength of the Lord God. I tell everyone that you alone are just and good. ¹⁷ O God, you have helped me from my earliest childhood—and I have constantly testified to others of the wonderful things you do. ¹⁸ And now that I am old and gray, don’t forsake me. Give me time to tell this new generation (and their children too) about all your mighty miracles. ¹⁹ Your power and goodness, Lord, reach to the highest heavens. You have done such wonderful things. Where is there another God like you? ²⁰ You have let me sink down deep in desperate problems. But you will bring me back to life again, up from the depths of the earth. ²¹ You will give me greater honor than before and turn again and comfort me.

²² I will praise you with music, telling of your faithfulness to all your promises, O Holy One of Israel. ²³ I will shout and sing your praises for redeeming me. ²⁴ I will talk to others all day long about your justice and your goodness. For all who tried to hurt me have been disgraced and dishonored.

72 O God, help the king to judge as you would, and help his son to walk in godliness. ² Help him to give justice to your people, even to the poor. ³ May the mountains and hills flourish in prosperity because of his good reign. ⁴ Help him to defend the poor and needy and to crush their oppressors. ⁵ May the poor and needy revere you constantly, as long as sun and moon continue in the skies! Yes, forever!

⁶ May the reign of this son of mine^[d] be as gentle and fruitful as the springtime rains upon the grass—like showers that water the earth! ⁷ May all good men flourish in his reign with abundance of peace to the end of time.

⁸ Let him reign from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth. ⁹ The desert nomads shall bow before him; his enemies shall fall face downward in the dust. ¹⁰ Kings along the Mediterranean coast—the kings of Tarshish and the islands—and those from Sheba and from Seba—all will bring their gifts. ¹¹ Yes, kings from everywhere! All will bow before him! All will serve him!

¹² He will take care of the helpless and poor when they cry to him; for they have no one else to defend them. ¹³ He feels pity for the weak and needy and will rescue them. ¹⁴ He will save them from oppression and from violence, for their lives are precious to him.

¹⁵ And he shall live; and to him will be given the gold of Sheba, and there will be constant praise for him.^[e] His people will bless him all day long. ¹⁶ Bless us with abundant crops throughout the land, even on the highland plains; may there be fruit like that of Lebanon; may the cities be as full of people as the fields are of grass. ¹⁷ His name will be honored forever; it will continue as the sun; and all will be blessed in him; all nations will praise him.

¹⁸ Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who only does wonderful things! ¹⁹ Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!

²⁰ (This ends the psalms of David, son of Jesse.)

73 How good God is to Israel—to those whose hearts are pure. ² But as for me, I came so close to the edge of the cliff! My feet were slipping and I was almost gone. ³ For I was envious of the prosperity of the proud and wicked. ⁴ Yes, all through life their road is smooth!^[f] They grow sleek and fat. ⁵ They aren’t always in trouble and plagued with problems like everyone else, ⁶ so their pride sparkles like a jeweled necklace, and their clothing is woven of cruelty! ⁷ These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for! ⁸ They scoff at God and threaten his people. How proudly they speak! ⁹ They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut through the earth.

¹⁰ And so God’s people are dismayed and confused and drink it all in. ¹¹ “Does God realize what is going on?” they ask. ¹² “Look at these men of arrogance; they never have to lift a finger—theirs is a life of ease; and all the time their riches multiply.”

¹³ Have I been wasting my time? Why take the trouble to be pure? ¹⁴ All I get out of it is trouble and woe—every day and all day long! ¹⁵ If I had really said that, I would have been a traitor to your people. ¹⁶ Yet it is so hard to explain it—this prosperity of those who hate the Lord. ¹⁷ Then one day I went into God’s sanctuary to meditate and thought about the future of these evil men. ¹⁸ What a slippery path they are on—suddenly God will send them sliding over the edge of the cliff and down to their destruction: ¹⁹ an instant end to all their happiness, an eternity of terror. ²⁰ Their present life is only a dream! They will awaken to the truth as one awakens from a dream of things that never really were!

²¹ When I saw this, what turmoil filled my heart! ²² I saw myself so stupid and so ignorant; I must seem like an animal to you, O God. ²³ But even so, you love me! You are holding my right hand! ²⁴ You will keep on guiding me all my life with your wisdom and counsel, and afterwards receive me into the glories of heaven!^{[g] 25} Whom have I in heaven but you? And I desire no one on earth as much as you! ²⁶ My health fails; my spirits droop, yet God remains! He is the strength of my heart; he is mine forever!

²⁷ But those refusing to worship God will perish, for he destroys those serving other gods.

²⁸ But as for me, I get as close to him as I can! I have chosen him, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful ways he rescues me.

74 O God, why have you cast us away forever? Why is your anger hot against us—the sheep of your own pasture? ² Remember that we are your people—the ones you chose in ancient times from slavery and made the choicest of your possessions. You chose Jerusalem^[h] as your home on earth!

³ Walk through the awful ruins of the city and see what the enemy has done to your sanctuary. ⁴ There they shouted their battle cry and erected their idols to flaunt their victory. ^5-6 Everything lies in shambles like a forest chopped to the ground. They came with their axes and sledgehammers and smashed and chopped the carved paneling; ⁷ they set the sanctuary on fire, and razed it to the ground—your sanctuary, Lord. ⁸ “Let’s wipe out every trace of God,” they said, and went through the entire country burning down the assembly places where we worshiped you.

^9-10 There is nothing left to show that we are your people. The prophets are gone, and who can say when it all will end? How long, O God, will you allow our enemies to dishonor your name? Will you let them get away with this forever? ¹¹ Why do you delay? Why hold back your power? Unleash your fist and give them a final blow.

¹² God is my King from ages past; you have been actively helping me everywhere throughout the land. ^13-14 You divided the Red Sea with your strength; you crushed the sea god’s heads! You gave him to the desert tribes to eat! ¹⁵ At your command the springs burst forth to give your people water; and then you dried a path for them across the ever-flowing Jordan. ¹⁶ Day and night alike belong to you; you made the starlight and the sun. ¹⁷ All nature is within your hands; you make the summer and the winter too. ¹⁸ Lord, see how these enemies scoff at you. O Jehovah, an arrogant nation has blasphemed your name.

¹⁹ O Lord, save me! Protect your turtledove from the hawks.^[i] Save your beloved people from these beasts. ²⁰ Remember your promise! For the land is full of darkness and cruel men. ²¹ O Lord, don’t let your downtrodden people be constantly insulted. Give cause for these poor and needy ones to praise your name! ²² Arise, O God, and state your case against our enemies. Remember the insults these rebels have hurled against you all day long. ²³ Don’t overlook the cursing of these enemies of yours; it grows louder and louder.

75 How we thank you, Lord! Your mighty miracles give proof that you care.

² “Yes,” the Lord replies, “and when I am ready, I will punish the wicked! ³ Though the earth shakes and all its people live in turmoil, yet its pillars are firm, for I have set them in place!”

⁴ I warned the proud to cease their arrogance! I told the wicked to lower their insolent gaze^{[j] 5} and to stop being stubborn and proud. ^6-7 For promotion and power come from nowhere on earth, but only from God. He promotes one and deposes another. ⁸ In Jehovah’s hand there is a cup of pale and sparkling wine. It is his judgment, poured out upon the wicked of the earth. They must drain that cup to the dregs.

⁹ But as for me, I shall forever declare the praises of the God of Jacob. ¹⁰ “I will cut off the strength of evil men,” says the Lord,^[k] “and increase the power of good men in their place.”

76 God’s reputation is very great in Judah and in Israel. ² His home is in Jerusalem. He lives upon Mount Zion. ³ There he breaks the weapons of our enemies.

⁴ The everlasting mountains cannot compare with you in glory! ⁵ The mightiest of our enemies are conquered. They lie before us in the sleep of death; not one can lift a hand against us. ⁶ When you rebuked them, God of Jacob, steeds and riders fell. ⁷ No wonder you are greatly feared! Who can stand before an angry God? ⁸ You pronounce sentence on them from heaven; the earth trembles and stands silently before you. ⁹ You stand up to punish the evildoers and to defend the meek of the earth. ¹⁰ Man’s futile wrath will bring you glory. You will use it as an ornament!

¹¹ Fulfill all your vows that you have made to Jehovah your God. Let everyone bring him presents. He should be reverenced and feared, ¹² for he cuts down princes and does awesome things to the kings of the earth.

77 I cry to the Lord; I call and call to him. Oh, that he would listen. ² I am in deep trouble and I need his help so much. All night long I pray, lifting my hands to heaven, pleading. There can be no joy for me until he acts. ³ I think of God and moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help. ⁴ I cannot sleep until you act. I am too distressed even to pray!

⁵ I keep thinking of the good old days of the past, long since ended. ⁶ Then my nights were filled with joyous songs. I search my soul and meditate upon the difference now. ⁷ Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again be favorable? ⁸ Is his loving-kindness gone forever? Has his promise failed? ⁹ Has he forgotten to be kind to one so undeserving? Has he slammed the door in anger on his love? ¹⁰ And I said: This is my fate, that the blessings of God have changed to hate.^{[l] 11} I recall the many miracles he did for me so long ago. ¹² Those wonderful deeds are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about them.

¹³ O God, your ways are holy. Where is there any other as mighty as you? ¹⁴ You are the God of miracles and wonders! You still demonstrate your awesome power.

¹⁵ You have redeemed us who are the sons of Jacob and of Joseph by your might. ¹⁶ When the Red Sea saw you, how it feared! It trembled to its depths! ¹⁷ The clouds poured down their rain, the thunder rolled and crackled in the sky. Your lightning flashed. ¹⁸ There was thunder in the whirlwind; the lightning lighted up the world! The earth trembled and shook.

¹⁹ Your road led by a pathway through the sea—a pathway no one knew was there! ²⁰ You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.

78 O my people, listen to my teaching. Open your ears to what I am saying. ^2-3 For I will show you lessons from our history, stories handed down to us from former generations. ⁴ I will reveal these truths to you so that you can describe these glorious deeds of Jehovah to your children and tell them about the mighty miracles he did. ⁵ For he gave his laws to Israel and commanded our fathers to teach them to their children, ⁶ so that they in turn could teach their children too. Thus his laws pass down from generation to generation. ⁷ In this way each generation has been able to obey his laws and to set its hope anew on God and not forget his glorious miracles. ⁸ Thus they did not need to be as their fathers were—stubborn, rebellious, unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.

⁹ The people of Ephraim, though fully armed, turned their backs and fled when the day of battle came ¹⁰ because they didn’t obey his laws. They refused to follow his ways. ^11-12 And they forgot about the wonderful miracles God had done for them and for their fathers in Egypt. ¹³ For he divided the sea before them and led them through! The water stood banked up along both sides of them! ¹⁴ In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and at night by a pillar of fire. ¹⁵ He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them plenty of water, as though gushing from a spring. ¹⁶ Streams poured from the rock, flowing like a river!

¹⁷ Yet they kept on with their rebellion, sinning against the God who is above all gods. ¹⁸ They murmured and complained, demanding other food than God was giving them. ^19-20 They even spoke against God himself. “Why can’t he give us decent food as well as water?” they grumbled. ²¹ Jehovah heard them and was angry; the fire of his wrath burned against Israel ²² because they didn’t believe in God or trust in him to care for them, ²³ even though he commanded the skies to open—he opened the windows of heaven— ²⁴ and rained down manna for their food. He gave them bread from heaven! ²⁵ They ate angels’ food! He gave them all they could hold.

²⁶ And he led forth the east wind and guided the south wind by his mighty power. ²⁷ He rained down birds as thick as dust, clouds of them like sands along the shore! ²⁸ He caused the birds to fall to the ground among the tents. ²⁹ The people ate their fill. He gave them what they asked for. ³⁰ But they had hardly finished eating, and the meat was yet in their mouths, ³¹ when the anger of the Lord rose against them and killed the finest of Israel’s young men. ³² Yet even so the people kept on sinning and refused to believe in miracles. ³³ So he cut their lives short and gave them years of terror and disaster.

³⁴ Then at last, when he had ruined them, they walked awhile behind him; how earnestly they turned around and followed him! ³⁵ Then they remembered that God was their Rock—that their Savior was the God above all gods. ³⁶ But it was only with their words that they followed him, not with their hearts; ³⁷ their hearts were far away. They did not keep their promises. ³⁸ Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins and didn’t destroy them all. Many and many a time he held back his anger. ³⁹ For he remembered that they were merely mortal men, gone in a moment like a breath of wind.

⁴⁰ Oh, how often they rebelled against him in those desert years and grieved his heart. ⁴¹ Again and again they turned away and tempted God to kill them, and limited the Holy One of Israel from giving them his blessings. ⁴² They forgot his power and love and how he had rescued them from their enemies; ⁴³ they forgot the plagues he sent upon the Egyptians in Tanis^[m]— ⁴⁴ how he turned their rivers into blood so that no one could drink, ⁴⁵ how he sent vast swarms of flies to fill the land, and how the frogs had covered all of Egypt!

⁴⁶ He gave their crops to caterpillars. Their harvest was consumed by locusts. ⁴⁷ He destroyed their grapevines and their sycamores with hail. ⁴⁸ Their cattle died in the fields, mortally wounded by huge hailstones from heaven. Their sheep were killed by lightning. ⁴⁹ He loosed on them the fierceness of his anger, sending sorrow and trouble. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels. ⁵⁰ He gave free course to his anger and did not spare the Egyptians’ lives, but handed them over to plagues and sickness. ⁵¹ Then he killed the eldest son^[n] in each Egyptian family—he who was the beginning of its strength and joy.

⁵² But he led forth his own people like a flock, guiding them safely through the wilderness. ⁵³ He kept them safe, so they were not afraid. But the sea closed in upon their enemies and overwhelmed them. ⁵⁴ He brought them to the border of his land of blessing, to this land of hills he made for them. ⁵⁵ He drove out the nations occupying the land and gave each tribe of Israel its apportioned place as its home.

⁵⁶ Yet though he did all this for them, they still rebelled against the God above all gods and refused to follow his commands. ⁵⁷ They turned back from entering the Promised Land and disobeyed as their fathers had. Like a crooked arrow, they missed the target of God’s will. ⁵⁸ They made him angry by erecting idols and altars to other gods.

⁵⁹ When God saw their deeds, his wrath was strong and he despised his people. ⁶⁰ Then he abandoned his Tabernacle at Shiloh, where he had lived among mankind, ⁶¹ and allowed his Ark to be captured; he surrendered his glory into enemy hands. ⁶² He caused his people to be butchered because his anger was intense. ⁶³ Their young men were killed by fire, and their girls died before they were old enough to sing their wedding songs. ⁶⁴ The priests were slaughtered, and their widows died before they could even begin their lament. ⁶⁵ Then the Lord rose up as though awakening from sleep, and like a mighty man aroused by wine, ⁶⁶ he routed his enemies; he drove them back and sent them to eternal shame. ⁶⁷ But he rejected Joseph’s family, the tribe of Ephraim, ⁶⁸ and chose the tribe of Judah—and Mount Zion, which he loved. ⁶⁹ There he built his towering temple, solid and enduring as the heavens and the earth. ⁷⁰ He chose his servant David, taking him from feeding sheep ^71-72 and from following the ewes with lambs; God presented David to his people as their shepherd, and he cared for them with a true heart and skillful hands.

79 O God, your land has been conquered by the heathen nations. Your Temple is defiled, and Jerusalem is a heap of ruins. ² The bodies of your people lie exposed—food for birds and animals. ³ The enemy has butchered the entire population of Jerusalem; blood has flowed like water. No one is left even to bury them. ⁴ The nations all around us scoff. They heap contempt on us.

⁵ O Jehovah, how long will you be angry with us? Forever? Will your jealousy burn till every hope is gone? ⁶ Pour out your wrath upon the godless nations—not on us—on kingdoms that refuse to pray, that will not call upon your name! ⁷ For they have destroyed your people Israel, invading every home. ⁸ Oh, do not hold us guilty for our former sins! Let your tenderhearted mercies meet our needs, for we are brought low to the dust. ⁹ Help us, God of our salvation! Help us for the honor of your name. Oh, save us and forgive our sins. ¹⁰ Why should the heathen nations be allowed to scoff, “Where is their God?” Publicly avenge this slaughter of your people! ¹¹ Listen to the sighing of the prisoners and those condemned to die. Demonstrate the greatness of your power by saving them. ¹² O Lord, take sevenfold vengeance on these nations scorning you.

¹³ Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will thank you forever and forever, praising your greatness from generation to generation.

80 O Shepherd of Israel who leads Israel like a flock; O God enthroned above the Guardian Angels, bend down your ear and listen as I plead. Display your power and radiant glory. ² Let Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh see you rouse yourself and use your mighty power to rescue us.

³ Turn us again to yourself, O God. Look down on us in joy and love;^[o] only then shall we be saved.

⁴ O Jehovah, God of heaven’s armies, how long will you be angry and reject our prayers? ⁵ You have fed us with sorrow and tears ⁶ and have made us the scorn of the neighboring nations. They laugh among themselves.

⁷ Turn us again to yourself, O God of Hosts. Look down on us in joy and love;^[p] only then shall we be saved. ⁸ You brought us from Egypt as though we were a tender vine and drove away the heathen from your land and planted us. ⁹ You cleared the ground and tilled the soil, and we took root and filled the land. ¹⁰ The mountains were covered with our shadow; we were like the mighty cedar trees,^{[q] 11} covering the entire land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River. ¹² But now you have broken down our walls, leaving us without protection. ¹³ The boar from the forest roots around us, and the wild animals feed on us.

¹⁴ Come back, we beg of you, O God of the armies of heaven, and bless us. Look down from heaven and see our plight and care for this your vine! ¹⁵ Protect what you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself. ¹⁶ For we are chopped and burned by our enemies. May they perish at your frown. ¹⁷ Strengthen the man you love,^[r] the son of your choice, ¹⁸ and we will never forsake you again. Revive us to trust in you.

¹⁹ Turn us again to yourself, O God of the armies of heaven. Look down on us, your face aglow with joy and love—only then shall we be saved.

81 The Lord makes us strong! Sing praises! Sing to Israel’s God!

² Sing, accompanied by drums; pluck the sweet lyre and harp. ³ Sound the trumpet! Come to the joyous celebrations at full moon, new moon, and all the other holidays. ⁴ For God has given us these times of joy; they are scheduled in the laws of Israel. ⁵ He gave them as reminders of his war against Egypt where we were slaves on foreign soil.

I heard an unknown voice that said, ⁶ “Now I will relieve your shoulder of its burden; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.” ⁷ He said, “You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered from Mount Sinai^[s] where the thunder hides. I tested your faith at Meribah, when you complained there was no water. ⁸ Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you will only listen! ⁹ You must never worship any other god, nor ever have an idol in your home.^{[t] 10} For it was I, Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Only test me!^[u] Open your mouth wide and see if I won’t fill it. You will receive every blessing you can use!

¹¹ “But no, my people won’t listen. Israel doesn’t want me around. ¹² So I am letting them go their blind and stubborn way, living according to their own desires.

¹³ “But oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths! ¹⁴ How quickly then I would subdue her enemies! How soon my hands would be upon her foes! ¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him; their desolation would last forever. ¹⁶ But he would feed you with the choicest foods. He would satisfy you with honey for the taking.”^[v]

82 God stands up to open heaven’s court. He pronounces judgment on the judges.^{[w] 2} How long will you judges refuse to listen to the evidence? How long will you shower special favors on the wicked? ³ Give fair judgment to the poor man, the afflicted, the fatherless, the destitute. ⁴ Rescue the poor and helpless from the grasp of evil men. ⁵ But you are so foolish and so ignorant! Because you are in darkness, all the foundations of society^[x] are shaken to the core. ⁶ I have called you all “gods” and “sons of the Most High.” ⁷ But in death you are mere men. You will fall as any prince—for all must die.

⁸ Stand up, O God, and judge the earth. For all of it belongs to you. All nations are in your hands.

83 O God, don’t sit idly by, silent and inactive when we pray. Answer us! Deliver us!

² Don’t you hear the tumult and commotion of your enemies? Don’t you see what they are doing, these proud men who hate the Lord? ³ They are full of craftiness and plot against your people, laying plans to slay your precious ones. ⁴ “Come,” they say, “and let us wipe out Israel as a nation—we will destroy the very memory of her existence.” ⁵ This was their unanimous decision at their summit conference—they signed a treaty to ally themselves against Almighty God— ⁶ these Ishmaelites and Edomites and Moabites and Hagrites; ⁷ people from the lands of Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia and Tyre; ⁸ Assyria has joined them too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot.^[y]

⁹ Do to them as once you did to Midian, or as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, ¹⁰ and as you did to your enemies at Endor, whose decaying corpses fertilized the soil. ¹¹ Make their mighty nobles die as Oreb did, and Zeeb;^[z] let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna, ¹² who said, “Let us seize for our own use these pasturelands of God!”

¹³ O my God, blow them away like dust; like chaff before the wind— ¹⁴ as a forest fire that roars across a mountain. ¹⁵ Chase them with your fiery storms, tempests, and tornados. ¹⁶ Utterly disgrace them until they recognize your power and name, O Lord. ¹⁷ Make them failures in everything they do; let them be ashamed and terrified ¹⁸ until they learn that you alone, Jehovah, are the God above all gods in supreme charge of all the earth.

84 How lovely is your Temple, O Lord of the armies of heaven.

² I long, yes, faint with longing to be able to enter your courtyard and come near to the Living God. ³ Even the sparrows and swallows are welcome to come and nest among your altars and there have their young, O Lord of heaven’s armies, my King and my God! ⁴ How happy are those who can live in your Temple, singing your praises.

⁵ Happy are those who are strong in the Lord, who want above all else to follow your steps. ⁶ When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of springs where pools of blessing and refreshment collect after rains! ⁷ They will grow constantly in strength, and each of them is invited to meet with the Lord in Zion.

⁸ O Jehovah, God of the heavenly armies, hear my prayer! Listen, God of Israel. ⁹ O God, our Defender and our Shield, have mercy on the one you have anointed as your king.^[aa]

¹⁰ A single day spent in your Temple is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a doorman of the Temple of my God than live in palaces^[ab] of wickedness. ¹¹ For Jehovah God is our Light and our Protector. He gives us grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk along his paths.^[ac]

¹² O Lord of the armies of heaven, blessed are those who trust in you.

85 Lord, you have poured out amazing blessings on this land! You have restored the fortunes of Israel,^{[ad] 2} and forgiven the sins of your people—yes, covered over each one, ³ so that all your wrath, your blazing anger, is now ended.

⁴ Now bring us back to loving you,^[ae] O Lord, so that your anger will never need rise against us again. ⁵ (Or will you be always angry—on and on to distant generations?) ⁶ Oh, revive us! Then your people can rejoice in you again. ⁷ Pour out your love and kindness on us, Lord, and grant us your salvation.

⁸ I am listening carefully to all the Lord is saying—for he speaks peace to his people, his saints, if they will only stop their sinning. ⁹ Surely his salvation is near to those who reverence him; our land will be filled with his glory.

¹⁰ Mercy and truth have met together. Grim justice^[af] and peace have kissed! ¹¹ Truth rises from the earth, and righteousness smiles down from heaven.

¹² Yes, the Lord pours down his blessings on the land, and it yields its bountiful crops. ¹³ Justice goes before him to make a pathway for his steps.^[ag]

86 Bend down and hear my prayer, O Lord, and answer me, for I am deep in trouble.

² Protect me from death, for I try to follow all your laws. Save me, for I am serving you and trusting you. ³ Be merciful, O Lord, for I am looking up to you in constant hope. ⁴ Give me happiness, O Lord, for I worship only you. ⁵ O Lord, you are so good and kind, so ready to forgive, so full of mercy for all who ask your aid.

⁶ Listen closely to my prayer, O God. Hear my urgent cry. ⁷ I will call to you whenever trouble strikes, and you will help me.

⁸ Where among the heathen gods is there a god like you? Where are their miracles? ⁹ All the nations—and you made each one—will come and bow before you, Lord, and praise your great and holy name. ¹⁰ For you are great and do great miracles. You alone are God.

¹¹ Tell me where you want me to go and I will go there. May every fiber of my being unite in reverence to your name. ¹² With all my heart I will praise you. I will give glory to your name forever, ¹³ for you love me so much! You are constantly so kind! You have rescued me from deepest hell.

¹⁴ O God, proud and insolent men defy me; violent, godless men are trying to kill me. ¹⁵ But you are merciful and gentle, Lord, slow in getting angry, full of constant loving-kindness and of truth; ¹⁶ so look down in pity and grant strength to your servant and save me. ¹⁷ Send me a sign of your favor. When those who hate me see it, they will lose face because you help and comfort me.

87 ^1-2 High on his holy mountain stands Jerusalem,^[ah] the city of God, the city he loves more than any other!

³ O city of God, what wondrous tales are told of you! ⁴ Nowadays when I mention among my friends the names of Egypt and Babylonia, Philistia and Tyre, or even distant Ethiopia, someone boasts that he was born in one or another of those countries. ⁵ But someday the highest honor will be to be a native of Jerusalem! For the God above all gods will personally bless this city. ⁶ When he registers her citizens, he will place a check mark beside the names of those who were born here. ⁷ And in the festivals they’ll sing, “All my heart is in Jerusalem.”

88 O Jehovah, God of my salvation, I have wept before you day and night. ² Now hear my prayers; oh, listen to my cry, ³ for my life is full of troubles, and death draws near. ⁴ They say my life is ebbing out—a hopeless case. ⁵ They have left me here to die, like those slain on battlefields from whom your mercies are removed.

⁶ You have thrust me down to the darkest depths. ⁷ Your wrath lies heavy on me; wave after wave engulfs me. ⁸ You have made my friends to loathe me, and they have gone away. I am in a trap with no way out. ⁹ My eyes grow dim with weeping. Each day I beg your help; O Lord, I reach my pleading hands to you for mercy.

¹⁰ Soon it will be too late! Of what use are your miracles when I am in the grave? How can I praise you then? ¹¹ Can those in the grave declare your loving-kindness? Can they proclaim your faithfulness? ¹² Can the darkness speak of your miracles? Can anyone in the Land of Forgetfulness talk about your help?

¹³ O Lord, I plead for my life and will keep on pleading day by day. ¹⁴ O Jehovah, why have you thrown my life away? Why are you turning your face from me and looking the other way?

¹⁵ From my youth I have been sickly and ready to die. I stand helpless before your terrors. ¹⁶ Your fierce wrath has overwhelmed me. Your terrors have cut me off. ¹⁷ They flow around me all day long. ¹⁸ Lover, friend, acquaintance—all are gone. There is only darkness everywhere.

89 Forever and ever I will sing about the tender kindness of the Lord! Young and old shall hear about your blessings. ² Your love and kindness are forever; your truth is as enduring as the heavens.

^3-4 The Lord God says,^[ai] “I have made a solemn agreement with my chosen servant David. I have taken an oath to establish his descendants as kings forever on his throne, from now until eternity!”

⁵ All heaven shall praise your miracles, O Lord; myriads of angels^[aj] will praise you for your faithfulness. ⁶ For who in all of heaven can be compared with God? What mightiest angel^[ak] is anything like him? ⁷ The highest of angelic powers^[al] stand in dread and awe of him. Who is as revered as he by those surrounding him? ⁸ O Jehovah, Commander of the heavenly armies, where is there any other Mighty One like you? Faithfulness is your very character.

⁹ You rule the oceans when their waves arise in fearful storms; you speak, and they lie still. ¹⁰ You have cut haughty Egypt^[am] to pieces. Your enemies are scattered by your awesome power. ¹¹ The heavens are yours, the world, everything—for you created them all. ¹² You created north and south! Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon rejoice to be signed by your name as their maker! ¹³ Strong is your arm! Strong is your hand! Your right hand is lifted high in glorious strength.