Day 15 of 30

Ps 71:1–74:23

71:1 In you, Lord, I take refuge. Never let me be disappointed.

71:2 Deliver me in your righteousness, and rescue me. Turn your ear to me, and save me.

71:3 Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may always go. Give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

71:4 Rescue me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

71:5 For you are my hope, Lord God; my confidence from my youth.

71:6 I have relied on you from the womb. You are he who took me out of my mother's womb. I will always praise you.

71:7 I am a marvel to many, but you are my strong refuge.

71:8 My mouth shall be filled with your praise, with your honor all the day.

71:9 Do not reject me in my old age. Do not forsake me when my strength fails.

71:10 For my enemies talk about me. Those who watch for my soul conspire together,

71:11 saying, "God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him."

71:12 God, do not be far from me. My God, hurry to help me.

71:13 Let my accusers be disappointed and consumed. Let them be covered with disgrace and scorn who want to harm me.

71:14 But I will always hope, and will add to all of your praise.

71:15 My mouth will tell about your righteousness, and of your salvation all day, though I do not know its full measure.

71:16 I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord God. I will make mention of your righteousness, even of yours alone.

71:17 God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works.

71:18 Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, do not forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come.

71:19 Your righteousness also, God, reaches to the heavens; you have done great things. God, who is like you?

71:20 You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.

71:21 Increase my honor, and comfort me again.

71:22 I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God. I sing praises to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel.

71:23 My lips shall shout for joy! My soul, which you have redeemed, sings praises to you!

71:24 My tongue will also talk about your righteousness all day long, for they are disappointed, and they are confounded, who want to harm me.

72:1 God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son.

72:2 He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.

72:3 The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people. The hills bring the fruit of righteousness.

72:4 He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break the oppressor in pieces.

72:5 They shall fear you while the sun endures; and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.

72:6 He will come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth.

72:7 In his days, the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.

72:8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

72:9 Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. His enemies shall lick the dust.

72:10 The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.

72:11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him.

72:12 For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper.

72:13 He will have pity on the poor and needy. He will save the souls of the needy.

72:14 He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.

72:15 They shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Men shall pray for him continually. They shall bless him all day long.

72:16 There shall be abundance of grain throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.

72:17 His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.

72:18 Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.

72:19 Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and amen.

72:20 This ends the prayers by David, the son of Jesse.

73:1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

73:2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had nearly slipped.

73:3 For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

73:4 For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm.

73:5 They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men.

73:6 Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.

73:7 Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.

73:8 They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression.

73:9 They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.

73:10 Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance.

73:11 They say, "How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?"

73:12 Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches.

73:13 Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocence,

73:14 For all day long have I been plagued, and punished every morning.

73:15 If I had said, "I will speak thus;" behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

73:16 When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me;

73:17 Until I entered God's sanctuary, and considered their latter end.

73:18 Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.

73:19 How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors.

73:20 As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.

73:21 For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.

73:22 I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.

73:23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand.

73:24 You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

73:25 Who do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth who I desire besides you.

73:26 My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

73:27 For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.

73:28 But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

74:1 God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

74:2 Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance; Mount Zion, in which you have lived.

74:3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

74:4 Your adversaries have roared in the midst of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.

74:5 They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees.

74:6 Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.

74:7 They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.

74:8 They said in their heart, "We will crush them completely." They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.

74:9 We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.

74:10 How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

74:11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it out of your pocket and consume them!

74:12 Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

74:13 You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

74:14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.

74:15 You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.

74:16 The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.

74:17 You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter.

74:18 Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Lord. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.

74:19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Do not forget the life of your poor forever.

74:20 Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.

74:21 Do not let the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name.

74:22 Arise, God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.

74:23 Do not forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.