Psalms 27-32

Psalm 27

¹Of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation; who is then a cause of fear to me? the Lord is the strength of my life; who is a danger to me?

²When evil-doers, even my haters, came on me to put an end to me, they were broken and put to shame.

³Even if an army came against me with its tents, my heart would have no fear: if war was made on me, my faith would not be moved.

⁴One prayer have I made to the Lord, and this is my heart's desire; that I may have a place in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, looking on his glory, and getting wisdom in his Temple.

⁵For in the time of trouble he will keep me safe in his tent: in the secret place of his tent he will keep me from men's eyes; high on a rock he will put me.

⁶And now my head will be lifted up higher than my haters who are round me: because of this I will make offerings of joy in his tent; I will make a song, truly I will make a song of praise to the Lord.

⁷O Lord, let the voice of my cry come to your ears: have mercy on me, and give me an answer.

⁸When you said, Make search for my face, my heart said to you, For your face will I make my search.

⁹Let not your face be covered from me; do not put away your servant in wrath; you have been my help: do not give me up or take your support from me, O God of my salvation.

¹⁰When my father and my mother are turned away from me, then the Lord will be my support.

¹¹Make your way clear to me, O Lord, guiding me by the right way, because of my haters.

¹²Do not give me into their hands, because false witnesses have come out against me, and men breathing destruction.

¹³I had almost given up my hope of seeing the blessing of the Lord in the land of the living.

¹⁴Let your hope be in the Lord: take heart and be strong; yes, let your hope be in the Lord.

Psalm 28

¹Of David. My cry goes up to you, O Lord, my Rock; do not keep back your answer from me, so that I may not become like those who go down into the underworld.

²Give ear to the voice of my prayer, when I am crying to you, when my hands are lifted up to your holy place.

³Do not take me away with the sinners and the workers of evil, who say words of peace to their neighbours, but evil is in their hearts.

⁴Give them the right reward of their acts, and of their evil doings: give them punishment for the works of their hands, let them have their full reward.

⁵Because they have no respect for the works of the Lord, or for the things which his hands have made, they will be broken down and not lifted up by him.

⁶May the Lord be praised, because he has given ear to the voice of my prayer.

⁷The Lord is my strength and my breastplate, my heart had faith in him and I am helped; for this cause my heart is full of rapture, and I will give him praise in my song.

⁸The Lord is their strength, and a strong place of salvation for his king.

⁹Be a saviour to your people, and send a blessing on your heritage: be their guide, and let them be lifted up for ever.

Psalm 29

¹A Psalm. Of David. Give to the Lord, you sons of the gods, give to the Lord glory and strength.

²Give to the Lord the full glory of his name; give him worship in holy robes.

³The voice of the Lord is on the waters: the God of glory is thundering, the Lord is on the great waters.

⁴The voice of the Lord is full of power; the voice of the Lord has a noble sound.

⁵By the voice of the Lord are the cedar-trees broken, even the cedars of Lebanon are broken by the Lord.

⁶He makes them go jumping about like a young ox; Lebanon and Sirion like a young mountain ox.

⁷At the voice of the Lord flames of fire are seen.

⁸At the voice of the Lord there is a shaking in the waste land, even a shaking in the waste land of Kadesh.

⁹At the voice of the Lord the roes give birth, the leaves are taken from the trees: in his Temple everything says, Glory.

¹⁰The Lord had his seat as king when the waters came on the earth; the Lord is seated as king for ever.

¹¹The Lord will give strength to his people; the Lord will give his people the blessing of peace.

Psalm 30

¹A Psalm. A Song at the blessing of the House. Of David. I will give you praise and honour, O Lord, because through you I have been lifted up; you have not given my haters cause to be glad over me.

²O Lord my God, I sent up my cry to you, and you have made me well.

³O Lord, you have made my soul come again from the underworld: you have given me life and kept me from going down among the dead.

⁴Make songs to the Lord, O you saints of his, and give praise to his holy name.

⁵For his wrath is only for a minute; in his grace there is life; weeping may be for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

⁶When things went well for me I said, I will never be moved.

⁷Lord, by your grace you have kept my mountain strong: when your face was turned from me I was troubled.

⁸My voice went up to you, O Lord; I made my prayer to the Lord.

⁹What profit is there in my blood if I go down into the underworld? will the dust give you praise, or be a witness to your help?

¹⁰Give ear to me, O Lord, and have mercy on me: Lord, be my helper.

¹¹By you my sorrow is turned into dancing; you have taken away my clothing of grief, and given me robes of joy;

¹²So that my glory may make songs of praise to you and not be quiet. O Lord my God, I will give you praise for ever.

Psalm 31

¹To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. In you, O Lord, have I put my hope; let me never be shamed; keep me safe in your righteousness.

²Let your ear be turned to me; take me quickly out of danger; be my strong Rock, my place of strength where I may be safe.

³For you are my Rock and my strong tower; go in front of me and be my guide, because of your name.

⁴Take me out of the net which they have put ready for me secretly; for you are my strength.

⁵Into your hands I give my spirit; you are my saviour, O Lord God for ever true.

⁶I am full of hate for those who go after false gods; but my hope is in the Lord.

⁷I will be glad and have delight in your mercy; because you have seen my trouble; you have had pity on my soul in its sorrows;

⁸And you have not given me into the hand of my hater; you have put my feet in a wide place.

⁹Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; my eyes are wasted with grief, I am wasted in soul and body.

¹⁰My life goes on in sorrow, and my years in weeping; my strength is almost gone because of my sin, and my bones are wasted away.

¹¹Because of all those who are against me, I have become a word of shame to my neighbours; a cause of shaking the head and a fear to my friends: those who saw me in the street went in flight from me.

¹²I have gone from men's minds and memory like a dead man; I am like a broken vessel.

¹³False statements against me have come to my ears; fear was on every side: they were talking together against me, designing to take away my life.

¹⁴But I had faith in you, O Lord; I said, You are my God.

¹⁵The chances of my life are in your hand; take me out of the hands of my haters, and of those who go after me.

¹⁶Let your servant see the light of your face; in your mercy be my saviour.

¹⁷Let me not be shamed, O Lord, for I have made my prayer to you; let the sinners be shamed, and let their mouths be shut in the underworld.

¹⁸Let the false lips be shut, which say evil against the upright, looking down on him in their pride.

¹⁹O how great is your grace, which you have put in store for your worshippers, and which you have made clear to those who had faith in you, before the sons of men!

²⁰You will keep them safe in your house from the designs of man; in the secret of your tent will you keep them from angry tongues.

²¹May the Lord be praised, because he has made clear to me the wonder of his grace in a strong town.

²²And as for me, I said in my fear, I am cut off from before your eyes; but you gave ear to the voice of my prayer, when my cry went up to you.

²³O have love for the Lord, all you his saints; for the Lord keeps safe from danger all those who are true to him, and gives the workers of pride their right reward.

²⁴Put away fear and let your heart be strong, all you whose hope is in the Lord.

Psalm 32

¹Of David. Maschil. Happy is he who has forgiveness for his wrongdoing, and whose sin is covered.

²Happy is the man in whom the Lord sees no evil, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³When I kept my mouth shut, my bones were wasted, because of my crying all through the day.

⁴For the weight of your hand was on me day and night; my body became dry like the earth in summer. (Selah.)

⁵I made my wrongdoing clear to you, and did not keep back my sin. I said, I will put it all before the Lord; and you took away my wrongdoing and my sin. (Selah.)

⁶For this cause let every saint make his prayer to you at a time when you are near: then the overflowing of the great waters will not overtake him.

⁷You are my safe and secret place; you will keep me from trouble; you will put songs of salvation on the lips of those who are round me. (Selah.)

⁸I will give you knowledge, teaching you the way to go; my eye will be your guide.

⁹Do not be like the horse or the ass, without sense; ...

¹⁰The sinner will be full of trouble; but mercy will be round the man who has faith in the Lord.

¹¹Be glad in the Lord with joy, you upright men; give cries of joy, all you whose hearts are true.