Psalms 86-89

Psalm 86

¹A Prayer. Of David. Let your ears be open to my voice, O Lord, and give me an answer; for I am poor and in need.

²Keep my soul, for I am true to you; O my God, give salvation to your servant, whose hope is in you.

³Have mercy on me, O Lord; for my cry goes up to you all the day.

⁴Make glad the soul of your servant; for it is lifted up to you, O Lord.

⁵You are good, O Lord, and full of forgiveness; your mercy is great to all who make their cry to you.

⁶O Lord, give ear to my prayer; and take note of the sound of my requests.

⁷In the day of my trouble I send up my cry to you; for you will give me an answer.

⁸There is no god like you, O Lord; there are no works like your works.

⁹Let all the nations whom you have made come and give worship to you, O Lord, giving glory to your name.

¹⁰For you are great, and do great works of wonder; you only are God.

¹¹Make your way clear to me, O Lord; I will go on my way in your faith: let my heart be glad in the fear of your name.

¹²I will give you praise, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will give glory to your name for ever.

¹³For your mercy to me is great; you have taken my soul up from the deep places of the underworld.

¹⁴O God, men of pride have come up against me, and the army of violent men would take my life; they have not put you before them.

¹⁵But you, O Lord, are a God full of pity and forgiveness, slow to get angry, great in mercy and wisdom.

¹⁶O be turned to me and have mercy on me: give your strength to your servant, and your salvation to the son of her who is your servant.

¹⁷Give me a sign for good; so that my haters may see it and be shamed; because you, Lord, have been my help and comfort.

Psalm 87

¹Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm. A Song. This house is resting on the holy mountain.

²The Lord has more love for the doors of Zion than for all the tents of Jacob.

³Noble things are said of you, O town of God. (Selah.)

⁴Rahab and Babylon will be named among those who have knowledge of me; see, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man had his birth there.

⁵And of Zion it will be said, This or that man had his birth there; and the Most High will make her strong.

⁶The Lord will keep in mind, when he is writing the records of the people, that this man had his birth there. (Selah.)

⁷The players on instruments will be there, and the dancers will say, All my springs are in you.

Psalm 88

¹A Song. A Psalm. Of the sons of Korah. To the chief music-maker; put to Mahalath Leannoth. Maschil. Of Heman the Ezrahite. O Lord, God of my salvation, I have been crying to you for help by day and by night:

²Let my prayer come before you; give ear to my cry:

³For my soul is full of evils, and my life has come near to the underworld.

⁴I am numbered among those who go down into the earth; I have become like a man for whom there is no help:

⁵My soul is among the dead, like those in the underworld, to whom you give no more thought; for they are cut off from your care.

⁶You have put me in the lowest deep, even in dark places.

⁷The weight of your wrath is crushing me, all your waves have overcome me. (Selah.)

⁸You have sent my friends far away from me; you have made me a disgusting thing in their eyes: I am shut up, and not able to come out.

⁹My eyes are wasting away because of my trouble: Lord, my cry has gone up to you every day, my hands are stretched out to you.

¹⁰Will you do works of wonder for the dead? will the shades come back to give you praise? (Selah.)

¹¹Will the story of your mercy be given in the house of the dead? will news of your faith come to the place of destruction?

¹²May there be knowledge of your wonders in the dark? or of your righteousness where memory is dead?

¹³But to you did I send up my cry, O Lord; in the morning my prayer came before you.

¹⁴Lord, why have you sent away my soul? why is your face covered from me?

¹⁵I have been troubled and in fear of death from the time when I was young; your wrath is hard on me, and I have no strength.

¹⁶The heat of your wrath has gone over me; I am broken by your cruel punishments.

¹⁷They are round me all the day like water; they have made a circle about me.

¹⁸You have sent my friends and lovers far from me; I am gone from the memory of those who are dear to me.

Psalm 89

¹Maschil. Of Ethan the Ezrahite. My song will be of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make his faith clear to all generations.

²For you have said, Mercy will be made strong for ever; my faith will be unchanging in the heavens.

³I have made an agreement with the man of my selection, I have made an oath to David my servant;

⁴I will make your seed go on for ever, your kingdom will be strong through all generations. (Selah.)

⁵In heaven let them give praise for your wonders, O Lord; and your unchanging faith among the saints.

⁶For who is there in the heavens in comparison with the Lord? who is like the Lord among the sons of the gods?

⁷God is greatly to be feared among the saints, and to be honoured over all those who are about him.

⁸O Lord God of armies, who is strong like you, O Jah? and your unchanging faith is round about you.

⁹You have rule over the sea in storm; when its waves are troubled, you make them calm.

¹⁰Rahab was crushed by you like one wounded to death; with your strong arm you put to flight all your haters.

¹¹Yours are the heavens, and the earth is yours; you have made the world, and everything which is in it.

¹²You have made the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon are sounding with joy at your name.

¹³Yours is an arm of power; strong is your hand and high your right hand.

¹⁴The seat of your kingdom is resting on righteousness and right judging: mercy and good faith come before your face.

¹⁵Happy are the people who have knowledge of the holy cry: the light of your face, O Lord, will be shining on their way.

¹⁶In your name will they have joy all the day: in your righteousness will they be lifted up.

¹⁷For you are the glory of their strength; in your pleasure will our horn be lifted up.

¹⁸For our breastplate is the Lord; and our king is the Holy One of Israel's.

¹⁹Then your voice came to your holy one in a vision, saying, I have put the crown on a strong one, lifting up one taken from among the people.

²⁰I have made discovery of David my servant; I have put my holy oil on his head.

²¹My hand will be his support; my arm will give him strength.

²²The deceit of those who are against him will not overcome him; he will not be troubled by the sons of evil.

²³I will have those who are against him broken before his face, and his haters will be crushed under my blows.

²⁴But my faith and my mercy will be with him; and in my name will his horn be lifted up.

²⁵I will put his hand in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.

²⁶He will say to me, You are my father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.

²⁷And I will make him the first of my sons, most high over the kings of the earth.

²⁸I will keep my mercy for him for ever; my agreement with him will not be changed.

²⁹His seed will keep their place for ever; his kingdom will be eternal, like the heavens.

³⁰If his children give up my law, and are not ruled by my decisions;

³¹If my rules are broken, and my orders are not kept;

³²Then I will send punishment on them for their sin; my rod will be the reward of their evil-doing.

³³But I will not take away my mercy from him, and will not be false to my faith.

³⁴I will be true to my agreement; the things which have gone out of my lips will not be changed.

³⁵I have made an oath once by my holy name, that I will not be false to David.

³⁶His seed will not come to an end for ever; the seat of his kingdom will be like the sun before me.

³⁷It will be fixed for ever like the moon; and the witness in heaven is true. (Selah.)

³⁸But you have put him away in disgust; you have been angry with the king of your selection.

³⁹You have made your agreement with your servant of no effect: you have had no respect for his crown, it has come down even to the earth.

⁴⁰All his walls are broken down; you have given his strong towers to destruction.

⁴¹All those who come by take away his goods; he is laughed at by his neighbours.

⁴²You have given power to the right hand of his haters; you have made glad all those who are against him.

⁴³His sword is turned back; you have not been his support in the fight.

⁴⁴You have put an end to his glory: the seat of his kingdom has been levelled to the earth.

⁴⁵You have made him old before his time; he is covered with shame. (Selah.)

⁴⁶How long, O Lord, will you Keep yourself for ever from our eyes? how long will your wrath be burning like fire?

⁴⁷See how short my time is; why have you made all men for no purpose?

⁴⁸What man now living will not see death? will he be able to keep back his soul from the underworld? (Selah.)

⁴⁹Lord, where are your earlier mercies? where is the oath which you made to David in unchanging faith?

⁵⁰Keep in mind, O Lord, the shame of your servants, and how the bitter words of all the people have come into my heart;

⁵¹The bitter words of your haters, O Lord, shaming the footsteps of your king.

⁵²Let the Lord be praised for ever. So be it, So be it.