Psalms 73-77

Psalm 73

¹A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are of a pure heart.

²But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped;

³For I was envious at the arrogant, seeing the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pangs in their death, and their body is well nourished;

⁵They have not the hardships of mankind, neither are they plagued like other men:

⁶Therefore pride encompasseth them as a neck-chain, violence covereth them as a garment;

⁷Their eyes stand out from fatness, they exceed the imaginations of their heart:

⁸They mock and speak wickedly of oppression, they speak loftily:

⁹They set their mouth in the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people turn hither, and waters in fulness are wrung out to them.

¹¹And they say, How can God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?

¹²Behold, these are the wicked, and they prosper in the world: they heap up riches.

¹³Truly have I purified my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency:

¹⁴For all the day have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

¹⁵If I said, I will speak thus, behold, I should be faithless to the generation of thy children.

¹⁶When I thought to be able to know this, it was a grievous task in mine eyes;

¹⁷Until I went into the sanctuaries of God; then understood I their end.

¹⁸Truly thou settest them in slippery places, thou castest them down in ruins.

¹⁹How are they suddenly made desolate! they pass away, consumed with terrors.

²⁰As a dream, when one awaketh, wilt thou, Lord, on arising despise their image.

²¹When my heart was in a ferment, and I was pricked in my reins,

²²Then I was brutish and knew nothing; I was as a beast with thee.

²³Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden my right hand;

²⁴Thou wilt guide me by thy counsel, and after the glory, thou wilt receive me.

²⁵Whom have I in the heavens? and there is none upon earth I desire beside thee.

²⁶My flesh and my heart faileth: God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever.

²⁷For behold, they that are far from thee shall perish; thou destroyest every one that goeth a whoring from thee.

²⁸But as for me, it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord Jehovah, that I may declare all thy works.

Psalm 74

¹An instruction: of Asaph. Why, O God, hast thou cast off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

²Remember thine assembly, which thou hast purchased of old, which thou hast redeemed to be the portion of thine inheritance, this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

³Lift up thy steps unto the perpetual desolations: everything in the sanctuary hath the enemy destroyed.

⁴Thine adversaries roar in the midst of thy place of assembly; they set up their signs for signs.

⁵A man was known as he could lift up axes in the thicket of trees;

⁶And now they break down its carved work altogether, with hatchets and hammers.

⁷They have set on fire thy sanctuary, they have profaned the habitation of thy name to the ground.

⁸They said in their heart, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all God's places of assembly in the land.

⁹We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet, neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.

¹⁰How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy contemn thy name for ever?

¹¹Why withdrawest thou thy hand, and thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom: consume them.

¹²But God is my king of old, accomplishing deliverances in the midst of the earth.

¹³*Thou* didst divide the sea by thy strength; thou didst break the heads of the monsters on the waters:

¹⁴*Thou* didst break in pieces the heads of leviathan, thou gavest him to be meat to those that people the desert.

¹⁵*Thou* didst cleave fountain and torrent, *thou* driedst up ever-flowing rivers.

¹⁶The day is thine, the night also is thine; *thou* hast prepared the moon and the sun:

¹⁷*Thou* hast set all the borders of the earth; summer and winter -- *thou* didst form them.

¹⁸Remember this, that an enemy hath reproached Jehovah, and a foolish people have contemned thy name.

¹⁹Give not up the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast; forget not the troop of thine afflicted for ever.

²⁰Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the dwellings of violence.

²¹Oh let not the oppressed one return ashamed; let the afflicted and needy praise thy name.

²²Rise up, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee all the day;

²³Forget not the voice of thine adversaries: the tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.

Psalm 75

¹To the chief Musician. 'Destroy not.' A Psalm of Asaph: a Song. Unto thee we give thanks, O God, we give thanks; and thy name is near: thy marvellous works declare it.

²When I shall receive the assembly, I will judge with equity.

³The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I have established its pillars. Selah.

⁴I said unto the boastful, Boast not; and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:

⁵Lift not up your horn on high; speak not arrogantly with a stiff neck.

⁶For not from the east nor from the west, nor yet from the south doth exaltation come:

⁷For God is the judge; he putteth down one and exalteth another.

⁸For in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and it foameth with wine, it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same; yea, the dregs thereof shall all the wicked of the earth drain off, and drink.

⁹But as for me, I will declare for ever; I will sing psalms to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰And all the horns of the wicked will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

Psalm 76

¹To the chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph: a Song. In Judah is God known, his name is great in Israel;

²And in Salem is his tent, and his dwelling-place in Zion.

³There broke he the flashings of the bow, shield and sword and battle. Selah.

⁴More glorious art thou, more excellent, than the mountains of prey.

⁵The stout-hearted are made a spoil, they have slept their sleep; and none of the men of might have found their hands.

⁶At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.

⁷Thou, thou art to be feared, and who can stand before thee when once thou art angry?

⁸Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from the heavens; the earth feared, and was still,

⁹When God rose up to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.

¹⁰For the fury of man shall praise thee; the remainder of fury wilt thou gird on thyself.

¹¹Vow and pay unto Jehovah your God: let all that are round about him bring presents unto him that is to be feared.

¹²He cutteth off the spirit of princes; he is terrible to the kings of the earth.

Psalm 77

¹To the chief Musician. On Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm. My voice is unto God, and I will cry; my voice is unto God, and he will give ear unto me.

²In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord: my hand was stretched out in the night, and slacked not; my soul refused to be comforted.

³I remembered God, and I moaned; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

⁴Thou holdest open mine eyelids; I am full of disquiet and cannot speak.

⁵I consider the days of old, the years of ancient times.

⁶I remember my song in the night; I muse in mine own heart, and my spirit maketh diligent search.

⁷Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

⁸Hath his loving-kindness ceased for ever? hath his word come to an end from generation to generation?

⁹Hath God forgotten to be gracious? or hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

¹⁰Then said I, This is my weakness: -- the years of the right hand of the Most High

¹¹Will I remember, -- the works of Jah; for I will remember thy wonders of old,

¹²And I will meditate upon all thy work, and muse upon thy doings.

¹³O God, thy way is in the sanctuary: who is so great a god as God?

¹⁴Thou art the God that doest wonders; thou hast declared thy strength among the peoples.

¹⁵Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

¹⁶The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they trembled, yea, the depths were troubled:

¹⁷The thick clouds poured out water; the skies sent out a sound, yea, thine arrows went abroad:

¹⁸The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind, lightnings lit up the world; the earth was troubled and it quaked.

¹⁹Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths are in the great waters; and thy footsteps are not known.

²⁰Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.