Psalms 63-65

Psalm 63

¹A Psalm. Of David. When he was in the waste land of Judah. O God, you are my God; early will I make my search for you: my soul is dry for need of you, my flesh is wasted with desire for you, as a dry and burning land where no water is;

²To see your power and your glory, as I have seen you in the holy place.

³Because your mercy is better than life, my lips will give you praise.

⁴So will I go on blessing you all my life, lifting up my hands in your name.

⁵My soul will be comforted, as with good food; and my mouth will give you praise with songs of joy;

⁶When the memory of you comes to me on my bed, and when I give thought to you in the night-time.

⁷Because you have been my help, I will have joy in the shade of your wings.

⁸My soul keeps ever near you: your right hand is my support.

⁹But those whose desire is my soul's destruction will go down to the lower parts of the earth.

¹⁰They will be cut off by the sword; they will be food for foxes.

¹¹But the king will have joy in God; everyone who takes an oath by him will have cause for pride; but the false mouth will be stopped.

Psalm 64

¹To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. O God, let the voice of my grief come to your ear: keep my life from the fear of those who are against me.

²Keep me safe from the secret purpose of wrongdoers; from the band of the workers of evil;

³Who make their tongues sharp like a sword, and whose arrows are pointed, even bitter words;

⁴So that in secret they may let loose their arrows at the upright, suddenly and unseen.

⁵They make themselves strong in an evil purpose; they make holes for secret nets; they say, Who will see it,

⁶Or make discovery of our secret purpose? The design is framed with care; and the inner thought of a man, and his heart, is deep.

⁷But God sends out an arrow against them; suddenly they are wounded.

⁸The evil of their tongues is the cause of their fall; all those who see them are shaking their heads at them.

⁹And in fear men make public the works of God; and giving thought to his acts they get wisdom.

¹⁰The upright will be glad in the Lord and have hope in him; and all the lovers of righteousness will give him glory.

Psalm 65

¹To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. A Song. It is right for you, O God, to have praise in Zion: to you let the offering be made.

²To you, O hearer of prayer, let the words of all flesh come.

³Evils have overcome us: but as for our sins, you will take them away.

⁴Happy is the man of your selection, to whom you give a resting-place in your house; we will be full of the good things out of your holy place.

⁵You will give us an answer in righteousness by great acts of power, O God of our salvation; you who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of the far-off lands of the sea;

⁶The God by whose strength the mountains are fixed; who is robed with power:

⁷Who makes the loud voice of the sea quiet, and puts an end to the sound of its waves.

⁸Those in the farthest parts of the earth have fear when they see your signs: the outgoings of the morning and evening are glad because of you.

⁹You have given your blessing to the earth, watering it and making it fertile; the river of God is full of water: and having made it ready, you give men grain.

¹⁰You make the ploughed lands full of water; you make smooth the slopes: you make the earth soft with showers, sending your blessing on its growth.

¹¹The year is crowned with the good you give; life-giving rain is dropping from your footsteps,

¹²Falling on the grass of the waste land: and the little hills are glad on every side.

¹³The grass-land is thick with flocks; the valleys are full of grain; they give glad cries and songs of joy.