Psalms 72-74

Psalm 72

¹For Solomon. O God, give the king thy judgments, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.

²He will judge thy people with righteousness, and thine afflicted with judgment.

³The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the hills, by righteousness.

⁴He will do justice to the afflicted of the people; he will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor.

⁵They shall fear thee as long as sun and moon endure, from generation to generation.

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

⁷In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon be no more.

⁸And he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

⁹The dwellers in the desert shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust.

¹⁰The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall render presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer tribute:

¹¹Yea, all kings shall bow down before him; all nations shall serve him.

¹²For he will deliver the needy who crieth, and the afflicted, who hath no helper;

¹³He will have compassion on the poor and needy, and will save the souls of the needy:

¹⁴He will redeem their souls from oppression and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight.

¹⁵And he shall live; and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba; and prayer shall be made for him continually: all the day shall he be blessed.

¹⁶There shall be abundance of corn in the earth, upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon; and they of the city shall bloom like the herb of the earth.

¹⁷His name shall endure for ever; his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall bless themselves in him; all nations shall call him blessed.

¹⁸Blessed be Jehovah Elohim, the God of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things!

¹⁹And blessed be his glorious name for ever! and let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen, and Amen.

²⁰The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

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.