Psalm 50

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God Himself Is Judge

A Psalm of Asaph.

The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, has spoken,

And called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God has shone forth.

May our God come and not be silent;

Fire devours before Him,

And a storm whirls around Him.

He calls the heavens above,

And the earth, to render justice to His people:

“Gather My holy ones to Me,

Those who have cut a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

And the heavens declare His righteousness,

For God Himself is judge. Selah.

“Hear, O My people, and I will speak;

O Israel, I will testify against you;

I am God, your God.

I do not reprove you for your sacrifices,

And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.

I shall take no young bull out of your house

Nor male goats out of your folds.

For every beast of the forest is Mine,

The cattle on a thousand hills.

I know every bird of the mountains,

And everything that moves in the field is Mine.

If I were hungry I would not tell you,

For the world is Mine, as well as its fullness.

Shall I eat the flesh of bulls

Or drink the blood of male goats?

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving

And pay your vows to the Most High;

Call upon Me in the day of distress;

I shall rescue you, and you will glorify Me.”

But to the wicked God says,

“What right have you to recount My statutes

And to take My covenant in your mouth?

For you hate discipline,

And you cast My words behind you.

When you see a thief, you are pleased with him,

And you associate with adulterers.

You let your mouth loose in evil

And you harness your tongue for deceit.

You sit and speak against your brother;

You slander your own mother’s son.

These things you have done and I kept silent;

You thought that I was just like you;

I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.

“Now consider this, you who forget God,

Lest I tear you in pieces, and there will be none to deliver.

He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies Me;

And he who orders his way,

I shall show the salvation of God.”

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Psalm 73 - 83

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The Nearness of God Is My Good

A Psalm of Asaph.

Surely God is good to Israel,

To those who are pure in heart!

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,

My steps had almost slipped.

For I was envious of the boastful,

I saw the peace of the wicked.

For there are no pains in their death,

And their body is fat.

They are not in trouble as other men,

And they are not stricken along with the rest of mankind.

Therefore lofty pride is their necklace;

The garment of violence covers them.

Their eye bulges from fatness;

The delusions of their heart overflow.

They scoff and wickedly speak of oppression;

They speak from on high.

They have set their mouth against the heavens,

And their tongue goes through the earth.

Therefore his people return here, to his place,

And waters of fullness are drunk by them.

They say, “How does God know?

And is there knowledge with the Most High?”

Behold, these are the wicked;

And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.

Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure

And washed my hands in innocence;

For I have been stricken all day long

And reproved every morning.

If I had said, “I will recount thus,”

Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.

When I gave thought to know this,

It was trouble in my sight

Until I came into the sanctuary of God;

Then I understood their end.

Surely You set them in slippery places;

You cause them to fall to destruction.

How they become desolate in a moment!

They are completely swept away by terrors!

Like a dream when one awakes,

O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.

When my heart was embittered

And I was pierced within,

Then I was senseless and ignorant;

I was like an animal before You.

Nevertheless I am continually with You;

You have taken hold of my right hand.

With Your counsel You will lead me,

And afterward take me in glory.

Whom have I in heaven but You?

And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

My flesh and my heart fail,

But God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.

For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;

You have destroyed everyone who is unfaithful to You.

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;

I have set Lord Yahweh as my refuge,

That I may recount all Your works.

Yet God Is My King

A Maskil of Asaph.

Why, O God? Have You rejected us forever?

Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?

Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,

Which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance;

And this Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.

Lift up Your steps toward the perpetual ruins;

The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary.

Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place;

They have set up their own signs for signs.

Each seems like one who lifts up

An axe against the undergrowth of trees.

And now its carved work altogether

They smash with hatchet and hammers.

They have set Your sanctuary on fire;

By bringing it to the ground, they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name.

They said in their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.”

They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

We do not see our signs;

There is no longer any prophet,

Nor is there any among us who knows how long.

How long, O God, will the adversary reproach?

Will the enemy spurn Your name forever?

Why do You turn back Your hand, even Your right hand?

From within Your bosom, destroy them!

Yet God is my King from of old,

Who works deeds of salvation in the midst of the earth.

You divided the sea by Your strength;

You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

You crushed the heads of Leviathan;

You gave him as food for the creatures of the desert.

You split open spring and river;

You dried up ever‑flowing rivers.

Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;

You have established the light and the sun.

You have caused all the boundaries of the earth to stand firm;

You have formed summer and winter.

Remember this, O Yahweh, that the enemy has reproached,

And a wickedly foolish people has spurned Your name.

Do not deliver the soul of Your turtledove to the wild beast;

Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.

Look to the covenant;

For the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.

Let not the oppressed return dishonored;

Let the afflicted and needy praise Your name.

Arise, O God, and plead Your own cause;

Remember how the wicked fool reproaches You all day long.

Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries,

The rumbling of those who rise against You which ascends continually.

God Judges with Equity

For the choir director. Al-tashheth. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks,

For Your name is near;

Men recount Your wondrous deeds.

“For I select an appointed time,

It is I who judge with equity.

The earth and all who dwell in it melt;

It is I who have firmly set its pillars. Selah.

I said to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’

And to the wicked, ‘Do not raise up the horn;

Do not raise up your horn on high,

Nor speak with insolent pride.’”

For one’s rising up does not come from the east, nor from the west,

And not from the desert;

But God is the Judge;

He puts down one and raises up another.

For a cup is in the hand of Yahweh, and the wine foams;

It is full of His mixture, and He pours from this;

Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs.

But as for me, I will declare it forever;

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

And all the horns of the wicked I will cut off,

But the horns of the righteous will be raised up.

God’s Name Is Great in Israel

For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

God is known in Judah;

His name is great in Israel.

So His tabernacle is in Salem;

His dwelling place is in Zion.

There He broke the flaming arrows,

The shield and the sword and the battle. Selah.

You are shining,

Majestic from the mountains of prey.

The stouthearted were plundered,

They sank into sleep;

And none of the warriors could use his hands.

At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob,

Both chariot rider and horse slumbered into a deep sleep.

But You, You are fearsome;

And who can stand in Your presence when once You are angry?

You made Your cause to be heard from heaven;

The earth feared and was quiet

When God arose to judgment,

To save all the humble of the earth. Selah.

For the wrath of man shall praise You;

With a remnant of wrath You will gird Yourself.

Make vows to Yahweh your God and pay them;

Let all who are around Him bring gifts to the Fearsome One.

He will cut off the spirit of princes;

He is feared by the kings of the earth.

In My Distress I Sought the Lord

For the choir director. According to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm.

My voice rises to God, and I must cry aloud;

My voice rises to God, and He will hear me.

In the day of my distress I sought the Lord;

In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness;

My soul refused to be comforted.

I remember God and I am disturbed;

I muse and my spirit faints. Selah.

You have held my eyelids open;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

I give thought to the days of old,

The years of long ago.

I remember my music in the night;

I am musing with my heart,

And my spirit is searching:

Will the Lord reject evermore?

And will He not be favorable again?

Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?

Has His word ended from generation to generation?

Has God forgotten to be gracious,

Or has He in anger shut up His compassion? Selah.

Then I said, “It is my grief,

That the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

I shall remember the deeds of Yah;

Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.

I will meditate on all Your work

And muse on Your deeds.

O God, Your way is holy;

What god is great like God?

You are the God who works wonders;

You have made known Your strength among the peoples.

You have by Your arm redeemed Your people,

The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

The waters saw You, O God;

The waters saw You, they were in anguish;

The deeps also trembled.

The clouds poured out water;

The skies gave forth a sound;

Your arrows went here and there.

The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;

The lightnings lit up the world;

The earth trembled and shook.

Your way was in the sea

And Your paths in the mighty waters,

But Your footprints were not known.

You led Your people like a flock

By the hand of Moses and Aaron.

That the Generation to Come Might Know

A Maskil of Asaph.

Give ear, O my people, to my instruction;

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will pour forth dark sayings of old,

Which we have heard and known,

And our fathers have recounted to us.

We will not conceal them from their children,

But recount to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh,

And His strength and His wondrous deeds that He has done.

For He established a testimony in Jacob

And set a law in Israel,

Which He commanded our fathers

That they should teach them to their children,

That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born,

That they may arise and recount them to their children,

That they should set their confidence in God

And not forget the deeds of God,

But observe His commandments,

And not be like their fathers,

A stubborn and rebellious generation,

A generation that did not prepare its heart

And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows,

Yet they turned back in the day of battle.

They did not keep the covenant of God

And refused to walk in His law;

So they forgot His acts

And His wondrous deeds that He had shown them.

He did wonders before their fathers

In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

He split the sea and caused them to pass through,

And He made the waters stand up like a heap.

Then He led them with the cloud by day

And all the night with a light of fire.

He was splitting the rocks in the wilderness

And so gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.

He brought forth streams also from the cliff face

And caused waters to run down like rivers.

Yet they still continued to sin against Him,

To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

And in their heart they put God to the test

By asking for food according to their desire.

Then they spoke against God;

They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out,

And streams were overflowing;

Can He give bread also?

Will He prepare meat for His people?”

Therefore Yahweh heard and was full of wrath;

And a fire was kindled against Jacob

And anger also mounted against Israel,

Because they did not believe in God

And did not trust in His salvation.

Yet He commanded the skies above

And opened the doors of heaven;

He rained down manna upon them to eat

And gave them grain from heaven.

Man ate the bread of angels;

He sent them provision to satisfy.

He led forth the east wind in the heavens

And by His strength He guided the south wind.

Then He rained meat upon them like the dust,

Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas,

He caused them to fall in the midst of His camp,

All around His dwelling places.

So they ate and were very satisfied,

And their desire He brought to them.

Before they had satisfied their desire,

While their food was in their mouths,

The anger of God rose against them

And killed some of their stoutest ones,

And subdued the choice men of Israel.

In spite of all this they still sinned

And did not believe in His wondrous deeds.

So He brought their days to an end in futility

And their years in sudden terror.

When He killed them, then they sought Him,

And returned and sought earnestly for God;

And they remembered that God was their rock,

And the Most High God their Redeemer.

But they deceived Him with their mouth

And lied to Him with their tongue.

For their heart was not prepared to remain with Him,

Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

But He, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them;

And He abounded in turning back His anger

And did not arouse all His wrath.

Thus He remembered that they were but flesh,

A wind that goes and does not return.

How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness

And grieved Him in the wasteland!

Again and again they tested God,

And pained the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember His power,

The day when He redeemed them from the adversary,

When He performed His signs in Egypt

And His miracles in the field of Zoan,

And turned their rivers to blood,

And their streams, they could not drink.

He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them,

And frogs which destroyed them.

He gave also their crops to the grasshopper

And the fruit of their labor to the locust.

He killed their vines with hailstones

And their sycamore trees with frost.

He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones

And their herds to bolts of lightning.

He sent upon them His burning anger,

Fury and indignation and distress,

A band of destroying angels.

He leveled a path for His anger;

He did not hold back their soul from death,

But gave over their life to the plague,

So He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,

The first of their vigor in the tents of Ham.

But He led forth His own people like sheep

And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;

He led them safely, so that they did not fear;

But the sea covered their enemies.

So He brought them to His holy land,

To this hill country which His right hand had acquired.

He also drove out the nations before them

And apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement,

And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God

And did not keep His testimonies,

But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers;

They turned aside like a treacherous bow.

For they provoked Him with their high places

And aroused His jealousy with their graven images.

God heard and was filled with wrath

And greatly rejected Israel;

So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh,

The tent which He caused to dwell among men,

And gave up His strength to captivity

And His beauty into the hand of the adversary.

He also gave over His people to the sword,

And was filled with wrath at His inheritance.

Fire devoured His choice men,

And His virgins had no wedding songs.

His priests fell by the sword,

And His widows could not weep.

Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep,

As if He were a warrior overcome by wine.

He struck His adversaries backward;

He put on them an everlasting reproach.

He also rejected the tent of Joseph,

And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

But chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion which He loved.

And He built His sanctuary like the heights,

Like the earth which He has founded forever.

He also chose David His servant

And took him from the sheepfolds;

From following the nursing ewes He brought him

To shepherd Jacob His people,

And Israel His inheritance.

So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,

And led them with his skillful hands.

How Long, O Yahweh?

A Psalm of Asaph.

O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance;

They have defiled Your holy temple;

They have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

They have given the dead bodies of Your slaves for food to the birds of the heavens,

The flesh of Your holy ones to the beasts of the earth.

They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem;

And there was no one to bury them.

We have become a reproach to our neighbors,

A mockery and derision to those around us.

How long, O Yahweh? Will You be angry forever?

Will Your jealousy burn like fire?

Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which do not know You,

And upon the kingdoms which do not call upon Your name.

For they have devoured Jacob

And laid waste his abode.

Do not remember our former iniquities against us;

Let Your compassion quickly approach us,

For we are brought very low.

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name;

And deliver us and atone for our sins for Your name’s sake.

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Let it be known among the nations before our eyes:

Vengeance for the blood of Your slaves which has been poured out.

Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You;

According to the greatness of Your power preserve those who are doomed to die.

And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom

The reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.

But as for us, as Your people and the sheep of Your pasture,

We will give thanks to You forever;

From generation to generation we will recount Your praise.

O God, Restore Us

For the choir director. El Shoshannim. Eduth. Of Asaph. A Psalm.

O Shepherd of Israel, give ear,

You who guide Joseph like a flock;

You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!

Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your might

And come to save us!

O God, restore us

And cause Your face to shine upon us, that we would be saved.

O Yahweh God of hosts,

How long will You smolder against the prayer of Your people?

You have fed them with the bread of tears,

And You have made them to drink tears in large measure.

You set us as an object of strife to our neighbors,

And our enemies mock us among themselves.

O God of hosts, restore us

And cause Your face to shine upon us, that we might be saved.

You removed a vine from Egypt;

You drove out the nations and then You planted it.

You cleared the ground before it,

And it took deep root and filled the land.

The mountains were covered with its shadow,

And the cedars of God with its boughs.

It sent out its branches to the sea

And its shoots to the River.

Why have You broken down its hedges,

So that all who pass that way pick its fruit?

A boar from the forest devours it

And whatever moves in the field feeds on it.

O God of hosts, return now, we beseech You;

Look down from heaven and see, and visit this vine,

Even the sapling which Your right hand has planted,

And on the son whom You have strengthened for Yourself.

It is burned with fire, it is cut down;

They perish at the rebuke of Your face.

Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,

Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.

Then we shall not turn back from You;

Revive us, and we will call upon Your name.

O Yahweh God of hosts, restore us;

Cause Your face to shine upon us, that we might be saved.

Oh That My People Would Listen to Me

For the choir director. According to the Gittith. Of Asaph.

Sing for joy to God our strength;

Make a loud shout to the God of Jacob.

Lift up a song of praise, strike the tambourine,

The sweet sounding lyre with the harp.

Blow the trumpet at the new moon,

At the full moon, on our feast day.

For it is a statute for Israel,

A judgment of the God of Jacob.

He established it for a testimony in Joseph

When he went forth over the land of Egypt.

I heard a language that I did not know:

“I relieved his shoulder of the burden,

His hands were freed from the basket.

You called in distress and I rescued you;

I answered you in the hiding place of thunder;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

Hear, O My people, and I will testify against you;

O Israel, if you would listen to Me!

Let there be no strange god among you;

And you shall not worship a foreign god.

I am Yahweh your God,

Who brought you up from the land of Egypt;

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

“But My people did not listen to My voice,

And Israel was not willing to obey Me.

So I released them over to the stubbornness of their heart,

That they would walk in their own devices.

Oh that My people would listen to Me,

That Israel would walk in My ways!

I would quickly subdue their enemies

And I would turn My hand against their adversaries.

Those who hate Yahweh would cower before Him,

And their time of punishment would be forever.

But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,

And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

God Stands in Judgment

A Psalm of Asaph.

God takes His stand in the congregation of God;

He judges in the midst of gods.

How long will you judge unrighteously

And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.

Give justice to the poor and the orphan;

Justify the afflicted and destitute.

Protect the poor and needy;

Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.

They do not know and do not understand;

They walk about in darkness;

All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

I said, “You are gods,

And all of you are sons of the Most High.

Nevertheless you will die like men

And you will fall like any one of the princes.”

Arise, O God, judge the earth!

For it is You who will inherit all the nations.

O God, Do Not Be Quiet

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.

O God, do not remain at rest;

Do not be silent and, O God, do not be quiet.

For behold, Your enemies roar,

And those who hate You have lifted up their heads.

They make shrewd plans against Your people,

And conspire together against Your treasured ones.

They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation,

That the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

For they have conspired together with one heart;

Against You they cut a covenant:

The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites;

Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,

Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;

Assyria also has joined with them;

They have become the power of the children of Lot. Selah.

Do to them as to Midian,

As to Sisera, and Jabin at the river of Kishon,

Who were destroyed at En‑dor,

Who were as dung for the ground.

Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb

And all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

Who said, “Let us possess for ourselves

The pastures of God.”

O my God, make them like the whirling dust,

Like chaff before the wind.

Like fire that burns the forest

And like a flame that burns up the mountains,

So pursue them with Your tempest

And dismay them with Your storm.

Fill their faces with disgrace,

That they may seek Your name, O Yahweh.

Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever,

And let them be humiliated and perish,

That they may know that You alone—Your name is Yahweh—

Are the Most High over all the earth.

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