Psalm 72 - 74

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Give the King Your Judgments

Of Solomon.

O God, give the king Your judgments,

And Your righteousness to the king’s son.

May he render judgment to Your people with righteousness

And Your afflicted with justice.

Let the mountains lift up peace to the people,

And the hills, in righteousness.

May he give justice to the afflicted of the people,

Save the children of the needy,

And crush the oppressor.

Let them fear You while the sun endures,

And as long as the moon, from generation to all generations.

May he come down like rain upon the mown grass,

Like showers that water the earth.

May the righteous flourish in his days,

And abundance of peace until the moon is no more.

May he also have dominion from sea to sea

And from the River to the ends of the earth.

Let the desert creatures kneel before him,

And his enemies lick the dust.

Let the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands bring a present;

The kings of Sheba and Seba offer tribute.

And let all kings bow down to him,

All nations serve him.

For he will deliver the needy when he cries for help,

The afflicted also, and him who has no helper.

He will have compassion on the poor and needy,

And the lives of the needy he will save.

He will redeem their life from oppression and violence,

And their blood will be precious in his sight;

So may he live! And may they give to him the gold of Sheba;

And let each pray for him continually;

Let each bless him all day long.

May there be abundance of grain in the earth on top of the mountains;

May its fruit wave like the cedars of Lebanon;

And may those from the city blossom like vegetation of the earth.

May his name endure forever;

May his name increase as long as the sun shines;

Let all nations be blessed in him;

Let all nations call him blessed.

Blessed be Yahweh God, the God of Israel,

Who alone works wondrous deeds.

And blessed be His glorious name forever;

And may the whole earth be filled with His glory.

Amen, and Amen.

The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are completed.

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.

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