June 10 Psalms 70-74

Psalm 70
Prayer for Deliverance from EnemiesTo the leader. Of David, for the memorial offering.
1Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
O Lord, make haste to help me!
2Let those be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life.
Let those be turned back and brought to dishonour
who desire to hurt me.
3Let those who say, ‘Aha, Aha!’
turn back because of their shame.


4Let all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you.
Let those who love your salvation
say evermore, ‘God is great!’
5But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!
Psalm 71
Prayer for Lifelong Protection and Help
1In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.
3Be to me a rock of refuge,
a strong fortress,* to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.


4Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.


7I have been like a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all day long.
9Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
do not forsake me when my strength is spent.
10For my enemies speak concerning me,
and those who watch for my life consult together.
11They say, ‘Pursue and seize that person
whom God has forsaken,
for there is no one to deliver.’


12O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
13Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
let those who seek to hurt me
be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14But I will hope continually,
and will praise you yet more and more.
15My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all day long,
though their number is past my knowledge.
16I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord God,
I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.


17O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18So even to old age and grey hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might
to all the generations to come.*
Your power 19and your righteousness, O God,
reach the high heavens.


You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
20You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
21You will increase my honour,
and comfort me once again.


22I will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23My lips will shout for joy
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have rescued.
24All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help,
for those who tried to do me harm
have been put to shame, and disgraced.
Psalm 72
Prayer for Guidance and Support for the KingOf Solomon.
1Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to a king’s son.
2May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
3May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness.
4May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor.


5May he live* while the sun endures,
and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
6May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth.
7In his days may righteousness flourish
and peace abound, until the moon is no more.


8May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9May his foes* bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles
render him tribute,
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts.
11May all kings fall down before him,
all nations give him service.


12For he delivers the needy when they call,
the poor and those who have no helper.
13He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
14From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in his sight.


15Long may he live!
May gold of Sheba be given to him.
May prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all day long.
16May there be abundance of grain in the land;
may it wave on the tops of the mountains;
may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people blossom in the cities
like the grass of the field.
17May his name endure for ever,
his fame continue as long as the sun.
May all nations be blessed in him;*
may they pronounce him happy.


18Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous things.
19Blessed be his glorious name for ever;
may his glory fill the whole earth.Amen and Amen.


20The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.
BOOK III(Psalms 73-89)
Psalm 73
Plea for Relief from OppressorsA Psalm of Asaph.
1Truly God is good to the upright,*
to those who are pure in heart.
2But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped.
3For I was envious of the arrogant;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.


4For they have no pain;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
5They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not plagued like other people.
6Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them like a garment.
7Their eyes swell out with fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues range over the earth.


10Therefore the people turn and praise them,*
and find no fault in them.*
11And they say, ‘How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?’
12Such are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13All in vain I have kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14For all day long I have been plagued,
and am punished every morning.


15If I had said, ‘I will talk on in this way’,
I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
16But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I perceived their end.
18Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20They are* like a dream when one awakes;
on awaking you despise their phantoms.


21When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22I was stupid and ignorant;
I was like a brute beast towards you.
23Nevertheless I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24You guide me with your counsel,
and afterwards you will receive me with honour.*
25Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
26My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength* of my heart and my portion for ever.


27Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;
you put an end to those who are false to you.
28But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
to tell of all your works.
Psalm 74
Plea for Help in Time of National HumiliationA Maskil of Asaph.
1O God, why do you cast us off for ever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
2Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,
which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.
Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.
3Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.


4Your foes have roared within your holy place;
they set up their emblems there.
5At the upper entrance they hacked
the wooden trellis with axes.*
6And then, with hatchets and hammers,
they smashed all its carved work.
7They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrated the dwelling-place of your name,
bringing it to the ground.
8They said to themselves, ‘We will utterly subdue them’;
they burned all the meeting-places of God in the land.


9We do not see our emblems;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is no one among us who knows how long.
10How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name for ever?
11Why do you hold back your hand;
why do you keep your hand in* your bosom?


12Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the earth.
13You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food* for the creatures of the wilderness.
15You cut openings for springs and torrents;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
16Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you established the luminaries* and the sun.
17You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
you made summer and winter.


18Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and an impious people reviles your name.
19Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;
do not forget the life of your poor for ever.


20Have regard for your* covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.
21Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.
23Do not forget the clamour of your foes,
the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.