Prayers, Songs, Praises: Psalm 88

A Cry of Desperation

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

88:1 Lord, God of my salvation,
I cry out before you day and night.
2 May my prayer reach your presence;
listen to my cry.

3 For I have had enough troubles,
and my life is near Sheol.
4 I am counted among those going down to the Pit.
I am like a man without strength,
5 abandoned among the dead.
I am like the slain lying in the grave,
whom you no longer remember,
and who are cut off from your care.

6 You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit,
in the darkest places, in the depths.
7 Your wrath weighs heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah
8 You have distanced my friends from me;
you have made me repulsive to them.
I am shut in and cannot go out.
9 My eyes are worn out from crying.
Lord, I cry out to you all day long;
I spread out my hands to you.

10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do departed spirits rise up to praise you? Selah
11 Will your faithful love be declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Will your wonders be known in the darkness
or your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

13 But I call to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer meets you.
14 Lord, why do you reject me?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15 From my youth,
I have been suffering and near death.
I suffer your horrors; I am desperate.
16 Your wrath sweeps over me;
your terrors destroy me.
17 They surround me like water all day long;
they close in on me from every side.
18 You have distanced loved one and neighbor from me;
darkness is my only friend.

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Prayers, Songs, Praises: Psalm 87

Zion, the City of God

A psalm of the sons of Korah. A song.

87:1 The city he founded is on the holy mountains.

2 The Lord loves Zion’s city gates

more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

3 Glorious things are said about you,

city of God. Selah

4 “I will make a record of those who know me:

Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush—
each one was born there.”

5 And it will be said of Zion,

“This one and that one were born in her.”
The Most High himself will establish her.

6 When he registers the peoples,

the Lord will record,
“This one was born there.” Selah

7 Singers and dancers alike will say,

“My whole source of joy is in you.”

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Prayers, Songs, Praises: Psalm 86

Lament and Petition

A prayer of David.

86:1 Listen, Lord, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

2 Protect my life, for I am faithful.

You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.

3 Be gracious to me, Lord,

for I call to you all day long.

4 Bring joy to your servant’s life,

because I appeal to you, Lord.

5 For you, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive,

abounding in faithful love to all who call on you.

6 Lord, hear my prayer;

listen to my cries for mercy.

7 I call on you in the day of my distress,

for you will answer me.

8 Lord, there is no one like you among the gods,

and there are no works like yours.

9 All the nations you have made

will come and bow down before you, Lord,
and will honor your name.

10 For you are great and perform wonders;

you alone are God.

11 Teach me your way, Lord,

and I will live by your truth.
Give me an undivided mind to fear your name.

12 I will praise you with all my heart, Lord my God,

and will honor your name forever.

13 For your faithful love for me is great,

and you rescue my life from the depths of Sheol.

14 God, arrogant people have attacked me;

a gang of ruthless men intends to kill me.

They do not let you guide them.

15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,

slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me.

Give your strength to your servant;

save the son of your female servant.

17 Show me a sign of your goodness;

my enemies will see and be put to shame

because you, Lord, have helped and comforted me.

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Prayers, Songs, Praises: Psalm 85

Restoration of Favor

For the choir director. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

85:1 Lord, you showed favor to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave your people’s guilt;
you covered all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your fury;
you turned from your burning anger.

4 Return to us, God of our salvation,
and abandon your displeasure with us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger for all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again
so that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your faithful love, Lord,
and give us your salvation.

8 I will listen to what God will say;
surely the Lord will declare peace
to his people, his faithful ones,
and not let them go back to foolish ways.
9 His salvation is very near those who fear him,
so that glory may dwell in our land.

10 Faithful love and truth will join together;
righteousness and peace will embrace.
11 Truth will spring up from the earth,
and righteousness will look down from heaven.
12 Also, the Lord will provide what is good,
and our land will yield its crops.
13 Righteousness will go before him
to prepare the way for his steps.

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Prayers, Songs, Praises: Psalm 84

Longing for God’s House

For the choir director: on the Gittith. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

84:1 How lovely is your dwelling place,

Lord of Armies.

2 I long and yearn

for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh cry out for the living God.

3 Even a sparrow finds a home,

and a swallow, a nest for herself
where she places her young—
near your altars, Lord of Armies,
my King and my God.

4 How happy are those who reside in your house,

who praise you continually. Selah

5 Happy are the people whose strength is in you,

whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,

they make it a source of spring water;

even the autumn rain will cover it with blessings.

7 They go from strength to strength;

each appears before God in Zion.

8 Lord God of Armies, hear my prayer;

listen, God of Jacob. Selah

9 Consider our shield, God;

look on the face of your anointed one.

10 Better a day in your courts

than a thousand anywhere else.
I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God
than live in the tents of wicked people.

11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield.

The Lord grants favor and honor;
he does not withhold the good
from those who live with integrity.

12 Happy is the person who trusts in you,

Lord of Armies!

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Prayers, Songs, Praises: Psalm 83

Prayer against Enemies

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

83:1 God, do not keep silent.

Do not be deaf, God; do not be quiet.

2 See how your enemies make an uproar;

those who hate you have acted arrogantly.

3 They devise clever schemes against your people;

they conspire against your treasured ones.

4 They say, “Come, let’s wipe them out as a nation

so that Israel’s name will no longer be remembered.”

5 For they have conspired with one mind;

they form an alliance against you—

6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites,

7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,

Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre.

8 Even Assyria has joined them;

they lend support to the sons of Lot. Selah

9 Deal with them as you did with Midian,

as you did with Sisera
and Jabin at the Kishon River.

10 They were destroyed at En-dor;

they became manure for the ground.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

and all their tribal leaders like Zebah and Zalmunna,

12 who said, “Let’s seize God’s pastures for ourselves.”

13 Make them like tumbleweed, my God,

like straw before the wind.

14 As fire burns a forest,

as a flame blazes through mountains,

15 so pursue them with your tempest

and terrify them with your storm.

16 Cover their faces with shame

so that they will seek your name, Lord.

17 Let them be put to shame and terrified forever;

let them perish in disgrace.

18 May they know that you alone—

whose name is the Lord—
are the Most High over the whole earth.

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Prayers, Songs, Praises: Psalm 82

A Plea for Righteous Judgment

A psalm of Asaph.

82:1 God stands in the divine assembly;
he pronounces judgment among the gods:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Provide justice for the needy and the fatherless;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
4 Rescue the poor and needy;
save them from the power of the wicked.”

5 They do not know or understand;
they wander in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I said, “You are gods;
you are all sons of the Most High.
7 However, you will die like humans
and fall like any other ruler.”

8 Rise up, God, judge the earth,
for all the nations belong to you.

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Prayers, Songs, Praises: Psalm 81

A Call to Obedience

For the choir director: on the Gittith. Of Asaph.

81:1 Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.
2 Lift up a song—play the tambourine,
the melodious lyre, and the harp.
3 Blow the ram’s horn on the day of our feasts
during the new moon
and during the full moon.
4 For this is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He set it up as a decree for Joseph
when he went throughout the land of Egypt.
I heard an unfamiliar language:
6 “I relieved his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were freed from carrying the basket.
7 You called out in distress, and I rescued you;
I answered you from the thundercloud.
I tested you at the Waters of Meribah.Selah
8 Listen, my people, and I will admonish you.
Israel, if you would only listen to me!
9 There must not be a strange god among you;
you must not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel did not obey me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own plans.
13 If only my people would listen to me
and Israel would follow my ways,
14 I would quickly subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.”
15 Those who hate the Lord
would cower to him;
their doom would last forever.
16 But he would feed Israel with the best wheat.
“I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”

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Prayers, Songs, Praises: Psalm 80

A Prayer for Restoration

For the choir director: according to “The Lilies.” A testimony of Asaph. A psalm.

80:1 Listen, Shepherd of Israel,
who leads Joseph like a flock;
you who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
shine 
2 on Ephraim,
Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Rally your power and come to save us.
3 Restore us, God;
make your face shine on us,
so that we may be saved.

4 Lord God of Armies,
how long will you be angry
with your people’s prayers?
5 You fed them the bread of tears
and gave them a full measure
of tears to drink.
6 You put us at odds with our neighbors;
our enemies mock us.
7 Restore us, God of Armies;
make your face shine on us, so that we may be saved.

8 You dug up a vine from Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared a place for it;
it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered by its shade,
and the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 It sent out sprouts toward the Sea
and shoots toward the River.

12 Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its fruit?
13 Boars from the forest tear at it
and creatures of the field feed on it.
14 Return, God of Armies.
Look down from heaven and see;
take care of this vine,
15 the root your right hand planted,
the son that you made strong for yourself.
16 It was cut down and burned;
they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17 Let your hand be with the man at your right hand,
with the son of man
you have made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, Lord, God of Armies;
make your face shine on us, so that we may be saved.

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