Psalms Of Restoration

Psalm 41

A Psalm of David.

To the choirmaster.

1 Blessed is he who considers the poor!

The Lord delivers him in the day of trouble;

2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;

he is called blessed in the land;

thou dost not give him up

to the will of his enemies.

3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;

in his illness thou healest all his infirmities.

4 As for me, I said,

"O Lord, be gracious to me;

heal me, for I have sinned against thee!"

5 My enemies say of me in malice:

"When will he die, and his name perish?”

And when one comes to me,

he gathers empty words,

while his heart gathers mischief;

when he goes out, he tells it abroad.

7 All who hate me whisper together about me;

they imagine the worst for me.

8 They say, "A deadly thing has fastened upon him;

he will not rise again from where he lies."

9 Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted,

who ate of my bread, has lifted his heel

against me.

10 But do thou, O Lord, be gracious to me,

and raise me up, that I may requite them!

11 By this I know that thou art pleased with me,

in that my enemy has not triumphed over me.

12 But thou hast upheld me because of my integrity,

and set me in thy presence forever .

13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting!

Amen and Amen.

Psalm 44

To the choirmaster.

A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.

1 We have heard with our ears, O God,

our fathers have told us,

what deeds thou didst perform in their days,

in the days of old:

2 thou with thy own hand didst drive out the nations,

but them thou didst plant;

thou didst afflict the peoples,

but them thou didst set free;

3 for not by their own sword did they win the land,

nor did their own arm give them victory;

but thy right hand, and thy arm,

and the light of thy countenance;

for thou didst delight in them.

4 Thou art my King and my God,

who ordainest victories for Jacob.

5 Through thee we push down our foes;

through thy name we tread down our

assailants.

6 For not in my bow do I trust,

nor can my sword save me.

7 But thou hast saved us from our foes,

and hast put to confusion those who hate us.

8 In God we have boasted continually,

and we will give thanks to thy name for ever.

9 Yet thou hast cast us off and abased us,

and hast not gone out with our armies.

10 Thou hast made us turn back from the foe;

and our enemies have gotten spoil.

11 Thou hast made us like sheep for slaughter,

and hast scattered us among the nations.

12 Thou hast sold thy people for a trifle,

demanding no high price for them.

13 Thou hast made us the taunt of our neighbours,

the derision and scorn of those about us.

14 Thou hast made us a byword among the nations,

a laughingstock among the peoples.

15 All day long my disgrace is before me,

and shame has covered my face,

16 at the words of the taunters and revilers,

at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.

17 All this has come upon us,

though we have not forgotten thee,

or been false to thy covenant.

18 Our heart has not turned back,

nor have our steps departed from thy way,

19 that thou shouldst have broken us in the

place of jackals,

and covered us with deep darkness.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God,

or spread forth our hands to a strange god,

21 would not God discover this?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

22 Nay, for thy sake we are slain all the day long,

and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 Rouse thyself! Why sleepest thou, O Lord?

Awake! Do not cast us off forever!

24 Why dost thou hide thy face?

Why dost thou forget our affliction and oppression?

25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;

our body cleaves to the ground.

26 Rise up, come to our help!

Deliver us for the sake of thy steadfast love!

Psalm 53

To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath.

A Maskil of David.

1 The fool says in his heart,

"There is no God."

They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;

there is none that does good.

2 God looks down from heaven

upon the sons of men

to see if there are any that are wise,

that seek after God.

3 They have all fallen away;

they are all alike depraved;

there is none that does good,

no, not one.

4 Have those who work evil no understanding,

who eat up my people as they eat bread,

and do not call upon God?

5 There they are, in great terror,

in terror such as has not been!

For God will scatter the bones of the unGodly;

they will be put to shame,

for God has rejected them.

6 O that deliverance for Israel would come

from Zion!

When God restores the fortunes of his people,

Jacob will rejoice and Israel be glad.

Psalm 65

To the choirmaster.

A Psalm of David.

A Song.

1 Praise is due to thee, O God, in Zion;

and to thee shall vows be performed,

2 O thou who hearest prayer!

To thee shall all flesh come

3 on account of sins.

When our transgressions prevail over us,

thou dost forgive them.

4 Blessed is he whom thou dost choose

and bring near,

to dwell in thy courts!

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,

thy holy temple!

5 By dread deeds thou dost answer us with deliverance,

O God of our salvation,

who art the hope of all the ends of the earth,

and of the farthest seas;

6 who by thy strength hast established the mountains,

being girded with might;

7 who dost still the roaring of the seas,

the roaring of their waves,

the tumult of the peoples;

8 so that those who dwell at earth's farthest

bounds are afraid at thy signs;

thou makest the outgoings of the morning

and the evening

to shout for joy.

9 Thou visitest the earth and waterest it,

thou greatly enrichest it;

the river of God is full of water;

thou providest their grain,

for so thou hast prepared it.

10 Thou waterest its furrows abundantly,

settling its ridges,

softening it with showers,

and blessing its growth.

11 Thou crownest the year with thy bounty;

the tracks of thy chariot drip with fatness.

12 The pastures of the wilderness drip,

the hills gird themselves with joy,

13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,

the valleys deck themselves with grain,

they shout and sing together for joy.

Psalm 67

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

A Psalm.

A Song.

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make His face to shine upon us,

2 that thy way may be known upon earth,

thy saving power among all nations.

3 Let the peoples praise thee, O God;

let all the peoples praise thee!

4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for thou dost judge the peoples with equity

and guide the nations upon earth.

5 Let the peoples praise thee, O God;

let all the peoples praise thee!

6 The earth has yielded its increase;

God, our God, has blessed us.

7 God has blessed us;

let all the ends of the earth love him!

Psalm 71

1 In thee, O Lord, do I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame!

2 In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline thy ear to me, and save me!

3 Be thou to me a rock of refuge,

a strong fortress, to save me,

for thou art my rock and my fortress.

4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

5 For thou, O Lord, art my hope,

my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

6 Upon thee I have leaned from my birth;

thou art he who took me from my mother's womb.

My praise is continually of thee.

7 I have been as a portent to many;

but thou art my strong refuge.

8 My mouth is filled with thy praise,

and with thy glory all the day.

9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

forsake me not when my strength is spent.

10 For my enemies speak concerning me,

those who watch for my life consult together,

11 and say, "God has forsaken him;

pursue and seize him,

for there is none to deliver him."

12 O God, be not far from me;

O my God, make haste to help me!

13 May my accusers be put to shame and

consumed;

with scorn and disgrace may they be covered

who seek my hurt.

14 But I will hope continually,

and will praise thee yet more and more.

15 My mouth will tell of thy righteous acts,

of thy deeds of salvation all the day,

for their number is past my knowledge.

16 With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I

will come,

I will praise thy righteousness, thine alone.

17 O God, from my youth thou hast taught me,

and I still proclaim thy wondrous deeds.

18 So even to old age and gray hairs,

O God, do not forsake me,

till I proclaim thy might

to all the generations to come.

19 Thy power and thy righteousness, O God,

reach the high heavens.

Thou who hast done great things,

O God, who is like thee?

20 Thou who hast made me see many sore troubles

wilt revive me again;

from the depths of the earth

thou wilt bring me up again.

21 Thou wilt increase my honour,

and comfort me again.

22 I will also praise thee with the harp

for thy faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praises to thee with the lyre,

O Holy One of Israel.

23 My lips will shout for joy,

when I sing praises to thee;

my soul also, which thou hast rescued.

24 And my tongue will talk of thy righteous help

all the day long,

for they have been put to shame and

disgraced who sought to do me hurt.

Psalm 74

A Maskil of Asaph

1. O God, why dost thou cast us off for ever?

Why does thy anger smoke against the

sheep of thy pasture?

2 Remember thy congregation,

which thou hast gotten of old,

which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe

of thy heritage!

Remember Mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt.

3 Direct thy steps to the perpetual ruins;

the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

4 Thy foes have roared in the midst of thy holy place;

they set up their own signs for signs.

5 At the upper entrance they hacked the

wooden trellis with axes.

6 And then all its carved wood

they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

7 They set thy sanctuary on fire;

to the ground they desecrated the dwelling

place of thy name.

8 They said to themselves,

"We will utterly subdue them";

they burned all the meeting places of God

in the land.

9 We do not see our signs;

there is no longer any prophet,

and there is none among us who knows

how long.

10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?

Is the enemy to revile thy name forever?

11 Why dost thou hold back thy hand,

why dost thou keep thy right hand in thy bosom?

12 Yet God my King is from of old,

working salvation in the midst of the earth.

13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy might;

thou didst break the heads of the dragons

on the waters.

14 Thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan,

thou didst give him as food for the

creatures of the wilderness.

15 Thou didst cleave open springs and brooks;

thou didst dry up ever-flowing streams.

16 Thine is the day, thine also the night;

thou hast established the luminaries and the sun.

17 Thou hast fixed all the bounds of the earth;

thou hast made summer and winter.

18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,

and an impious people reviles thy name.

19 Do not deliver the soul of thy dove to the wild beasts;

do not forget the life of thy poor forever .

20 Have regard for thy covenant;

for the dark places of the land are full of

the habitations of violence.

21 Let not the downtrodden be put to shame;

let the poor and needy praise thy name.

22 Arise, O God, plead thy cause;

remember how the impious scoff at thee all the day!

23 Do not forget the clamour of thy foes,

the uproar of thy adversaries which goes

up continually!

Psalm 80

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies.

A Testimony of Asaph. A Psalm.

1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

thou who leadest Joseph like a flock!

Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim,

shine forth

2 before E'phraim and Benjamin and Manas'seh!

Stir up thy might,

and come to save us!

3 Restore us, O God;

let thy face shine, that we may be saved!

4 O Lord God of the Hosts,

how long wilt thou be angry with thy

people's prayers?

5 Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears,

and given them tears to drink in full measure.

6 Thou dost make us the scorn of our neighbours;

and our enemies laugh among themselves.

7 Restore us, O God of the Hosts;

let thy face shine, that we may be saved!

8 Thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt;

thou didst drive out the nations and plant it.

9 Thou didst clear the ground for it;

it took deep root and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered with its shade,

the mighty cedars with its branches;

11 it sent out its branches to the sea,

and its shoots to the river.

12 Why then hast thou broken down its walls,

so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?

13 The boar from the forest ravages it,

and all that move in the field feed on it.

14 Turn again, O God of the Hosts!

Look down from heaven, and see;

have regard for this vine,

15 the stock which thy right hand planted.

16 They have burned it with fire,

they have cut it down;

let them perish at the rebuke of thy

countenance!

17 But let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,

the son of man whom thou hast made

strong for thyself!

18 Then we will never turn back from thee;

give us life, and we will call on thy name!

19 Restore us, O Lord God of the Hosts!

let thy face shine, that we may be saved!

Psalm 81

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith.

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 Sing aloud to God our strength;

shout for joy to the God of Jacob!

2 Raise a song, sound the timbrel,

the sweet lyre with the harp.

3 Blow the trumpet at the New Moon,

at the full moon, on our feast day.

4 For it is a statute for Israel,

an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

5 He made it a decree in Joseph,

when he went out over the land of Egypt.

I hear a voice I had not known:

6 "I relieved your shoulder of the burden;

your hands were freed from the basket.

7 In distress you called, and I delivered you;

I answered you in the secret place of thunder;

I tested you at the waters of Mer'ibah.

8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

9 There shall be no strange god among you;

you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

10 I am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 "But my people did not listen to my voice;

Israel would have none of me.

12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,

to follow their own counsels.

13 O that my people would listen to me,

that Israel would walk in my ways!

14 I would soon subdue their enemies,

and turn my hand against their foes.

15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe

toward him,

and their fate would last forever.

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

and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

Psalm 85

To the choirmaster.

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

1 Lord, thou wast favourable to thy land;

thou didst restore the fortunes of Jacob.

2 Thou didst forgive the iniquity of thy people;

thou didst pardon all their sin.

3 Thou didst withdraw all thy wrath;

thou didst turn from thy hot anger.

4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation,

and put away thy indignation toward us!

5 Wilt thou be angry with us forever?

Wilt thou prolong thy anger to all generations?

6 Wilt thou not revive us again,

that thy people may rejoice in thee?

7 Show us thy steadfast love, O Lord,

and grant us thy salvation.

8 Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,

for He will speak peace to His people,

to His saints, to those who turn to Him

in their hearts.

9 Surely His salvation is at hand for those

who love Him,

that glory may dwell in our land.

10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;

righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,

and righteousness will look down from the sky.

12 Yea, the Lord will give what is good,

and our land will yield its increase.

13 Righteousness will go before Him,

and make His footsteps a way.

Psalm 89

A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

1 I will sing of thy steadfast love,

O Lord, forever;

with my mouth I will proclaim thy

faithfulness to all generations.

2 For thy steadfast love was established forever,

thy faithfulness is firm as the heavens.

3 Thou hast said, "I have made a covenant

with my chosen one,

I have sworn to David my servant:

4 'I will establish your descendants forever,

and build your throne for all generations.'"

5 Let the heavens praise thy wonders, O Lord,

thy faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!

6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?

Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,

7 a God loved in the council of the holy ones,

great and wonderful above all that are round

about him?

8 O Lord God of the Hosts,

who is mighty as thou art, O Lord,

with thy faithfulness round about thee?

9 Thou dost rule the raging of the sea;

when its waves rise, thou stillest them.

10 Thou didst crush Rahab like a carcass,

thou didst scatter thy enemies

with thy mighty arm.

11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine;

the world and all that is in it,

thou hast founded them.

12 The north and the south,

thou hast created them;

Tabor and Hermon joyously praise thy name.

13 Thou hast a mighty arm;

strong is thy hand, high thy right hand.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation

of thy throne;

steadfast love and faithfulness go before thee.

15 Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,

who walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance,

16 who exult in thy name all the day,

and extol thy righteousness.

17 For thou art the glory of their strength;

by thy favour our horn is exalted.

18 For our shield belongs to the Lord,

our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19 Of old thou didst speak in a vision

to thy faithful one, and say:

"I have set the crown upon one who is mighty,

I have exalted one chosen from the people.

20 I have found David, my servant;

with my holy oil I have anointed him;

21 so that my hand shall ever abide with him,

my arm also shall strengthen him.

22 The enemy shall not outwit him,

the wicked shall not humble him.

23 I will crush his foes before him

and strike down those who hate him.

24 My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall

be with him,

and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

25 I will set his hand on the sea

and his right hand on the rivers.

26 He shall cry to me, 'Thou art my Father,

my God, and the Rock of my salvation.'

27 And I will make him the first-born,

the highest of the kings of the earth.

28 My steadfast love I will keep for him for ever,

and my covenant will stand firm for him.

29 I will establish his line forever

and his throne as the days of the heavens.

30 If his children forsake my law

and do not walk according to my ordinances,

31 if they violate my statutes

and do not keep my commandments,

32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod

and their iniquity with scourges;

33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love,

or be false to my faithfulness.

34 I will not violate my covenant,

or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;

I will not lie to David.

36 His line shall endure forever,

his throne as long as the sun before me.

37 Like the moon it shall be established forever;

it shall stand firm while the skies endure."

38 But now thou hast cast off and rejected,

thou art full of wrath against thy anointed.

39 Thou hast renounced the covenant with thy servant;

thou hast defiled his crown in the dust.

40 Thou hast breached all his walls;

thou hast laid his strongholds in ruins.

41 All that pass by despoil him;

he has become the scorn of his neighbours.

42 Thou hast exalted the right hand of his foes;

thou hast made all his enemies rejoice.

43 Yea, thou hast turned back the edge of his sword,

and thou hast not made him stand in battle.

44 Thou hast removed the sceptre from his hand,

and cast his throne to the ground.

45 Thou hast cut short the days of his youth;

thou hast covered him with shame.

46 How long, O Lord?

Wilt thou hide thyself forever ?

How long will thy wrath burn like fire?

47 Remember, O Lord,

what the measure of life is,

for what vanity thou hast created all the

sons of men!

48 What man can live and never see death?

Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?

49 Lord, where is thy steadfast love of old,

which by thy faithfulness thou didst swear

to David?

50 Remember, O Lord, how thy servant is scorned;

how I bear in my bosom the insults of the peoples,

51 with which thy enemies taunt, O Lord,

with which they mock the footsteps of thy anointed.

52 Blessed be the Lord forever !

Amen and Amen.

Psalm 90

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place

in all generations.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.

3 Thou turnest the flesh back to the dust,

and sayest to the spirit,

"Return home, O children of men!

For you are the sons of the living God."

4 For a thousand years in thy sight

are but as yesterday when it is past,

or as a watch in the night.

5 Thou dost sweep humanity away;

they are like a dream,

like grass which is renewed in the morning:

6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;

in the evening it fades and withers.

7 For we are consumed by thy anger;

by thy wrath we are overwhelmed.

8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee,

our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

9 For all our days pass away under thy wrath,

our years come to an end when due.

10 The years of our life are threescore and ten,

or by reason of strength fourscore,

and even many more years by your good provisions.

Yet their span is training and wisdom for the saints,

but toil and trouble for the disobedient ones;

all ponder on reincarnations,

because they come and are soon gone,

and we fly away,

only to repeat, if still necessary.

11 Who considers the power of thy anger,

and thy wrath according to the fear of thee?

12 So teach us to number our days

that we may get a heart of wisdom.

13 Return, O Lord! How long?

Have pity on thy servants!

14 Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love,

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad as many days as thou hast

afflicted us,

and as many years as we have seen evil.

16 Let thy work be manifest to thy servants,

and thy glorious power to their children.

17 Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish thou the work of our hands upon us,

yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Psalm 123

A Song of Ascents.

1 To thee I lift up my eyes,

O thou who art enthroned in the heavens!

2 Behold, as the eyes of servants

look to the hand of their master,

as the eyes of a maid

to the hand of her mistress,

so our eyes look to the Lord our God,

till He have mercy upon us.

3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord,

have mercy upon us,

for we have had more than enough of contempt.

4 Too long our soul has been sated

with the scorn of those who are at ease,

the contempt of the proud.

Psalm 126

A Song of Ascents.

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,

we were like those who dream.

2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then they said among the nations,

"The Lord has done great things for them."

3 The Lord has done great things for us;

we are glad.

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,

like the watercourses in the Negeb!

5 May those who sow in tears

reap with shouts of joy!

6 He that goes forth weeping,

bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

bringing his sheaves with him.

Psalm 144

A Psalm of David.

1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock,

who trains my hands for war,

and my fingers for battle;

2 my rock and my fortress,

my stronghold and my deliverer,

my shield and He in whom I take refuge,

who subdues the peoples under me.

3 O Lord, what is man that thou dost regard him,

or the son of man that thou dost think of him?

4 Man is a breath,

a spirit that is bright, glorious and powerful,

that is what you have made him to be.

His days are like a passing shadow,

and yet recurrent from one lifetime to another.

5 Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down!

Touch the mountains that they smoke!

6 Flash forth the lightning and scatter them,

send out thy arrows and rout them!

7 Stretch forth thy hand from on high,

rescue me and deliver me from the many waters,

from the hand of aliens,

8 whose mouths speak lies,

and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

9 I will sing a new song to thee, O God;

upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to thee,

10 who givest victory to kings,

who rescuest David thy servant.

11 Rescue me from the cruel sword,

and deliver me from the hand of aliens,

whose mouths speak lies,

and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

12 Let our sons in their youth

be like plants full grown,

our daughters like corner pillars

cut for the structure of a palace;

13 let our garners be full,

providing all manner of store;

let our sheep bring forth thousands

and ten thousands in our fields;

14 let our cattle be heavy with young,

suffering no mischance or failure in bearing;

let there be no cry of distress in our streets!

15 Happy the people to whom such blessings fall!

Happy the people whose God is the Lord!

(Verse 4 was corrected, because man is not a weakling

as people have being made to believe.)