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Psalms 71
A prayer for God’s protection
1 In you, O Lord, have I put my hope; let me never be shamed. 2 Keep me safe in your righteousness, and come to my help; give ear to my voice, and be my saviour. 3 Be my strong Rock, the strong place of my salvation; for you are my Rock, and my safe place. 4 O my God, take me out of the hand of the sinner, out of the hand of the evil and cruel man. 5 For you are my hope, O Lord God; I have had faith in you from the time when I was young. 6 You have been my support from the day of my birth; you took me out of my mother's body; my praise will be ever of you. 7 I am a wonder to all; but you are my strong tower. 8 My mouth will be full of your praise and glory all the day. 9 Do not give me up when I am old; be my help even when my strength is gone. 10 For my haters are waiting secretly for me; and those who are watching for my soul are banded together in their evil designs, 11 Saying, God has given him up; go after him and take him, for he has no helper. 12 O God, be not far from me; O my God, come quickly to my help. 13 Let those who say evil against my soul be overcome and put to shame; let my haters be made low and have no honour. 14 But I will go on ever hoping, and increasing in all your praise. 15 My mouth will make clear your righteousness and your salvation all the day; for they are more than may be measured. 16 I will give news of the great acts of the Lord God; my words will be of your righteousness, and of yours only. 17 O God, you have been my teacher from the time when I was young; and I have been talking of your works of wonder even till now. 18 Now when I am old and grey-headed, O God, give me not up; till I have made clear your strength to this generation, and your power to all those to come. 19 Your righteousness, O God, is very high; you have done great things; O God, who is like you? 20 You, who have sent great and bitter troubles on me, will give me life again, lifting me up from the deep waters of the underworld. 21 You will make me greater than before, and give me comfort on every side. 22 I will give praise to you with instruments of music, O my God, for you are true; I will make songs to you with music, O Holy One of Israel. 23 Joy will be on my lips when I make melody to you; and in my soul, to which you have given salvation. 24 My tongue will be talking of your righteousness all the day; for those whose purpose is to do me evil have been crushed and put to shame. ************
Psalms 72
A prayer for God to Guide and help the King
[Of Solomon] 1 Give the king your authority, O God, and your righteousness to the king's son. 2 May he be a judge of your people in righteousness, and make true decisions for the poor. 3 May the mountains give peace to the people, and the hills righteousness. 4 May he be a judge of the poor among the people, may he give salvation to the children of those who are in need; by him let the violent be crushed. 5 May his life go on as long as the sun and moon, through all generations. 6 May he come down like rain on the cut grass; like showers watering the earth. 7 In his days may the upright do well, living in peace as long as there is a moon in heaven. 8 Let his kingdom be from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth. 9 Let those who are against him go down before him; and let his haters be low in the dust. 10 Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands come back with offerings; let the kings of Sheba and Seba give of their stores. 11 Yes, let all kings go down before him; let all nations be his servants. 12 For he will be a saviour to the poor in answer to his cry; and to him who is in need, without a helper. 13 He will have pity on the poor, and be the saviour of those who are in need. 14 He will keep their souls free from evil designs and violent attacks; and their blood will be of value in his eyes. 15 May he have long life, and may gold from Sheba be given to him: may prayers be made for him at all times; may blessings be on him every day. 16 May there be wide-stretching fields of grain in the land, shaking on the top of the mountains, full of fruit like Lebanon: may its stems be unnumbered like the grass of the earth. 17 May his name go on for ever, as long as the sun: may men be blessing themselves by him; may all nations be blessing his name. 18 Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, the only doer of wonders. 19 Praise to the glory of his noble name for ever; let all the earth be full of his glory. So be it, So be it. 20 The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. ************
Psalms 73
God is Good
1 Truly, God is good to Israel, even to such as are clean in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost gone from under me; I was near to slipping; 3 Because of my envy of the men of pride, when I saw the well-being of the wrongdoers. 4 For they have no pain; their bodies are fat and strong. 5 They are not in trouble as others are; they have no part in the unhappy fate of men. 6 For this reason pride is round them like a chain; they are clothed with violent behaviour as with a robe. 7 Their eyes are bursting with fat; they have more than their heart's desire. 8 Their thoughts are deep with evil designs; their talk from their seats of power is of cruel acts. 9 Their mouth goes up to heaven; their tongues go walking through the earth. 10 For this reason they are full of bread; and water is ever flowing for them. 11 And they say, How will the Lord see this? is there knowledge in the Most High? 12 Truly, such are the sinners; they do well at all times, and their wealth is increased. 13 As for me, I have made my heart clean to no purpose, washing my hands in righteousness; 14 For I have been troubled all the day; every morning have I undergone punishment. 15 If I would make clear what it is like, I would say, You are false to the generation of your children. 16 When my thoughts were turned to see the reason of this, it was a weariness in my eyes; 17 Till I went into God's holy place, and saw the end of the evil-doers. 18 You put their feet where there was danger of slipping, so that they go down into destruction. 19 How suddenly are they wasted! fears are the cause of their destruction. 20 As a dream when one is awake, they are ended; they are like an image gone out of mind when sleep is over. 21 My heart was made bitter, and I was pained by the bite of grief: 22 As for me, I was foolish, and without knowledge; I was like a beast before you. 23 But still I am ever with you; you have taken me by my right hand. 24 Your wisdom will be my guide, and later you will put me in a place of honour. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? and having you I have no desire for anything on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart are wasting away: but God is the Rock of my heart and my eternal heritage. 27 For those who are far away from you will come to destruction: you will put an end to all those who have not kept faith with you. 28 But it is good for me to come near to God: I have put my faith in the Lord God, so that I may make clear all his works. ************
Psalms 74
A prayer for the nation in times of Trouble
[Maschil. Of Asaph.] 1 Of God, why have you put us away from you for ever? why is the fire of your wrath smoking against the sheep who are your care? 2 Keep in mind your band of worshippers, for whom you gave payment in the days which are past, whom you took for yourself as the people of your heritage; even this mountain of Zion, which has been your resting-place. 3 Go up and see the unending destruction; all the evil which your haters have done in the holy place; 4 Sending out their voices like lions among your worshippers; they have put up their signs to be seen. 5 They are cutting down, like a man whose blade is lifted up against the thick trees. 6 Your doors are broken down with hammers and iron blades. 7 They have put on fire your holy place; they have made the place of your name unclean, pulling it down to the earth. 8 They have said in their hearts, Let us put an end to them all together; they have given over to the fire all God's places of worship in the land. 9 We do not see our signs: there is no longer any prophet, or anyone among us to say how long. 10 O God, how long will those who are against us say cruel things? will the hater go on looking down on your name for ever? 11 Why are you keeping back your hand, and covering your right hand in your robe? 12 For from the past God is my King, working salvation in the earth. 13 The sea was parted in two by your strength; the heads of the great sea-beasts were broken. 14 The heads of the great snake were crushed by you; you gave them as food to the fishes of the sea. 15 You made valleys for fountains and springs; you made the ever-flowing rivers dry. 16 The day is yours and the night is yours: you made the light and the sun. 17 By you all the limits of the earth were fixed; you have made summer and winter. 18 Keep this in mind, O Lord, that your haters have said cruel things, and that your name has been looked down on by a people of evil behaviour. 19 O give not the soul of your dove to the hawk; let not the life of the poor go out of your memory for ever. 20 Keep in mind your undertaking; for the dark places of the earth are full of pride and cruel acts. 21 O let not the crushed be turned back in shame; let the low man and the poor give praise to your name. 22 Up! O God, be the judge of your cause; keep in mind the bitter things which the man of evil behaviour says against you every day. 23 Keep in mind the voice of your haters; the outcry of those who come against you goes up every day. ************
Psalms 75
Praise God for all He has done
[To the chief music-maker; put to Al-tashheth. A Psalm. Of Asaph. A Song.] 1To you, O God, we give praise, to you we give praise: and those who give honour to your name make clear your works of power. 2 When the right time has come, I will be the judge in righteousness. 3 When the earth and all its people become feeble, I am the support of its pillars. (Selah.) 4 I say to the men of pride, Let your pride be gone: and to the sinners, Let not your horn be lifted up. 5 Let not your horn be lifted up: let no more words of pride come from your outstretched necks. 6 For honour does not come from the east, or from the west, or uplifting from the south; 7 But God is the judge, putting down one, and lifting up another. 8 For in the hand of the Lord is a cup, and the wine is red; it is well mixed, overflowing from his hand: he will make all the sinners of the earth take of it, even to the last drop. 9 But I will ever be full of joy, making songs of praise to the God of Jacob. 10 By him will all the horns of the sinners be cut off; but the horns of the upright will be lifted up. ************
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