Psalms 18:1-50

Psalm 18

For the music director; by the Lord’s servant David, who sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord rescued him from the power of all his enemies, including Saul.

18:1 He said:

“I love you, Lord, my source of strength!

18:2 The Lord is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer.

My God is my rocky summit where I take shelter,

my shield, the horn that saves me, and my refuge.

18:3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,

and I was delivered from my enemies.

18:4 The waves of death engulfed me,

the currents of chaos overwhelmed me.

18:5 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me,

the snares of death trapped me.

18:6 In my distress I called to the Lord;

I cried out to my God.

From his heavenly temple he heard my voice;

he listened to my cry for help.

18:7 The earth heaved and shook;

the roots of the mountains trembled;

they heaved because he was angry.

18:8 Smoke ascended from his nose;

fire devoured as it came from his mouth;

he hurled down fiery coals.

18:9 He made the sky sink as he descended;

a thick cloud was under his feet.

18:10 He mounted a winged angel and flew;

he glided on the wings of the wind.

18:11 He shrouded himself in darkness,

in thick rain clouds.

18:12 From the brightness in front of him came

hail and fiery coals.

18:13 The Lord thundered in the sky;

the sovereign One shouted.

18:14 He shot his arrows and scattered them,

many lightning bolts and routed them.

18:15 The depths of the sea were exposed;

the inner regions of the world were uncovered

by your battle cry, Lord,

by the powerful breath from your nose.

18:16 He reached down from above and took hold of me;

he pulled me from the surging water.

18:17 He rescued me from my strong enemy,

from those who hate me,

for they were too strong for me.

18:18 They confronted me in my day of calamity,

but the Lord helped me.

18:19 He brought me out into a wide open place;

he delivered me because he was pleased with me.

18:20 The Lord repaid me for my godly deeds;

he rewarded my blameless behavior.

18:21 For I have obeyed the Lord’s commands;

I have not rebelled against my God.

18:22 For I am aware of all his regulations,

and I do not reject his rules.

18:23 I was innocent before him,

and kept myself from sinning.

18:24 The Lord rewarded me for my godly deeds;

he took notice of my blameless behavior.

18:25 You prove to be loyal to one who is faithful;

you prove to be trustworthy to one who is innocent.

18:26 You prove to be reliable to one who is blameless,

but you prove to be deceptive to one who is perverse.

18:27 For you deliver oppressed people,

but you bring down those who have a proud look.

18:28 Indeed, you are my lamp, Lord.

My God illuminates the darkness around me.

18:29 Indeed, with your help I can charge against an army;

by my God’s power I can jump over a wall.

18:30 The one true God acts in a faithful manner;

the Lord’s promise is reliable;

he is a shield to all who take shelter in him.

18:31 Indeed, who is God besides the Lord?

Who is a protector besides our God?

18:32 The one true God gives me strength;

he removes the obstacles in my way.

18:33 He gives me the agility of a deer;

he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain.

18:34 He trains my hands for battle;

my arms can bend even the strongest bow.

18:35 You give me your protective shield;

your right hand supports me;

your willingness to help enables me to prevail.

18:36 You widen my path;

my feet do not slip.

18:37 I chase my enemies and catch them;

I do not turn back until I wipe them out.

18:38 I beat them to death;

they fall at my feet.

18:39 You give me strength for battle;

you make my foes kneel before me.

18:40 You make my enemies retreat;

I destroy those who hate me.

18:41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them;

they cry out to the Lord, but he does not answer them.

18:42 I grind them as fine windblown dust;

I beat them underfoot like clay in the streets.

18:43 You rescue me from a hostile army;

you make me a leader of nations;

people over whom I had no authority are now my subjects.

18:44 When they hear of my exploits, they submit to me.

Foreigners are powerless before me;

18:45 foreigners lose their courage;

they shake with fear as they leave their strongholds.

18:46 The Lord is alive!

My protector is praiseworthy!

The God who delivers me is exalted as king!

18:47 The one true God completely vindicates me;

he makes nations submit to me.

18:48 He delivers me from my enemies;

you snatch me away from those who attack me;

you rescue me from violent men.

18:49 So I will give you thanks before the nations, O Lord!

I will sing praises to you!

18:50 He gives his chosen king magnificent victories;

he is faithful to his chosen ruler,

to David and his descendants forever.”

Psalms 40:1-17

Psalm 40

For the music director; By David, a psalm.

40:1 I relied completely on the Lord,

and he turned toward me

and heard my cry for help.

40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit,

out of the slimy mud.

He placed my feet on a rock

and gave me secure footing.

40:3 He gave me reason to sing a new song,

praising our God.

May many see what God has done,

so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord!

40:4 How blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord

and does not seek help from the proud or from liars!

40:5 O Lord, my God, you have accomplished many things;

you have done amazing things and carried out your purposes for us.

No one can thwart you!

I want to declare them and talk about them,

but they are too numerous to recount!

40:6 Receiving sacrifices and offerings are not your primary concern.

You make that quite clear to me!

You do not ask for burnt sacrifices and sin offerings.

40:7 Then I say,

“Look! I come!

What is written in the scroll pertains to me.

40:8 I want to do what pleases you, my God.

Your law dominates my thoughts.”

40:9 I have told the great assembly about your justice.

Look! I spare no words!

O Lord, you know this is true.

40:10 I have not failed to tell about your justice;

I spoke about your reliability and deliverance;

I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness.

40:11 O Lord, you do not withhold your compassion from me.

May your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me!

40:12 For innumerable dangers surround me.

My sins overtake me

so I am unable to see;

they outnumber the hairs of my head

so my strength fails me.

40:13 Please be willing, O Lord, to rescue me!

O Lord, hurry and help me!

40:14 May those who are trying to snatch away my life

be totally embarrassed and ashamed!

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed!

40:15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”

be humiliated and disgraced!

40:16 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you!

May those who love to experience your deliverance say continually,

“May the Lord be praised!”

40:17 I am oppressed and needy!

May the Lord pay attention to me!

You are my helper and my deliverer!

O my God, do not delay!

Psalms 103:1-22

Psalm 103

By David.

103:1 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

With all that is within me, praise his holy name!

103:2 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Do not forget all his kind deeds!

103:3 He is the one who forgives all your sins,

who heals all your diseases,

103:4 who delivers your life from the Pit,

who crowns you with his loyal love and compassion,

103:5 who satisfies your life with good things,

so your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.

103:6 The Lord does what is fair,

and executes justice for all the oppressed.

103:7 The Lord revealed his faithful acts to Moses,

his deeds to the Israelites.

103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;

he is patient and demonstrates great loyal love.

103:9 He does not always accuse,

and does not stay angry.

103:10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve;

he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve.

103:11 For as the skies are high above the earth,

so his loyal love towers over his faithful followers.

103:12 As far as the eastern horizon is from the west,

so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions from us.

103:13 As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers.

103:14 For he knows what we are made of;

he realizes we are made of clay.

103:15 A person’s life is like grass.

Like a flower in the field it flourishes,

103:16 but when the hot wind blows by, it disappears,

and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.

103:17 But the Lord continually shows loyal love to his faithful followers,

and is faithful to their descendants,

103:18 to those who keep his covenant,

who are careful to obey his commands.

103:19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven;

his kingdom extends over everything.

103:20 Praise the Lord, you angels of his,

you powerful warriors who carry out his decrees

and obey his orders!

103:21 Praise the Lord, all you warriors of his,

you servants of his who carry out his desires!

103:22 Praise the Lord, all that he has made,

in all the regions of his kingdom!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Psalms 106:1--107:43

Psalm 106

106:1 Praise the Lord!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

and his loyal love endures!

106:2 Who can adequately recount the Lord’s mighty acts,

or relate all his praiseworthy deeds?

106:3 How blessed are those who promote justice,

and do what is right all the time!

106:4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people!

Pay attention to me, when you deliver,

106:5 so I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,

rejoice along with your nation,

and boast along with the people who belong to you.

106:6 We have sinned like our ancestors;

we have done wrong, we have done evil.

106:7 Our ancestors in Egypt failed to appreciate your miraculous deeds,

they failed to remember your many acts of loyal love,

and they rebelled at the sea, by the Red Sea.

106:8 Yet he delivered them for the sake of his reputation,

that he might reveal his power.

106:9 He shouted at the Red Sea and it dried up;

he led them through the deep water as if it were a desert.

106:10 He delivered them from the power of the one who hated them,

and rescued them from the power of the enemy.

106:11 The water covered their enemies;

not even one of them survived.

106:12 They believed his promises;

they sang praises to him.

106:13 They quickly forgot what he had done;

they did not wait for his instructions.

106:14 In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving for meat;

they challenged God in the desert.

106:15 He granted their request,

then struck them with a disease.

106:16 In the camp they resented Moses,

and Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.

106:17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;

it engulfed the group led by Abiram.

106:18 Fire burned their group;

the flames scorched the wicked.

106:19 They made an image of a calf at Horeb,

and worshiped a metal idol.

106:20 They traded their majestic God

for the image of an ox that eats grass.

106:21 They rejected the God who delivered them,

the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,

106:22 amazing feats in the land of Ham,

mighty acts by the Red Sea.

106:23 He threatened to destroy them,

but Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him

and turned back his destructive anger.

106:24 They rejected the fruitful land;

they did not believe his promise.

106:25 They grumbled in their tents;

they did not obey the Lord.

106:26 So he made a solemn vow

that he would make them die in the desert,

106:27 make their descendants die among the nations,

and scatter them among foreign lands.

106:28 They worshiped Baal of Peor,

and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.

106:29 They made the Lord angry by their actions,

and a plague broke out among them.

106:30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened,

and the plague subsided.

106:31 This brought him a reward,

an eternal gift.

106:32 They made him angry by the waters of Meribah,

and Moses suffered because of them,

106:33 for they aroused his temper,

and he spoke rashly.

106:34 They did not destroy the nations,

as the Lord had commanded them to do.

106:35 They mixed in with the nations

and learned their ways.

106:36 They worshiped their idols,

which became a snare to them.

106:37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.

106:38 They shed innocent blood –

the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.

The land was polluted by bloodshed.

106:39 They were defiled by their deeds,

and unfaithful in their actions.

106:40 So the Lord was angry with his people

and despised the people who belong to him.

106:41 He handed them over to the nations,

and those who hated them ruled over them.

106:42 Their enemies oppressed them;

they were subject to their authority.

106:43 Many times he delivered them,

but they had a rebellious attitude,

and degraded themselves by their sin.

106:44 Yet he took notice of their distress,

when he heard their cry for help.

106:45 He remembered his covenant with them,

and relented because of his great loyal love.

106:46 He caused all their conquerors

to have pity on them.

106:47 Deliver us, O Lord, our God!

Gather us from among the nations!

Then we will give thanks to your holy name,

and boast about your praiseworthy deeds.

106:48 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise,

in the future and forevermore.

Let all the people say, “We agree! Praise the Lord!”

Book 5
(Psalms 107-150)

Psalm 107

107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

and his loyal love endures!

107:2 Let those delivered by the Lord speak out,

those whom he delivered from the power of the enemy,

107:3 and gathered from foreign lands,

from east and west,

from north and south.

107:4 They wandered through the wilderness on a desert road;

they found no city in which to live.

107:5 They were hungry and thirsty;

they fainted from exhaustion.

107:6 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

107:7 He led them on a level road,

that they might find a city in which to live.

107:8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people!

107:9 For he has satisfied those who thirst,

and those who hunger he has filled with food.

107:10 They sat in utter darkness,

bound in painful iron chains,

107:11 because they had rebelled against God’s commands,

and rejected the instructions of the sovereign king.

107:12 So he used suffering to humble them;

they stumbled and no one helped them up.

107:13 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

107:14 He brought them out of the utter darkness,

and tore off their shackles.

107:15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people!

107:16 For he shattered the bronze gates,

and hacked through the iron bars.

107:17 They acted like fools in their rebellious ways,

and suffered because of their sins.

107:18 They lost their appetite for all food,

and they drew near the gates of death.

107:19 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

107:20 He sent them an assuring word and healed them;

he rescued them from the pits where they were trapped.

107:21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people!

107:22 Let them present thank offerings,

and loudly proclaim what he has done!

107:23 Some traveled on the sea in ships,

and carried cargo over the vast waters.

107:24 They witnessed the acts of the Lord,

his amazing feats on the deep water.

107:25 He gave the order for a windstorm,

and it stirred up the waves of the sea.

107:26 They reached up to the sky,

then dropped into the depths.

The sailors’ strength left them because the danger was so great.

107:27 They swayed and staggered like a drunk,

and all their skill proved ineffective.

107:28 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

107:29 He calmed the storm,

and the waves grew silent.

107:30 The sailors rejoiced because the waves grew quiet,

and he led them to the harbor they desired.

107:31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people!

107:32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people!

Let them praise him in the place where the leaders preside!

107:33 He turned streams into a desert,

springs of water into arid land,

107:34 and a fruitful land into a barren place,

because of the sin of its inhabitants.

107:35 As for his people, he turned a desert into a pool of water,

and a dry land into springs of water.

107:36 He allowed the hungry to settle there,

and they established a city in which to live.

107:37 They cultivated fields,

and planted vineyards,

which yielded a harvest of fruit.

107:38 He blessed them so that they became very numerous.

He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number.

107:39 As for their enemies, they decreased in number and were beaten down,

because of painful distress and suffering.

107:40 He would pour contempt upon princes,

and he made them wander in a wasteland with no road.

107:41 Yet he protected the needy from oppression,

and cared for his families like a flock of sheep.

107:42 When the godly see this, they rejoice,

and every sinner shuts his mouth.

107:43 Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things!

Let them consider the Lord’s acts of loyal love!

Psalms 116:1-19

Psalm 116

116:1 I love the Lord

because he heard my plea for mercy,

116:2 and listened to me.

As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help.

116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me,

the snares of Sheol confronted me.

I was confronted with trouble and sorrow.

116:4 I called on the name of the Lord,

“Please Lord, rescue my life!”

116:5 The Lord is merciful and fair;

our God is compassionate.

116:6 The Lord protects the untrained;

I was in serious trouble and he delivered me.

116:7 Rest once more, my soul,

for the Lord has vindicated you.

116:8 Yes, Lord, you rescued my life from death,

and kept my feet from stumbling.

116:9 I will serve the Lord

in the land of the living.

116:10 I had faith when I said,

“I am severely oppressed.”

116:11 I rashly declared,

“All men are liars.”

116:12 How can I repay the Lord

for all his acts of kindness to me?

116:13 I will celebrate my deliverance,

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people.

116:15 The Lord values

the lives of his faithful followers.

116:16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant;

I am your lowest slave.

You saved me from death.

116:17 I will present a thank offering to you,

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people,

116:19 in the courts of the Lord’s temple,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 116:1

Psalm 116

116:1 I love the Lord

because he heard my plea for mercy,

Psalms 1:1

Book 1
(Psalms 1-41)

Psalm 1

1:1 How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked,

or stand in the pathway with sinners,

or sit in the assembly of scoffers!