Psalms 82:1--84:12

Psalm 82

A psalm of Asaph.

82:1 God stands in the assembly of El;

in the midst of the gods he renders judgment.

82:2 He says, “How long will you make unjust legal decisions

and show favoritism to the wicked? (Selah)

82:3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless!

Vindicate the oppressed and suffering!

82:4 Rescue the poor and needy!

Deliver them from the power of the wicked!

82:5 They neither know nor understand.

They stumble around in the dark,

while all the foundations of the earth crumble.

82:6 I thought, ‘You are gods;

all of you are sons of the Most High.’

82:7 Yet you will die like mortals;

you will fall like all the other rulers.”

82:8 Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth!

For you own all the nations.

Psalm 83

A song, a psalm of Asaph.

83:1 O God, do not be silent!

Do not ignore us! Do not be inactive, O God!

83:2 For look, your enemies are making a commotion;

those who hate you are hostile.

83:3 They carefully plot against your people,

and make plans to harm the ones you cherish.

83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation!

Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

83:5 Yes, they devise a unified strategy;

they form an alliance against you.

83:6 It includes the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites,

83:7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,

Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre.

83:8 Even Assyria has allied with them,

lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. (Selah)

83:9 Do to them as you did to Midian –

as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River!

83:10 They were destroyed at Endor;

their corpses were like manure on the ground.

83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna,

83:12 who said, “Let’s take over the pastures of God!”

83:13 O my God, make them like dead thistles,

like dead weeds blown away by the wind!

83:14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,

or the flames that consume the mountainsides,

83:15 chase them with your gale winds,

and terrify them with your windstorm.

83:16 Cover their faces with shame,

so they might seek you, O Lord.

83:17 May they be humiliated and continually terrified!

May they die in shame!

83:18 Then they will know that you alone are the Lord,

the sovereign king over all the earth.

Psalm 84

For the music director; according to the gittith style; written by the Korahites, a psalm.

84:1 How lovely is the place where you live,

O Lord who rules over all!

84:2 I desperately want to be

in the courts of the Lord’s temple.

My heart and my entire being shout for joy

to the living God.

84:3 Even the birds find a home there,

and the swallow builds a nest,

where she can protect her young

near your altars, O Lord who rules over all,

my king and my God.

84:4 How blessed are those who live in your temple

and praise you continually! (Selah)

84:5 How blessed are those who find their strength in you,

and long to travel the roads that lead to your temple!

84:6 As they pass through the Baca Valley,

he provides a spring for them.

The rain even covers it with pools of water.

84:7 They are sustained as they travel along;

each one appears before God in Zion.

84:8 O Lord, sovereign God,

hear my prayer!

Listen, O God of Jacob! (Selah)

84:9 O God, take notice of our shield!

Show concern for your chosen king!

84:10 Certainly spending just one day in your temple courts is better

than spending a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather stand at the entrance to the temple of my God

than live in the tents of the wicked.

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector.

The Lord bestows favor and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity.

84:12 O Lord who rules over all,

how blessed are those who trust in you!