PSALM 84

Longing for the Temple Worship.

For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

1How lovely are Your dwelling places,

O Lord of hosts!

2My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord;

My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

3The bird also has found a house,

And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,

Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,

My King and my God.

4How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!

They are ever praising You. Selah.

5How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,

In whose heart are the highways to Zion!

6Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring;

The early rain also covers it with blessings.

7They go from strength to strength,

Every one of them appears before God in Zion.

8O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah.

9Behold our shield, O God,

And look upon the face of Your anointed.

10For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.

I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God

Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

The Lord gives grace and glory;

No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

12O Lord of hosts,

How blessed is the man who trusts in You!

PSALM 85

Prayer for God’s Mercy upon the Nation.

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

1O Lord, You showed favor to Your land;

You restored the captivity of Jacob.

2You forgave the iniquity of Your people;

You covered all their sin. Selah.

3You withdrew all Your fury;

You turned away from Your burning anger.

4Restore us, O God of our salvation,

And cause Your indignation toward us to cease.

5Will You be angry with us forever?

Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?

6Will You not Yourself revive us again,

That Your people may rejoice in You?

7Show us Your lovingkindness, O Lord,

And grant us Your salvation.

8I will hear what God the Lord will say;

For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones;

But let them not turn back to folly.

9Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,

That glory may dwell in our land.

10Lovingkindness and truth have met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

11Truth springs from the earth,

And righteousness looks down from heaven.

12Indeed, the Lord will give what is good,

And our land will yield its produce.

13Righteousness will go before Him

And will make His footsteps into a way.

PSALM 86

A Psalm of Supplication and Trust.

A Prayer of David.

1Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me;

For I am afflicted and needy.

2Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man;

O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You.

3Be gracious to me, O Lord,

For to You I cry all day long.

4Make glad the soul of Your servant,

For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

5For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,

And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.

6Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;

And give heed to the voice of my supplications!

7In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You,

For You will answer me.

8There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord,

Nor are there any works like Yours.

9All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord,

And they shall glorify Your name.

10For You are great and do wondrous deeds;

You alone are God.

11Teach me Your way, O Lord;

I will walk in Your truth;

Unite my heart to fear Your name.

12I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,

And will glorify Your name forever.

13For Your lovingkindness toward me is great,

And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

14O God, arrogant men have risen up against me,

And a band of violent men have sought my life,

And they have not set You before them.

15But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,

Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

16Turn to me, and be gracious to me;

Oh grant Your strength to Your servant,

And save the son of Your handmaid.

17Show me a sign for good,

That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed,

Because You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

PSALM 87

The Privileges of Citizenship in Zion.

A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song.

1His foundation is in the holy mountains.

2The Lord loves the gates of Zion

More than all the other dwelling places of Jacob.

3Glorious things are spoken of you,

O city of God. Selah.

4“I shall mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me;

Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia:

‘This one was born there.’ ”

5But of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”;

And the Most High Himself will establish her.

6The Lord will count when He registers the peoples,

“This one was born there.” Selah.

7Then those who sing as well as those who play the flutes shall say,

“All my springs of joy are in you.”

PSALM 88

A Petition to Be Saved from Death.

A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director; according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

1O Lord, the God of my salvation,

I have cried out by day and in the night before You.

2Let my prayer come before You;

Incline Your ear to my cry!

3For my soul has had enough troubles,

And my life has drawn near to Sheol.

4I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit;

I have become like a man without strength,

5Forsaken among the dead,

Like the slain who lie in the grave,

Whom You remember no more,

And they are cut off from Your hand.

6You have put me in the lowest pit,

In dark places, in the depths.

7Your wrath has rested upon me,

And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah.

8You have removed my acquaintances far from me;

You have made me an object of loathing to them;

I am shut up and cannot go out.

9My eye has wasted away because of affliction;

I have called upon You every day, O Lord;

I have spread out my hands to You.

10Will You perform wonders for the dead?

Will the departed spirits rise and praise You? Selah.

11Will Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave,

Your faithfulness in Abaddon?

12Will Your wonders be made known in the darkness?

And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13But I, O Lord, have cried out to You for help,

And in the morning my prayer comes before You.

14O Lord, why do You reject my soul?

Why do You hide Your face from me?

15I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on;

I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome.

16Your burning anger has passed over me;

Your terrors have destroyed me.

17They have surrounded me like water all day long;

They have encompassed me altogether.

18You have removed lover and friend far from me;

My acquaintances are in darkness.

PSALM 89

The Lord’s Covenant with David, and Israel’s Afflictions.

A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

1I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever;

To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.

2For I have said, “Lovingkindness will be built up forever;

In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness.”

3“I have made a covenant with My chosen;

I have sworn to David My servant,

4I will establish your seed forever

And build up your throne to all generations.” Selah.

5The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord;

Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.

6For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord?

Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord,

7A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,

And awesome above all those who are around Him?

8O Lord God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Lord?

Your faithfulness also surrounds You.

9You rule the swelling of the sea;

When its waves rise, You still them.

10You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain;

You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.

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

The world and all it contains, You have founded them.

12The north and the south, You have created them;

Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.

13You have a strong arm;

Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted.

14Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;

Lovingkindness and truth go before You.

15How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!

O Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance.

16In Your name they rejoice all the day,

And by Your righteousness they are exalted.

17For You are the glory of their strength,

And by Your favor our horn is exalted.

18For our shield belongs to the Lord,

And our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones,

And said, “I have given help to one who is mighty;

I have exalted one chosen from the people.

20I have found David My servant;

With My holy oil I have anointed him,

21With whom My hand will be established;

My arm also will strengthen him.

22The enemy will not deceive him,

Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

23But I shall crush his adversaries before him,

And strike those who hate him.

24My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him,

And in My name his horn will be exalted.

25I shall also set his hand on the sea

And his right hand on the rivers.

26He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father,

My God, and the rock of my salvation.’

27I also shall make him My firstborn,

The highest of the kings of the earth.

28My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever,

And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.

29So I will establish his descendants forever

And his throne as the days of heaven.

30“If his sons forsake My law

And do not walk in My judgments,

31If they violate My statutes

And do not keep My commandments,

32Then I will punish their transgression with the rod

And their iniquity with stripes.

33But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him,

Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.

34My covenant I will not violate,

Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.

35Once I have sworn by My holiness;

I will not lie to David.

36His descendants shall endure forever

And his throne as the sun before Me.

37It shall be established forever like the moon,

And the witness in the sky is faithful.” Selah.

38But You have cast off and rejected,

You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.

39You have spurned the covenant of Your servant;

You have profaned his crown in the dust.

40You have broken down all his walls;

You have brought his strongholds to ruin.

41All who pass along the way plunder him;

He has become a reproach to his neighbors.

42You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries;

You have made all his enemies rejoice.

43You also turn back the edge of his sword

And have not made him stand in battle.

44You have made his splendor to cease

And cast his throne to the ground.

45You have shortened the days of his youth;

You have covered him with shame. Selah.

46How long, O Lord?

Will You hide Yourself forever?

Will Your wrath burn like fire?

47Remember what my span of life is;

For what vanity You have created all the sons of men!

48What man can live and not see death?

Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

49Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord,

Which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?

50Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants;

How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples,

51With which Your enemies have reproached, O Lord,

With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed.

52Blessed be the Lord forever!

Amen and Amen.