Psalm 71-75

New King James Version

God the Rock of Salvation

71 In ^(A)You, O Lord, I put my trust;
Let me never be put to shame.
²^(B)Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape;
^(C)Incline Your ear to me, and save me.
³^(D)Be my ^[a]strong refuge,
To which I may resort continually;
You have given the ^(E)commandment to save me,
For You are my rock and my fortress.

⁴^(F)Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
⁵For You are ^(G)my hope, O Lord God;
You are my trust from my youth.
⁶^(H)By You I have been ^[b]upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise shall be continually of You.

⁷^(I)I have become as a wonder to many,
But You are my strong refuge.
⁸Let ^(J)my mouth be filled with Your praise
And with Your glory all the day.

⁹Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
¹⁰For my enemies speak against me;
And those who lie in wait for my life ^(K)take counsel together,
¹¹Saying, “God has forsaken him;
Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.”

¹²^(L)O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, ^(M)make haste to help me!
¹³Let them be ^[c]confounded and consumed
Who are adversaries of my life;
Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor
Who seek my hurt.

¹⁴But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
¹⁵My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
¹⁶I will go in the strength of the Lord God;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.

¹⁷O God, You have taught me from my ^(N)youth;
And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
¹⁸Now also ^(O)when I am old and grayheaded,
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to everyone who is to come.

¹⁹Also ^(P)Your righteousness, O God, is ^[d]very high,
You who have done great things;
^(Q)O God, who is like You?
²⁰^(R)You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
^(S)Shall revive me again,
And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
²¹You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on every side.

²²Also ^(T)with the lute I will praise You—
And Your faithfulness, O my God!
To You I will sing with the harp,
O ^(U)Holy One of Israel.
²³My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You,
And ^(V)my soul, which You have redeemed.
²⁴My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long;
For they are confounded,
For they are brought to shame
Who seek my hurt.

Glory and Universality of the Messiah’s Reign

A Psalm ^(W)of Solomon.

72 Give the king Your judgments, O God,
And Your righteousness to the king’s Son.
²^(X)He will judge Your people with righteousness,
And Your poor with justice.
³^(Y)The mountains will bring peace to the people,
And the little hills, by righteousness.
⁴^(Z)He will bring justice to the poor of the people;
He will save the children of the needy,
And will ^[e]break in pieces the oppressor.

⁵^[f]They shall fear You
^(AA)As long as the sun and moon endure,
Throughout all generations.
⁶^(AB)He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing,
Like showers that water the earth.
⁷In His days the righteous shall flourish,
^(AC)And abundance of peace,
Until the moon is no more.

⁸^(AD)He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
⁹^(AE)Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him,
^(AF)And His enemies will lick the dust.
¹⁰^(AG)The kings of Tarshish and of the isles
Will bring presents;
The kings of Sheba and Seba
Will offer gifts.
¹¹^(AH)Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him;
All nations shall serve Him.

¹²For He ^(AI)will deliver the needy when he cries,
The poor also, and him who has no helper.
¹³He will spare the poor and needy,
And will save the souls of the needy.
¹⁴He will redeem their life from oppression and violence;
And ^(AJ)precious shall be their blood in His sight.

¹⁵And He shall live;
And the gold of ^(AK)Sheba will be given to Him;
Prayer also will be made for Him continually,
And daily He shall be praised.

¹⁶There will be an abundance of grain in the earth,
On the top of the mountains;
Its fruit shall wave like Lebanon;
^(AL)And those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

¹⁷^(AM)His name shall endure forever;
His name shall continue as long as the sun.
And ^(AN)men shall be blessed in Him;
^(AO)All nations shall call Him blessed.

¹⁸^(AP)Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
^(AQ)Who only does wondrous things!
¹⁹And ^(AR)blessed be His glorious name forever!
^(AS)And let the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Amen and Amen.

²⁰The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

BOOK THREE

Psalms 73–89

The Tragedy of the Wicked, and the Blessedness of Trust in God

A Psalm of ^(AT)Asaph.

73 Truly God is good to Israel,
To such as are pure in heart.
²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
My steps had nearly ^(AU)slipped.
³^(AV)For I was envious of the boastful,
When I saw the prosperity of the ^(AW)wicked.

⁴For there are no ^[g]pangs in their death,
But their strength is firm.
⁵^(AX)They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like other men.
⁶Therefore pride serves as their necklace;
Violence covers them ^(AY)like a garment.
⁷^(AZ)Their ^[h]eyes bulge with abundance;
They have more than heart could wish.
⁸^(BA)They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression;
They ^(BB)speak ^[i]loftily.
⁹They set their mouth ^(BC)against the heavens,
And their tongue walks through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people return here,
^(BD)And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
¹¹And they say, ^(BE)“How does God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High?”
¹²Behold, these are the ungodly,
Who are always at ease;
They increase in riches.
¹³Surely I have ^[j]cleansed my heart in ^(BF)vain,
And washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴For all day long I have been plagued,
And chastened every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children.
¹⁶When I thought how to understand this,
It was ^[k]too painful for me—
¹⁷Until I went into the sanctuary of God;
Then I understood their ^(BG)end.

¹⁸Surely ^(BH)You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.
¹⁹Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors.
²⁰As a dream when one awakes,
So, Lord, when You awake,
You shall despise their image.

²¹Thus my heart was grieved,
And I was ^[l]vexed in my mind.
²²^(BI)I was so foolish and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
²³Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
²⁴^(BJ)You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory.

²⁵^(BK)Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
²⁶^(BL)My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the ^[m]strength of my heart and my ^(BM)portion forever.

²⁷For indeed, ^(BN)those who are far from You shall perish;
You have destroyed all those who ^[n]desert You for harlotry.
²⁸But it is good for me to ^(BO)draw near to God;
I have put my trust in the Lord God,
That I may ^(BP)declare all Your works.

A Plea for Relief from Oppressors

A ^[o]Contemplation of Asaph.

74 O God, why have You cast us off forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
²Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
The tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed—
This Mount Zion where You have dwelt.
³Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations.
The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
⁴^(BQ)Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place;
^(BR)They set up their banners for signs.
⁵They seem like men who lift up
Axes among the thick trees.
⁶And now they break down its carved work, all at once,
With axes and hammers.
⁷They have set fire to Your sanctuary;
They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground.
⁸^(BS)They said in their hearts,
“Let us ^[p]destroy them altogether.”
They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹We do not see our signs;
^(BT)There is no longer any prophet;
Nor is there any among us who knows how long.
¹⁰O God, how long will the adversary ^[q]reproach?
Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?
¹¹^(BU)Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them.
¹²For ^(BV)God is my King from of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³^(BW)You divided the sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the ^[r]sea serpents in the waters.
¹⁴You broke the heads of ^[s]Leviathan in pieces,
And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
¹⁵^(BX)You broke open the fountain and the flood;
^(BY)You dried up mighty rivers.
¹⁶The day is Yours, the night also is ^(BZ)Yours;
^(CA)You have prepared the light and the sun.
¹⁷You have ^(CB)set all the borders of the earth;
^(CC)You have made summer and winter.

¹⁸Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Lord,
And that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name.
¹⁹Oh, do not deliver the life of Your turtledove to the wild beast!
Do not forget the life of Your poor forever.
²⁰^(CD)Have respect to the covenant;
For the ^[t]dark places of the earth are full of the ^[u]haunts of ^[v]cruelty.
²¹Oh, do not let the oppressed return ashamed!
Let the poor and needy praise Your name.

²²Arise, O God, plead Your own cause;
Remember how the foolish man ^[w]reproaches You daily.
²³Do not forget the voice of Your enemies;
The tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually.

Thanksgiving for God’s Righteous Judgment

To the Chief Musician. Set to ^(CE)“Do^[x] Not Destroy.” A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

75 We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks!
For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.

²“When I choose the ^[y]proper time,
I will judge uprightly.
³The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved;
I set up its pillars firmly. Selah

⁴“I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’
And to the wicked, ^(CF)‘Do not ^[z]lift up the horn.
⁵Do not lift up your horn on high;
Do not speak with ^[aa]a stiff neck.’ ”

⁶For exaltation comes neither from the east
Nor from the west nor from the south.
⁷But ^(CG)God is the Judge:
^(CH)He puts down one,
And exalts another.
⁸For ^(CI)in the hand of the Lord there is a cup,
And the wine is red;
It is fully mixed, and He pours it out;
Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth
Drain and drink down.