Psalm 73-83

New Living Translation

¹ Truly God is good to Israel,
    to those whose hearts are pure.
² But as for me, I almost lost my footing.
    My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.
³ For I envied the proud
    when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
⁴ They seem to live such painless lives;
    their bodies are so healthy and strong.
⁵ They don’t have troubles like other people;
    they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.
⁶ They wear pride like a jeweled necklace
    and clothe themselves with cruelty.
⁷ These fat cats have everything
    their hearts could ever wish for!
⁸ They scoff and speak only evil;
    in their pride they seek to crush others.
⁹ They boast against the very heavens,
    and their words strut throughout the earth.
¹⁰ And so the people are dismayed and confused,
    drinking in all their words.
¹¹ “What does God know?” they ask.
    “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”
¹² Look at these wicked people—
    enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.

¹³ Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?
    Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
¹⁴ I get nothing but trouble all day long;
    every morning brings me pain.

¹⁵ If I had really spoken this way to others,
    I would have been a traitor to your people.
¹⁶ So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper.
    But what a difficult task it is!
¹⁷ Then I went into your sanctuary, O God,
    and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.
¹⁸ Truly, you put them on a slippery path
    and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.
¹⁹ In an instant they are destroyed,
    completely swept away by terrors.
²⁰ When you arise, O Lord,
    you will laugh at their silly ideas
    as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.

²¹ Then I realized that my heart was bitter,
    and I was all torn up inside.
²² I was so foolish and ignorant—
    I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
²³ Yet I still belong to you;
    you hold my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
    leading me to a glorious destiny.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
    I desire you more than anything on earth.
²⁶ My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
    but God remains the strength of my heart;
    he is mine forever.

²⁷ Those who desert him will perish,
    for you destroy those who abandon you.
²⁸ But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
    I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,
    and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

¹ O God, why have you rejected us so long?
    Why is your anger so intense against the sheep of your own pasture?
² Remember that we are the people you chose long ago,
    the tribe you redeemed as your own special possession!
    And remember Jerusalem,^[b] your home here on earth.
³ Walk through the awful ruins of the city;
    see how the enemy has destroyed your sanctuary.

⁴ There your enemies shouted their victorious battle cries;
    there they set up their battle standards.
⁵ They swung their axes
    like woodcutters in a forest.
⁶ With axes and picks,
    they smashed the carved paneling.
⁷ They burned your sanctuary to the ground.
    They defiled the place that bears your name.
⁸ Then they thought, “Let’s destroy everything!”
    So they burned down all the places where God was worshiped.

⁹ We no longer see your miraculous signs.
    All the prophets are gone,
    and no one can tell us when it will end.
¹⁰ How long, O God, will you allow our enemies to insult you?
    Will you let them dishonor your name forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your strong right hand?
    Unleash your powerful fist and destroy them.

¹² You, O God, are my king from ages past,
    bringing salvation to the earth.
¹³ You split the sea by your strength
    and smashed the heads of the sea monsters.
¹⁴ You crushed the heads of Leviathan^[c]
    and let the desert animals eat him.
¹⁵ You caused the springs and streams to gush forth,
    and you dried up rivers that never run dry.
¹⁶ Both day and night belong to you;
    you made the starlight^[d] and the sun.
¹⁷ You set the boundaries of the earth,
    and you made both summer and winter.

¹⁸ See how these enemies insult you, Lord.
    A foolish nation has dishonored your name.
¹⁹ Don’t let these wild beasts destroy your turtledoves.
    Don’t forget your suffering people forever.

²⁰ Remember your covenant promises,
    for the land is full of darkness and violence!
²¹ Don’t let the downtrodden be humiliated again.
    Instead, let the poor and needy praise your name.

²² Arise, O God, and defend your cause.
    Remember how these fools insult you all day long.
²³ Don’t overlook what your enemies have said
    or their growing uproar.

¹ We thank you, O God!
    We give thanks because you are near.
    People everywhere tell of your wonderful deeds.

² God says, “At the time I have planned,
    I will bring justice against the wicked.
³ When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil,
    I am the one who keeps its foundations firm. Interlude

⁴ “I warned the proud, ‘Stop your boasting!’
    I told the wicked, ‘Don’t raise your fists!
⁵ Don’t raise your fists in defiance at the heavens
    or speak with such arrogance.’”
⁶ For no one on earth—from east or west,
    or even from the wilderness—
    should raise a defiant fist.^[e]
7 It is God alone who judges;
    he decides who will rise and who will fall.
⁸ For the Lord holds a cup in his hand
    that is full of foaming wine mixed with spices.
He pours out the wine in judgment,
    and all the wicked must drink it,
    draining it to the dregs.

⁹ But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done;
    I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
¹⁰ For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked,
    but I will increase the power of the godly.”

¹ God is honored in Judah;
    his name is great in Israel.
² Jerusalem^[f] is where he lives;
    Mount Zion is his home.
³ There he has broken the fiery arrows of the enemy,
    the shields and swords and weapons of war. Interlude

⁴ You are glorious and more majestic
    than the everlasting mountains.^[g]
5 Our boldest enemies have been plundered.
    They lie before us in the sleep of death.
    No warrior could lift a hand against us.
⁶ At the blast of your breath, O God of Jacob,
    their horses and chariots lay still.

⁷ No wonder you are greatly feared!
    Who can stand before you when your anger explodes?
⁸ From heaven you sentenced your enemies;
    the earth trembled and stood silent before you.
⁹ You stand up to judge those who do evil, O God,
    and to rescue the oppressed of the earth. Interlude
¹⁰ Human defiance only enhances your glory,
    for you use it as a weapon.^[h]

¹¹ Make vows to the Lord your God, and keep them.
    Let everyone bring tribute to the Awesome One.
¹² For he breaks the pride of princes,
    and the kings of the earth fear him.

¹ I cry out to God; yes, I shout.
    Oh, that God would listen to me!
² When I was in deep trouble,
    I searched for the Lord.
All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,
    but my soul was not comforted.
³ I think of God, and I moan,
    overwhelmed with longing for his help. Interlude

⁴ You don’t let me sleep.
    I am too distressed even to pray!
⁵ I think of the good old days,
    long since ended,
⁶ when my nights were filled with joyful songs.
    I search my soul and ponder the difference now.
⁷ Has the Lord rejected me forever?
    Will he never again be kind to me?
⁸ Is his unfailing love gone forever?
    Have his promises permanently failed?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he slammed the door on his compassion? Interlude

¹⁰ And I said, “This is my fate;
    the Most High has turned his hand against me.”
¹¹ But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
    I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
¹² They are constantly in my thoughts.
    I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

¹³ O God, your ways are holy.
    Is there any god as mighty as you?
¹⁴ You are the God of great wonders!
    You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.
¹⁵ By your strong arm, you redeemed your people,
    the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Interlude

¹⁶ When the Red Sea^[i] saw you, O God,
    its waters looked and trembled!
    The sea quaked to its very depths.
¹⁷ The clouds poured down rain;
    the thunder rumbled in the sky.
    Your arrows of lightning flashed.
¹⁸ Your thunder roared from the whirlwind;
    the lightning lit up the world!
    The earth trembled and shook.
¹⁹ Your road led through the sea,
    your pathway through the mighty waters—
    a pathway no one knew was there!
²⁰ You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep,
    with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.

¹ O my people, listen to my instructions.
    Open your ears to what I am saying,
²     for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
³     stories we have heard and known,
    stories our ancestors handed down to us.
⁴ We will not hide these truths from our children;
    we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
    about his power and his mighty wonders.
⁵ For he issued his laws to Jacob;
    he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
    to teach them to their children,
⁶ so the next generation might know them—
    even the children not yet born—
    and they in turn will teach their own children.
⁷ So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
    not forgetting his glorious miracles
    and obeying his commands.
⁸ Then they will not be like their ancestors—
    stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
    refusing to give their hearts to God.

⁹ The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
    turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.
¹⁰ They did not keep God’s covenant
    and refused to live by his instructions.
¹¹ They forgot what he had done—
    the great wonders he had shown them,
¹² the miracles he did for their ancestors
    on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
¹³ For he divided the sea and led them through,
    making the water stand up like walls!
¹⁴ In the daytime he led them by a cloud,
    and all night by a pillar of fire.
¹⁵ He split open the rocks in the wilderness
    to give them water, as from a gushing spring.
¹⁶ He made streams pour from the rock,
    making the waters flow down like a river!

¹⁷ Yet they kept on sinning against him,
    rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸ They stubbornly tested God in their hearts,
    demanding the foods they craved.
¹⁹ They even spoke against God himself, saying,
    “God can’t give us food in the wilderness.
²⁰ Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out,
    but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”
²¹ When the Lord heard them, he was furious.
    The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob.
    Yes, his anger rose against Israel,
²² for they did not believe God
    or trust him to care for them.
²³ But he commanded the skies to open;
    he opened the doors of heaven.
²⁴ He rained down manna for them to eat;
    he gave them bread from heaven.
²⁵ They ate the food of angels!
    God gave them all they could hold.
²⁶ He released the east wind in the heavens
    and guided the south wind by his mighty power.
²⁷ He rained down meat as thick as dust—
    birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!
²⁸ He caused the birds to fall within their camp
    and all around their tents.
²⁹ The people ate their fill.
    He gave them what they craved.
³⁰ But before they satisfied their craving,
    while the meat was yet in their mouths,
³¹ the anger of God rose against them,
    and he killed their strongest men.
    He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.

³² But in spite of this, the people kept sinning.
    Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.
³³ So he ended their lives in failure,
    their years in terror.
³⁴ When God began killing them,
    they finally sought him.
    They repented and took God seriously.
³⁵ Then they remembered that God was their rock,
    that God Most High^[k] was their redeemer.
³⁶ But all they gave him was lip service;
    they lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷ Their hearts were not loyal to him.
    They did not keep his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins
    and did not destroy them all.
Many times he held back his anger
    and did not unleash his fury!
³⁹ For he remembered that they were merely mortal,
    gone like a breath of wind that never returns.

⁴⁰ Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
    and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.
⁴¹ Again and again they tested God’s patience
    and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
⁴² They did not remember his power
    and how he rescued them from their enemies.
⁴³ They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt,
    his wonders on the plain of Zoan.
⁴⁴ For he turned their rivers into blood,
    so no one could drink from the streams.
⁴⁵ He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them
    and hordes of frogs to ruin them.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to caterpillars;
    their harvest was consumed by locusts.
⁴⁷ He destroyed their grapevines with hail
    and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet.
⁴⁸ He abandoned their cattle to the hail,
    their livestock to bolts of lightning.
⁴⁹ He loosed on them his fierce anger—
    all his fury, rage, and hostility.
He dispatched against them
    a band of destroying angels.
⁵⁰ He turned his anger against them;
    he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives
    but ravaged them with the plague.
⁵¹ He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family,
    the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.^[l]
52 But he led his own people like a flock of sheep,
    guiding them safely through the wilderness.
⁵³ He kept them safe so they were not afraid;
    but the sea covered their enemies.
⁵⁴ He brought them to the border of his holy land,
    to this land of hills he had won for them.
⁵⁵ He drove out the nations before them;
    he gave them their inheritance by lot.
    He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.

⁵⁶ But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High.
    They did not obey his laws.
⁵⁷ They turned back and were as faithless as their parents.
    They were as undependable as a crooked bow.
⁵⁸ They angered God by building shrines to other gods;
    they made him jealous with their idols.
⁵⁹ When God heard them, he was very angry,
    and he completely rejected Israel.
⁶⁰ Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
    the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people.
⁶¹ He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured;
    he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.
⁶² He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword,
    because he was so angry with his own people—his special possession.
⁶³ Their young men were killed by fire;
    their young women died before singing their wedding songs.
⁶⁴ Their priests were slaughtered,
    and their widows could not mourn their deaths.

⁶⁵ Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep,
    like a warrior aroused from a drunken stupor.
⁶⁶ He routed his enemies
    and sent them to eternal shame.
⁶⁷ But he rejected Joseph’s descendants;
    he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
⁶⁸ He chose instead the tribe of Judah,
    and Mount Zion, which he loved.
⁶⁹ There he built his sanctuary as high as the heavens,
    as solid and enduring as the earth.
⁷⁰ He chose his servant David,
    calling him from the sheep pens.
⁷¹ He took David from tending the ewes and lambs
    and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants—
    God’s own people, Israel.
⁷² He cared for them with a true heart
    and led them with skillful hands.

¹ O God, pagan nations have conquered your land,
    your special possession.
They have defiled your holy Temple
    and made Jerusalem a heap of ruins.
² They have left the bodies of your servants
    as food for the birds of heaven.
The flesh of your godly ones
    has become food for the wild animals.
³ Blood has flowed like water all around Jerusalem;
    no one is left to bury the dead.
⁴ We are mocked by our neighbors,
    an object of scorn and derision to those around us.

⁵ O Lord, how long will you be angry with us? Forever?
    How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
⁶ Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to acknowledge you—
    on kingdoms that do not call upon your name.
⁷ For they have devoured your people Israel,^[m]
    making the land a desolate wilderness.
⁸ Do not hold us guilty for the sins of our ancestors!
    Let your compassion quickly meet our needs,
    for we are on the brink of despair.

⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation!
    Help us for the glory of your name.
Save us and forgive our sins
    for the honor of your name.
¹⁰ Why should pagan nations be allowed to scoff,
    asking, “Where is their God?”
Show us your vengeance against the nations,
    for they have spilled the blood of your servants.
¹¹ Listen to the moaning of the prisoners.
    Demonstrate your great power by saving those condemned to die.

¹² O Lord, pay back our neighbors seven times
    for the scorn they have hurled at you.
¹³ Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
    will thank you forever and ever,
    praising your greatness from generation to generation.

¹ Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel,
    you who lead Joseph’s descendants like a flock.
O God, enthroned above the cherubim,
    display your radiant glory
²     to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Show us your mighty power.
    Come to rescue us!

³ Turn us again to yourself, O God.
    Make your face shine down upon us.
    Only then will we be saved.
⁴ O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,
    how long will you be angry with our prayers?
⁵ You have fed us with sorrow
    and made us drink tears by the bucketful.
⁶ You have made us the scorn^[n] of neighboring nations.
    Our enemies treat us as a joke.

⁷ Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies.
    Make your face shine down upon us.
    Only then will we be saved.
⁸ You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine;
    you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.
⁹ You cleared the ground for us,
    and we took root and filled the land.
¹⁰ Our shade covered the mountains;
    our branches covered the mighty cedars.
¹¹ We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea;
    our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River.^[o]
12 But now, why have you broken down our walls
    so that all who pass by may steal our fruit?
¹³ The wild boar from the forest devours it,
    and the wild animals feed on it.

¹⁴ Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies.
    Look down from heaven and see our plight.
Take care of this grapevine
¹⁵     that you yourself have planted,
    this son you have raised for yourself.
¹⁶ For we are chopped up and burned by our enemies.
    May they perish at the sight of your frown.
¹⁷ Strengthen the man you love,
    the son of your choice.
¹⁸ Then we will never abandon you again.
    Revive us so we can call on your name once more.

¹⁹ Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.
    Make your face shine down upon us.
    Only then will we be saved.

¹ Sing praises to God, our strength.
    Sing to the God of Jacob.
² Sing! Beat the tambourine.
    Play the sweet lyre and the harp.
³ Blow the ram’s horn at new moon,
    and again at full moon to call a festival!
⁴ For this is required by the decrees of Israel;
    it is a regulation of the God of Jacob.
⁵ He made it a law for Israel^[q]
    when he attacked Egypt to set us free.

I heard an unknown voice say,
⁶ “Now I will take the load from your shoulders;
    I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.
⁷ You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you;
    I answered out of the thundercloud
    and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah. Interlude

⁸ “Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings.
    O Israel, if you would only listen to me!
⁹ You must never have a foreign god;
    you must not bow down before a false god.
¹⁰ For it was I, the Lord your God,
    who rescued you from the land of Egypt.
    Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.

¹¹ “But no, my people wouldn’t listen.
    Israel did not want me around.
¹² So I let them follow their own stubborn desires,
    living according to their own ideas.
¹³ Oh, that my people would listen to me!
    Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths!
¹⁴ How quickly I would then subdue their enemies!
    How soon my hands would be upon their foes!
¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him;
    they would be doomed forever.
¹⁶ But I would feed you with the finest wheat.
    I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”

¹ God presides over heaven’s court;
    he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings:
² “How long will you hand down unjust decisions
    by favoring the wicked? Interlude

³ “Give justice to the poor and the orphan;
    uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
⁴ Rescue the poor and helpless;
    deliver them from the grasp of evil people.
⁵ But these oppressors know nothing;
    they are so ignorant!
They wander about in darkness,
    while the whole world is shaken to the core.
⁶ I say, ‘You are gods;
    you are all children of the Most High.
⁷ But you will die like mere mortals
    and fall like every other ruler.’”

⁸ Rise up, O God, and judge the earth,
    for all the nations belong to you.

¹ O God, do not be silent!
    Do not be deaf.
    Do not be quiet, O God.
² Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies?
    Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up?
³ They devise crafty schemes against your people;
    they conspire against your precious ones.
⁴ “Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation.
    We will destroy the very memory of its existence.”
⁵ Yes, this was their unanimous decision.
    They signed a treaty as allies against you—
⁶ these Edomites and Ishmaelites;
    Moabites and Hagrites;
⁷ Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites;
    and people from Philistia and Tyre.
⁸ Assyria has joined them, too,
    and is allied with the descendants of Lot. Interlude

⁹ Do to them as you did to the Midianites
    and as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
¹⁰ They were destroyed at Endor,
    and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil.
¹¹ Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did.
    Let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna,
¹² for they said, “Let us seize for our own use
    these pasturelands of God!”
¹³ O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed,
    like chaff before the wind!
¹⁴ As a fire burns a forest
    and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
¹⁵ chase them with your fierce storm;
    terrify them with your tempest.
¹⁶ Utterly disgrace them
    until they submit to your name, O Lord.
¹⁷ Let them be ashamed and terrified forever.
    Let them die in disgrace.
¹⁸ Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord,
    that you alone are the Most High,
    supreme over all the earth.