Add parallel Print Page Options

Psalm 85

Prayer for the Restoration of God’s Favor

To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.

Lord, you were favorable to your land;
    you restored the fortunes of Jacob.(A)
You forgave the iniquity of your people;
    you pardoned all their sin. Selah(B)
You withdrew all your wrath;
    you turned from your hot anger.

Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
    and put away your indignation toward us.
Will you be angry with us forever?
    Will you prolong your anger to all generations?(C)
Will you not revive us again,
    so that your people may rejoice in you?(D)
Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
    and grant us your salvation.

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
    for he will speak peace to his people,
    to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.[a](E)
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
    that his glory may dwell in our land.(F)

10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
    righteousness and peace will kiss each other.(G)
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
    and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 The Lord will give what is good,
    and our land will yield its increase.(H)
13 Righteousness will go before him
    and will make a path for his steps.(I)

Footnotes

  1. 85.8 Gk: Heb but let them not turn back to folly

God Accuses Israel

Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel,
    for the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or loyalty
    and no knowledge of God in the land.(A)
Swearing, lying, and murder,
    and stealing and adultery break out;
    bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Therefore the land mourns,
    and all who live in it languish;
together with the wild animals
    and the birds of the air,
    even the fish of the sea are perishing.(B)

Yet let no one contend,
    and let none accuse,
    for with you is my contention, O priest.[a](C)
You shall stumble by day;
    the prophet also shall stumble with you by night,
    and I will destroy your mother.(D)
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge!
    Because you have rejected knowledge,
    I reject you from being a priest to me;
and since you have forgotten the law of your God,
    I also will forget your children.(E)

The more they increased,
    the more they sinned against me;
    they changed[b] their glory into shame.(F)
They feed on the sin of my people;
    they are greedy for their iniquity.
And it shall be like people, like priest;
    I will punish them for their ways
    and repay them for their deeds.(G)
10 They shall eat but not be satisfied;
    they shall prostitute themselves but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the Lord
to devote themselves to(H) 11     prostitution.

The Idolatry of Israel

Wine and new wine
    take away the understanding.(I)
12 My people consult a piece of wood,
    and their divining rod gives them oracles.
For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray,
    and they have prostituted themselves, forsaking their God.(J)
13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
    and make offerings upon the hills,
under oak, poplar, and terebinth
    because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters prostitute themselves,
    and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.(K)
14 I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves
    nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery,
for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes
    and sacrifice with female attendants;
thus a people without understanding comes to ruin.(L)

15 Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel,
    do not let Judah become guilty.
Do not enter into Gilgal
    or go up to Beth-aven,
    and do not swear, “As the Lord lives.”(M)
16 Like a stubborn heifer,
    Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
    like a lamb in a broad pasture?(N)

17 Ephraim is joined to idols—
    let him alone.
18 When their drinking is ended, they indulge in sexual orgies;
    they love lewdness more than their glory.[c](O)
19 A wind has wrapped them[d] in its wings,
    and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.[e](P)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 4.4 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  2. 4.7 Tg Syr: MT I will change
  3. 4.18 Cn Compare Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  4. 4.19 Heb her
  5. 4.19 Gk Syr: Heb sacrifices

15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, 16 “Brothers and sisters,[a] the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus,(A) 17 for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”(B) 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out.(C) 19 This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms,

‘Let his house become desolate,
    and let there be no one to live in it’;

and

‘Let another take his position of overseer.’(D)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1.16 Gk Men, brothers