Psalm 81-87
Authorized (King James) Version
Psalm 81
To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud unto God our strength:
make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel,
the pleasant harp with the psaltery.
3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon,
in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
4 For this was a statute for Israel,
and a law of the God of Jacob.
5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt:
where I heard a language that I understood not.
6 I removed his shoulder from the burden:
his hands were delivered from the pots.
7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee;
I answered thee in the secret place of thunder:
I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee:
O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;
9 there shall no strange god be in thee;
neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
10 I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt:
open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 But my people would not hearken to my voice;
and Israel would none of me.
12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust:
and they walked in their own counsels.
13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me,
and Israel had walked in my ways!
14 I should soon have subdued their enemies,
and turned my hand against their adversaries.
15 The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him:
but their time should have endured for ever.
16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat:
and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
Psalm 82
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty;
he judgeth among the gods.
2 How long will ye judge unjustly,
and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Defend the poor and fatherless:
do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy:
rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand;
they walk on in darkness:
all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, Ye are gods;
and all of you are children of the most High.
7 But ye shall die like men,
and fall like one of the princes.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth:
for thou shalt inherit all nations.
Psalm 83
A Song or Psalm of Asaph.
1 Keep not thou silence, O God:
hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult:
and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people,
and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation;
that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent:
they are confederate against thee:
6 the tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites;
of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek;
the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assur also is joined with them:
they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.
9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites;
as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:
10 which perished at Endor:
they became as dung for the earth.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb:
yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:
12 who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.
13 O my God, make them like a wheel;
as the stubble before the wind.
14 As the fire burneth a wood,
and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;
15 so persecute them with thy tempest,
and make them afraid with thy storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame;
that they may seek thy name, O Lord.
17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever;
yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:
18 that men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH,
art the most high over all the earth.
Psalm 84
To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.
1 How amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord:
my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house,
and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.
4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house:
they will be still praising thee. Selah.
5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee;
in whose heart are the ways of them.
6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well;
the rain also filleth the pools.
7 They go from strength to strength,
every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer:
give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
9 Behold, O God our shield,
and look upon the face of thine anointed.
10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.
I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield:
the Lord will give grace and glory:
no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
Psalm 85
To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.
1 Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land:
thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people,
thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath:
thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
4 Turn us, O God of our salvation,
and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?
wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
6 Wilt thou not revive us again:
that thy people may rejoice in thee?
7 Shew us thy mercy, O Lord,
and grant us thy salvation.
8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak:
for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints:
but let them not turn again to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him;
that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth are met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring out of the earth;
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good;
and our land shall yield her increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him;
and shall set us in the way of his steps.
Psalm 86
A Prayer of David.
1 Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me:
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my soul; for I am holy:
O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord:
for I cry unto thee daily.
4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant:
for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive;
and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
6 Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer;
and attend to the voice of my supplications.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee:
for thou wilt answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord;
neither are there any works like unto thy works.
9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord;
and shall glorify thy name.
10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things:
thou art God alone.
11 Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth:
unite my heart to fear thy name.
12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart:
and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
13 For great is thy mercy toward me:
and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
14 O God, the proud are risen against me,
and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul;
and have not set thee before them.
15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious,
longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
16 O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me;
give thy strength unto thy servant,
and save the son of thine handmaid.
17 Shew me a token for good;
that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed:
because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me.
Psalm 87
A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah.
1 His foundation is in the holy mountains.
2 The Lord loveth the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.
4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me:
behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia;
this man was born there.
5 And of Zion it shall be said,
This and that man was born in her:
and the highest himself shall establish her.
6 The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people,
that this man was born there. Selah.
7 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there:
all my springs are in thee.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.