Beginning
Psalm 86
Guard My Life
Heading
A prayer by David.
David’s Need and David’s Faith
1 Turn your ear, O Lord.
Answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am favored by you.[a]
You are my God.
Save your servant, who trusts in you.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
God’s Grace
5 Indeed, you, Lord, are good and forgiving
and abounding in mercy to all who call to you.
6 Give ear to my prayer, O Lord.
Pay attention to the sound of my cries for mercy.
God’s Ruling Power
7 In the day of my distress I will call to you,
because you will answer me.
8 There is no one like you among the gods, O Lord.
There are no deeds like your deeds.
9 All the nations you have made will come.
They will bow before you, O Lord,
and they will give glory to your name,
10 because you are great and do marvelous deeds.
You alone are God.
God’s Praise
11 Teach me your way, O Lord.
I will walk in your truth.
Give me wholehearted commitment to fear your name.
12 I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your mercy toward me,
and you have delivered my soul from “the lowest hell.”[b]
The Plea Repeated
14 God, the arrogant rise against me.
A mob of ruthless men seeks my life.
They pay no attention to you.
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me.
Give your strength to your servant.
Save the son of your maidservant.
17 Give a sign of your goodness for me.
Then those who hate me will see it and be put to shame,
because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Psalm 87
The Glorious City
Heading
By the Sons of Korah. A psalm. A song.
The Holy City
1 The city he founded is on the holy mountains.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. Interlude
3 Glorious things are spoken about you, O City of God.
Its Citizens
4 I will register Rahab[c] and Babylon among those who know me.
Look! Philistia and Tyre are there, along with Cush!
Of them I say, “This one was born there in Zion.”[d]
5 And about Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.”
6 When he registers the peoples,
the Lord will write: Interlude
“This one was born there.”
7 Then the singers, as they dance, will sing,
“All my springs are in you.”
Psalm 88
Darkness Is My Friend
The Headings
A song. A psalm. By the Sons of Korah.
For the choir director. According to mahalath leannoth.[e]
A maskil[f] of Heman the Ezrahite.
Opening Plea
1 O Lord, the God who saves me, by day I cry out.
At night I cry before you.
2 May my prayer come before you.
Turn your ear to my cry.
The Problem
3 Indeed, my soul has had its fill of troubles,
and my life has arrived at the grave.
4 I am treated like those who go down to the pit.
I am like someone without strength.
5 I am turned loose with the dead.
I am like the slain who lie in the grave,
like the ones you do not remember anymore,
like those who are cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in dark places, in the depths.
7 Your wrath presses against me. Interlude
You have battered me with all your breakers.
8 You have distanced my acquaintances from me.
You have made me repulsive to them.
I am shut in and I cannot get out.
9 My eyesight grows dim from affliction.
I call to you, O Lord, every day.
I spread out my hands to you.
The Darkness of Death
10 Is it for the dead that you do a miracle? Interlude
Do the spirits of the dead rise up and praise you?
11 Is your mercy declared in the tomb,
your faithfulness in decay?
12 Is your wonderful work known in the darkness?
Is your righteousness known in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But I cry to you, O Lord,
and in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, O Lord, do you reject my soul?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15 I have been afflicted
and I have been close to death since my youth.
I have endured your terrors.
I am in despair.
16 Your rage has swept over me.
Your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like water.
They have battered me completely.
18 You have distanced my loved one and friend from me.
My only friend is darkness.
Psalm 89
The Covenant With David
Heading
A maskil by Ethan the Ezrahite.
Opening Praise
1 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.
With my mouth I will make your faithfulness known
through all generations.
2 Yes, I have said, “Your mercy is built to last forever.
In the heavens you establish your faithfulness.”
The Statement of the Covenant
3 The Lord said,[g]
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one.
I have sworn to David my servant.
4 I will establish your seed[h] forever, Interlude
and I will build your throne through all generations.”
God’s Power Upholds the Covenant
5 The heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
also your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can compare with the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the sons of God?
7 God is revered in the council of the holy ones.
He is to be feared more than all who surround him.
8 O Lord God of Armies, who is like you?
You are mighty, O Lord,[i]
and your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule over the majestic sea.
When its waves rise up, you quiet them.
10 You crushed Rahab[j] like one of the slain.
With your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
11 The heavens are yours, and yours also is the earth.
You founded the world and everything that fills it.
12 You created the north and the south.
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at your name.
13 Your arm works for you with power.
Your hand is strong. Your right hand is raised high.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
Mercy and truth are right in front of you.
The Security of God’s People
15 How blessed are the people who know the joyful cry.
Lord, they walk in the light from your face.
16 In your name they celebrate all day long.
In your righteousness they are lifted up.
17 For you are the beauty of their strength,
and by your favor you exalt our Horn.[k]
18 Indeed, our Shield belongs to the Lord,
our King to the Holy One of Israel.
The Promise to David
19 Once you spoke in a vision to your favored ones.
You said:
I have granted help to a warrior.
I have raised up a young man from among the people.
20 I found David my servant.
With my holy oil I have anointed him.
21 He is the one whom my hand will sustain.
Surely my arm will strengthen him.
22 No enemy will subject him to tribute.
No violent man will oppress him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and mercy will be with him,
and through my name his horn[l] will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.
26 He will call out to me, “You are my Father,
my God and the Rock that saves me.”
27 I will also make him the Firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my mercy for him forever,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.
29 I will establish his seed forever.
His throne will endure like the days of the heavens.
The Terms of the Covenant
30 If his sons forsake my law,
and they do not walk according to my judgments,
31 if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commands,
32 I will punish their rebellion with the rod, their guilt with whipping.
33 But I will not break off my mercy from him.
I will not let my truth become false.
34 I will not violate my covenant.
I will not alter what comes out of my lips.
35 Once and for all, I have sworn by my holiness—
surely I will not lie to David—
36 that his seed will continue forever,
and his throne will endure before me like the sun.
37 It will be established forever like the moon. Interlude
This witness in the sky is faithful.
The Covenant Abandoned?
38 But you have rejected, you have cast off,
you have been very angry with your anointed one,
39 and you have renounced the covenant with your servant,
and you have thrown his crown on the ground.
40 You have broken down all his walls
and reduced his fortresses to rubble.
41 All who pass by on the road have plundered him.
He is despised by his neighbors.
42 You have raised up the right hand of his foes.
You have made all his enemies happy.
43 Indeed, you have deflected the edge of his sword,
and you have not let him stand up in battle.
44 You have put an end to his majesty,
and you have hurled his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short the days of his youth. Interlude
You have clothed him with shame.
46 How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
Will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember me! What is my life!
For you have created such futility for all the children of Adam!
48 Can anyone live and not see death, Interlude
or save his life from the power of the grave?
49 Where are your former mercies, O Lord,
which you swore to David in your faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, the scorn your servants have[m] endured.
(I carry on my heart all the many peoples!)[n]
51 Remember the scorn
with which your enemies have been scornful, O Lord,
with which they have scorned the steps of your Anointed One.
Closing Doxology
52 Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.