Chronological
Psalm 81[a]
Exhortation To Worship Worthily
1 For the director.[b] “Upon the gittith.” Of Asaph.
2 Sing out your joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob.[c]
3 Raise the chant and sound the tambourine;
play the pleasant harp and the lyre.
4 Sound the trumpet at the new moon,
and also at the full moon on the day of our Feast.[d]
5 For this is a law in Israel,
a decree of the God of Jacob.
6 He imposed this testimony on Joseph[e]
when he departed from the land of Egypt.
I now hear an unfamiliar voice:
7 “I lifted the burden from their shoulders;
their hands put aside the laborer’s basket.[f]
8 When you cried out to me in distress, I rescued you;[g]
from the thunderclouds I answered you;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah: Selah
9 “ ‘Listen to me, O my people, while I warn you.
O Israel, if only you would listen to me!
10 You must not accept a foreign god in your presence;
you must not bow down to an alien deity.
11 I am the Lord, your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt;
open your mouth[h] wide so that I may fill it.’
12 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel refused to obey me.[i]
13 So I abandoned them to their stubborn hearts[j]
and let them follow their own devices.
14 [k]“If only my people would listen to me,
if only Israel would walk in my ways,[l]
15 I would quickly subdue their enemies
and raise my hand[m] against their foes.
16 “Then those who hate the Lord[n] would tremble before him,
for their doom would last forever.
17 But Israel he would feed with the finest of wheat[o]
and fill them with honey from the rock.”
Psalm 88[a]
Prayer in Affliction
1 A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.[b] For the director. According to Mahalath. For singing. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
2 [c]O Lord, the God of my salvation,
day and night I cry out to you.
3 Let my prayer come before you;
give ear to my cry for help.
4 [d]For my soul[e] is filled with misery,
and my life draws near to the netherworld.
5 I am numbered among those who go down to the pit;[f]
all strength has failed me.
6 I have been abandoned among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no longer
and whom your hand has abandoned.[g]
7 [h]You have lowered me into the depths of the pit,
into the darkest regions of the abyss.
8 Your wrath lies heavy upon me;
all your waves engulf me. Selah
9 You have caused my closest friends to shun me
and made me hateful in their sight.
I am shut in with no means of escape,[i]
10 and my eyes grow dim[j] with my suffering.
[k]Every day I call out to you, O Lord,
and spread out my hands to you.
11 Do you perform wonders[l] for the dead?
Do the shades rise up and give you praise? Selah
12 Is your kindness[m] celebrated in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the tomb?
13 Are your wonders known in the region of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?[n]
14 [o]But for my part, I cry out to you, O Lord;
in the morning my prayer rises before you.
15 Why do you cast me away, O Lord?[p]
Why do you hide your face from me?
16 Since infancy I have been wretched and close to death;
I have borne your terrors
and have now reached the point of exhaustion.
17 Your wrath has weighed down upon me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
18 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they encircle me completely.
19 You have caused my friends and neighbors to shun me;
my sole companion now is darkness.[q]
Psalm 92[a]
Praise of God’s Just Rule
1 A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath.[b]
2 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praise to your name,[c] O Most High,
3 to proclaim your kindness[d] in the morning
and your faithfulness during the night,
4 with the ten-stringed harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
5 [e]Your deeds, O Lord, have caused me to exult;
at the works of your hands I shout for joy:
6 How great are your deeds, O Lord!
How profound are your thoughts!
7 [f]A senseless person cannot grasp this;
a fool[g] is unable to comprehend it.
8 Even though the wicked may sprout like grass
and all evildoers may prosper,
they are doomed to eternal destruction,[h]
9 whereas you, O Lord, are exalted forever.[i]
10 Surely your enemies, O Lord,
surely your enemies will perish,
and all evildoers will be scattered.
11 [j]You have given me the strength of a wild bull
and anointed me with fresh oil.
12 My eyes have witnessed the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
13 [k]The righteous will flourish like the palm tree;
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
14 They are planted in the house of the Lord[l]
and will flourish in the courts of our God.
15 They still will bear fruit, in their old age,
and they will remain fresh and green,
16 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, in whom no injustice can be found.”
Psalm 93[m]
Glory of the Lord’s Kingdom
1 The Lord is King,[n] adorned in splendor;
the Lord has clothed and girded himself with strength.
[o]He has made the world firm,
never to be moved.
2 Your throne has stood firm from the beginning;
you have existed throughout eternity, O Lord.
3 The waters[p] have lifted up, O Lord;
the waters have lifted up their voice;
the waters have lifted up their roar.
4 More powerful than the roar of mighty waters,
more powerful than the crashing waves of the sea,
mighty on high is the Lord.[q]
5 Your decrees[r] are firmly established;
holiness adorns your house,
O Lord, throughout the ages.
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