Psalms 64-68

Psalm 64

¹To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. O God, let the voice of my grief come to your ear: keep my life from the fear of those who are against me.

²Keep me safe from the secret purpose of wrongdoers; from the band of the workers of evil;

³Who make their tongues sharp like a sword, and whose arrows are pointed, even bitter words;

⁴So that in secret they may let loose their arrows at the upright, suddenly and unseen.

⁵They make themselves strong in an evil purpose; they make holes for secret nets; they say, Who will see it,

⁶Or make discovery of our secret purpose? The design is framed with care; and the inner thought of a man, and his heart, is deep.

⁷But God sends out an arrow against them; suddenly they are wounded.

⁸The evil of their tongues is the cause of their fall; all those who see them are shaking their heads at them.

⁹And in fear men make public the works of God; and giving thought to his acts they get wisdom.

¹⁰The upright will be glad in the Lord and have hope in him; and all the lovers of righteousness will give him glory.

Psalm 65

¹To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. A Song. It is right for you, O God, to have praise in Zion: to you let the offering be made.

²To you, O hearer of prayer, let the words of all flesh come.

³Evils have overcome us: but as for our sins, you will take them away.

⁴Happy is the man of your selection, to whom you give a resting-place in your house; we will be full of the good things out of your holy place.

⁵You will give us an answer in righteousness by great acts of power, O God of our salvation; you who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of the far-off lands of the sea;

⁶The God by whose strength the mountains are fixed; who is robed with power:

⁷Who makes the loud voice of the sea quiet, and puts an end to the sound of its waves.

⁸Those in the farthest parts of the earth have fear when they see your signs: the outgoings of the morning and evening are glad because of you.

⁹You have given your blessing to the earth, watering it and making it fertile; the river of God is full of water: and having made it ready, you give men grain.

¹⁰You make the ploughed lands full of water; you make smooth the slopes: you make the earth soft with showers, sending your blessing on its growth.

¹¹The year is crowned with the good you give; life-giving rain is dropping from your footsteps,

¹²Falling on the grass of the waste land: and the little hills are glad on every side.

¹³The grass-land is thick with flocks; the valleys are full of grain; they give glad cries and songs of joy.

Psalm 66

¹To the chief music-maker. A Song. A Psalm. Send up a glad cry to God, all the earth:

²Make a song in honour of his name: give praise and glory to him.

³Say to God, How greatly to be feared are your works! because of your great power your haters are forced to put themselves under your feet.

⁴Let all the earth give you worship, and make songs to you; let them make songs to your name. (Selah.)

⁵Come and see the works of God: he is to be feared in all he does to the children of men.

⁶The sea was turned into dry land: they went through the river on foot: there did we have joy in him.

⁷He is ruling in power for ever; his eyes are watching the nations: may his haters have no strength against him. (Selah.)

⁸Give blessings to our God, O you peoples, let the voice of his praise be loud;

⁹Because he gives us life, and has not let our feet be moved.

¹⁰For you, O God, have put us to the test: testing us by fire like silver.

¹¹You let us be put in prison; chains were put on our legs.

¹²You let men go driving over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but you took us out into a wide place.

¹³I will come into your house with burned offerings, I will make payment of my debt to you,

¹⁴Keeping the word which came from my lips, and which my mouth said, when I was in trouble.

¹⁵I will give you burned offerings of fat beasts, and the smoke of sheep; I will make offerings of oxen and goats. (Selah.)

¹⁶Come, give ear to me, all you God-fearing men, so that I may make clear to you what he has done for my soul.

¹⁷My voice went up to him, and I was lifted up from the underworld.

¹⁸I said in my heart, The Lord will not give ear to me:

¹⁹But truly God's ear has been open; he has give attention to the voice of my prayer.

²⁰Praise be to God who has not taken away his good faith and his mercy from me.

Psalm 67

¹To the chief music-maker. With corded instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God give us mercy and blessing, and let the light of his face be shining on us; (Selah.)

²So that men may see your way on the earth, and your salvation among all nations.

³Let the peoples give you praise, O God; let all the peoples give you praise.

⁴O let the nations be glad, and make song of joy; for you will be the judge of the peoples in righteousness, guiding the nations of the earth. (Selah.)

⁵Let the peoples give you praise, O God; let all the peoples give you praise.

⁶The earth has given her increase; and God, even our God, will give us his blessing.

⁷God will give us his blessing; so let all the ends of the earth be in fear of him.

Psalm 68

¹To the chief music-maker. Of David. A Psalm. A Song. Let God be seen, and let his haters be put to flight; let those who are against him be turned back before him.

²Let them be like smoke before the driving wind; as wax turning soft before the fire, so let them come to an end before the power of God.

³But let the upright be glad; let them have delight before God; let them be full of joy.

⁴Make songs to God, make songs of praise to his name; make a way for him who comes through the waste lands; his name is Jah; be glad before him.

⁵A father to those who have no father, a judge of the widows, is God in his holy place.

⁶Those who are without friends, God puts in families; he makes free those who are in chains; but those who are turned away from him are given a dry land.

⁷O God, when you went out before your people, wandering through the waste land; (Selah.)

⁸The earth was shaking and the heavens were streaming, because God was present; even Sinai itself was moved before God, the God of Israel.

⁹You, O God, did freely send the rain, giving strength to the weariness of your heritage.

¹⁰Those whose resting-place was there, even the poor, were comforted by your good things, O God.

¹¹The Lord gives the word; great is the number of the women who make it public.

¹²Kings of armies quickly go in flight: and the women in the houses make a division of their goods.

¹³Will you take your rest among the flocks? like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and its feathers with yellow gold.

¹⁴When the Most High put the kings to flight, it was as white as snow in Salmon.

¹⁵A hill of God is the hill of Bashan; a hill with high tops is the hill of Bashan.

¹⁶Why are you looking with envy, you high hills, on the hill desired by God as his resting-place? truly, God will make it his house for ever.

¹⁷The war-carriage of God is among Israel's thousands; the Lord has come from Sinai to the holy place.

¹⁸You have gone up on high, taking your prisoners with you; you have taken offerings from men; the Lord God has taken his place on the seat of his power.

¹⁹Praise be to the Lord, who is our support day by day, even the God of our salvation. (Selah.)

²⁰Our God is for us a God of salvation; his are the ways out of death.

²¹The heads of the haters of God will be crushed; even the head of him who still goes on in his evil ways.

²²The Lord said, I will make them come back from Bashan, and from the deep parts of the sea;

²³So that your foot may be red with blood, and the tongues of your dogs with the same.

²⁴We see your going, O God: even the going of my God, my King, into the holy place.

²⁵The makers of songs go before, the players of music come after, among the young girls playing on brass instruments.

²⁶Give praise to God in the great meeting; even the Lord, you who come from the fountain of Israel.

²⁷There is little Benjamin ruling them, the chiefs of Judah and their army, the rulers of Zebulun and the rulers of Naphtali.

²⁸O God, send out your strength; the strength, O God, with which you have done great things for us,

²⁹Out of your Temple in Jerusalem.

³⁰Say sharp words to the beast among the water-plants, the band of strong ones, with the lords of the peoples, put an end to the people whose delight is in war.

³¹Kings will give you offerings, they will come out of Egypt; from Pathros will come offerings of silver; Ethiopia will be stretching out her hands to God.

³²Make songs to God, you kingdoms of the earth; O make songs of praise to the Lord; (Selah.)

³³To him who goes or the clouds of heaven, the heaven which was from earliest times; he sends out his voice of power.

³⁴Make clear that strength is God's: he is lifted up over Israel, and his power is in the clouds.

³⁵O God, you are to be feared in your holy place: the God of Israel gives strength and power to his people. Praise be to God.