Psalms 27-32

Psalm 27

¹By David. The LORD is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

²When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.

³Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, even then I will be confident.

⁴One thing I have asked of the LORD, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the LORD’s house all the days of my life, to see the LORD’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple.

⁵For in the day of trouble, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the secret place of his tabernacle, he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.

⁶Now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me. I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tent. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.

⁷Hear, LORD, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also on me, and answer me.

⁸When you said, “Seek my face,” my heart said to you, “I will seek your face, LORD.”

⁹Don’t hide your face from me. Don’t put your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Don’t abandon me, neither forsake me, God of my salvation.

¹⁰When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

¹¹Teach me your way, LORD. Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies.

¹²Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.

¹³I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

¹⁴Wait for the LORD. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the LORD.

Psalm 28

¹By David. To you, LORD, I call. My rock, don’t be deaf to me, lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.

²Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.

³Don’t draw me away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts.

⁴Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings. Give them according to the operation of their hands. Bring back on them what they deserve.

⁵Because they don’t respect the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he will break them down and not build them up.

⁶Blessed be the LORD, because he has heard the voice of my petitions.

⁷The LORD is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song I will thank him.

⁸The LORD is their strength. He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.

⁹Save your people, and bless your inheritance. Be their shepherd also, and bear them up forever.

Psalm 29

¹A Psalm by David. Ascribe to the LORD, you sons of the mighty, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

²Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name. Worship the LORD in holy array.

³The LORD’s voice is on the waters. The God of glory thunders, even the LORD on many waters.

⁴The LORD’s voice is powerful. The LORD’s voice is full of majesty.

⁵The LORD’s voice breaks the cedars. Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young, wild ox.

⁷The LORD’s voice strikes with flashes of lightning.

⁸The LORD’s voice shakes the wilderness. The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The LORD’s voice makes the deer calve, and strips the forests bare. In his temple everything says, “Glory!”

¹⁰The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood. Yes, the LORD sits as King forever.

¹¹The LORD will give strength to his people. The LORD will bless his people with peace.

Psalm 30

¹A Psalm. A Song for the Dedication of the Temple. By David. I will extol you, LORD, for you have raised me up, and have not made my foes to rejoice over me.

²LORD my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.

³LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

⁴Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of his. Give thanks to his holy name.

⁵For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

⁶As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”

⁷You, LORD, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled.

⁸I cried to you, LORD. I made supplication to the Lord:

⁹“What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth?

¹⁰Hear, LORD, and have mercy on me. LORD, be my helper.”

¹¹You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness,

¹²to the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent. LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

Psalm 31

¹For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. In you, LORD, I take refuge. Let me never be disappointed. Deliver me in your righteousness.

²Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me.

³For you are my rock and my fortress, therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.

⁴Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me, for you are my stronghold.

⁵Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, LORD, God of truth.

⁶I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in the LORD.

⁷I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness, for you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities.

⁸You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.

⁹Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.

¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.

¹¹Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, a horror to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

¹²I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery.

¹³For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.

¹⁴But I trust in you, LORD. I said, “You are my God.”

¹⁵My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

¹⁶Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your loving kindness.

¹⁷Let me not be disappointed, LORD, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be disappointed. Let them be silent in Sheol.

¹⁸Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.

¹⁹Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men!

²⁰In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.

²¹Praise be to the LORD, for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city.

²²As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.” Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.

²³Oh love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.

²⁴Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD.

Psalm 32

¹By David. A contemplative psalm. Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

²Blessed is the man to whom the LORD doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

⁴For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer. Selah.

⁵I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

⁶For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.

⁷You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

⁸I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you.

⁹Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.

¹⁰Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in the LORD.

¹¹Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, you righteous! Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!