Psalms 33-35

Psalm 33

¹Be glad in the Lord, O doers of righteousness; for praise is beautiful for the upright.

²Give praise to the Lord on the corded instrument; make melody to him with instruments of music.

³Make a new song to him; playing expertly with a loud noise.

⁴For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his works are certain.

⁵His delight is in righteousness and wisdom; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.

⁶By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the army of heaven by the breath of his mouth.

⁷He makes the waters of the sea come together in a mass; he keeps the deep seas in store-houses.

⁸Let the earth be full of the fear of the Lord; let all the people of the world be in holy fear of him.

⁹For he gave the word, and it was done; by his order it was fixed for ever.

¹⁰The Lord undoes the designs of the nations; he makes the thoughts of the peoples without effect.

¹¹The Lord's purpose is eternal, the designs of his heart go on through all the generations of man.

¹²Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he has taken for his heritage.

¹³The Lord is looking down from heaven; he sees all the sons of men;

¹⁴From his house he keeps watch on all who are living on the earth;

¹⁵He makes all their hearts; their works are clear to him.

¹⁶A king's salvation is not in the power of his army; a strong man does not get free by his great strength.

¹⁷A horse is a false hope; his great power will not make any man free from danger.

¹⁸See, the eye of the Lord is on those in whose hearts is the fear of him, on those whose hope is in his mercy;

¹⁹To keep their souls from death; and to keep them living in time of need.

²⁰Our souls are waiting for the Lord; he is our help and our salvation.

²¹For in him our hearts have joy; in his holy name is our hope.

²²Let your mercy be on us, O Lord, as we are waiting for you.

Psalm 34

¹Of David. When he made a change in his behaviour before Abimelech, who sent him away, and he went. I will be blessing the Lord at all times; his praise will be ever in my mouth.

²My soul will say great things of the Lord: the poor in spirit will have knowledge of it and be glad.

³O give praise to the Lord with me; let us be witnesses together of his great name.

⁴I was searching for the Lord, and he gave ear to my voice, and made me free from all my fears.

⁵Let your eyes be turned to him and you will have light, and your faces will not be shamed.

⁶This poor man's cry came before the Lord, and he gave him salvation from all his troubles.

⁷The angel of the Lord is ever watching over those who have fear of him, to keep them safe.

⁸By experience you will see that the Lord is good; happy is the man who has faith in him.

⁹Keep yourselves in the fear of the Lord, all you his saints; for those who do so will have no need of anything.

¹⁰The young lions are in need and have no food; but those who are looking to the Lord will have every good thing.

¹¹Come, children, give attention to me; I will be your teacher in the fear of the Lord.

¹²What man has a love of life, and a desire that his days may be increased so that he may see good?

¹³Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from words of deceit.

¹⁴Be turned from evil, and do good; make a search for peace, desiring it with all your heart.

¹⁵The eyes of the Lord are on the upright, and his ears are open to their cry.

¹⁶The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to take away the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷The cry of the upright comes before the Lord, and he takes them out of all their troubles.

¹⁸The Lord is near the broken-hearted; he is the saviour of those whose spirits are crushed down.

¹⁹Great are the troubles of the upright: but the Lord takes him safely out of them all.

²⁰He keeps all his bones: not one of them is broken.

²¹Evil will put an end to the sinner, and those who are haters of righteousness will come to destruction.

²²The Lord will be the saviour of the souls of his servants, and no one who has faith in him will be put to shame.

Psalm 35

¹Of David. O Lord, be on my side against those who are judging me; be at war with those who make war against me.

²Be a breastplate to me, and give me your help.

³Take up your spear and keep back my attackers; say to my soul, I am your salvation.

⁴Let them be overcome and put to shame who make attempts to take my soul; let those who would do me damage be turned back and made foolish.

⁵Let them be like dust from the grain before the wind; let the angel of the Lord send them in flight.

⁶Let their way be dark and full of danger; let them be troubled by the angel of the Lord.

⁷For without cause they have put a net ready for me secretly, in which to take my soul.

⁸Let destruction come on them without their knowledge; let them be taken themselves in their secret nets, falling into the same destruction.

⁹And my soul will have joy in the Lord; it will be glad in his salvation.

¹⁰All my bones will say, Lord, who is like you? The saviour of the poor man from the hands of the strong, of him who is poor and in need from him who takes his goods.

¹¹False witnesses got up: they put questions to me about crimes of which I had no knowledge.

¹²They gave me back evil for good, troubling my soul.

¹³But as for me, when they were ill I put on the clothing of sorrow: I went without food and was sad, and my prayer came back again to my heart.

¹⁴My behaviour was as if it had been my friend or my brother: I was bent low in grief like one whose mother is dead.

¹⁵But they took pleasure in my trouble, and came together, yes, low persons came together against me without my knowledge; they never came to an end of wounding me.

¹⁶Like men of deceit they put me to shame; the voice of their wrath was loud against me.

¹⁷Lord, how long will you be looking on? take my soul from their destruction, my life from the lions.

¹⁸I will give you praise in the great meeting; I will give you honour among a strong people.

¹⁹Do not let my haters be glad over me falsely; let not those who are against me without cause make sport of me.

²⁰For they do not say words of peace; in their deceit they are designing evil things against the quiet ones in the land.

²¹Their mouths were open wide against me, and they said, Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it.

²²You have seen this, O Lord; be not unmoved: O Lord, be not far from me.

²³Be awake, O Lord, be moved to take up my cause, my God and my Lord.

²⁴Be my judge, O Lord my God, in your righteousness; do not let them be glad over me.

²⁵Let them not say in their hearts, So we will have it: let them not say, We have put an end to him.

²⁶Let all those who take pleasure in my troubles be shamed and come to nothing: let those who are lifted up against me be covered with shame and have no honour.

²⁷Let those who are on my side give cries of joy; let them ever say, The Lord be praised, for he has pleasure in the peace of his servant.

²⁸And my tongue will be talking of your righteousness and of your praise all the day.