PSALMS 70-73

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Prayer for Help against Persecutors.For the choir director. A Psalm of David; for a memorial.
70:1 O God, hasten to deliver me;

O LORD, hasten to my help!

2 Let those be ashamed and humiliated

Who seek my life;

Let those be turned back and dishonored

Who delight in my hurt.

3 Let those be turned back because of their shame

Who say, “Aha, aha!”

4 Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;

And let those who love Your salvation say continually,

“Let God be magnified.”

5 But I am afflicted and needy;

Hasten to me, O God!

You are my help and my deliverer;

O LORD, do not delay.

Prayer of an Old Man for Deliverance.71:1 In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge;

Let me never be ashamed.

2 In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

Incline Your ear to me and save me.

3 Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come;

You have given commandment to save me,

For You are my rock and my fortress.

4 Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,

Out of the grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man,

5 For You are my hope;

O Lord GOD, You are my confidence from my youth.

6 By You I have been sustained from my birth;

You are He who took me from my mother’s womb;

My praise is continually of You.

7 I have become a marvel to many,

For You are my strong refuge.

8 My mouth is filled with Your praise

And with Your glory all day long.

9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

Do not forsake me when my strength fails.

10 For my enemies have spoken against me;

And those who watch for my life have consulted together,

11 Saying, “God has forsaken him;

Pursue and seize him, for there is no one to deliver.”

12 O God, do not be far from me;

O my God, hasten to my help!

13 Let those who are adversaries of my soul be ashamed and consumed;

Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor, who seek to injure me.

14 But as for me, I will hope continually,

And will praise You yet more and more.

15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness

And of Your salvation all day long;

For I do not know the sum of them.

16 I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD;

I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.

17 O God, You have taught me from my youth,

And I still declare Your wondrous deeds.

18 And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,

Until I declare Your strength to this generation,

Your power to all who are to come.

19 For Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens,

You who have done great things;

O God, who is like You?

20 You who have shown me many troubles and distresses

Will revive me again,

And will bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

21 May You increase my greatness

And turn to comfort me.

22 I will also praise You with a harp,

Even Your truth, O my God;

To You I will sing praises with the lyre,

O Holy One of Israel.

23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to You;

And my soul, which You have redeemed.

24 My tongue also will utter Your righteousness all day long;

For they are ashamed, for they are humiliated who seek my hurt.

The Reign of the Righteous King.A Psalm of Solomon.
72:1 Give the king Your judgments, O God,

And Your righteousness to the king’s son.

2 May he judge Your people with righteousness

And Your afflicted with justice.

3 Let the mountains bring peace to the people,

And the hills, in righteousness.

4 May he vindicate the afflicted of the people,

Save the children of the needy

And crush the oppressor.

5 Let them fear You while the sun endures,

And as long as the moon, throughout all generations.

6 May he come down like rain upon the mown grass,

Like showers that water the earth.

7 In his days may the righteous flourish,

And abundance of peace till the moon is no more.

8 May he also rule from sea to sea

And from the River to the ends of the earth.

9 Let the nomads of the desert bow before him,

And his enemies lick the dust.

10 Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring presents;

The kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.

11 And let all kings bow down before him,

All nations serve him.

12 For he will deliver the needy when he cries for help,

The afflicted also, and him who has no helper.

13 He will have compassion on the poor and needy,

And the lives of the needy he will save.

14 He will rescue their life from oppression and violence,

And their blood will be precious in his sight;

15 So may he live, and may the gold of Sheba be given to him;

And let them pray for him continually;

Let them bless him all day long.

16 May there be abundance of grain in the earth on top of the mountains;

Its fruit will wave like the cedars of Lebanon;

And may those from the city flourish like vegetation of the earth.

17 May his name endure forever;

May his name increase as long as the sun shines;

And let men bless themselves by him;

Let all nations call him blessed.

18 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel,

Who alone works wonders.

19 And blessed be His glorious name forever;

And may the whole earth be filled with His glory.

Amen, and Amen.

20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

The End of the Wicked Contrasted with That of the Righteous.A Psalm of Asaph.
73:1 Surely God is good to Israel,

To those who are pure in heart!

2 But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling,

My steps had almost slipped.

3 For I was envious of the arrogant

As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For there are no pains in their death,

And their body is fat.

5 They are not in trouble as other men,

Nor are they plagued like mankind.

6 Therefore pride is their necklace;

The garment of violence covers them.

7 Their eye bulges from fatness;

The imaginations of their heart run riot.

8 They mock and wickedly speak of oppression;

They speak from on high.

9 They have set their mouth against the heavens,

And their tongue parades through the earth.

10 Therefore his people return to this place,

And waters of abundance are drunk by them.

11 They say, “How does God know?

And is there knowledge with the Most High?”

12 Behold, these are the wicked;

And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.

13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure

And washed my hands in innocence;

14 For I have been stricken all day long

And chastened every morning.

15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.

16 When I pondered to understand this,

It was troublesome in my sight

17 Until I came into the sanctuary of God;

Then I perceived their end.

18 Surely You set them in slippery places;

You cast them down to destruction.

19 How they are destroyed in a moment!

They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!

20 Like a dream when one awakes,

O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.

21 When my heart was embittered

And I was pierced within,

22 Then I was senseless and ignorant;

I was like a beast before You.

23 Nevertheless I am continually with You;

You have taken hold of my right hand.

24 With Your counsel You will guide me,

And afterward receive me to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but You?

And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,

But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;

You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.

28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;

I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,

That I may tell of all Your works.

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