Day 169: Psalms 75 - 79

Chapter 75

God Will Judge with Equity

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Psalm of Asaph, A Song

1: We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.

2: “At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity.

3: When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah

4: I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;

5: do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with haughty neck.’”

6: For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,

7: but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.

8: For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

9: But I will declare it forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

10: All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Chapter 76

Who Can Stand Before You?

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

1: In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel.

2: His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.

3: There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

4: Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey.

5: The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands.

6: At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.

7: But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?

8: From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still,

9: when God arose to establish judgment, to save all the humble of the earth. Selah

10: : Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt.

11: : Make your vows to the LORD your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts
to him who is to be feared,

12: : who cuts off the spirit of princes, who is to be feared by the kings of the earth.

Chapter 77

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph

1: I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.

2: In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.

3: When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

4: You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5: I consider the days of old, the years long ago.

6: I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search:

7: “Will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable? 8Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time?

9: Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

10: Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

11: : I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

12: I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.

13: Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?

14: You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.

15: You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

16: When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled.

17: The clouds poured water; the skies gave forth thunder; your arrows flashed on every side.

18: The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
19: Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.

20: You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Chapter 78

Tell the Coming Generation
A Maskil of Asaph

1: Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2: I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3: things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.
4: We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
5: He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children,
6: that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,
7: so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;
8: and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9: The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.
10: They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law.
11: : They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.
12: In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13: He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.
14: In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.
15: He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16: He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17: Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18: They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
19: They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20: He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?”
21: Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel,
22: because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.
23: Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven,
24: and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven.
25: Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.
26: He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;
27: he rained meat on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28: he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.
29: And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.
30: But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths,
31: the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel.
32: In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.
33: So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.
34: When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.
35: They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.
36: But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.
37: Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.
38: Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.
39: He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.
40: How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!
41: They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42: They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43: when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
44: He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.
45: He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.
46: He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47: He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost.
48: He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49: He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.
50: He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.
51: He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52: Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53: He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54: And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won.
55: He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56: Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies,
57: but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.
58: For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
59: When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.
60: He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61: and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe.
62: He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage.
63: Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no marriage song.
64: Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.
65: Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.
66: And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.
67: He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68: but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.
69: He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70: He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
71: from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.
72: With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.

Chapter 79

How Long, O LORD?
A Psalm of Asaph

1: O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2: They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
3: They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
4: We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.
5: How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6: Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name!
7: For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.
8: Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.
9: Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake!
10: Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes!
11: Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!
12: Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!
13: But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.