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Psalm 88

A song. A psalm of the Korahites. For the music leader. According to “Mahalath Leannoth.”[a] A maskil[b] of Heman the Ezrahite.

88 Lord, God of my salvation,
    by day I cry out,
    even at night, before you—
    let my prayer reach you!
Turn your ear to my outcry
    because my whole being[c] is filled with distress;
    my life is at the very brink of hell.[d]

I am considered as one of those plummeting into the pit.
    I am like those who are beyond help,
    drifting among the dead,
    lying in the grave, like dead bodies—
    those you don’t remember anymore,
    those who are cut off from your power.
You placed me down in the deepest pit,
    in places dark and deep.
Your anger smothers me;
    you subdue me with it, wave after wave. Selah
You’ve made my friends distant.
    You’ve made me disgusting to them.
    I can’t escape. I’m trapped!
My eyes are tired of looking at my suffering.
    I’ve been calling out to you every day, Lord
    I’ve had my hands outstretched to you!

10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do ghosts rise up and give you thanks? Selah

11 Is your faithful love proclaimed in the grave,
    your faithfulness in the underworld?[e]
12 Are your wonders known in the land of darkness,
    your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

13 But I cry out to you, Lord!
    My prayer meets you first thing in the morning!
14 Why do you reject my very being, Lord?
    Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Since I was young I’ve been afflicted, I’ve been dying.
    I’ve endured your terrors. I’m lifeless.
16 Your fiery anger has overwhelmed me;
    your terrors have destroyed me.
17 They surround me all day long like water;
    they engulf me completely.
18 You’ve made my loved ones and companions distant.
    My only friend is darkness.

Psalm 89

A maskil[f] of Ethan the Ezrahite.

89 I will sing of the Lord’s loyal love forever.
    I will proclaim your faithfulness
    with my own mouth
    from one generation to the next.
That’s why I say,
    “Your[g] loyal love is rightly built—forever!
    You establish your faithfulness in heaven.”
You said,[h] “I made a covenant with my chosen one;
    I promised my servant David:
    ‘I will establish your offspring forever;
    I will build up your throne from one generation to the next.’” Selah

Heaven thanks you for your wondrous acts, Lord
    for your faithfulness too—
    in the assembly of the holy ones.
Is there any in the sky who could compare to the Lord?
    Who among the gods is equal to the Lord?
God is respected in the council of the holy ones;
    God is awesome and revered more than all those around him.
Who is like you, Lord God of heavenly forces?
    Mighty Lord, your faithfulness surrounds you!
You rule over the surging sea:
    When its waves rise up,
    it’s you who makes them still.
10 It’s you who crushed Rahab like a dead body;
    you scattered your enemies with your strong arm.
11 Heaven is yours! The earth too!
    The world and all that fills it—
    you made all of it! North and south—you created them!
12     The mountains Tabor and Hermon
    shout praises to your name.
13 You have a powerful arm;
    your hand is strong;
    your strong hand is raised high!
14 Your throne is built on righteousness and justice;
    loyal love and faithfulness stand in front of you.

15 The people who know the celebratory shout are truly happy!
    They walk in the light of your presence, Lord!
16 They rejoice in your name all day long
    and are uplifted by your righteousness
17     because you are the splendor of their strength.
By your favor you make us strong
18     because our shield is the Lord’s own;
    our king belongs to the holy one of Israel!

19 Once you spoke in a vision
    to your faithful servants:
I placed a crown on a strong man.
    I raised up someone specially chosen from the people.
20 I discovered my servant David.
    I anointed him with my holy oil.
21 My hand will sustain him—
    yes, my arm will strengthen him!
22 No enemy will oppress him;
    no wicked person will make him suffer.
23 I will crush all his foes in front of him.
    I will strike down all those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and my loyal love will be with him.
    He will be strengthened by my name.
25 I will set his hand on the sea.
    I will set his strong hand on the rivers.
26 He will cry out to me:
    “You are my father,
    my God, the rock of my salvation.”
27 Yes, I’ll make him the one born first—
    I’ll make him the high king of all earth’s kings.
28 I will always guard my loyal love toward him.
    My covenant with him will last forever.
29 I will establish his dynasty for all time.
    His throne will last as long as heaven does.
30 But if his children ever abandon my Instruction,
    stop following my rules—
31         if they treat my statutes like dirt,
        stop keeping my commandments—
32     then I will punish their sin with a stick,
        and I will punish their wrongdoing with a severe beating.
33 But even then I won’t withdraw my loyal love from him.
    I won’t betray my faithfulness.
34     I won’t break my covenant.
    I won’t renege on what crossed my lips.
35 By my own holiness I’ve sworn one thing:
    I will not lie to David.
36     His dynasty will last forever.
    His throne will be like the sun, always before me.
37     It will be securely established forever;
    like the moon, a faithful witness in the sky. Selah

38 But you, God, have rejected and despised him.
    You’ve become infuriated with your anointed one.
39     You’ve canceled the covenant with your servant.
    You’ve thrown his crown in the dirt.
40     You’ve broken through all his walls.
    You’ve made his strongholds a pile of ruins.
41 All those who pass by plunder him.
    He’s nothing but a joke to his neighbors.
42 You lifted high his foes’ strong hand.
    You gave all his enemies reason to celebrate.
43 Yes, you dulled the edge of his sword
    and didn’t support him in battle.
44     You’ve put an end to his splendor.
    You’ve thrown his throne to the ground.
45     You’ve shortened the prime of his life.
    You’ve wrapped him up in shame. Selah

46 How long will it last, Lord?
    Will you hide yourself forever?
    How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my life is!
    Have you created humans for no good reason?
48 Who lives their life without seeing death?
    Who is ever rescued from the grip of the grave?[i] Selah
49 Where now are your loving acts
    from long ago, my Lord—
    the same ones you promised to David
    by your own faithfulness?
50 Remember your servant’s abuse, my Lord!
    Remember how I bear in my heart
    all the insults of the nations,[j]
51         the ones your enemies, Lord, use—
        the ones they use to abuse
        every step your anointed one takes.

52 Bless the Lord forever!
    Amen and Amen!

BOOK IV

(Psalms 90–106)

Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

90 Lord, you have been our help,
    generation after generation.
Before the mountains were born,
    before you birthed the earth and the inhabited world—
    from forever in the past
    to forever in the future, you are God.

You return people to dust,
    saying, “Go back, humans,”
    because in your perspective a thousand years
    are like yesterday past,
    like a short period during the night watch.
You sweep humans away like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning.
True, in the morning it thrives, renewed,
    but come evening it withers, all dried up.
Yes, we are wasting away because of your wrath;
    we are paralyzed with fear on account of your rage.
You put our sins right in front of you,
    set our hidden faults in the light from your face.
Yes, all our days slip away because of your fury;
    we finish up our years with a whimper.
10 We live at best to be seventy years old,
    maybe eighty, if we’re strong.
But their duration brings hard work and trouble
    because they go by so quickly.
    And then we fly off.
11 Who can comprehend the power of your anger?
    The honor that is due you corresponds to your wrath.
12 Teach us to number our days
    so we can have a wise heart.

13 Come back to us, Lord!
    Please, quick!
    Have some compassion for your servants!
14 Fill us full every morning with your faithful love
    so we can rejoice and celebrate our whole life long.
15 Make us happy for the same amount of time that you afflicted us—
    for the same number of years that we saw only trouble.
16 Let your acts be seen by your servants;
    let your glory be seen by their children.
17 Let the kindness of the Lord our God be over us.
    Make the work of our hands last.
    Make the work of our hands last!

Psalm 91

91 Living in the Most High’s shelter,
    camping in the Almighty’s[k] shade,
I say to the Lord, “You are my refuge, my stronghold!
    You are my God—the one I trust!”

God will save you from the hunter’s trap
    and from deadly sickness.
God will protect you with his pinions;
    you’ll find refuge under his wings.
    His faithfulness is a protective shield.
Don’t be afraid of terrors at night,
    arrows that fly in daylight,
    or sickness that prowls in the dark,
    destruction that ravages at noontime.
Even if one thousand people fall dead next to you,
    ten thousand right beside you—
    it won’t happen to you.
Just look with your eyes,
    and you will see the wicked punished.
Because you’ve made the Lord my refuge,
    the Most High, your place of residence—
10         no evil will happen to you;
        no disease will come close to your tent.
11 Because he will order his messengers to help you,
    to protect you wherever you go.
12 They will carry you with their own hands
    so you don’t bruise your foot on a stone.
13 You’ll march on top of lions and vipers;
    you’ll trample young lions and serpents underfoot.

14 God says,[l] “Because you are devoted to me,
    I’ll rescue you.
    I’ll protect you because you know my name.
15 Whenever you cry out to me, I’ll answer.
    I’ll be with you in troubling times.
    I’ll save you and glorify you.
16     I’ll fill you full with old age.
    I’ll show you my salvation.”

Psalm 92

A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.

92 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
    to sing praises to your name, Most High;
    to proclaim your loyal love in the morning,
        your faithfulness at nighttime
    with the ten-stringed harp,
        with the melody of the lyre
    because you’ve made me happy, Lord,
    by your acts.
    I sing with joy because of your handiwork.
How awesome are your works, Lord!
    Your thoughts are so deep!
Ignorant people don’t know—
    fools don’t understand this:
    though the wicked spring up like grass
    and all evildoers seem to blossom,
    they do so only to be destroyed forever.
But you, Lord, are exalted forever!

Look at your enemies, Lord!
    Look at how your enemies die,
    how all evildoers are scattered abroad!
10 But you’ve made me as strong as a wild ox.
    I’m soaked in precious ointment.
11 My eyes have seen my enemies’ defeat;
    my ears have heard the downfall of my evil foes.

12 The righteous will spring up like a palm tree.
    They will grow strong like a cedar of Lebanon.
13 Those who have been replanted in the Lord’s house
    will spring up in the courtyards of our God.
14 They will bear fruit even when old and gray;
    they will remain lush and fresh 15 in order to proclaim:
        “The Lord is righteous.
        He’s my rock.
        There’s nothing unrighteous in him.”

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 88:1 Heb uncertain
  2. Psalm 88:1 Perhaps instruction
  3. Psalm 88:3 Or soul, also in 88:14
  4. Psalm 88:3 Heb Sheol
  5. Psalm 88:11 Heb Abaddon
  6. Psalm 89:1 Perhaps instruction
  7. Psalm 89:2 Heb lacks Your.
  8. Psalm 89:3 Heb lacks You said.
  9. Psalm 89:48 Heb Sheol
  10. Psalm 89:50 Correction; MT all of many peoples
  11. Psalm 91:1 Heb Shaddai
  12. Psalm 91:14 Heb lacks God says.

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