Sermon Central
Psalm 73-83
BOOK III Psalm 73 1A psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.
3For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
5They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills.
6Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
7From their callous hearts comes iniquity
8They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.
9Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.
11They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?”
12This is what the wicked are like— always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
13Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence.
14All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.
15If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children.
16When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply
17till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.
18Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.
19How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
20They are like a dream when one awakes; when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.
21When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
22I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
23Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
24You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
25Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. 28But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.
Psalm 74
1A maskil
2Remember the nation you purchased long ago, the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed— Mount Zion, where you dwelt.
3Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins, all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.
4Your foes roared in the place where you met with us; they set up their standards as signs.
5They behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees.
6They smashed all the carved paneling with their axes and hatchets.
7They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.
8They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!” They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.
9We are given no signs from God; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.
10How long will the enemy mock you, God? Will the foe revile your name forever?
11Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!
12But God is my King from long ago; he brings salvation on the earth.
13It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.
14It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.
15It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
16The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon.
17It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.
18Remember how the enemy has mocked you, LORD, how foolish people have reviled your name.
19Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever.
20Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
21Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name.
22Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long. 23Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries, the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.
Psalm 75
2You say, “I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge with equity.
3When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.
4To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.
5Do not lift your horns against heaven; do not speak so defiantly.’ ”
6No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt themselves.
7It is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.
8In the hand of the LORD is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs.
9As for me, I will declare this forever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob, 10who says, “I will cut off the horns of all the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”
Psalm 76
2His tent is in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.
3There he broke the flashing arrows, the shields and the swords, the weapons of war.
4You are radiant with light, more majestic than mountains rich with game.
5The valiant lie plundered, they sleep their last sleep; not one of the warriors can lift his hands.
6At your rebuke, God of Jacob, both horse and chariot lie still.
7It is you alone who are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry?
8From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet—
9when you, God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land.
10Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.
11Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them; let all the neighboring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared. 12He breaks the spirit of rulers; he is feared by the kings of the earth.
Psalm 77
2When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.
3I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.
4You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak.
5I thought about the former days, the years of long ago;
6I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked:
7“Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again?
8Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time?
9Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”
10Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
11I will remember the deeds of the LORD ; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
12I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
13Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God?
14You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.
15With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
16The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed.
17The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth.
18Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked.
19Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. 20You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Psalm 78
1A maskil
2I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
3things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us.
4We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.
5He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children,
6so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.
7Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.
8They would not be like their ancestors— a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.
9The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle;
10they did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his law.
11They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.
12He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand up like a wall.
14He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night.
15He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
16he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers.
17But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.
18They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved.
19They spoke against God; they said, “Can God really spread a table in the wilderness?
20True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, streams flowed abundantly, but can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?”
21When the LORD heard them, he was furious; his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel,
22for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance.
23Yet he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens;
24he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven.
25Human beings ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.
26He let loose the east wind from the heavens and by his power made the south wind blow.
27He rained meat down on them like dust, birds like sand on the seashore.
28He made them come down inside their camp, all around their tents.
29They ate till they were gorged— he had given them what they craved.
30But before they turned from what they craved, even while the food was still in their mouths,
31God’s anger rose against them; he put to death the sturdiest among them, cutting down the young men of Israel.
32In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.
33So he ended their days in futility and their years in terror.
34Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again.
35They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.
36But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues;
37their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant.
38Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath.
39He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.
40How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the wasteland!
41Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember his power— the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,
43the day he displayed his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan.
44He turned their river into blood; they could not drink from their streams.
45He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.
46He gave their crops to the grasshopper, their produce to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
48He gave over their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning.
49He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility— a band of destroying angels.
50He prepared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague.
51He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.
52But he brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
53He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed their enemies.
54And so he brought them to the border of his holy land, to the hill country his right hand had taken.
55He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance; he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
56But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes.
57Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow.
58They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols.
59When God heard them, he was furious; he rejected Israel completely.
60He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among humans.
61He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy.
62He gave his people over to the sword; he was furious with his inheritance.
63Fire consumed their young men, and their young women had no wedding songs;
64their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep.
65Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.
66He beat back his enemies; he put them to everlasting shame.
67Then he rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.
69He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that he established forever.
70He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens;
71from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. 72And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.
Psalm 79 1A psalm of Asaph. O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
2They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.
3They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.
4We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.
5How long, LORD ? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
6Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name;
7for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
8Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.
9Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake.
10Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.
11May the groans of the prisoners come before you; with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.
12Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord. 13Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise.
Psalm 80
2before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us.
3Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
4How long, LORD God Almighty, will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people?
5You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
6You have made us an object of derision
7Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
8You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
9You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.
10The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.
11Its branches reached as far as the Sea,
12Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
13Boars from the forest ravage it, and insects from the fields feed on it.
14Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine,
15the root your right hand has planted, the son
16Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish.
17Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
18Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. 19Restore us, LORD God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
Psalm 81
2Begin the music, strike the timbrel, play the melodious harp and lyre.
3Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;
4this is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5When God went out against Egypt, he established it as a statute for Joseph. I heard an unknown voice say:
6“I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket.
7In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
8Hear me, my people, and I will warn you— if you would only listen to me, Israel!
9You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me.
10I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
11“But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me.
12So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
13“If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways,
14how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!
15Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. 16But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Psalm 82 1A psalm of Asaph. God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”:
2“How long will you
3Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5“The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6“I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’
7But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.” 8Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.
Psalm 83
2See how your enemies growl, how your foes rear their heads.
3With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish.
4“Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”
5With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you—
6the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,
7Byblos, Ammon and Amalek, Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
8Even Assyria has joined them to reinforce Lot’s descendants.
9Do to them as you did to Midian, as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
10who perished at Endor and became like dung on the ground.
11Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12who said, “Let us take possession of the pasturelands of God.”
13Make them like tumbleweed, my God, like chaff before the wind.
14As fire consumes the forest or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm.
16Cover their faces with shame, LORD, so that they will seek your name.
17May they ever be ashamed and dismayed; may they perish in disgrace. 18Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD — that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.