Jun 18 - Psalms 38-43
Psalms
1O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.2For your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down upon me.3Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin.4My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.5My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.6I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.7My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body.8I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.9All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.10My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes.11My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away.12Those who seek my life set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they plot deception.13I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear, like a mute, who cannot open his mouth;14I have become like a man who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply.15I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God.16For I said, "Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."17For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me.18I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.19Many are those who are my vigorous enemies; those who hate me without reason are numerous.20Those who repay my good with evil slander me when I pursue what is good.21O LORD, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God.22Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior.
1I said, "I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence."2But when I was silent and still, not even saying anything good, my anguish increased.3My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:4"Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.5You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath. Selah6Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.7"But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.8Save me from all my transgressions; do not make me the scorn of fools.9I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this.10Remove your scourge from me; I am overcome by the blow of your hand.11You rebuke and discipline men for their sin; you consume their wealth like a moth- each man is but a breath. Selah12"Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help; be not deaf to my weeping. For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger, as all my fathers were.13Look away from me, that I may rejoice again before I depart and am no more."
1I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.2He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.3He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.4Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.5Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.6Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced,; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.7Then I said, "Here I am, I have come- it is written about me in the scroll.8I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."9I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD.10I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.11Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me.12For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.13Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me.14May all who seek to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.15May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!" be appalled at their own shame.16But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, "The LORD be exalted!"17Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.
1Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble.2The LORD will protect him and preserve his life; he will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.3The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness.4I said, "O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you."5My enemies say of me in malice, "When will he die and his name perish?"6Whenever one comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander; then he goes out and spreads it abroad.7All my enemies whisper together against me; they imagine the worst for me, saying,8"A vile disease has beset him; he will never get up from the place where he lies."9Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.10But you, O LORD, have mercy on me; raise me up, that I may repay them.11I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.12In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.13Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.
1As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?3My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"4These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.5Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and6my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon-from Mount Mizar.7Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.8By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me- a prayer to the God of my life.9I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?"10My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?"11Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
1Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.2You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?3Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.4Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.5Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.