Psalms 73; Psalms 77-78 - Prayer Tents

73[A psalm of Asaph.] Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure.H4210H623H430H2896H3478H1249H3824 2But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.H7272H4592H5186H5186H838H369H8210 3For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.H7065H1984H7200H7965H7563 4They seem to live such painless lives; their bodies are so healthy and strong.H2784H4194H193H1277 5They don’t have troubles like other people; they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.H5999H582H5060H5973H120 6They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty.H1346H6059H2555H5848H7897 7These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for!H5869H3318H2459H5674H3824H4906 8They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others.H4167H1696H7451H6233H1696H4791 9They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut throughout the earth.H8371H6310H8064H3956H1980H776 10And so the people are dismayed and confused, drinking in all their words.H5971H7725H7725H1988H4325H4392H4680 11“What does God know?” they ask. “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”H559H410H3045H3426H1844H5945 12Look at these wicked people—enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.H7563H7961H5769H7685H2428 13Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?H2135H3824H7385H7364H3709H5356 14I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain.H3117H5060H8433H1242 15If I had really spoken this way to others, I would have been a traitor to your people.H559H5608H3644H898H1755H1121 16So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is!H2803H3045H5999H5869 17Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.H935H4720H410H995H319 18Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.H7896H2513H5307H4876 19In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.H8047H7281H5486H8552H1091 20When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.H2472H6974H136H5782H959H6754 21Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside.H3824H2556H8150H3629 22I was so foolish and ignorant—I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.H1198H3045H929 23Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand.H8548H270H3225H3027 24You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.H5148H6098H310H3947H3519 25Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.H8064H776H2654 26My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.H7607H3824H3615H430H6697H3824H2506H5769 27Those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you.H7369H6H6789H2181 28But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.H589H2896H7132H430H7896H4268H136H3069H5608H4399

77[For Jeduthun, the choir director: A psalm of Asaph.] I cry out to God; yes, I shout. Oh, that God would listen to me!H5329H3038H4210H623H6817H430H6963H430H6963H238 2When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord. All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted.H3117H6869H1875H136H3027H5064H3915H6313H5315H3985H5162 3I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help. InterludeH2142H430H1993H7878H7307H5848H5542 4You don’t let me sleep. I am too distressed even to pray!H270H5869H8109H6470H1696 5I think of the good old days, long since ended,H2803H3117H6924H8141H5769 6when my nights were filled with joyful songs. I search my soul and ponder the difference now.H2142H5058H3915H7878H3824H7307H2664 7Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again be kind to me?H136H2186H5769H3254H7521 8Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed?H2617H656H5331H562H1584H1755H1755 9Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he slammed the door on his compassion? InterludeH410H7911H2589H639H7092H7356H5542 10And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”H559H2470H8141H3225H5945 11But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.H2142H2142H4611H3050H2142H6382H6924 12They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.H1897H6467H7878H5949 13O God, your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as you?H1870H430H6944H1419H410H430 14You are the God of great wonders! You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.H410H6213H6382H3045H5797H5971 15By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. InterludeH2220H1350H5971H1121H3290H3130H5542 16When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled! The sea quaked to its very depths.H4325H7200H430H4325H7200H2342H8415H7264 17The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky. Your arrows of lightning flashed.H5645H2229H4325H7834H5414H6963H2687H1980 18Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world! The earth trembled and shook.H6963H7482H1534H1300H215H8398H776H7264H7493 19Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!H1870H3220H7635H7227H4325H6119H3045 20You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.H5148H5971H6629H3027H4872H175

78[A psalm of Asaph.] O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying,H4905H623H238H5971H8451H5186H241H561H6310 2for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—H6605H6310H4912H5042H2420H6924 3stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us.H8085H3045H1H5608 4We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.H3582H1121H5608H1755H314H8416H3068H5807H6381H6213 5For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children,H6965H5715H3290H7760H8451H3478H6680H1H3045H1121 6so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children.H1755H314H3045H1121H3205H6965H5608H1121 7So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.H7760H3689H430H7911H4611H410H5341H4687 8Then they will not be like their ancestors—stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.H1H5637H4784H1755H1755H3559H3820H3559H7307H539H410 9The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.H1121H669H5401H7411H7198H2015H3117H7128 10They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his instructions.H8104H1285H430H3985H3212H8451 11They forgot what he had done—the great wonders he had shown them,H7911H5949H6381H7200 12the miracles he did for their ancestors on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.H6382H6213H5048H1H776H4714H7704H6814 13For he divided the sea and led them through, making the water stand up like walls!H1234H3220H5674H4325H5324H5067 14In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and all night by a pillar of fire.H3119H5148H6051H3915H216H784 15He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them water, as from a gushing spring.H1234H6697H4057H8248H7227H8415 16He made streams pour from the rock, making the waters flow down like a river!H3318H5140H5553H4325H3381H5104 17Yet they kept on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.H2398H3254H4784H5945H6723 18They stubbornly tested God in their hearts, demanding the foods they craved.H5254H410H3824H7592H400H5315 19They even spoke against God himself, saying, “God can’t give us food in the wilderness.H1696H430H559H3201H410H6186H7979H4057 20Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out, but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”H5221H6697H4325H2100H5158H7857H3201H5414H3899H3201H3559H7607H5971 21When the Lord heard them, he was furious. The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob. Yes, his anger rose against Israel,H3068H8085H5674H784H5400H3290H639H5927H3478 22for they did not believe God or trust him to care for them.H539H430H982H3444 23But he commanded the skies to open; he opened the doors of heaven.H6680H7834H4605H6605H1817H8064 24He rained down manna for them to eat; he gave them bread from heaven.H4305H4478H398H5414H1715H8064 25They ate the food of angels! God gave them all they could hold.H376H398H47H3899H7971H6720H7648 26He released the east wind in the heavens and guided the south wind by his mighty power.H6921H5265H8064H5797H5090H8486 27He rained down meat as thick as dust—birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!H4305H7607H6083H3671H5775H2344H3220 28He caused the birds to fall within their camp and all around their tents.H5307H7130H4264H5439H4908 29The people ate their fill. He gave them what they craved.H398H3966H7646H935H8378 30But before they satisfied their craving, while the meat was yet in their mouths,H2114H8378H400H6310 31the anger of God rose against them, and he killed their strongest men. He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.H639H430H5927H2026H4924H3766H970H3478 32But in spite of this, the people kept sinning. Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.H2398H539H6381 33So he ended their lives in failure, their years in terror.H3117H3615H1892H8141H928 34When God began killing them, they finally sought him. They repented and took God seriously.H2026H1875H7725H7836H410 35Then they remembered that God was their rock, that God Most High was their redeemer.H2142H430H6697H5945H410H1350 36But all they gave him was lip service; they lied to him with their tongues.H6601H6310H3576H3956 37Their hearts were not loyal to him. They did not keep his covenant.H3820H3559H539H1285 38Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins and did not destroy them all. Many times he held back his anger and did not unleash his fury!H7349H3722H5771H7843H7235H7725H639H7725H5782H2534 39For he remembered that they were merely mortal, gone like a breath of wind that never returns.H2142H1320H7307H1980H7725 40Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.H4100H4784H4057H6087H3452 41Again and again they tested God’s patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel.H7725H5254H410H8428H6918H3478 42They did not remember his power and how he rescued them from their enemies.H2142H3027H3117H6299H6862 43They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders on the plain of Zoan.H7760H226H4714H4159H7704H6814 44For he turned their rivers into blood, so no one could drink from the streams.H2015H2975H1818H5140H8354 45He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them and hordes of frogs to ruin them.H7971H6157H398H6854H7843 46He gave their crops to caterpillars; their harvest was consumed by locusts.H5414H2981H2625H3018H697 47He destroyed their grapevines with hail and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet.H2026H1612H1259H8256H2602 48He abandoned their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning.H5462H1165H1259H4735H7565 49He loosed on them his fierce anger—all his fury, rage, and hostility. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels.H7971H2740H639H5678H2195H6869H4917H7451H4397 50He turned his anger against them; he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives but ravaged them with the plague.H6424H5410H639H2820H5315H4194H5462H2416H5462H1698 51He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family, the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.H5221H1060H4714H7225H202H168H2526 52But he led his own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness.H5971H5265H6629H5090H4057H5739 53He kept them safe so they were not afraid; but the sea covered their enemies.H5148H983H6342H3220H3680H341 54He brought them to the border of his holy land, to this land of hills he had won for them.H935H1366H6944H2022H3225H7069 55He drove out the nations before them; he gave them their inheritance by lot. He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.H1644H1471H6440H5307H5159H2256H7626H3478H7931H168 56But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High. They did not obey his laws.H5254H4784H5945H430H8104H5713 57They turned back and were as faithless as their parents. They were as undependable as a crooked bow.H5472H898H1H2015H7423H7198 58They angered God by building shrines to other gods; they made him jealous with their idols.H3707H1116H7065H6456 59When God heard them, he was very angry, and he completely rejected Israel.H430H8085H5674H3966H3988H3478 60Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people.H5203H4908H7887H168H7931H120 61He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured; he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.H5414H5797H7628H8597H6862H3027 62He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword, because he was so angry with his own people—his special possession.H5462H5971H5462H2719H5674H5159 63Their young men were killed by fire; their young women died before singing their wedding songs.H784H398H970H1330H1984 64Their priests were slaughtered, and their widows could not mourn their deaths.H3548H5307H2719H490H1058 65Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep, like a warrior aroused from a drunken stupor.H136H3364H3463H1368H7442H3196 66He routed his enemies and sent them to eternal shame.H5221H6862H268H5414H5769H2781 67But he rejected Joseph’s descendants; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.H3988H168H3130H977H7626H669 68He chose instead the tribe of Judah, and Mount Zion, which he loved.H977H7626H3063H2022H6726H157 69There he built his sanctuary as high as the heavens, as solid and enduring as the earth.H1129H4720H7311H776H3245H5769 70He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens.H977H1732H5650H3947H4356H6629 71He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants—God’s own people, Israel.H310H5763H935H7462H3290H5971H3478H5159 72He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.H7462H8537H3824H5148H8394H3709