Daily Reader for Day 286: Psalms 65 - 72


by Dave Moore

Come and see what God has done: He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man.  -Psalm 66:5

Today’s first three Psalms form a triumvirate of praise for the LORD’s goodness and might.  When you read Psalms 65 and 66, listen to how the writer celebrates the LORD’s power through His care of the earth: You visit the earth and water it…You water its furrows abundantly…You crown the year with your bounty… 

Psalm 67 plays on Aaron’s blessing from Number 6, which reads: The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.  Also, look closely at the structure of this Psalm’s seven verses: the lines climb and then descend a mountain.  Verse 7 responds to verse 1; verse 2 responds to verse 6; 3 and 5 are identical; and 4, at the center, forms the peak of the argument. 

Psalm 68 is a celebration of God’s unique love for, and deliverance of, Israel.  Pay attention to how the Psalmist reminds God of His own historical works: O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

After three more Psalms that call on, and depend upon, the LORD’s deliverance, our final chapter today is dedicated to King Solomon.  Given its hopeful stance – that he would receive tribute from Tarshish and Sheba, that he would have long life – this obviously came from early in his reign.  And judging from the final verse, it could even have been a commissioning prayer from his father.  Listen to its repeated hope that he will defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor…  Through righteousness will all kings fall down before him, [and] all nations serve him!

Our verse for this week is 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Psalms 65 through 72.  Now let’s read it!

Psalms 65 - 72

65:1   Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion,
    and to you shall vows be performed.
  O you who hear prayer,
    to you shall all flesh come.
  When iniquities prevail against me,
    you atone for our transgressions.
  Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
    to dwell in your courts!
  We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
    the holiness of your temple!
  By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
    O God of our salvation,
  the hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas;
  the one who by his strength established the mountains,
    being girded with might;
  who stills the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    the tumult of the peoples,
  so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
  You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
  You visit the earth and water it;
    you greatly enrich it;
  the river of God is full of water;
    you provide their grain,
    for so you have prepared it.
  You water its furrows abundantly,
    settling its ridges,
  softening it with showers,
    and blessing its growth.
  You crown the year with your bounty;
    your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
  The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
    the hills gird themselves with joy,
  the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
    the valleys deck themselves with grain,
    they shout and sing together for joy.

66:1   Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
    sing the glory of his name;
    give to him glorious praise!
  Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
    So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
  All the earth worships you
    and sings praises to you;
    they sing praises to your name.” Selah
  Come and see what God has done:
    he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
  He turned the sea into dry land;
    they passed through the river on foot.
  There did we rejoice in him,
    who rules by his might forever,
  whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
    let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
  Bless our God, O peoples;
    let the sound of his praise be heard,
  who has kept our soul among the living
    and has not let our feet slip.
  For you, O God, have tested us;
    you have tried us as silver is tried.
  You brought us into the net;
    you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
  you let men ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and through water;
  yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.
  I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
    I will perform my vows to you,
  that which my lips uttered
    and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
  I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
    with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
  I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
  Come and hear, all you who fear God,
    and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
  I cried to him with my mouth,
    and high praise was on my tongue.
  If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.
  But truly God has listened;
    he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
  Blessed be God,
    because he has not rejected my prayer
    or removed his steadfast love from me!

67:1   May God be gracious to us and bless us
    and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
  that your way may be known on earth,
    your saving power among all nations.
  Let the peoples praise you, O God;
    let all the peoples praise you!
  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
    for you judge the peoples with equity
    and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
  Let the peoples praise you, O God;
    let all the peoples praise you!
  The earth has yielded its increase;
    God, our God, shall bless us.
  God shall bless us;
    let all the ends of the earth fear him!

68:1   God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
    and those who hate him shall flee before him!
  As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
    as wax melts before fire,
    so the wicked shall perish before God!
  But the righteous shall be glad;
    they shall exult before God;
    they shall be jubilant with joy!
  Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
    lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
  his name is the LORD;
    exult before him!
  Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
    is God in his holy habitation.
  God settles the solitary in a home;
    he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
    but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
  O God, when you went out before your people,
    when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
  the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,
    before God, the One of Sinai,
    before God, the God of Israel.
  Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;
    you restored your inheritance as it languished;
  your flock found a dwelling in it;
    in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
  The Lord gives the word;
    the women who announce the news are a great host:
    “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”
  The women at home divide the spoil—
    though you men lie among the sheepfolds—
  the wings of a dove covered with silver,
    its pinions with shimmering gold.
  When the Almighty scatters kings there,
    let snow fall on Zalmon.
  O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;
    O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
  Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,
    at the mount that God desired for his abode,
    yes, where the LORD will dwell forever?
  The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
    thousands upon thousands;
    the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
  You ascended on high,
    leading a host of captives in your train
    and receiving gifts among men,
  even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.
  Blessed be the Lord,
    who daily bears us up;
    God is our salvation. Selah
  Our God is a God of salvation,
    and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
  But God will strike the heads of his enemies,
    the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.
  The Lord said,
    “I will bring them back from Bashan,
  I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
  that you may strike your feet in their blood,
    that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.”
  Your procession is seen, O God,
    the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—
  the singers in front, the musicians last,
    between them virgins playing tambourines:
  “Bless God in the great congregation,
    the LORD, O you who are of Israel's fountain!”
  There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead,
    the princes of Judah in their throng,
    the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
  Summon your power, O God,
    the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.
  Because of your temple at Jerusalem
    kings shall bear gifts to you.
  Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds,
    the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.
  Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute;
    scatter the peoples who delight in war.
  Nobles shall come from Egypt;
    Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.
  O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
    sing praises to the Lord, Selah
  to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;
    behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
  Ascribe power to God,
    whose majesty is over Israel,
    and whose power is in the skies.
  Awesome is God from his sanctuary;
    the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.
  Blessed be God!

69:1   Save me, O God!
    For the waters have come up to my neck.
  I sink in deep mire,
    where there is no foothold;
  I have come into deep waters,
    and the flood sweeps over me.
  I am weary with my crying out;
    my throat is parched.
  My eyes grow dim
    with waiting for my God.
  More in number than the hairs of my head
    are those who hate me without cause;
  mighty are those who would destroy me,
    those who attack me with lies.
  What I did not steal
    must I now restore?
  O God, you know my folly;
    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
  Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
    O Lord GOD of hosts;
  let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
    O God of Israel.
  For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
    that dishonor has covered my face.
  I have become a stranger to my brothers,
    an alien to my mother's sons.
  For zeal for your house has consumed me,
    and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
  When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,
    it became my reproach.
  When I made sackcloth my clothing,
    I became a byword to them.
  I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
    and the drunkards make songs about me.
  But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
    At an acceptable time, O God,
    in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
  Deliver me
    from sinking in the mire;
  let me be delivered from my enemies
    and from the deep waters.
  Let not the flood sweep over me,
    or the deep swallow me up,
    or the pit close its mouth over me.
  Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
    according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
  Hide not your face from your servant,
    for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
  Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
    ransom me because of my enemies!
  You know my reproach,
    and my shame and my dishonor;
    my foes are all known to you.
  Reproaches have broken my heart,
    so that I am in despair.
  I looked for pity, but there was none,
    and for comforters, but I found none.
  They gave me poison for food,
    and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
  Let their own table before them become a snare;
    and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
  Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
    and make their loins tremble continually.
  Pour out your indignation upon them,
    and let your burning anger overtake them.
  May their camp be a desolation;
    let no one dwell in their tents.
  For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
    and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
  Add to them punishment upon punishment;
    may they have no acquittal from you.
  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
    let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
  But I am afflicted and in pain;
    let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
  I will praise the name of God with a song;
    I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
  This will please the LORD more than an ox
    or a bull with horns and hoofs.
  When the humble see it they will be glad;
    you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
  For the LORD hears the needy
    and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
  Let heaven and earth praise him,
    the seas and everything that moves in them.
  For God will save Zion
    and build up the cities of Judah,
  and people shall dwell there and possess it;
    the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
    and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

70:1   Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
    O LORD, make haste to help me!
  Let them be put to shame and confusion
    who seek my life!
  Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
    who delight in my hurt!
  Let them turn back because of their shame
    who say, “Aha, Aha!”
  May all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you!
  May those who love your salvation
    say evermore, “God is great!”
  But I am poor and needy;
    hasten to me, O God!
  You are my help and my deliverer;
    O LORD, do not delay!

71:1   In you, O LORD, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame!
  In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
    incline your ear to me, and save me!
  Be to me a rock of refuge,
    to which I may continually come;
  you have given the command to save me,
    for you are my rock and my fortress.
  Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
  For you, O Lord, are my hope,
    my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
  Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
    you are he who took me from my mother's womb.
  My praise is continually of you.
  I have been as a portent to many,
    but you are my strong refuge.
  My mouth is filled with your praise,
    and with your glory all the day.
  Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
    forsake me not when my strength is spent.
  For my enemies speak concerning me;
    those who watch for my life consult together
  and say, “God has forsaken him;
    pursue and seize him,
    for there is none to deliver him.”
  O God, be not far from me;
    O my God, make haste to help me!
  May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
    with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
    who seek my hurt.
  But I will hope continually
    and will praise you yet more and more.
  My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
    of your deeds of salvation all the day,
    for their number is past my knowledge.
  With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come;
    I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.
  O God, from my youth you have taught me,
    and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
  So even to old age and gray hairs,
    O God, do not forsake me,
  until I proclaim your might to another generation,
    your power to all those to come.
  Your righteousness, O God,
    reaches the high heavens.
  You who have done great things,
    O God, who is like you?
  You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
    will revive me again;
  from the depths of the earth
    you will bring me up again.
  You will increase my greatness
    and comfort me again.
  I will also praise you with the harp
    for your faithfulness, O my God;
  I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
    O Holy One of Israel.
  My lips will shout for joy,
    when I sing praises to you;
    my soul also, which you have redeemed.
  And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
  for they have been put to shame and disappointed
    who sought to do me hurt.

72:1   Give the king your justice, O God,
    and your righteousness to the royal son!
  May he judge your people with righteousness,
    and your poor with justice!
  Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
    and the hills, in righteousness!
  May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
    give deliverance to the children of the needy,
    and crush the oppressor!
  May they fear you while the sun endures,
    and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!
  May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
    like showers that water the earth!
  In his days may the righteous flourish,
    and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
  May he have dominion from sea to sea,
    and from the River to the ends of the earth!
  May desert tribes bow down before him,
    and his enemies lick the dust!
  May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
    render him tribute;
  may the kings of Sheba and Seba
    bring gifts!
  May all kings fall down before him,
    all nations serve him!
  For he delivers the needy when he calls,
    the poor and him who has no helper.
  He has pity on the weak and the needy,
    and saves the lives of the needy.
  From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
    and precious is their blood in his sight.
  Long may he live;
    may gold of Sheba be given to him!
  May prayer be made for him continually,
    and blessings invoked for him all the day!
  May there be abundance of grain in the land;
    on the tops of the mountains may it wave;
    may its fruit be like Lebanon;
  and may people blossom in the cities
    like the grass of the field!
  May his name endure forever,
    his fame continue as long as the sun!
  May people be blessed in him,
    all nations call him blessed!
  Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
    who alone does wondrous things.
  Blessed be his glorious name forever;
    may the whole earth be filled with his glory!
      Amen and Amen!
  The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

(ESV)


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