Psalm 60

Prayer for National Victory after Defeat

To the leader: according to The Lily of the Covenant. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
¹O God, you have rejected us, broken our defences;
   you have been angry; now restore us!
²You have caused the land to quake; you have torn it open;
   repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.
³You have made your people suffer hard things;
   you have given us wine to drink that made us reel.

⁴You have set up a banner for those who fear you,
   to rally to it out of bowshot.^*
          Selah
⁵Give victory with your right hand, and answer us,^*
   so that those whom you love may be rescued.

⁶God has promised in his sanctuary:^*
   ‘With exultation I will divide up Shechem,
   and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
⁷Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
   Ephraim is my helmet;
   Judah is my sceptre.
⁸Moab is my wash-basin;
   on Edom I hurl my shoe;
   over Philistia I shout in triumph.’

⁹Who will bring me to the fortified city?
   Who will lead me to Edom?
¹⁰Have you not rejected us, O God?
   You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
¹¹O grant us help against the foe,
   for human help is worthless.
¹²With God we shall do valiantly;
   it is he who will tread down our foes.