Bible Browser

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. ⁸Discipline yourselves; keep alert.^* Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters^* throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. ¹⁰And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalm 88

Prayer for Help in Despondency

A Song. A Psalm of the Korahites. To the leader: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
¹ O Lord, God of my salvation,
   when, at night, I cry out in your presence,
² let my prayer come before you;
   incline your ear to my cry.

³ For my soul is full of troubles,
   and my life draws near to Sheol.
⁴ I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
   I am like those who have no help,
⁵ like those forsaken among the dead,
   like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
   for they are cut off from your hand.
⁶ You have put me in the depths of the Pit,
   in the regions dark and deep.
⁷ Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
   and you overwhelm me with all your waves.
          Selah

⁸ You have caused my companions to shun me;
   you have made me a thing of horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
⁹   my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call on you, O Lord;
   I spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰ Do you work wonders for the dead?
   Do the shades rise up to praise you?
          Selah
¹¹ Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
   or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
¹² Are your wonders known in the darkness,
   or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

¹³ But I, O Lord, cry out to you;
   in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ O Lord, why do you cast me off?
   Why do you hide your face from me?
¹⁵ Wretched and close to death from my youth up,
   I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.^*
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
   your dread assaults destroy me.
¹⁷ They surround me like a flood all day long;
   from all sides they close in on me.
¹⁸ You have caused friend and neighbour to shun me;
   my companions are in darkness.

BOOK II

(Psalms 42-72)

Psalm 42

Longing for God and His Help in Distress

To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.
¹ As a deer longs for flowing streams,
   so my soul longs for you, O God.
² My soul thirsts for God,
   for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
   the face of God?
³ My tears have been my food
   day and night,
while people say to me continually,
   ‘Where is your God?’

⁴ These things I remember,
   as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,^*
   and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
   a multitude keeping festival.
⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my help ⁶and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
   therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
   from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
   at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
   have gone over me.
⁸ By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
   and at night his song is with me,
   a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I say to God, my rock,
   ‘Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
   because the enemy oppresses me?’
¹⁰ As with a deadly wound in my body,
   my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
   ‘Where is your God?’

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my help and my God.