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Psalm 50

The Acceptable Sacrifice

A Psalm of Asaph.
¹ The mighty one, God the Lord,
   speaks and summons the earth
   from the rising of the sun to its setting.
² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
   God shines forth.

³ Our God comes and does not keep silence,
   before him is a devouring fire,
   and a mighty tempest all around him.
⁴ He calls to the heavens above
   and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
⁵ ‘Gather to me my faithful ones,
   who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!’
⁶ The heavens declare his righteousness,
   for God himself is judge.
          Selah

⁷ ‘Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
   O Israel, I will testify against you.
   I am God, your God.
⁸ Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
   your burnt-offerings are continually before me.
⁹ I will not accept a bull from your house,
   or goats from your folds.
¹⁰ For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
   the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹ I know all the birds of the air,^*
   and all that moves in the field is mine.

¹² ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
   for the world and all that is in it is mine.
¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
   or drink the blood of goats?
¹⁴ Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,^*
   and pay your vows to the Most High.
¹⁵ Call on me in the day of trouble;
   I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.’

¹⁶ But to the wicked God says:
   ‘What right have you to recite my statutes,
   or take my covenant on your lips?
¹⁷ For you hate discipline,
   and you cast my words behind you.
¹⁸ You make friends with a thief when you see one,
   and you keep company with adulterers.

¹⁹ ‘You give your mouth free rein for evil,
   and your tongue frames deceit.
²⁰ You sit and speak against your kin;
   you slander your own mother’s child.
²¹ These things you have done and I have been silent;
   you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

²² ‘Mark this, then, you who forget God,
   or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
²³ Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me;
   to those who go the right way^*
   I will show the salvation of God.’

Psalm 59

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

To the leader: Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam, when Saul ordered his house to be watched in order to kill him.
¹ Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
   protect me from those who rise up against me.
² Deliver me from those who work evil;
   from the bloodthirsty save me.

³ Even now they lie in wait for my life;
   the mighty stir up strife against me.
For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord,
⁴   for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.

Rouse yourself, come to my help and see!
⁵   You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel.
Awake to punish all the nations;
   spare none of those who treacherously plot evil.
          Selah

⁶ Each evening they come back,
   howling like dogs
   and prowling about the city.
⁷ There they are, bellowing with their mouths,
   with sharp words^* on their lips—
   for ‘Who’, they think,^* ‘will hear us?’

⁸ But you laugh at them, O Lord;
   you hold all the nations in derision.
⁹ O my strength, I will watch for you;
   for you, O God, are my fortress.
¹⁰ My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
   my God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

¹¹ Do not kill them, or my people may forget;
   make them totter by your power, and bring them down,
   O Lord, our shield.
¹² For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,
   let them be trapped in their pride.
For the cursing and lies that they utter,
¹³   consume them in wrath;
   consume them until they are no more.
Then it will be known to the ends of the earth
   that God rules over Jacob.
          Selah

¹⁴ Each evening they come back,
   howling like dogs
   and prowling about the city.
¹⁵ They roam about for food,
   and growl if they do not get their fill.

¹⁶ But I will sing of your might;
   I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been a fortress for me
   and a refuge on the day of my distress.
¹⁷ O my strength, I will sing praises to you,
   for you, O God, are my fortress,
   the God who shows me steadfast love.

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.
¹ O God, you have rejected us, broken our defences;
   you have been angry; now restore us!
² You have caused the land to quake; you have torn it open;
   repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.
³ You have made your people suffer hard things;
   you have given us wine to drink that made us reel.

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

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

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