Through My Bible Yr 2 – June 15

Psalm 81

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of Asaph. ^[a]

¹ Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob!

² Begin the music, strike the tambourine,
play the melodious harp and lyre.

³ Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,
and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast;

⁴ this is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵ He established it as a statute for Joseph
when he went out against Egypt,
where we heard a language we did not understand. ^[b]

⁶ He says, “I removed the burden from their shoulders;
their hands were set free from the basket.

⁷ In your distress you called and I rescued you,
I answered you out of a thundercloud;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Selah

⁸ “Hear, O my people, and I will warn you—
if you would but listen to me, O Israel!

⁹ You shall have no foreign god among you;
you shall not bow down to an alien god.

¹⁰ I am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

¹¹ “But my people would not listen to me;
Israel would not submit to me.

¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own devices.

¹³ “If my people would but listen to me,
if Israel would follow my ways,

¹⁴ how quickly would I subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes!

¹⁵ Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
and their punishment would last forever.

¹⁶ But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Psalm 82

A psalm of Asaph.

¹ God presides in the great assembly;
he gives judgment among the “gods”:

² “How long will you ^[c] defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?
Selah

³ Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

⁴ Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

⁵ “They know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶ “I said, ‘You are “gods”;
you are all sons of the Most High.’

⁷ But you will die like mere men;
you will fall like every other ruler.”

⁸ Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.

Psalm 83

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

¹ O God, do not keep silent;
be not quiet, O God, be not still.

² See how your enemies are astir,
how your foes rear their heads.

³ With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.

⁴ “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

⁵ With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you-

⁶ the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷ Gebal, ^[d] Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.

⁸ Even Assyria has joined them
to lend strength to the descendants of Lot.
Selah

⁹ Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

¹⁰ who perished at Endor
and became like refuse on the ground.

¹¹ Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

¹² who said, “Let us take possession
of the pasturelands of God.”

¹³ Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,
like chaff before the wind.

¹⁴ As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

¹⁵ so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.

¹⁶ Cover their faces with shame
so that men will seek your name, O LORD.

¹⁷ May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.

¹⁸ Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD—
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 81:1 Title: Probably a musical term
2. Psalm 81:5 Or / and we heard a voice we had not known
3. Psalm 82:2 The Hebrew is plural.
4. Psalm 83:7 That is, Byblos

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.