Psalm 73

1.     A psalm composed by Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to the pure of heart.

2.     But I – my feet had almost slipped; my steps had all but faltered.

3.     For I became jealous of the mockers whenever I would see the welfare of the wicked.

4.     For they are not dismayed and daunted by the day of their death; their opinions are sought out, and their heart is fat and strong.

5.     They do not toil with the toil of men who are occupied with Torah; and they are not smitten with the righteous sons of men who endure sufferings.

6.     Because of this, pride has adorned them, a crown that they place on their heads because of their rapacity.

7.     Their faces are distorted by fat;[1] their carvings have transgressed, the heart is ashamed.[2]

8.     They will decay because of fatness;[3] and they will speak to cause harm and to oppress; they will speak from the arrogance of their heart.

9.     They have set their mouth against the holy ones of heaven; and their tongue flares against the holy ones[4] of the earth.

10.  Then[5] he turns against the people of the Lord, to rule them; and they will smite them with hammers, and cause many tears to flow from them.

11.  And they will say, “How then does God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?”

12.  Behold, these are the wicked who dwell securely in this age; they have acquired property, they have procured wealth.

13.  Truly in vain have I purified my heart, and washed[6] my hands in purity.

14.  And I have been smitten all the day; and my admonition [has come] with every dawn.

15.  If I said, “I will talk like them” – behold, I would have done evil to the generation of your children.

16.  And I thought to know this, [but] it is a weariness in my sight –

17.  Until the time of redemption, when I come to the sanctuaries[7] of God, I will understand their fate.

18.  Truly you have placed them in dark places, you have thrown them into the wasteland.[8]

19.  How they have become a desolation in a moment! They are finished, destroyed[9] because of chaos.

20.  Like a dream of a man[10] who awakes: the Lord in the great day of judgment, when they awake from their graves; in anger you will despise their likeness.

21.  For my heart will feel pain, and my kidneys burn like fire.

22.  And I am a fool, and I do not know; I was reckoned as a beast with you.

23.  But I am continually with you; you have grasped my right hand.

24.  You will guide me by your counsel;[11] and after the glory that you commanded to come upon me is complete, you will take me.

25.  Who, like you, is mine in heaven, but you? And besides you I desire no friend on earth.

26.  My body and my heart are destroyed; God is the Mighty One who tries my heart and my portion forever.

27.  For behold, the wicked who are far from you will perish; you have destroyed all who stray from the fear of you.

28.  But I – to be near to the Lord is good to me; I have placed my confidence in the Lord God, to tell to all the righteous the commandments of your charge.

 

Psalm 74

1.     A good lesson, composed by Asaph. Why, O God, have you moved far off forever? [Why] will your anger be fierce against the flock of your pasture?

2.     Remember your congregation that you acquired of old; you redeemed from Egypt the tribes of your inheritance, this same Mount Zion on which you made your presence to abide.

3.     Lift up your footsteps to dissolve the nations forever, for the enemy with all his strength has done harm in the holy place.

4.     Your oppressors cry out in the midst of your assemblies; they have set up their standards as signs.

5.     He will strike with a hammer like a man who lifts up his hand against a wood thicket to cut it with axes.

6.     But now they pull down[12] its carvings together; they pound with the hatchet and the two-edged chisel as if with mallets.

7.     They have burned the sanctuary to the ground with fire; they have defiled the tabernacle in which your name is uttered.

8.     Their children spoke in their hearts together; their fathers burned all the assemblies of God in the land.

9.     We have not seen our signs that the prophets gave us; there are no longer any prophets and we have none with us who knows how long.

10.  How long, O God, will the oppressor show disdain? Will the enemy reject your name forever?

11.  Why will you withdraw your hand, even your right hand, from redeeming? Take it out of your bosom and do away with oppression.

12.  But God is the king, whose holy presence is from of old, one who carries out redemption in the midst of the land.

13.  You cut off the waters of the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the sea serpents, and drowned the Egyptians at the sea.

14.  You shattered the heads of Pharaoh’s warriors; you handed them over for destruction to the people of the house of Israel, and their corpses to jackals.

15.  You split the spring from the rock and it became a stream; you dried up the ford of the streams of the Arnon and the ford of the Jabbok and the Jordan, which were so powerful.

16.  Yours is the day-time, yours, too, is the night; you have made firm the moon and sun.

17.  You set up all the boundaries of the earth; summer and winter, you created them.

18.  Remember this, the enemy, slanderer of the Lord, and the foolish people who have rejected your name.

19.  Do not deliver the souls of those who teach your Torah to the Gentiles, who are likened to beasts of the field; do not forget the lives of your poor forever.

20.  Look at the covenant that you made with our fathers, for their children are finished off; darkness is spread over the land, and fraud,[13] and violence.

21.  The pauper will not return ashamed; the poor and lowly will praise your name.

22.  Arise, O God; argue your case; call to mind the disgrace of your people because of foolish counsel all the day.

23.  Do not forget the voice of your oppressors, the turmoil, always mounting, of those who stand against you.

 

Psalm 75

1.     For praise; in the time that David said, “Do not harm your people.” A psalm composed by Asaph, and a song.

2.     We have praised you, O Lord, we have praised you, and your name is near, your wonders have declared it.

3.     Because of the meeting of the festival, I will judge uprightly.[14]

4.     The inhabitants of the earth melt away, and all who dwell in it; I have made its pillars firm forever.

5.     I said to the mockers, “Do not mock,” and to the wicked, “Do not exalt [your] honor.”[15]

6.     Do not exalt your honor to the height, you who speak in harshness and blasphemy.

7.     For there is none beside me from east to west, nor from the north, the area of deserts, to the south, the site of mountains.

8.     For God is a righteous judge; this one he will humble, and this one he will exalt.

9.     For the cup of cursing is in the hand of the Lord, and a harsh wine, full of a bitter mixture, to confuse the wits of the wicked by what is poured out from it, and more severe than the judgment of the ancients; yet its dregs and its foam all the wicked of the earth will press out and drink.

10.  But I will tell forever the miracles; I will praise the God of Jacob.

11.  But all[16] the mighty loftiness of the wicked I will humble; I will uproot them[17] from their strongholds; the mighty loftiness of the righteous will be magnified.[18]

 

Psalm 76

1.     For praise, as a psalm; a psalm composed by Asaph, a song.

2.     God has become known among those of the house of Judah; his name is great among those of the house of Israel.

3.     And his sanctuary has come to be in Jerusalem, and the dwelling of the house of his holy presence is in Zion.

4.     When the house of Israel did his will, he made his presence abide among them; there he broke the arrows and bows of the Gentiles who were making war; he made forever the shields and battle-lines of no account.

5.     Bright [and] awful are you, O God, acclaimed from your sanctuary; the kings who dwell in the mountain fortresses, the place where their spoil is gathered, will tremble in your presence.

6.     The mighty in heart have stripped from them the weapons of war; they have slumbered in their sleep; and all the men[19] of might have not been able to grasp their weapons in their hands.

7.     At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, the chariots have fallen asleep, and the cavalry have been disabled.

8.     You are awesome, you are God; and who will stand before you from the time your anger becomes strong?

9.     From heaven you proclaimed judgment on the land of the Gentiles; the land of Israel was afraid [and] became silent.

10.  The righteous say, “Let God arise for judgment with the wicked, to redeem from their hands all the meek of the earth forever.”

11.  When you are angry at your people, you show mercy to them, and they will give thanks to your name; but the remainder of fury that is left to you, out of the wrath that you showed, you will gird on to destroy the Gentiles. Another Targum: For when your anger grows strong against your people, they will repent and give thanks to your name, and you turn from anger; but against the remnant of the Gentiles you will gird on the instruments of anger.

12.  Make vows and fulfill [them] in the presence of the Lord your God, all you who dwell around his sanctuary; let them bring offerings to his awesome temple.

13.  He will diminish the arrogant spirits of the leaders; [he is] dreadful to all the kings of the earth.

 

Psalm 77

1.     For praise; composed by Jeduthun for Asaph; a psalm.

2.     My voice is [raised] in the presence of the Lord, and I will complain; my voice is [raised] in the presence of God; hear my utterance!

3.     In the day of my distress, I sought instruction from the presence of the Lord; the spirit of prophecy rested on me in the night; my eye ran with tears and will not stop; my soul refused to be comforted.

4.     I will remember God and I will tremble in the presence of the Lord; I will speak, and my spirit will be weary forever.

5.     You have shut the lids of my eyes; I am smitten, and I will not speak.

6.     I have counted up the good days which were at the beginning, the good years of long ago.

7.     I will remember my psalm in the night; I will speak with the thoughts of my heart, and the mind of my spirit will examine miracles.

8.     Can the Lord be far off forever, and no longer show favor again?

9.     Can he have cut off his favor forever? Is the decree of evil complete for all generations?

10.  Can God have forgotten to have pity? Or has he gotten too angry to sustain his compassion forever?

11.  And I said, “It is my sickness; they have forgotten the might of the right hand of the Most High.” Another Targum: And I said, “It is my petition, years that he shortened by days.”[20]

12.  I will remember the acts of God, for I will remember your wonders from of old.

13.  And I meditated on all your good works, and I will speak of the intricacy of your miracles.

14.  O God, because your ways are holy, what god is great like the God of Israel?

15.  You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.

16.  You have redeemed your people with the strength of your arm, the sons that Jacob sired and whom Joseph fed, forever.

17.  They saw your presence in the midst of the sea, O God; they saw your might by the sea; the Gentiles trembled, even the deeps will be shaken.

18.  The clouds of heaven made water descend, the heights gave voice; also comes the hail, your arrows, and are ablaze.

19.  The sound of your outcry was heard in the sphere; lightning lit up the world, the earth rattled and shook.

20.  In the sea of Suph [was] your path, and your highway in the many waters; and the track of your steps were not discerned.

21.  You guided your people as a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

 

Psalm 78

1.     A teaching of the Holy Spirit, composed by Asaph. Hear, O my people, my Torah; incline your ears to the utterances of my mouth.

2.     I will open my mouth in a proverb; I will declare riddles from ancient times.

3.     Which we have heard and known, and [which] our fathers told to us.

4.     We will not hide it from their sons, recounting the psalms of the Lord to a later generation, and his might, and the wonders that he performed.

5.     And he established a witness among those of the house of Jacob, and he decreed a Torah among those of the house of Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their sons.

6.     So that another generation, sons still to be born, should know; they will arise and tell it to their children.

7.     And they will place their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, and they will keep his commandments.

8.     And they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and vexing generation, a generation whose heart was not firm with its lord, and its spirit was not faithful to God.

9.     While they were living in Egypt, the sons of Ephraim became arrogant; they calculated the appointed time, and erred; they went out thirty years before the appointed time, with weapons of war, and warriors bearing bows. They turned around and were killed on the day of battle.

10.  Because they did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in his Torah.

11.  And the people, the house of Israel, forgot his deeds and his wonders that he showed them.

12.  In front of[21] Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes of their ancestors, he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, the field of Tanis.

13.  He split the sea with the staff of Moses their leader, and made them to pass through, and he made the water stand up, fastened like a skin bottle.

14.  And he guided them with the cloud by day, and all of the night with the light of fire.

15.  He split mountains[22] with the staff of Moses their leader in the wilderness; and he gave drink as if from the great deeps.

16.  And he brought forth streams of water from the rock, and he made water come down like flowing rivers.

17.  But they continued still to sin before him, to provoke anger in the presence of the Most High in the dry wilderness.

18.  And they tempted God in their heart, to ask for food for their souls.

19.  And they complained in the presence of the Lord; they said, “Is there the ability in the presence of God to set a table in the wilderness?”

20.  Behold, he already has smitten a rock, and water gushed out, and streams flowed; is he also able to give bread, or to arrange food for his people?

21.  Then it was heard in the presence of God, and he was angry, and fire was made to come up on those of the house of Jacob, and also harsh anger came up on Israel.

22.  For they did not believe in God, and did not put their trust in his redemption.

23.  And he commanded the skies above and he opened the windows of heaven.

24.  And he made descend on them manna to eat, and he gave them the grain of heaven.

25.  The sons of men ate food that came down from the abode of angels; he sent[23] them provisions unto satiety.

26.  He made the east wind move in the heavens, and guided the south wind by his strength.

27.  And he made flesh descend on them like dust, and flying fowl like the sand of the sea.

28.  And he made them fall[24] in the midst of his camp, round about its tents.

29.  And they ate and were very satisfied; so he brought to them their craving.

30.  They did not turn from their craving, still their food was in their mouth –

31.  And the anger of God went up on them, and he slew some of their champions, and he subdued the young men of Israel.

32.  For all this they sinned again, and did not believe in his wonders.

33.  And he ended their days with nothingness, and their years with disaster.

34.  Whenever he killed them, they sought him, repenting; and they will repent and pray in the presence of God.

35.  And they remembered, for God is their strength, and the Most High God is their redeemer.

36.  And they enticed him with their mouth, and they lie to him with their tongue.[25]

37.  Because their heart was not faithful[26] to him, and they did not believe in his covenant.

38.  But he is merciful, atoning for their sins, and does not destroy them; and he frequently turns from his anger, and he will not hasten all his wrath against them.

39.  And he remembers that they are sons of flesh, a breath that goes away and does not return.

40.  How they would rebel [PC1] against him in the wilderness! They would cause anger in his presence in a desolate place.

41.  And they turned and tempted God, and brought regret to the Holy One of Israel.

42.  They did not remember his miracle, and the day that he redeemed them from the oppressor.

43.  Who set out his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanis.

44.  And he turned their canals to blood, and they could not drink from their streams.

45.  He will incite against them a mass of wild animals, and exterminate them; likewise frogs, and he will slaughter them.

46.  And he gave and handed over their grain to the grasshopper, and their toil to the locust.

47.  And he stripped their vines with hail, and their sycamores with locusts.

48.  And he handed over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to sparks of fire.

49.  He will incite against them two hundred and fifty plagues in the harshness of his anger, in wrath, and in hostility, and in woe; which are sent in due time by evil messengers.[27]

50.  He will travel on the path of his harshness, not keeping their soul from death, and handing over their cattle to the plague.

51.  And he slew all the firstborn in Egypt, the beginning of their sorrow in the tents of Ham.

52.  And he led his people like a flock, and guided them like a sheep flock[28] in the wilderness.

53.  And he settled them securely, and they did not fear; and the sea covered their enemies.

54.  And he brought them into the territory of the site of the Temple, the same mountain that his right hand created.

55.  And he drove out the Gentiles before them, and settled them in the lot of his inheritance, and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56.  But they tempted and provoked in the presence of God Most High, and they did not keep his testimony.

57.  And they relapsed and did evil like their fathers; they became bent like a bow that shoots arrows.

58.  And they caused anger in his presence with their libations; and they made him jealous with their idols and images.

59.  It was heard in the presence of God, and he became angry, and his soul was very disgusted with Israel.

60.  And he abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent where his presence did abide among the sons of men.

61.  And he handed over his Torah to captivity, and his splendor to the hand of the oppressor.

62.  And he handed over his people to those who slay with the sword, and became angry with his inheritance.

63.  The fire consumed his young men, and his young women were not respected.

64.  His priests will fall[PC2]  with the killing of the sword, and his widows had no time to weep. Another Targum: At the time when the Philistines captured the ark of the Lord, the priests of Shiloh, Hophni and Phinehas fell by the sword; and at the time when they informed his wives, they did not weep, for they too died on that same day.

65.  And the Lord woke up like a sleeper, like a man[29] who opens his eyes from wine.

66.  And he smote his oppressors on their behinds with hemorrhoids; he gave them eternal disgrace.

67.  And he was disgusted with the tabernacle spread over the territory of Joseph; and he took no pleasure in the tribe of Ephraim.

68.  But he was pleased with the tribe of Judah, with Mount Zion that he loves.

69.  And he built his sanctuary like the horn of the wild ox, fixed like the earth that he founded forever and ever.

70.  And he was pleased with David his servant, and took him from the flocks of sheep.

71.  And he brought him [away] from [following] after sucklings to rule over Jacob his people, and over Israel his inheritance.

72.  And he reigned over them in the perfection of his heart, and he will guide them by the understanding of his hands.

 

Psalm 79

1.     A psalm composed by Asaph about the destruction of the Temple. He said in the spirit of prophecy: O God, the Gentiles are entering your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have made Jerusalem a desolation.

2.     They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of heaven for food, the flesh of your pious ones to the wild beasts.

3.     They have poured out their blood like water around Jerusalem, and there is none to bury.

4.     We have become a disgrace to our neighbors, a subject of scorn and mockery to our surroundings.

5.     How long, O Lord, will you be fierce – forever? [How long] will your zeal burn like fire?

6.     Pour out your wrath on the Gentiles who have not known you, and on the kingdoms who have not prayed in your name.

7.     For they have destroyed the house of Jacob, and made desolate his sanctuary.

8.     Do not remember against us trespasses which were from the beginning; in haste, may your favors go before us, for we have become very destitute.

9.     Help us, O God our redemption, because of your glorious name; and redeem us, and atone for our sins, for the sake of your name.

10.  Why should the Gentiles say, “Where is their God?” Let the punishment for the blood of your servants that has been spilled be revealed in our sight among the Gentiles.

11.  Let the groan of the prisoners come before you like the great strength of your arm; release the children who have been handed over to death.

12.  And give back to our neighbors a seven-fold requital for the punishment of their oaths, and the aspersions they cast on you, O Lord.

13.  But we are your people, and the sheep of your pasture; we will give thanks in your presence forever; for all generations we will recite your praise.

 

Psalm 80

1.     For praise; concerning those who sit in the Sanhedrin who occupy themselves with the testimony of the Torah; composed by Asaph; a psalm.[30]

2.     Caretaker of Israel, hear; you who guide the coffin of Joseph like a flock; you whose presence abides between the cherubim, shine forth.

3.     Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your mighty power for us; and it is right for you to redeem us.

4.     O God, bring us back from our exile, and shine the splendor of your countenance upon us, and we will be redeemed.

5.     O Lord God Sabaoth, how long have you not accepted the prayer of your people!

6.     You fed them bread soaked in tears, and you made them drink the wine of tears in triple measure.

7.     You made us a source of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies will jeer at them.

8.     God Sabaoth, bring us back from our exile, and shine the splendor of your countenance upon us, and we will be redeemed.

9.     The house of Israel, which is likened to a vine, you brought out of Egypt; you chased away the Gentiles from the land of Israel and planted them.

10.  You cleared out the Canaanites before them, and you uprooted their roots and filled the land.

11.  The mountains of Jerusalem cover the shadow of the temple, and the academies, say the scholars, are strong,[31] which are likened to mighty cedars.

12.  You made branches grow, you sent out her pupils to the Great Sea, and her children to the river Euphrates.

13.  Why have you attacked her walls? and [now] all those who pass on the way are pruning her.

14.  The boar from the forest will root her up, and the wild cock will be sustained by her.

15.  God Sabaoth, turn now, look from heaven, and see, and remember this vine in mercy.

16.  And the branch that your right hand planted, and the King Messiah whom you made mighty for yourself.

17.  [It is] being burned by fire and crushed; they will perish because of the rebuke that [comes] from your presence.

18.  Let your hand be on the man to whom you have sworn with your right hand, on the son of man whom you made mighty for yourself.

19.  We will not turn away from the fear of you; you will sustain us and we will call on your name.

20.  O Lord God Sabaoth, bring us back from exile; shine the splendor of your countenance upon us and we will be redeemed.

 

Psalm 81

1.       For praise; on the lyre that comes from Gath, composed by Asaph.

2.       Give praise in the presence of God, our strength; shout in the presence of the God of Jacob.

3.       Lift up the voice in praise, and set out[32] timbrels, the lyre whose sound is sweet with harps.

4.       Blow the horn in the month of Tishri, in the month in which the day of our festivals is concealed.

5.       For he made a covenant for Israel; it is a legal ruling of the God of Jacob.

6.       He made it a testimony for Joseph, who did not go near the wife of his master; on that day he went out of the prison and ruled over all the land of Egypt. The tongue I did not know I have taught [and] heard.

7.       I have removed his shoulder from servitude; his hands were taken away from casting clay into a pot.

8.       In the time of the distress of Egypt, you called and I delivered you; I made you fast[33] in the secret place where my presence is, where wheels of fire call out before him; I tested you by the waters of Dispute forever.

9.       Hear, O my people, and I will bear witness for you, O Israel, if you will accept my word.

10.    There shall not be among you worshippers of a foreign idol, and you shall not bow down to a profane idol.

11.    I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open wide your mouth with the words of Torah, and I will fill it with all good things.

12.    But my people did not receive my voice; and Israel did not want my word.

13.    And I expelled them for the thoughts of their heart, they went away in their wicked counsel.

14.    Would that my people had listened to me – that Israel would walk in my ways!

15.    In a little while I will humble their enemies, and I will turn my strong blow against their enemies.

16.    The enemies of the Lord will be false to him; and their harshness will last forever.

17.    But he will feed him with the best of wheat bread; and I will satisfy you with honey from the rock.

 

Psalm 82

1.     A hymn composed by Asaph. God, his presence abides in the assembly of the righteous who are strong in Torah; he will give judgment in the midst of the righteous judges.

2.     How long, O wicked, will you judge falsely, and lift up the faces of the wicked forever?

3.     Judge the poor and the orphan; acquit the needy and the poor.

4.     Save the poor and needy, from the hands of the wicked deliver them.

5.     They do not know how to do good, and they do not understand the Torah, they walk in darkness; because of this, the pillars of the earth’s foundations shake.

6.     I said, “You are reckoned as angels, and all of you are like angels of the height.”

7.     But truly you will die like the sons of men; and like one of the leaders you will fall.

8.     Arise, O Lord, judge all the inhabitants of the earth; for you will possess all the Gentiles.

 

 

Psalm 83

1.     A song and psalm composed by Asaph.

2.     God, do not become silent; do not be uncaring, and do not be quiet, O God.

3.     For, behold, your enemies are stirred up, and your foes have lifted their head.

4.     Against your people they have contrived a secret plan, and they take counsel together against things hidden in your treasuries.

5.     They say, “Come, let us conceal them from being a people, and the name of Israel will not be mentioned[34] again.”

6.     For they take counsel together against you with all their heart, and make a covenant on your account.

7.     The tents of the Edomites and Arabs, the Moabites and Hungarites.

8.     The Gublites and Ammonites and Amalekites, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre.

9.     Also Sennacherib, king of Assyria, allied himself with them; they became a support for the sons of Lot forever.

10.  Do to them as you did to Midian, to Sisera, and as you did to Jabin at the stream of Kishon.

11.  They were destroyed at the spring of Dor; they were as dung that is trampled on the earth.[35]

12.  Make them and their chiefs like Oreb and like Zeeb; and all their kings like Zeba and Zalmunna.

13.  Who had said, “We will inherit for ourselves all the fields[36] of the god Elohim.”

14.  O my God, make them like a wheel that keeps on rolling and does not stop, down a slope; and like straw before a storm.

15.  Like fire that burns in the forest, and like the flame that ignites the plants of the mountains.

16.  Thus will you pursue them with your storm wind, and you will frighten them with your gale.

17.  Fill their faces with shame, and they will seek your name, O Lord.

18.  They will be ashamed and terrified for ages upon ages; and they will be disgraced and will perish.

19.  And they will know that you, your name the Lord, are alone supreme over all the inhabitants of the earth.

 

Psalm 84

1.     For praise, on the lyre that comes from Gath; composed by the sons of Korah; a psalm.

2.     How beloved are your tents, O Lord Sabaoth!

3.     My soul craved and even yearned for the court of the Lord; my heart and flesh meditate on the enduring God.

4.     Even the dove has found a house, and the turtledove a nest that is suitable for her hatchlings – to be sacrificed on your altars, O Lord Sabaoth, my king and my God.

5.     Happy are the righteous who dwell in your sanctuary;[37] again they will praise you forever.

6.     Happy the man who has his strength in your word; trust is in their hearts.

7.     The wicked who cross over the valleys of Gehenna, weeping – he will make[38] their weeping like a fountain; also those who return to the teaching of his Torah he will cover with blessings.

8.     The righteous go from the sanctuary to the academies; their toil in the Torah will be manifest before the Lord, whose presence abides in Zion.

9.     David said, “O Lord, God Sabaoth, receive my prayer; hear, O God of Jacob, forever.”

10.  See, O God, the merits of our fathers, and behold the face of your anointed.

11.  For it is better to dwell one day in the courtyard of your sanctuary than a thousand in exile; I have chosen to adhere to the sanctuary of God rather than to live in the tents of wickedness.

12.  For the Lord God is like a high wall and a strong shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; he will not hide goodness from those who walk in perfection.

13.  O Lord Sabaoth, it is well for the son of man who trusts in your word.

 

Psalm 85

1.     For praise; composed by the sons of Korah; a psalm.

2.     You delighted, O Lord, in your land; you brought back the captivity of the house of Jacob.

3.     You forgave the sins of your people; you covered all their faults forever.

4.     You withdrew all your anger; you turned from the harshness of your anger.

5.     Turn to us, O God our redemption; and revoke your anger against us.

6.     Can it be that you will act harshly against us forever? Will you prolong out[39] your harshness for all generations?

7.     Will you not again revive us? And your people will rejoice in your word.

8.     Show us, O Lord, your goodness; and may your redemption be given[40] to us.[41]

9.     I will hear what God, the Lord, will say; for he will speak peace to his people and to his pious ones, and they will not return to heathenism.[42]

10.  Truly his redemption is near to those who fear him, to make glory abide in our land.

11.  Favor and truth meet, righteousness and peace have joined[43] together.

12.  Truth grew up from the land; and righteousness looked out from heaven.

13.  Also the Lord[44] will give what is good; and our land will give its produce.

14.  Righteousness will walk before him; and he set his steps on a good path.

 

Psalm 86

1.     A prayer that David prayed. Incline, O Lord, your ear; answer me, for I am poor and needy.

2.     Protect my soul, for I am pious; redeem your servant – you, O my God – for I do put my trust in you.

3.     Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I will pray in your presence all the day.

4.     Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, will I lift up my soul in prayer.

5.     For you are the Lord, good to the righteous and forgiving to those who turn to his Torah, and multiplying favor to all who pray in your presence.

6.     Hear, O Lord, my prayer; and accept the voice of my supplications.

7.     On the day of my distress, I will call to you, for you answer me.

8.     There is none besides you among the angels on high,[45] O Lord, and there is nothing like your deeds.

9.     All the Gentiles you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord; and they shall give glory to your name.

10.  For you are great, O God, and you do wonders – you alone are God.

11.  Teach me, O Lord, your ways; I will walk in your truth; unify my heart to fear your name.

12.  I will give thanks in your presence,[46] O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify your name forever.

13.  For your goodness towards me is great; and you have delivered my soul from lowest Sheol.

14.  O God, arrogant men have risen against me, and mighty men have sought my soul; and they have not kept you in front of them.

15.  And you, O Lord, are a God compassionate and merciful, putting away anger, and showing much favor and truth.

16.  Turn unto me and pity me; give your strength to your servant, and redeem the son of your handmaiden.

17.  Perform for me a miracle for good; when my son Solomon shall bring the ark into the sanctuary, let the gates be opened on my account and my enemies will see that you have forgiven me, and they will be ashamed and confess; for you are the Lord, you have helped me and comforted me.

 

Psalm 87

1.     Uttered by the sons of Korah. A song that was established at the instruction of the fathers of old.

2.     The Lord loves the entrances to the academies established in Zion more than all the synagogues of the house of Jacob.

3.     Glorious words have been spoken of you, O city of God, forever.

4.     The Egyptians and Babylonians have reminded those who know you of your praises; behold, the Philistines and Tyrians, with the Ethiopians; this king was brought up there.

5.     And of Zion it will be said, “King David and Solomon his son were brought up within it; and God shall build it above.”[47]

6.     O Lord, in the book in which they write the account of all the ages [it is written], “This king was brought up[48] there forever.”

7.     And they utter songs with celebration – all kinds of psalms with sacrifice are uttered in your midst.

 

Psalm 88

1.     A song and a psalm composed by the sons of Korah, with a prayer; for praise; a good lesson composed by Heman the native.

2.     O Lord God my redemption, daily I have made complaint; in the night my prayer is before you.

3.     May my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my plea. Another Targum: Let my prayer for your people, the house of Israel, come before you; and incline your ear to my psalm that I have sung for your glory.

4.     For my soul has had its fill of evils; and my life has arrived at Sheol.

5.     I am reckoned with those who go down to the prison-house; I have become like a son of man who has no strength.

6.     Like the wicked who died and did not return, having been made free from strife; like those slain by the sword, lying in the grave, whom you no longer remember, since they have been separated from the face of your presence.

7.     You have placed me in exile, which is likened to the lower pit, among the oppressed in the depths.

8.     Your fury rests on me, and all evil decrees have broken me; you have afflicted me forever.

9.     You have removed those who know me far from me; you have made me loathsome to them; enclosed in prison, and I may not go out.

10.  My eye has flowed with tears because of affliction; every day I have called to you, O lord; I have spread my hands to you in prayer.

11.  Could it be that you would work miracles for the dead? Or will bodies that have decayed[49] in dust arise [and] give thanks in your presence forever?

12.  Could it be that your goodness will be talked of in the grave? Your truth in the place of perdition?

13.  Could it be that your wonders will be known in the darkness of Gehenna? And your generosity in the land of thirst and desolation?

14.  But I have prayed in your presence, O lord; and in the morning my prayer will come before you.

15.  Why, O lord, have you forsaken[50] my soul, why will you hide your face from me, that I may not see illumination by your light?

16.  I am afflicted and frail from childhood; I have borne the fear of you, loaded upon me.

17.  Your anger has passed over me; your terrors have destroyed me.

18.  They have surrounded me like water all day; they have encompassed me together.

19.  You have removed friend and fellow far from me; as for those who know me, I am lowly in their mouth.[51]

 

Psalm 89

1.     A good lesson uttered by Abraham, who came from the east.

2.     I will praise the kindness of the Lord forever; from generation to generation I will make known your truth with my mouth.

3.     For I said, “The world will be built by kindness; you will establish your truth in the heavens.”

4.     I made a covenant with Abraham my chosen; I confirmed it with my servant David.

5.     I will establish your sons forever; and for every generation I will build your royal throne forever.

6.     And the heavens[52] will confess your wonders, O Lord; also your truth in the assembly of the holy ones.

7.     For who in the clouds can be set beside the Lord? Who resembles the Lord in the multitudes of angels?

8.     God is mighty in the mysteries of the holy ones; sitting on the throne of glory, great and fearsome over all the angels who stand around him.

9.     O Lord God above the hosts of the height, who is like you in strength, O Lord? And your truth is around you.

10.  You rule over the pride of the sea; when its waves increase and become high, you will subdue them.

11.  You have crushed Rahab, that is, wicked Pharaoh, like one slain by the sword; with the might of your strong arm you have scattered your enemies.

12.  Yours is the heaven, yea, yours is the earth; you have founded the world and all its contents.

13.  The deserts in the north and those who dwell in the south, you created them; Tabor in the west and Hermon in the east sing praise in your name.

14.  Yours is the arm with strength; your hand will be strong to redeem your people; your right hand will be raised to perfect your sanctuary.

15.  Righteousness and justice are the dwelling place of your glorious throne; favor and truth go before your face.

16.  Happy the people who know to please their creator with a shout; O Lord, in the splendid light of your countenance they will walk and be acquitted in judgment.

17.  In your name they will rejoice all day, and by your righteousness they will be exalted.

18.  For you are the splendor of their strength, and by your will their horn[53] is exalted.

19.  For our shields belong to the Lord, and our king belongs to the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

20.  Then you spoke in a vision to your pious ones, and you said, “I have set up a helper for my people by the hand of one mighty in Torah; I have set apart a youth from among the people.”

21.  I have found David my servant, with the holy oil I anointed him.

22.  Whom my hands are ready to help; truly my arm will strengthen him.

23.  The enemy will not make him go astray; the son of wickedness will not afflict him.

24.  And I will crush his oppressors before him, and I will smite his foes.

25.  And my truth and goodness are with him; in the name of my word his glory will be exalted.

26.  And I will place his dominion at the harbors of the sea, and the might of his right hand on those who dwell by the rivers.

27.  He will call to me, “You are my father (abba), my God, and the strength of my redemption.”

28.  Also I will make him first-born of the kings of the house of Judah, the highest of the kings of the earth.

29.  I will preserve my goodness to him forever; and my covenant is constant for him.

30.  And I will set up his sons forever, and his throne for as many days as the heavens will last.

31.  If his sons abandon my Torah, and do not walk in my judgments,

32.  If they violate my covenant, and do not keep my commandments,

33.  Then I will punish their rebellions by means of the rod of the wicked, and their iniquities by the demons that plague them.

34.  But my goodness I will not revoke from him, and I will not be false to my faithfulness.

35.  I will not violate my covenant, and the utterance of my lips I will not change.

36.  Once I have sworn by my holy name: “I will not lie to David.”

37.  His sons will exist forever, and his throne is bright as the sun before me.

38.  Like the moon that is set for an eternal sign, and a faithful witness in the sky forever.

39.  But you have forsaken and rejected, grown angry with your anointed.

40.  You have changed the covenant with your servant; you have profaned his crown to the earth.

41.  You have forced all his strongholds, you have made his open villages a ruin.

42.  All who pass on the road have trampled him; he has become a disgrace to his neighbors.

43.  You have raised the right hand of his oppressors; you have gladdened all his enemies.

44.  Also you will turn aside his sword[54] and you have not supported him[55] in battle.

45.  You have abolished the priests who sprinkle [blood] on the altar and cleanse his people, and you have cast to the ground his royal throne.

46.  You have cut short the days of his young men; you have covered him with shame and disgrace forever.

47.  How long, O Lord, will you remove your presence forever? [How long] will your rage burn like fire?

48.  Remember that I was created from dust; why have you created all the sons of men for vanity?

49.  Who is the man who will live and not see the angel of death, who will deliver his soul from his hand, and not go down to his grave forever?

50.  Where are your favors which were from the beginning, O Lord, which you swore to David in your faithfulness?

51.  Remember, O Lord, the disgrace of your servant; I have borne in my bosom all the insults of many peoples.

52.  For your enemies have scorned, O Lord, for they have scorned the delay of the footsteps of your Messiah, O Lord.

53.  Blessed be the name of the Lord in this age, amen and amen. Blessed be the name of the Lord in the age to come, amen and amen.