Encounter Series 4 Day 356

Psalms 73

¹ Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. ² But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. ³ For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴ For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. ⁵ They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. ⁶ Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. ⁷ Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. ⁸ They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. ⁹ They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. ¹⁰ Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. ¹¹ And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? ¹² Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. ¹³ Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. ¹⁴ For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. ¹⁵ If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. ¹⁶ When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; ¹⁷ Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. ¹⁸ Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. ¹⁹ How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. ²⁰ As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. ²¹ Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. ²² So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. ²³ Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. ²⁴ Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. ²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. ²⁶ My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. ²⁷ For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. ²⁸ But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works. Psalm 74 Maschil of Asaph.

Psalms 74

¹ O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? ² Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. ³ Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. ⁴ Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs. ⁵ A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. ⁶ But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. ⁷ They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. ⁸ They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. ⁹ We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. ¹⁰ O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? ¹¹ Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom. ¹² For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. ¹³ Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. ¹⁴ Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. ¹⁵ Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers. ¹⁶ The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. ¹⁷ Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter. ¹⁸ Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. ¹⁹ O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever. ²⁰ Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. ²¹ O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name. ²² Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily. ²³ Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually. Psalm 75 To the chief Musician, Altaschith, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.

Psalms 75

¹ Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare. ² When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly. ³ The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah. ⁴ I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn: ⁵ Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. ⁶ For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. ⁷ But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. ⁸ For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. ⁹ But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. ¹⁰ All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. Psalm 76 To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.

Psalms 77

¹ I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me. ² In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. ³ I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. ⁴ Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. ⁵ I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. ⁶ I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. ⁷ Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? ⁸ Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? ⁹ Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah. ¹⁰ And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. ¹¹ I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. ¹² I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. ¹³ Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? ¹⁴ Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people. ¹⁵ Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. ¹⁶ The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. ¹⁷ The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. ¹⁸ The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook. ¹⁹ Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. ²⁰ Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Psalm 78 Maschil of Asaph.

Psalms 79

¹ O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. ² The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. ³ Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them. ⁴ We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. ⁵ How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? ⁶ Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. ⁷ For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place. ⁸ O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. ⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake. ¹⁰ Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed. ¹¹ Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die; ¹² And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. ¹³ So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations. Psalm 80 To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth, A Psalm of Asaph.

Psalms 81

¹ Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. ² Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. ³ Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. ⁴ For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. ⁵ This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not. ⁶ I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. ⁷ Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah. ⁸ Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; ⁹ There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. ¹⁰ I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. ¹¹ But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. ¹² So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels. ¹³ Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! ¹⁴ I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. ¹⁵ The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. ¹⁶ He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. Psalm 82 A Psalm of Asaph.