Psalm 81

A CALL TO OBEDIENCE
For the choir director: on the Gittith. Of Asaph.

Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.
2 Lift up a song ​— ​play the tambourine,
the melodious lyre, and the harp.
3 Blow the ram’s horn on the day of our feasts
during the new moon
and during the full moon.
4 For this is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He set it up as a decree for Joseph
when he went throughout the land of Egypt.
I heard an unfamiliar language:
6 “I relieved his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were freed from carrying the basket.
7 You called out in distress, and I rescued you;
I answered you from the thundercloud.
I tested you at the Waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Listen, my people, and I will admonish you.
Israel, if you would only listen to me!
9 There must not be a strange god among you;
you must not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel did not obey me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own plans.
13 If only my people would listen to me
and Israel would follow my ways,
14 I would quickly subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.”
15 Those who hate the Lord
would cower to him;
their doom would last forever.
16 But he would feed Israel with the best wheat.
“I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”

Psalm 88

A CRY OF DESPERATION
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

Lord, God of my salvation,
I cry out before you day and night.
2 May my prayer reach your presence;
listen to my cry.
3 For I have had enough troubles,
and my life is near Sheol.
4 I am counted among those going down to the Pit.
I am like a man without strength,
5 abandoned among the dead.
I am like the slain lying in the grave,
whom you no longer remember,
and who are cut off from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit,
in the darkest places, in the depths.
7 Your wrath weighs heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah
8 You have distanced my friends from me;
you have made me repulsive to them.
I am shut in and cannot go out.
9 My eyes are worn out from crying.
Lord, I cry out to you all day long;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do departed spirits rise up to praise you? Selah
11 Will your faithful love be declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Will your wonders be known in the darkness
or your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
13 But I call to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer meets you.
14 Lord, why do you reject me?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15 From my youth,
I have been suffering and near death.
I suffer your horrors; I am desperate.
16 Your wrath sweeps over me;
your terrors destroy me.
17 They surround me like water all day long;
they close in on me from every side.
18 You have distanced loved one and neighbor from me;
darkness is my only friend.

Psalm 92

GOD’S LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS
A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praise to your name, Most High,
2 to declare your faithful love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
3 with a ten-stringed harp
and the music of a lyre.
4 For you have made me rejoice, Lord,
by what you have done;
I will shout for joy
because of the works of your hands.
5 How magnificent are your works, Lord,
how profound your thoughts!
6 A stupid person does not know,
a fool does not understand this:
7 though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be eternally destroyed.
8 But you, Lord, are exalted forever.
9 For indeed, Lord, your enemies —
indeed, your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.
10 You have lifted up my horn
like that of a wild ox;
I have been anointed with the finest oil.
11 My eyes look at my enemies;
when evildoers rise against me,
my ears hear them.
12 The righteous thrive like a palm tree
and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.
13 Planted in the house of the Lord,
they thrive in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
healthy and green,
15 to declare, “The Lord is just;
he is my rock,
and there is no unrighteousness in him.”

Psalm 93

GOD’S ETERNAL REIGN
The Lord reigns! He is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed, enveloped in strength.
The world is firmly established;
it cannot be shaken.
2 Your throne has been established
from the beginning;
you are from eternity.
3 The floods have lifted up, Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their pounding waves.
4 Greater than the roar of a huge torrent —
the mighty breakers of the sea —
the Lord on high is majestic.
5 Lord, your testimonies are completely reliable;
holiness adorns your house
for all the days to come.

— Psalms 81; 88; 92; 93 (CSB)