ASV - Psalms 85 to 88

Psalm 85

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

¹Jehovah, thou hast been favorable unto thy land; Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. ²Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; Thou hast covered all their sin. Selah ³Thou hast taken away all thy wrath; Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. ⁴Turn us, O God of our salvation, And cause thine indignation toward us to cease. ⁵Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? ⁶Wilt thou not quicken us again, That thy people may rejoice in thee? ⁷Show us thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, And grant us thy salvation. ⁸I will hear what God Jehovah will speak; For he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: But let them not turn again to folly. ⁹Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, That glory may dwell in our land. ¹⁰Mercy and truth are met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. ¹¹Truth springeth out of the earth; And righteousness hath looked down from heaven. ¹²Yea, Jehovah will give that which is good; And our land shall yield its increase. ¹³Righteousness shall go before him, And shall make his footsteps a way to walk in.

Psalm 86 A Prayer of David

¹Bow down thine ear, O Jehovah, and answer me; For I am poor and needy. ²Preserve my soul; for I am godly: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. ³Be merciful unto me, O Lord; For unto thee do I cry all the day long. ⁴Rejoice the soul of thy servant; For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. ⁵For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness unto all them that call upon thee. ⁶Give ear, O Jehovah, unto my prayer; And hearken unto the voice of my supplications. ⁷In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee; For thou wilt answer me. ⁸There is none like unto thee among the gods, O Lord; Neither are there any works like unto thy works. ⁹All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; And they shall glorify thy name. ¹⁰For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: Thou art God alone. ¹¹Teach me thy way, O Jehovah; I will walk in thy truth: Unite my heart to fear thy name. ¹²I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart; And I will glorify thy name for evermore. ¹³For great is thy lovingkindness toward me; And thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol. ¹⁴O God, the proud are risen up against me, And a company of violent men have sought after my soul, And have not set thee before them. ¹⁵But thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth. ¹⁶Oh turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; Give thy strength unto thy servant, And save the son of thy handmaid. ¹⁷Show me a token for good, That they who hate me may see it, and be put to shame, Because thou, Jehovah, hast helped me, and comforted me.

Psalm 87 A Psalm of the sons of Korah; a Song.

¹His foundation is in the holy mountains. ²Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion More than all the dwellings of Jacob. ³Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah ⁴I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon as among them that know me: Behold, Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia: This one was born there. ⁵Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her; And the Most High himself will establish her. ⁶Jehovah will count, when he writeth up the peoples, This one was born there. Selah ⁷They that sing as well as they that dance shall say, All my fountains are in thee.

Psalm 88 A Song, a Psalm of the sons of Korah; for the Chief Musician; set to Mahalath Leannoth. Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.

¹O Jehovah, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee. ²Let my prayer enter into thy presence; Incline thine ear unto my cry. ³For my soul is full of troubles, And my life draweth nigh unto Sheol. ⁴I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no help, ⁵Cast off among the dead, Like the slain that lie in the grave, Whom thou rememberest no more, And they are cut off from thy hand. ⁶Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the deeps. ⁷Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, And thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah ⁸Thou hast put mine acquaintance far from me; Thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. ⁹Mine eye wasteth away by reason of affliction: I have called daily upon thee, O Jehovah; I have spread forth my hands unto thee. ¹⁰Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall they that are decreased arise and praise thee? Selah ¹¹Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or thy faithfulness in Destruction? ¹²Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? And thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? ¹³But unto thee, O Jehovah, have I cried; And in the morning shall my prayer come before thee. ¹⁴Jehovah, why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy face from me? ¹⁵I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: While I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. ¹⁶Thy fierce wrath is gone over me; Thy terrors have cut me off. ¹⁷They came round about me like water all the day long; They compassed me about together. ¹⁸Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, And mine acquaintance into darkness.