Psalms 67 to 69 : Easy-to-Read Version  | SearchSearch | Next Version | Previous Page | Next Page |

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Psalm 67

To the director.* With instruments. A song of praise.

1God, show mercy to me and bless me. Please accept us! SELAH* 2I hope every person on earth learns about you, God. Let every nation see how you save people. 3May people praise you, God! May all people praise you. 4May all nations rejoice and be happy! Why? Because you judge people fairly. And you rule over every nation. 5May people praise you, God! May all people praise you. 6God, our God, bless us. Let our land give us a great harvest. 7May God bless us. And may all the people on earth fear and respect God.

director Or, “performer.” SELAH This word is for the musicians. It probably means the singers should pause here or the music should be louder here.


Psalm 68

To the director.* One of David’s songs of praise.

1God, get up and scatter your enemies. May all of his enemies run from him. 2May your enemies be scattered, like smoke blown away by the wind. May your enemies be destroyed, like wax melting in a fire. 3But good people are happy. Good people have a happy time together with God. Good people enjoy themselves and are very happy! 4Sing to God. Sing praises to his name. Prepare the way for God. He rides his chariot* over the desert. His name is YAH.* Praise his name! 5In his holy temple, God is like a father to orphans.* God takes care of widows.* 6God gives lonely people a home. God takes his people out of prison. They are very happy. But people who turn against God, will stay in their hot prison. 7God, you led your people out {of Egypt}. You marched across the desert, 8and the ground shook. SELAH* God, the God of Israel, came to Mount Sinai, and the sky melted. 9God, you sent the rain to make a tired, old land strong again. 10Your animals came back to that land. God, you gave many good things to the poor people there. 11God gave the command and many people went to tell the good news: 12“The armies of powerful kings ran away! The women at home will divide the things that the soldiers bring from the battle. The people who stayed at home will share in the wealth.  13They will get the dove wings covered with silver. They will get the wings sparkling with gold.” 14On Mount Zalmon, God scattered the enemy kings. They were like falling snow. 15Mount Bashan is a great mountain with many peaks. 16Mount Bashan, why do you look down on Mount Zion? God loves that mountain (Zion). The Lord chose to live there forever. 17The Lord comes to Holy Mount Zion. Behind him are millions of his chariots.* 18He went up above {on the high mountain}, leading a parade of captives; to take the gifts from men,* including the people who turned against him. The Lord* God {went up there} to live. 19Praise the Lord! Every day he helps us with the loads we must carry. God saves us! SELAH* 20He is our God. He is the God that saves us. The Lord our God saves us from death. 21God will show that he defeated his enemies. God will punish the people who fought against him.* 22My Master said, “I’ll bring the enemy back from Bashan, I’ll bring the enemy from the west, 23so you can walk in their blood, so your dogs can lick up their blood.” 24See God leading the victory parade! See my Holy God, my King, leading the victory parade! 25Singers come marching in front, followed by the musicians, surrounded by young girls playing tambourines. 26Praise God in the meeting place!* Praise the Lord, people of Israel! 27There is little Benjamin, leading them. And there is the great family of Judah. And there are the leaders of Zebulun and Naphtali. 28God, show us your power! Show us the power you used for us in the past. 29Kings will bring their wealth to you, to your palace in Jerusalem. 30Use your stick to make those “animals” do what you want. Make the “bulls” and “cows” in those nations obey you. You defeated those nations in war. Now make them bring silver to you. 31Make them bring wealth from Egypt. God, make the Ethiopians bring their wealth to you. 32Kings on earth, sing to God! Sing songs of praise to our Master! SELAH* 33Sing to God! He rides his chariot through the ancient skies. Listen to his powerful voice! 34God is more powerful than any of your gods. The God of Israel makes his people strong. 35God is wonderful in his temple. The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people. Praise God!

director Or, “performer.” chariot(s) A small wagon used in war. YAH This is a Hebrew name for God. It is like the Hebrew name usually translated, “Lord.” orphan(s) Children whose parents have died. widow(s) Women whose husbands have died. Often these women had no one to care for them. SELAH This word is for the musicians. It probably means the singers should pause here or the music should be louder here.  chariot(s) A small wagon used in war. He took the gifts from men Or, “He took men as gifts.” Or, “He gave gifts to men,” as in the ancient Syriac and Aramaic versions and Eph. 4:8. The Lord Or, “YAH,” a Hebrew name for God. God will show … him Literally, “God will smash the heads of his enemies. He will smash the hairy skull walking in guilt.” meeting place Or “Praise God with {the trumpets} that announce the assembly!”


Psalm 69

To the director.* To the tune “The Lilies.” One of David’s songs.

1God, save me from all my troubles! The water has risen to my mouth.  2There is nothing to stand on. I am sinking down, down into the mud. I am in deep water. And the waves are crashing around me. I am about to drown. 3I am getting weak from calling for help. My throat is hurting. I have waited and looked for help from you until my eyes are hurting. 4I have more enemies than the hairs on my head. They hate me for no reason. They try hard to destroy me. My enemies tell lies about me. They lied and said I stole things. And then they forced me to pay for things I did not steal. 5God, you know I did nothing wrong. I can’t hide my sins from you. 6My Master, Lord All-Powerful, don’t let your followers be ashamed of me. God of Israel, don’t let your worshipers be embarrassed because of me. 7My face is covered with shame. I carry this shame for you. 8My brothers treat me like a stranger. My mother’s sons treat me like a foreigner. 9My strong feelings* for your temple are destroying me. I get the insults from people who make fun of you. 10I cry and fast,* and they make fun of me for it. 11I wear rough cloth to show my sadness, and people tell jokes about me. 12They talk about me in public places. The beer drinkers make up songs about me. 13As for me, this is my prayer to you Lord: I want you to accept me! God, I want you to answer me with love. I know I can trust you to save me. 14Pull me from the mud. Don’t let me sink down into the mud. Save me from the people who hate me. Save me from this deep water. 15Don’t let the waves drown me. Don’t let the deep hole swallow me. Don’t let the grave close its mouth on me. 16Lord, your love is good. Answer me with all your love. With all your kindness, turn to me and help me! 17Don’t turn away from your servant. I am in trouble! Hurry, help me! 18Come save my soul. Rescue me from my enemies. 19You know my shame. You know my enemies humiliated me. You saw them do those things to me. 20The shame has crushed me! I am about to die from shame. I waited for sympathy, but none could be found. I waited for some person to comfort me, but no person came. 21They gave me poison, not food. They gave me vinegar, not wine. 22Their tables are covered with food. They have such big fellowship meals. I hope those meals destroy them. 23I hope they become blind and their backs become weak. 24Let them feel all of your anger. 25Make their homes empty. Don’t let anyone live there. 26Punish them, and they will run away. Then they really will have pains and wounds to talk about. 27Punish them for the bad things they did. Don’t show them how good you can be. 28Erase their names from the Book of Life. Don’t write their names in the book with the names of the good people. 29I am sad and hurting. God, lift me up. Save me! 30I will praise God’s name in song. I will praise him with a song of thanks.  31This will make God happy! This will be better than killing a bull and offering the whole animal as a sacrifice.* 32Poor people, you came to worship God. You will be happy to know these things. 33The Lord listens to poor, helpless people. The Lord still likes people in prison. 34Praise God, heaven and earth! Sea and everything in it, praise the Lord! 35The Lord will save Zion.* The Lord will rebuild the cities of Judah. The people who own the land will live there again! 36The descendants* of his servants will get that land. The people who love his name will live there.

director Or, “performer.” strong feelings The Hebrew word means any strong feelings like love, hate, anger, zeal, or jealousy. fast To live without food for a special time of prayer and worship.  sacrifice(s) A sacrifice was a gift to God. Usually, it was a special animal that was killed and burned on an altar. Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on. Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem. descendants A person’s children and their future families.

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