Psalm 85

To the director.* A song of praise from the Korah family. ¹Lord, be kind to your country. Jacob’s {people are exiles* in a foreign country.} Bring the exiles back to their country. ²Lord, forgive your people! Erase their sins! SELAH* ³Lord, stop being angry. Don’t be mad. ⁴Our God and Savior, stop being angry at us, and accept us again. ⁵Will you be angry at us forever? ⁶Please, make us live again! Make your people happy. ⁷Lord, save us and show us that you love us. ⁸I heard what the Lord God said. He said there would be peace for his people and loyal followers. So they must not go back to their foolish way of living. ⁹God will soon save his followers. We will soon live with honor on our land. ¹⁰God’s true love will meet his followers. Goodness and peace will greet them with a kiss. ¹¹People on earth will be loyal to God, and God in heaven will be good to them.* ¹²The Lord will give us many good things. The ground will grow many good crops. ¹³Goodness will go in front of God, and prepare the way for him.

director Or, “performer.” exiles People who have been forced to leave their country and live in some other country. SELAH This word is for the musicians. It probably means the singers should pause here or the music should be louder here. People … to them Literally, “Loyalty will sprout from the ground. And goodness will look down from the sky.”

Psalm 86

David’s prayer.

¹I am a poor, helpless man. Lord, please listen to me and answer my prayer. ²Lord, I am your follower, please protect me! I am your servant. You are my God. I trust you. So save me. ³My Master, be kind to me. I have been praying to you all day. ⁴Master, I put my life in your hands. Make me happy, I am your servant. ⁵Master, you are good and merciful. Your people call to you for help. You really love those people. ⁶Lord, hear my prayer. Listen to my prayer for mercy. ⁷Lord, I am praying to you in my time of trouble. I know you will answer me! ⁸There is none like you, God. No person can do what you have done. ⁹Master, you made every person. May they all come worship you. May they all honor your name. ¹⁰God, you are great! You do amazing things! You, and you only, are God! ¹¹Lord, teach me your ways, and I will live and obey your truths. Help me make worshiping your name the most important thing in my life. ¹²God my Master, I praise you with all my whole heart. I will honor your name forever! ¹³God, you have such great love for me. You save me from the place of death. ¹⁴Proud men are attacking me, God. A gang of cruel men are trying to kill me. And those men don’t respect you. ¹⁵Master, you are a kind and merciful God. You are patient, loyal, and full of love. ¹⁶God, show that you hear me and be kind to me. I am your servant. Give me strength. I am your servant. Save me! ¹⁷God, give me a sign to show that you will help me. My enemies will see that sign, and they will be disappointed. That will show that you heard my prayer and that you will help me.

Psalm 87

A song of praise from the Korah family.

¹God built his temple on the holy hills {of Jerusalem}. ²The Lord loves Zion’s gates more than any other place in Israel. ³City of God, people say wonderful things about you. SELAH* ⁴{God keeps a list of all of his people.} Some of them live in Egypt* and Babylon. Some of them were born in Philistia, Tyre, and even Ethiopia. ⁵God knows every person born on Zion. God Most-High built that city. ⁶God keeps a list about all his people. God knows where each person was born. SELAH* ⁷{God’s people go to Jerusalem to celebrate the special holidays.} They are very happy. They are singing and dancing. They say, “All good things come from Jerusalem.”

SELAH This word is for the musicians. It probably means the singers should pause here or the music should be louder here. Egypt Literally, “Rahab.” This names means the “Dragon.” It became a popular name for Egypt.

Psalm 88

A song of praise from the Korah family. To the director.* About a painful sickness. A maskil* from Heman the Ezrahite.

¹Lord God, you are my Savior. I have been praying to you day and night. ²Please pay attention to my prayers. Listen to my prayers for mercy. ³My soul has had enough of this pain! I will soon die. ⁴People already treat me like a dead man, like a man too weak to live. ⁵Look for me among the dead people. I am like a dead body lying in the grave, one of the dead people you forgot, cut off from you and your care. ⁶You put me in that hole in the ground. Yes, you put me in that dark place. ⁷God, you were angry at me, and you punished me. SELAH* ⁸My friends have left me. They all avoid me like a person no one wants to touch. I am locked in the house and I can’t go out. ⁹My eyes hurt from {crying about} all my suffering. Lord, I pray to you constantly! I lift my arms in prayer to you. ¹⁰Lord, do you do miracles for dead people? Do ghosts rise up and praise you? No! SELAH* ¹¹Dead people in their graves can’t talk about your love. Dead people in the world of the dead can’t talk about your loyalty. ¹²Dead people lying in darkness can’t see the amazing things you do. Dead people in the World of the Forgotten can’t talk about your goodness. ¹³Lord, I am asking you to help me! Early each morning I pray to you. ¹⁴Lord, why have you abandoned me? Why do you refuse to listen to me? ¹⁵Since I was young, I was weak and sick. I have suffered your anger, I am helpless. ¹⁶Lord, you were angry at me, and the punishment is killing me. ¹⁷The aches and pains are always with me. I feel like I am drowning in my aches and pains. ¹⁸And Lord, you forced all my friends and loved ones to leave me. Only darkness stayed to be with me.

director Or, “performer.” maskil The exact meaning of “maskil” is not known. It might mean “a poem of meditation,” “a poem of instruction,” or “a skillfully-written poem.” SELAH This word is for the musicians. It probably means the singers should pause here or the music should be louder here.