Psalm 30

Joy Comes in the Morning

A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of the temple.

30:1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. ²O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. ³O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.^[1]

⁴Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.^[2]⁵For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.^[3]Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

⁶As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” ⁷By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.

⁸To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: ⁹“What profit is there in my death,[4] if I go down to the pit?^[5]Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? ¹⁰Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!”

¹¹You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, ¹²that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

[1] Or to life, that I should not go down to the pit [2] Hebrew to the memorial of his holiness (see Exodus 3:15) [3] Or and in his favor is life [4] Hebrew in my blood [5] Or to corruption

Psalm 31

Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

31:1 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! ²Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!

³For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; ⁴you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. ⁵Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

⁶I hate[6] those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord. ⁷I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, ⁸and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.

⁹Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. ¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.

¹¹Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. ¹²I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel. ¹³For I hear the whispering of many— terror on every side!— as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.

¹⁴But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” ¹⁵My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! ¹⁶Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love! ¹⁷O Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol. ¹⁸Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt.

¹⁹Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! ²⁰In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.

²¹Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city. ²²I had said in my alarm,[7] “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.

²³Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. ²⁴Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!

[6] Masoretic Text; one Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome You hate [7] Or in my haste

Psalm 32

Blessed Are the Forgiven

A Maskil[8] of David.

32:1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. ²Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁴For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up[9] as by the heat of summer. Selah

⁵I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

⁶Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. ⁷You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

⁸I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. ⁹Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.

¹⁰Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. ¹¹Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

[8] Probably a musical or liturgical term [9] Hebrew my vitality was changed

Psalm 33

The Steadfast Love of the Lord

33:1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. ²Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! ³Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

⁴For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. ⁵He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

⁶By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. ⁷He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses.

⁸Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! ⁹For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

¹⁰The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. ¹¹The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. ¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

¹³The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; ¹⁴from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, ¹⁵he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. ¹⁶The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. ¹⁷The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.

¹⁸Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, ¹⁹that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.

²⁰Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. ²¹For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. ²²Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.