Praise for God's Mighty Deeds

661 Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! 2 Sing to the glory of his name!
Offer glory and praise! 3 Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds!
Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you. 4 All the earth will worship you,
and will sing to you;
they will sing to your name.” Selah. 5 Come, and see God’s deeds—
awesome work on behalf of the children of men. 6 He turned the sea into dry land.
They went through the river on foot.
There, we rejoiced in him. 7 He rules by his might forever.
His eyes watch the nations.
Don’t let the rebellious rise up against him. Selah.

8 Praise our God, you peoples!
Make the sound of his praise heard, 9 who preserves our life among the living,
and doesn’t allow our feet to be moved. 10 For you, God, have tested us.
You have refined us, as silver is refined. 11 You brought us into prison.
You laid a burden on our backs. 12 You allowed men to ride over our heads.
We went through fire and through water,
but you brought us to the place of abundance.

13 I will come into your temple with burnt offerings.
I will pay my vows to you, 14 which my lips promised,
and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress. 15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals,
with the offering of rams,
I will offer bulls with goats. Selah. 16 Come, and hear, all you who fear God.
I will declare what he has done for my soul. 17 I cried to him with my mouth.
He was extolled with my tongue. 18 If I cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord wouldn’t have listened. 19 But most certainly, God has listened.
He has heard the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer,
nor his loving kindness from me.

The Nations Exhorted to Praise God

671 May God be merciful to us, bless us,
and cause his face to shine on us. Selah. 2 That your way may be known on earth,
and your salvation among all nations, 3 let the peoples praise you, God.
Let all the peoples praise you. 4 Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you will judge the peoples with equity,
and govern the nations on earth. Selah. 5 Let the peoples praise you, God.
Let all the peoples praise you. 6 The earth has yielded its increase.
God, even our own God, will bless us. 7 God will bless us.
All the ends of the earth shall fear him.

The God of Sinai and of the Sanctuary

681 Let God arise!
Let his enemies be scattered!
Let them who hate him also flee before him. 2 As smoke is driven away,
so drive them away.
As wax melts before the fire,
so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. 3 But let the righteous be glad.
Let them rejoice before God.
Yes, let them rejoice with gladness. 4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!
Extol him who rides on the clouds:
to Yah, his name!
Rejoice before him! 5 A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows,
is God in his holy habitation. 6 God sets the lonely in families.
He brings out the prisoners with singing,
but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.

7 God, when you went forth before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness... Selah. 8 The earth trembled.
The sky also poured down rain at the presence of the God of Sinai—
at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 9 You, God, sent a plentiful rain.
You confirmed your inheritance, when it was weary. 10 Your congregation lived therein.
You, God, prepared your goodness for the poor. 11 The Lord announced the word.
The ones who proclaim it are a great company. 12 “Kings of armies flee! They flee!”
She who waits at home divides the spoil, 13 while you sleep among the campfires,
the wings of a dove sheathed with silver,
her feathers with shining gold. 14 When the Almighty scattered kings in her,
it snowed on Zalmon.

15 The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains.
The mountains of Bashan are rugged. 16 Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains,
at the mountain where God chooses to reign?
Yes, Yahweh will dwell there forever. 17 The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands.
The Lord is among them, from Sinai, into the sanctuary. 18 You have ascended on high.
You have led away captives.
You have received gifts among men,
yes, among the rebellious also, that Yah God might dwell there. 19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens,
even the God who is our salvation. Selah. 20 God is to us a God of deliverance.
To Yahweh, the Lord, belongs escape from death. 21 But God will strike through the head of his enemies,
the hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness.

22 The Lord said, “I will bring you again from Bashan,
I will bring you again from the depths of the sea; 23 That you may crush them, dipping your foot in blood,
that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies.” 24 They have seen your processions, God,
even the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. 25 The singers went before, the minstrels followed after,
in the midst of the ladies playing with tambourines, 26 “Bless God in the congregations,
even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!” 27 There is little Benjamin, their ruler,
the princes of Judah, their council,
the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali. 28 Your God has commanded your strength.
Strengthen, God, that which you have done for us. 29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem,
kings shall bring presents to you. 30 Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds,
the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples.
Being humbled, may it bring bars of silver.
Scatter the nations that delight in war. 31 Princes shall come out of Egypt.
Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God.

32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth!
Sing praises to the Lord! Selah. 33 To him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old;
behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice. 34 Ascribe strength to God!
His excellency is over Israel,
his strength is in the skies. 35 You are awesome, God, in your sanctuaries.
The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people.
Praise be to God!

A Cry of Distress

691 Save me, God,
for the waters have come up to my neck! 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold.
I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. 3 I am weary with my crying.
My throat is dry.
My eyes fail, looking for my God. 4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.
Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty.
I have to restore what I didn’t take away. 5 God, you know my foolishness.
My sins aren’t hidden from you. 6 Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Armies.
Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel. 7 Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.
Shame has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s children. 9 For the zeal of your house consumes me.
The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. 10 When I wept and I fasted,
that was to my reproach. 11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them. 12 Those who sit in the gate talk about me.
I am the song of the drunkards.

13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time.
God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation. 14 Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink.
Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. 15 Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me,
neither let the deep swallow me up.
Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me. 16 Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good.
According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me. 17 Don’t hide your face from your servant,
for I am in distress.
Answer me speedily! 18 Draw near to my soul, and redeem it.
Ransom me because of my enemies. 19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor.
My adversaries are all before you. 20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.
I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;
for comforters, but I found none. 21 They also gave me gall for my food.
In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 Let their table before them become a snare.
May it become a retribution and a trap. 23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see.
Let their backs be continually bent. 24 Pour out your indignation on them.
Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them. 25 Let their habitation be desolate.
Let no one dwell in their tents. 26 For they persecute him whom you have wounded.
They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt. 27 Charge them with crime upon crime.
Don’t let them come into your righteousness. 28 Let them be blotted out of the book of life,
and not be written with the righteous. 29 But I am in pain and distress.
Let your salvation, God, protect me.

30 I will praise the name of God with a song,
and will magnify him with thanksgiving. 31 It will please Yahweh better than an ox,
or a bull that has horns and hoofs. 32 The humble have seen it, and are glad.
You who seek after God, let your heart live. 33 For Yahweh hears the needy,
and doesn’t despise his captive people. 34 Let heaven and earth praise him;
the seas, and everything that moves therein! 35 For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah.
They shall settle there, and own it. 36 The children also of his servants shall inherit it.
Those who love his name shall dwell therein.