811 A song to our strong God! a shout to the God of Jacob! 2 Anthems from the choir, music from the band, sweet sounds from lute and harp, 3 Trumpets and trombones and horns: it's festival day, a feast to God! 4 A day decreed by God, solemnly ordered by the God of Jacob. 5 He commanded Joseph to keep this day so we'd never forget what he did in Egypt. I hear this most gentle whisper from One I never guessed would speak to me: 6 "I took the world off your shoulders, freed you from a life of hard labor. 7 You called to me in your pain; I got you out of a bad place. I answered you from where the thunder hides, I proved you at Meribah Fountain.
8 "Listen, dear ones - get this straight; O Israel, don't take this lightly. 9 Don't take up with strange gods, don't worship the latest in gods. 10 I'm God, your God, the very God who rescued you from doom in Egypt, Then fed you all you could eat, filled your hungry stomachs. 11 "But my people didn't listen, Israel paid no attention; 12 So I let go of the reins and told them, 'Run! Do it your own way!' 13 "Oh, dear people, will you listen to me now? Israel, will you follow my map? 14 I'll make short work of your enemies, give your foes the back of my hand. 15 I'll send the God-haters cringing like dogs, never to be heard from again. 16 You'll feast on my fresh-baked bread spread with butter and rock-pure honey."
881 God, you're my last chance of the day. I spend the night on my knees before you. 2 Put me on your salvation agenda; take notes on the trouble I'm in. 3 I've had my fill of trouble; I'm camped on the edge of hell. 4 I'm written off as a lost cause, one more statistic, a hopeless case. 5 Abandoned as already dead, one more body in a stack of corpses, And not so much as a gravestone - I'm a black hole in oblivion. 6 You've dropped me into a bottomless pit, sunk me in a pitch-black abyss. 7 I'm battered senseless by your rage, relentlessly pounded by your waves of anger. 8 You turned my friends against me, made me horrible to them. I'm caught in a maze and can't find my way out, 9 blinded by tears of pain and frustration. I call to you, God; all day I call. I wring my hands, I plead for help.
10 Are the dead a live audience for your miracles? Do ghosts ever join the choirs that praise you? 11 Does your love make any difference in a graveyard? Is your faithful presence noticed in the corridors of hell? 12 Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark, your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No Memory? 13 I'm standing my ground, God, shouting for help, at my prayers every morning, on my knees each daybreak. 14 Why, God, do you turn a deaf ear? Why do you make yourself scarce? 15 For as long as I remember I've been hurting; I've taken the worst you can hand out, and I've had it. 16 Your wildfire anger has blazed through my life; I'm bleeding, black and blue. 17 You've attacked me fiercely from every side, raining down blows till I'm nearly dead. 18 You made lover and neighbor alike dump me; the only friend I have left is Darkness.
921 What a beautiful thing, God, to give thanks, to sing an anthem to you, the High God! 2 To announce your love each daybreak, sing your faithful presence all through the night, 3 Accompanied by dulcimer and harp, the full-bodied music of strings. 4 You made me so happy, God. I saw your work and I shouted for joy. 5 How magnificent your work, God! How profound your thoughts! 6 Dullards never notice what you do; fools never do get it.
7 When the wicked popped up like weeds and all the evil men and women took over, You mowed them down, finished them off once and for all. 8 You, God, are High and Eternal. 9 Look at your enemies, God! Look at your enemies - ruined! Scattered to the winds, all those hirelings of evil! 10 But you've made me strong as a charging bison, you've honored me with a festive parade. 11 The sight of my critics going down is still fresh, the rout of my malicious detractors. My ears are filled with the sounds of promise: 12 "Good people will prosper like palm trees, Grow tall like Lebanon cedars; 13 transplanted to God's courtyard, They'll grow tall in the presence of God, 14 lithe and green, virile still in old age." 15 Such witnesses to upright God! My Mountain, my huge, holy Mountain!
931 God is King, robed and ruling, God is robed and surging with strength. And yes, the world is firm, immovable, 2 Your throne ever firm - you're Eternal! 3 Sea storms are up, God, Sea storms wild and roaring, Sea storms with thunderous breakers. 4 Stronger than wild sea storms, Mightier than sea-storm breakers, Mighty God rules from High Heaven. 5 What you say goes - it always has. "Beauty" and "Holy" mark your palace rule, God, to the very end of time.
