Psalm 80-85

A Prayer for Restoration

80¹ Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph's descendants like a flock. O God, enthroned above the cherubim, display your radiant glory ² to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Show us your mighty power. Come to rescue us! ³ Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. ⁴ O Lord God of Heaven's Armies, how long will you be angry with our prayers? ⁵ You have fed us with sorrow and made us drink tears by the bucketful. ⁶ You have made us the scorn of neighboring nations. Our enemies treat us as a joke. ⁷ Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven's Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.

⁸ You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land. ⁹ You cleared the ground for us, and we took root and filled the land. ¹⁰ Our shade covered the mountains; our branches covered the mighty cedars. ¹¹ We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea; our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River. ¹² But now, why have you broken down our walls so that all who pass by may steal our fruit? ¹³ The wild boar from the forest devours it, and the wild animals feed on it. ¹⁴ Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven's Armies. Look down from heaven and see our plight. Take care of this grapevine ¹⁵ that you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself. ¹⁶ For we are chopped up and burned by our enemies. May they perish at the sight of your frown. ¹⁷ Strengthen the man you love, the son of your choice. ¹⁸ Then we will never abandon you again. Revive us so we can call on your name once more. ¹⁹ Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of Heaven's Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.

God's Goodness and Israel's Waywardness

81¹ Sing praises to God, our strength. Sing to the God of Jacob. ² Sing! Beat the tambourine. Play the sweet lyre and the harp. ³ Blow the ram's horn at new moon, and again at full moon to call a festival! ⁴ For this is required by the decrees of Israel; it is a regulation of the God of Jacob. ⁵ He made it a law for Israel when he attacked Egypt to set us free. I heard an unknown voice say, ⁶ "Now I will take the load from your shoulders; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks. ⁷ You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered out of the thundercloud and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah. Interlude

⁸ "Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you would only listen to me! ⁹ You must never have a foreign god; you must not bow down before a false god. ¹⁰ For it was I, the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things. ¹¹ "But no, my people wouldn't listen. Israel did not want me around. ¹² So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas. ¹³ Oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths! ¹⁴ How quickly I would then subdue their enemies! How soon my hands would be upon their foes! ¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him; they would be doomed forever. ¹⁶ But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock."

A Rebuke of Unjust Judgments

82¹ God presides over heaven's court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings: ² "How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked? Interlude ³ "Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. ⁴ Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people. ⁵ But these oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the core.

⁶ I say, 'You are gods; you are all children of the Most High. ⁷ But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.'" ⁸ Rise up, O God, and judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you.

A Prayer for the Destruction of Israel's Enemies

83¹ O God, do not be silent! Do not be deaf. Do not be quiet, O God. ² Don't you hear the uproar of your enemies? Don't you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up? ³ They devise crafty schemes against your people; they conspire against your precious ones. ⁴ "Come," they say, "let us wipe out Israel as a nation. We will destroy the very memory of its existence." ⁵ Yes, this was their unanimous decision. They signed a treaty as allies against you- ⁶ these Edomites and Ishmaelites; Moabites and Hagrites; ⁷ Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites; and people from Philistia and Tyre. ⁸ Assyria has joined them, too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot. Interlude

⁹ Do to them as you did to the Midianites and as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River. ¹⁰ They were destroyed at Endor, and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil. ¹¹ Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did. Let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna, ¹² for they said, "Let us seize for our own use these pasturelands of God!" ¹³ O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind! ¹⁴ As a fire burns a forest and as a flame sets mountains ablaze, ¹⁵ chase them with your fierce storm; terrify them with your tempest. ¹⁶ Utterly disgrace them until they submit to your name, O Lord . ¹⁷ Let them be ashamed and terrified forever. Let them die in disgrace. ¹⁸ Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.

Longing for God's House

84¹ How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven's Armies. ² I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord . With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God. ³ Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, O Lord of Heaven's Armies, my King and my God! ⁴ What joy for those who can live in your house, always singing your praises. Interlude ⁵ What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. ⁶ When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. ⁷ They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.

⁸ O Lord God of Heaven's Armies, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Jacob. Interlude ⁹ O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield! Show favor to the one you have anointed. ¹⁰ A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. ¹¹ For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. ¹² O Lord of Heaven's Armies, what joy for those who trust in you.

A Prayer for God's Mercy on Israel

85¹ Lord, you poured out blessings on your land! You restored the fortunes of Israel. ² You forgave the guilt of your people- yes, you covered all their sins. Interlude ³ You held back your fury. You kept back your blazing anger. ⁴ Now restore us again, O God of our salvation. Put aside your anger against us once more. ⁵ Will you be angry with us always? Will you prolong your wrath to all generations? ⁶ Won't you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? ⁷ Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

⁸ I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people. But let them not return to their foolish ways. ⁹ Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, so our land will be filled with his glory. ¹⁰ Unfailing love and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed! ¹¹ Truth springs up from the earth, and righteousness smiles down from heaven. ¹² Yes, the Lord pours down his blessings. Our land will yield its bountiful harvest. ¹³ Righteousness goes as a herald before him, preparing the way for his steps.