Bible Society of South Africa

Bible Reading Plan – Day 114

Bible text(s)

Psalms 79

A Prayer for the Nation's Deliverance

1O God, the heathen have invaded your land.

They have desecrated your holy Temple

and left Jerusalem in ruins.

2They left the bodies of your people for the vultures,

the bodies of your servants for wild animals to eat.

3They shed your people's blood like water;

blood flowed like water all through Jerusalem,

and no one was left to bury the dead.

4The surrounding nations insult us;

they laugh at us and mock us.

5LORD, will you be angry with us for ever?

Will your anger continue to burn like fire?

6Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you,

on the people who do not pray to you.

7For they have killed your people;

they have ruined your country.

8Do not punish us for the sins of our ancestors.

Have mercy on us now;

we have lost all hope.

9Help us, O God, and save us;

rescue us and forgive our sins

for the sake of your own honour.

10Why should the nations ask us,

“Where is your God?”

Let us see you punish the nations

for shedding the blood of your servants.

11Listen to the groans of the prisoners,

and by your great power free those who are condemned to die.

12Lord, pay the other nations back seven times

for all the insults they have hurled at you.

13Then we, your people, the sheep of your flock,

will thank you for ever

and praise you for all time to come.

Psalms 80

A Prayer for the Nation's Restoration

1Listen to us, O Shepherd of Israel;

hear us, leader of your flock.

Seated on your throne above the winged creatures,

2reveal yourself to the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.

Show us your strength;

come and save us!

3Bring us back, O God!

Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!

4How much longer, LORD God Almighty,

will you be angry with your people's prayers?

5You have given us sorrow to eat,

a large cup of tears to drink.

6You let the surrounding nations fight over our land;

our enemies insult us.

7Bring us back, Almighty God!

Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!

8You brought a grapevine out of Egypt;

you drove out other nations and planted it in their land.

9You cleared a place for it to grow;

its roots went deep, and it spread out over the whole land.

10It covered the hills with its shade;

its branches overshadowed the giant cedars.

11It extended its branches to the Mediterranean Sea

and as far as the River Euphrates.

12Why did you break down the fences round it?

Now anyone passing by can steal its grapes;

13wild pigs trample it down,

and wild animals feed on it.

14Turn to us, Almighty God!

Look down from heaven at us;

come and save your people!

15Come and save this grapevine that you planted,

this young vine you made grow so strong!

16Our enemies have set it on fire and cut it down;

look at them in anger and destroy them!

17Preserve and protect the people you have chosen,

the nation you made so strong.

18We will never turn away from you again;

keep us alive, and we will praise you.

19Bring us back, LORD God Almighty.

Show us your mercy, and we will be saved.

Psalms 81

A Song for a Festival

1Shout for joy to God our defender;

sing praise to the God of Jacob!

2Start the music and beat the tambourines;

play pleasant music on the harps and the lyres.

3Blow the trumpet for the festival,

when the moon is new and when the moon is full.

4This is the law in Israel,

an order from the God of Jacob.

5He gave it to the people of Israel

when he attacked the land of Egypt.

I hear an unknown voice saying,

6“I took the burdens off your backs;

I let you put down your loads of bricks.

7When you were in trouble, you called to me, and I saved you.

From my hiding place in the storm, I answered you.

I put you to the test at the springs of Meribah.

8Listen, my people, to my warning;

Israel, how I wish you would listen to me!

9You must never worship another god.

10I am the LORD your God,

who brought you out of Egypt.

Open your mouth, and I will feed you.

11“But my people would not listen to me;

Israel would not obey me.

12So I let them go their stubborn ways

and do whatever they wanted.

13How I wish my people would listen to me;

how I wish they would obey me!

14I would quickly defeat their enemies

and conquer all their foes.

15Those who hate me would bow in fear before me;

their punishment would last for ever.

16But I would feed you with the finest wheat

and satisfy you with wild honey.”

Psalms 82

God the Supreme Ruler

1God presides in the heavenly council;

in the assembly of the gods he gives his decision:

2“You must stop judging unjustly;

you must no longer be partial to the wicked!

3Defend the rights of the poor and the orphans;

be fair to the needy and the helpless.

4Rescue them from the power of the wicked.

5“How ignorant you are! How stupid!

You are completely corrupt,

and justice has disappeared from the world.

6‘You are gods,’ I said;

‘all of you are children of the Most High.’

7But you will die like mortals;

your life will end like that of any prince.”

8Come, O God, and rule the world;

all the nations are yours.

Psalms 83

A Prayer for the Defeat of Israel's Enemies

1O God, do not keep silent;

do not be still, do not be quiet!

2Look! Your enemies are in revolt,

and those who hate you are rebelling.

3They are making secret plans against your people;

they are plotting against those you protect.

4“Come,” they say, “let us destroy their nation,

so that Israel will be forgotten for ever.”

5They agree on their plan

and form an alliance against you:

6the people of Edom and the Ishmaelites;

the people of Moab and the Hagrites;

7the people of Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,

and of Philistia and Tyre.

8Assyria has also joined them

as a strong ally of the Ammonites and Moabites, the descendants of Lot.

9Do to them what you did to the Midianites,

and to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon.

10You defeated them at Endor,

and their bodies rotted on the ground.

11Do to their leaders what you did to Oreb and Zeeb;

defeat all their rulers as you did Zebah and Zalmunna,

12who said, “We will take for our own

the land that belongs to God.”

13Scatter them like dust, O God,

like straw blown away by the wind.

14As fire burns the forest,

as flames set the hills on fire,

15chase them away with your storm

and terrify them with your fierce winds.

16Cover their faces with shame, O LORD,

and make them acknowledge your power.

17May they be defeated and terrified for ever;

may they die in complete disgrace.

18May they know that you alone are the LORD,

supreme ruler over all the earth.

Psalms 84

Longing for God's House

1How I love your Temple, LORD Almighty!

2How I want to be there!

I long to be in the LORD's Temple.

With my whole being I sing for joy

to the living God.

3Even the sparrows have built a nest,

and the swallows have their own home;

they keep their young near your altars,

LORD Almighty, my king and my God.

4How happy are those who live in your Temple,

always singing praise to you.

5How happy are those whose strength comes from you,

who are eager to make the pilgrimage to Mount Zion.

6As they pass through the dry valley of Baca,

it becomes a place of springs;

the autumn rain fills it with pools.

7They grow stronger as they go;

they will see the God of gods on Zion.

8Hear my prayer, LORD God Almighty.

Listen, O God of Jacob!

9Bless our king, O God,

the king you have chosen.

10One day spent in your Temple

is better than a thousand anywhere else;

I would rather stand at the gate of the house of my God

than live in the homes of the wicked.

11The LORD is our protector and glorious king,

blessing us with kindness and honour.

He does not refuse any good thing

to those who do what is right.

12LORD Almighty, how happy are those who trust in you!

Psalms 85

A Prayer for the Nation's Welfare

1LORD, you have been merciful to your land;

you have made Israel prosperous again.

2You have forgiven your people's sins

and pardoned all their wrongs.

3You stopped being angry with them

and held back your furious rage.

4Bring us back, O God our saviour,

and stop being displeased with us!

5Will you be angry with us for ever?

Will your anger never cease?

6Make us strong again,

and we, your people, will praise you.

7Show us your constant love, O LORD,

and give us your saving help.

8I am listening to what the LORD God is saying;

he promises peace to us, his own people,

if we do not go back to our foolish ways.

9Surely he is ready to save those who honour him,

and his saving presence will remain in our land.

10Love and faithfulness will meet;

righteousness and peace will embrace.

11Human loyalty will reach up from the earth,

and God's righteousness will look down from heaven.

12The LORD will make us prosperous,

and our land will produce rich harvests.

13Righteousness will go before the LORD

and prepare the path for him.

Psalms 79:1-85:13GNBOpen in Bible reader
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