The Texts of Psalms 67-76
with brief introductory comments
Translation: The New Jerusalem Bible
The Spoken Word Set 10
Psalms for Every Day
Psalms 1 to 78
Volumes 25 to 27
The recording of the Psalms (Set 10)
read by David Guthrie
may be purchased and downloaded digitally from Naxos at
Classics Online (click here)
and streamed from the Naxos Spoken Word Library (click here)
Psalm 65
Thanksgiving hymn
If we bring our imagination to bear on the words of the psalms and allow our feelings to be carried along on wings of imagination, this psalm becomes a wonderful expression of joy and thanksgiving we experience in our relationship with God.
Praise is rightfully yours,
God, in Zion.
Vows to you shall be fulfilled,
for you answer prayer.
All humanity must come to you
with its sinful deeds.
Our faults overwhelm us,
but you blot them out.
How blessed those whom you choose
and invite to dwell in your courts.
We shall be filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.
You respond to us with the marvels of your saving justice,
God our Saviour,
hope of the whole wide world,
even the distant islands.
By your strength you hold the mountains steady,
being clothed in power,
you calm the turmoil of the seas,
the turmoil of their waves.
The nations are in uproar,
in panic those who live at the ends of the earth;
your miracles bring shouts of joy
to the gateways of morning and evening.
You visit the earth and make it fruitful,
you fill it with riches;
the river of God brims over with water,
you provide the grain.
To that end
you water its furrows abundantly, level its ridges,
soften it with showers and bless its shoots.
You crown the year with your generosity,
richness seeps from your tracks,
the pastures of the desert grow moist,
the hillsides are wrapped in joy,
the meadows are covered with flocks,
the valleys clothed with wheat;
they shout and sing for joy.
Psalm 66
Corporate prayer of thanksgiving
The cult has been transformed into liturgy and we still recognise the fundamental elements that are here – our sacrifice is the Eucharistic offering in identification with Christ. In our liturgy, there is the acclaim by the whole earth (the ‘Gloria’), and there is the retelling of the saving story.
Acclaim God, all the earth,
sing psalms to the glory of his name,
glorify him with your praises,
say to God, 'How awesome you are!
'Your achievements are the measure of your power,
your enemies woo your favour,
all the earth bows down before you,
sings psalms to you, sings psalms to your name.
Come and see the marvels of God,
his awesome deeds for the children of Adam:
he changed the sea into dry land,
they crossed the river on foot.
So let us rejoice in him,
who rules for ever by his power;
his eyes keep watch on the nations
to forestall rebellion against him.
Nations, bless our God,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
he brings us to life
and keeps our feet from stumbling.
God, you have put us to the test,
refined us like silver,
let us fall into the net;
you have put a heavy strain on our backs,
let men ride over our heads;
but now the ordeal by fire and water is over,
you have led us out to breathe again.
I bring burnt offerings to your house,
I fulfil to you my vows,
the vows that rose to my lips,
that I pronounced when I was in trouble.
I will offer you rich burnt offerings,
with the smoke of burning rams.
I will sacrifice to you bullocks and goats.
Come and listen, all who fear God,
while I tell what he has done for me.
To him I cried aloud,
high praise was on my tongue.
Had I been aware of guilt in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened,
but in fact God did listen,
attentive to the sound of my prayer.
Blessed be God who has not turned away my prayer nor his own faithful love from me.
Psalm 67
Harvest song
The vision that fills this psalm is the connection between material prosperity and the sign of God's blessing. It is a vision that has its modern resurgence in today's 'supermarket' churches and tele-evangelists. It is rooted in the wisdom teaching commented upon in earlier psalms. There is a profound truth here, but when transplanted into everyday life it can be defective and counter-productive to life in the Spirit.
May God show kindness and bless us,
and make his face shine on us.
Then the earth will acknowledge your ways,
and all nations your power to save.
Let the nations praise you, God,
let all the nations praise you.
Let the nations rejoice and sing for joy,
for you judge the world with justice,
you judge the peoples with fairness,
you guide the nations on earth.
Let the nations praise you, God,
let all the nations praise you.
The earth has yielded its produce;
God, our God has blessed us.
May God continue to bless us,
and be revered by the whole wide world.
Psalm 68
An epic of Israel’s glory
Let God arise, let his enemies scatter,
let his opponents flee before him.
You disperse them like smoke;
as wax melts in the presence of a fire,
so the wicked melt at the presence of God.
The upright rejoice in the presence of God,
delighted and crying out for joy.
Sing to God, play music to his name,
build a road for the Rider of the Clouds,
rejoice in Yahweh, dance before him.
Father of orphans, defender of widows,
such is God in his holy dwelling.
God gives the lonely a home to live in,
leads prisoners out into prosperity,
but rebels must live in the bare wastelands.
God, when you set out at the head of your people,
when you strode over the desert, the earth rocked,
the heavens pelted down rain at the presence of God,
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
God, you rained down a shower of blessings,
when your heritage was weary you gave it strength.
Your family found a home, which you
in your generosity provided for the humble.
The Lord gave a command,
the good news of a countless army.
The chieftains of the army are in flight, in flight,
and the fair one at home is sharing out the spoils.
While you are at ease in the sheepfolds,
the wings of the Dove are being covered with silver,
and her feathers with a sheen of green gold;
when Shaddai scatters the chieftains,
through her it snows on the Dark Mountain.
A mountain of God, the mountain of Bashan!
a haughty mountain, the mountain of Bashan!
Why be envious, haughty mountains,
of the mountain God has chosen for his dwelling?
There God will dwell for ever.
The chariots of God are thousand upon thousand;
God has come from Sinai to the sanctuary.
You have climbed the heights, taken captives,
you have taken men as tribute, even rebels
that Yahweh God might have a dwelling-place.
Blessed be the Lord day after day,
he carries us along, God our Saviour.
and the tongues of your dogs feast on your enemies.”
Your processions, God, are for all to see,
the processions of my God, of my king, to the sanctuary;
singers ahead, musicians behind,
in the middle come girls, beating their drums.
In choirs they bless God,
Yahweh, since the foundation of Israel.
Benjamin was there, the youngest in front,
the princes of Judah in bright-coloured robes,
the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
Take command, my God, as befits your power,
the power, God, which you have wielded for us,
from your temple high above Jerusalem.
Kings will come to you bearing tribute.
Rebuke the Beast of the Reeds,
that herd of bulls, that people of calves,
who bow down with ingots of silver.
Scatter the people who delight in war.
From Egypt nobles will come,
Ethiopia will stretch out its hands to God.
Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God,
play for the Rider of the Heavens, the primeval heavens.
There he speaks, with a voice of power!
Acknowledge the power of God.
Over Israel his splendour, in the clouds his power.
Awesome is God in his sanctuary.
He, the God of Israel,
gives strength and power to his people.
Blessed be God.
Psalm 69
Lament
This is a psalm, written during the exile, expresses the sorrow, the sadness and the grief of the people. The sense of enmity all around them would have been palpable to them, the more so as they struggled to maintain their faith against the voices of those who said they should simply adapt, blend in to their new environment and conform to Babylonian religion. It may touch deep feelings in us, though it sails dangerously near self-righteousness.
Save me, God, for the waters
have closed in on my very being.
I am sinking in the deepest swamp
and there is no firm ground.
I have stepped into deep water
and the waves are washing over me.
I am exhausted with calling out, my throat is hoarse,
my eyes are worn out with searching for my God.
More numerous than the hairs of my head
are those who hate me without reason.
Those who seek to get rid of me are powerful,
my treacherous enemies.
God, you know how foolish I am,
my offences are not hidden from you.
Those who hope in you must not be made fools of,
Yahweh Sabaoth, because of me!
Those who seek you must not be disgraced,
God of Israel, because of me!
It is for you I bear insults,
my face is covered with shame,
I am estranged from my brothers,
alienated from my own mother's sons;
for I am eaten up with zeal for your house,
and insults directed against you fall on me.
I mortify myself with fasting,
and find myself insulted for it,
I dress myself in sackcloth
and become their laughing-stock,
the gossip of people sitting at the gate,
and the theme of drunkards' songs.
And so, I pray to you, Yahweh,
at the time of your favour;
in your faithful love answer me,
in the constancy of your saving power.
Rescue me from the mire before I sink in;
so I shall be saved from those who hate me,
from the watery depths.
Let not the waves wash over me,
nor the deep swallow me up,
nor the pit close its mouth on me.
Answer me, Yahweh, for your faithful love is generous;
in your tenderness turn towards me;
do not turn away from your servant,
be quick to answer me, for I am in trouble.
Come to my side, redeem me,
ransom me because of my enemies.
You know well the insults,
the shame and disgrace I endure.
Every one of my oppressors is known to you.
Insult has broken my heart past cure.
I hoped for sympathy, but in vain,
for consolers -- not one to be found.
To eat they gave me poison,
to drink, vinegar when I was thirsty.
May their own table prove a trap for them,
and their abundance a snare;
may their eyes grow so dim that they cannot see,
all their muscles lose their strength.
Vent your fury on them,
let your burning anger overtake them.
Reduce their encampment to ruin,
and leave their tents untenanted,
for hounding someone you had already stricken,
for redoubling the pain of one you had wounded.
Charge them with crime after crime,
exclude them from your saving justice,
erase them from the book of life,
do not enrol them among the upright.
For myself, wounded wretch that I am,
by your saving power raise me up!
I will praise God's name in song,
I will extol him by thanksgiving,
for this will please Yahweh more than an ox,
than a bullock horned and hoofed.
The humble have seen and are glad.
Let your courage revive, you who seek God.
For God listens to the poor,
he has never scorned his captive people.
Let heaven and earth and seas,
and all that stirs in them, acclaim him!
For God will save Zion,
and rebuild the cities of Judah,
and people will live there on their own land;
the descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there.
Psalm 70
A cry of distress
This is another psalm reflecting the exilic agony of the heart, and one in which we will find echoing in our own feelings and longings in situations along our life paths.
Be pleased, God, to rescue me,
Yahweh, come quickly and help me!
Shame and dismay to those
who seek my life!
Back with them! Let them be humiliated
who delight in my misfortunes.
Let them shrink away covered with shame,
those who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
But joy and happiness in you
to all who seek you.
Let them ceaselessly cry, “God is great”,
who love your saving power.
Poor and needy as I am,
God, come quickly to me!
Yahweh, my helper, my Saviour,
do not delay!
Psalm 71
A prayer in old age
The psalm needs little comment as a statement of spirituality of an elder.
In you, Yahweh, I take refuge,
I shall never be put to shame.
In your saving justice rescue me, deliver me,
listen to me and save me.
Be a sheltering rock for me,
always accessible;
you have determined to save me,
for you are my rock, my fortress.
My God, rescue me from the clutches of the wicked,
from the grasp of the rogue and the ruthless.
For you are my hope, Lord,
my trust, Yahweh, since boyhood.
On you I have relied since my birth,
since my mother's womb you have been my portion,
the constant theme of my praise.
Many were bewildered at me,
but you are my sure refuge.
My mouth is full of your praises,
filled with your splendour all day long.
Do not reject me in my old age,
nor desert me when my strength is failing,
for my enemies are discussing me,
those with designs on my life are plotting together.
“Hound him down, for God has deserted him!
Seize him, there is no one to rescue him.”
God, do not stand aloof,
my God, come quickly to help me.
Shame and ruin
on those who slander me,
may those intent on harming me
be covered with insult and infamy.
As for me, my hope will never fade,
I will praise you more and more.
My lips shall proclaim your saving justice,
your saving power all day long.
I will come in the power of Yahweh
to tell of your justice, yours alone.
God, you have taught me from boyhood,
and I am still proclaiming your marvels.
Now that I am old and grey-haired,
God, do not desert me,
till I have proclaimed your strength
to generations still to come,
your power and justice to the skies.
You have done great things,
God, who is like you?
You have shown me much misery and hardship,
but you will give me life again,
You will raise me up again from the depths of the earth,
prolong my old age, and comfort me again.
For my part, I will thank you on the lyre
for your constancy, my God.
I will play the harp in your honour,
Holy One of Israel.
My lips sing for joy as I play to you,
because you have redeemed me,
and all day long my tongue
muses on your saving justice.
Shame and disgrace
on those intent to harm me!
Psalm 72
The promised king
This is a psalm that deserves deep and considered attention both spiritually and politically. Originally composed as a coronation hymn expressing the longing and hopes of the people in a new ruler, it serves as a reflection on the meaning of Christ's kingship. It calls for attention even in the context of modern politics as the orientation of good government towards peace and justice, the standard by which any government is judged.
God, endow the king with your own fair judgement,
the son of the king with your own saving justice,
that he may rule your people with justice,
and your poor with fair judgement.
Mountains and hills,
bring peace to the people!
With justice he will judge the poor of the people,
he will save the children of the needy
and crush their oppressors.
In the sight of the sun and the moon he will endure,
age after age.
He will come down like rain on mown grass,
like showers moistening the land.
In his days uprightness shall flourish,
and peace in plenty till the moon is no more.
His empire shall stretch from sea to sea,
from the river to the limits of the earth.
The Beast will cower before him,
his enemies lick the dust;
the kings of Tarshish and the islands
will pay him tribute.
The kings of Sheba and Saba
will offer gifts;
all kings will do him homage,
all nations become his servants.
For he rescues the needy who calls to him,
and the poor who has no one to help.
He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the needy from death.
From oppression and violence he redeems their lives,
their blood is precious in his sight.
Prayer will be offered for him constantly,
and blessings invoked on him all day.
May wheat abound in the land,
waving on the heights of the hills,
like Lebanon with its fruits and flowers at their best,
like the grasses of the earth.
May his name be blessed for ever,
and endure in the sight of the sun.
In him shall be blessed every race in the world,
and all nations call him blessed.
Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,
who alone works wonders;
blessed for ever his glorious name.
May the whole world be filled with his glory!
Amen! Amen!
Psalm 73
The triumph of justice
The universal experience of the world is that it is ambiguous: nothing has any clear meaning but everything that is and happens can be interpreted and understood in multiple ways. There is no escape from this ambiguity – in anything. Yet in real life we do and have to make such decisions, otherwise ambiguity paralyses and destroys us.
Indeed God is good to Israel,
the Lord to those who are pure of heart.
My feet were on the point of stumbling,
a little more and I had slipped,
envying the arrogant as I did,
and seeing the prosperity of the wicked.
For them no such thing as pain,
untroubled, their comfortable portliness;
exempt from the cares which are the human lot,
they have no part in Adam's afflictions.
So pride is a necklace to them,
violence the garment they wear.
From their fat oozes out malice,
their hearts drip with cunning.
Cynically they advocate evil,
loftily they advocate force.
Their mouth claims heaven for themselves,
and their tongue is never still on earth.
That is why my people turn to them,
and enjoy the waters of plenty,
saying, “How can God know?
What knowledge can the Most High have?”
That is what the wicked are like,
piling up wealth without any worries.
Was it useless, then, to have kept my own heart clean,
to have washed my hands in innocence?
When I was under a hail of blows all day long,
and punished every morning,
had I said, “I shall talk like them,”
I should have betrayed your children's race.
So I set myself to understand this:
how difficult I found it!
Until I went into the sanctuaries of the gods
and understood what was destined to become of them.
You place them on a slippery slope
and drive them down into chaos.
How sudden their hideous destruction!
They are swept away, annihilated by terror!
Like a dream upon waking, Lord,
when you awake, you dismiss their image.
My heart grew embittered,
my affections dried up,
I was stupid and uncomprehending,
a clumsy animal in your presence.
Even so, I stayed in your presence,
you grasped me by the right hand;
you will guide me with advice,
and will draw me in the wake of your glory.
Who else is there for me in heaven?
And, with you, I lack nothing on earth.
My heart and my flesh are pining away:
my heart's rock, my portion, God for ever!
Truly, those who abandon you will perish;
you destroy those who adulterously desert you,
whereas my happiness is to be near God.
I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge,
to tell of all your works.
Psalm 74
Lament on the sack of the Temple
In one respect this psalm, which may appear remote for us, is one of the most important of all the songs. The sack and destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 587 BC was the pivotal event in the entire history of the Hebrew people and therefore, other than the crucifixion, for Christians. The key that unlocks the sense of the Hebrew Testament as a whole is that this event, coupled with the exile to Babylon, effectively destroyed traditional Hebrew faith and religion. The entire Hebrew canon of writings, to one degree or another, is about making sense of this experience and finding the new faith, community, religious life and ethics that arose because of it.
God, why have you finally rejected us,
your anger blazing against the flock you used to pasture?
Remember the people you took to yourself long ago,
your own tribe which you redeemed,
and this Mount Zion where you came to live.
Come up to these endless ruins!
The enemy have sacked everything in the sanctuary;
your opponents made uproar in the place of assemblies,
they fixed their emblems over the entrance,
emblems never known before.
Their axes deep in the wood, hacking at the panels,
they battered them down with axe and pick;
they set fire to your sanctuary,
profanely rased to the ground the dwelling-place of your name.
They said to themselves, “Let us crush them at one stroke!”
They burned down every sacred shrine in the land.
We see no signs, no prophet any more,
and none of us knows how long it will last.
How much longer, God, will the enemy blaspheme?
Is the enemy to insult your name for ever?
Why hold back your hand,
keep your right hand hidden in the folds of your robe?
Yet, God, my king from the first,
author of saving acts throughout the earth,
by your power you split the sea in two,
and smashed the heads of the monsters on the waters.
You crushed Leviathan's heads,
gave him as food to the wild animals.
You released the springs and brooks,
and turned primordial rivers into dry land.
Yours is the day and yours the night,
you caused sun and light to exist,
you fixed all the boundaries of the earth,
you created summer and winter.
Remember, Yahweh, the enemy's blasphemy,
a foolish people insults your name.
Do not surrender your turtledove to the beast;
do not forget for ever the life of your oppressed people.
Look to the covenant!
All the hiding-places of the land are full,
haunts of violence.
Do not let the downtrodden retreat in confusion,
give the poor and needy cause to praise your name.
Arise, God, champion your own cause,
remember how fools blaspheme you all day long!
Do not forget the shouting of your enemies,
the ever-mounting uproar of your adversaries.
Psalm 75
The universal judge
We give thanks to you, God, we give thanks to you,
as we call upon your name, as we recount your wonders.
“At the appointed time
I myself shall dispense justice.
The earth quakes and all its inhabitants;
it is I who hold its pillars firm.
“I said to the boastful, "Do not boast!"
to the wicked, "Do not flaunt you
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