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
and streamed from the Naxos Spoken Word Library
Psalm 50
Worship in spirit and truth
Here we have a classic statement of the spiritual revolution that arose out of the exile. Pre-exilic religion was about cultic sacrifice and ethics did not enter the picture. The core revolutionary notion that emerges in seventh century BC Palestine (originating probably in a parallel revolution taking place in India) saw that Yahweh was an ethical God and the cult was a useless exercise unless an ethical people performed it.The psalm plays a critical role in Christian thought. The central and determinative rite of Christian worship is the Eucharist, an act of thanksgiving (that is what "eucharist" means in Greek). There is a sense in which all that God asks of us is to give thanks; everything flows from thanksgiving.
The God of gods, Yahweh, is speaking,
from east to west he summons the earth.
From Zion, perfection of beauty, he shines forth;
he is coming, our God, and will not be silent.
Devouring fire ahead of him,
raging tempest around him,
he summons the heavens from on high,
and the earth to judge his people.
“Gather to me my faithful,
who sealed my covenant by sacrifice.”
The heavens proclaim his saving justice,
“God himself is judge.”
“Listen, my people, I am speaking,
Israel, I am giving evidence against you,
I, God, your God.
“It is not with your sacrifices that I find fault,
those burnt offerings constantly before me;
I will not accept any bull from your homes,
nor a single goat from your folds.
“For all forest creatures are mine already,
the animals on the mountains in their thousands.
I know every bird in the air,
whatever moves in the fields is mine.
“If I am hungry I shall not tell you,
since the world and all it holds is mine.
Am I to eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
“Let thanksgiving be your sacrifice to God,
fulfil the vows you make to the Most High;
then if you call to me in time of trouble
I will rescue you and you will honour me.”
But to the wicked, God says:
“What right have you to recite my statutes,
to take my covenant on your lips,
when you detest my teaching,
and thrust my words behind you?
“You make friends with a thief as soon as you see one,
you feel at home with adulterers,
your conversation is devoted to wickedness,
and your tongue to inventing lies.
“You sit there, slandering your own brother,
you malign your own mother's son.
You do this, and am I to say nothing?
Do you think that I am really like you?
I charge you, indict you to your face.
“Think it out, you who forget God,
or I will tear you apart without hope of a rescuer.
Honour to me is a sacrifice of thanksgiving;
to the upright I will show God's salvation.”
Psalm 51
A prayer of contrition
This psalm requires little comment as it is one of the most familiar to the Christian community and expresses the deepest levels of spirituality to be found anywhere in the psalms and indeed the whole of the Hebrew Testament. Its roots are the same as Psalm 50.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your faithful love,
in your great tenderness wipe away my offences;
wash me clean from my guilt,
purify me from my sin.
For I am well aware of my offences,
my sin is constantly in mind.
Against you, you alone, I have sinned,
I have done what you see to be wrong,
that you may show your saving justice when you pass sentence,
and your victory may appear when you give judgement,
remember, I was born guilty,
a sinner from the moment of conception.
But you delight in sincerity of heart,
and in secret you teach me wisdom.
Purify me with hyssop till I am clean,
wash me till I am whiter than snow.
Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness,
and the bones you have crushed will dance.
Turn away your face from my sins,
and wipe away all my guilt.
God, create in me a clean heart,
renew within me a resolute spirit,
do not thrust me away from your presence,
do not take away from me your spirit of holiness.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
sustain in me a generous spirit.
I shall teach the wicked your paths,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodshed, God, God of my salvation,
and my tongue will acclaim your saving justice.
Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will speak out your praise.
Sacrifice gives you no pleasure,
burnt offering you do not desire.
Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit,
a broken, contrite heart you never scorn.
In your graciousness do good to Zion,
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will delight in upright sacrifices,
-burnt offerings and whole oblations --
and young bulls will be offered on your altar.
Psalm 52
The fate of cynics
What we see in all the various psalms is Hebrew thought and spirituality captured in various places and at a whole range of points along a dynamic process – and on a swinging pendulum between opposite poles of theological vision.
Once the spirit of the people was captured by the vision of God as ethical, concerned with justice, it was a short step to make the assumption that God delivered justice in the world. The Hebrews did not have, until Jesus’ time (and then fiercely disputed), a concept of a life beyond this life except for a shadowy existence in ‘Sheol’. If God was to deliver justice to the oppressed, punish the wicked and reward the good, it had to be in this life.
The psalm states the confident assurance that God does indeed deliver in this way. The Book of Job, chapter 21, stands as a flat contradiction to this understanding of faith, recognising that it is simply unreal.
you champion in villainy,
all day long plotting crime?
Your tongue is razor-sharp,
you artist in perfidy.
You prefer evil to good,
lying to uprightness.
You revel in destructive talk,
treacherous tongue!
That is why God will crush you,
destroy you once and for all,
snatch you from your tent,
uproot you from the land of the living.
The upright will be awestruck as they see it,
they will mock him,
“So much for someone who would not place
his reliance in God,
but relied on his own great wealth,
and made himself strong by crime.”
But I, like a flourishing olive tree
in the house of God,
put my trust in God's faithful love,
for ever and ever.
I shall praise you for ever
for what you have done,
and shall trust in your name, so full of goodness,
in the presence of your faithful.
Psalm 53
The fate of the godless
The psalm falls within the same comment as for Psalm 52.
Christianity, from the mid-20th century, has been facing a crisis that, in a sense, these psalms capture. Over the last half-century, although a formal acknowledgement of traditional life-after-death is still widespread in Western society, in practice it has disappeared altogether from the people’s consciousness. As a belief, it has become 'theological', not actual, in the sense that people do not shape their lives by it any more.
The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God!”
They are corrupt, vile and unjust,
not one of them does right.
God looks down from heaven
at the children of Adam,
to see if a single one is wise,
a single one seeks God.
All have proved faithless,
all alike turned sour,
not one of them does right,
not a single one.
Are they not aware, these evil-doers?
They are devouring my people;
this is the bread they eat,
and they never call upon God.
They will be gripped with fear,
just where there is no need for fear,
for God scatters the bones of him who besieges you;
they are mocked because God rejects them.
Who will bring from Zion salvation for Israel?
When God brings his people home,
what joy for Jacob, what happiness for Israel!
Psalm 54
Appeal to God, the just judge
The theme of reward and retribution explored in the previous psalms continues here. The theme recurs constantly throughout the Hebrew scriptures and, though changed, is also dominant in the Apostolic Testimony and the whole history of Christian thinking since apostolic times. Yet, in reality, we are no closer to a satisfactory resolution than when this psalm was first written.
God, save me by your name,
in your power vindicate me.
God, hear my prayer,
listen to the words I speak.
Arrogant men are attacking me,
bullies hounding me to death,
no room in their thoughts for God.
But now God is coming to my help,
the Lord, among those who sustain me.
May their wickedness recoil on those who lie in wait for me.
Yahweh, in your constancy destroy them.
How gladly will I offer you sacrifice,
and praise your name, for it is good,
for it has rescued me from all my troubles,
and my eye has feasted on my enemies.
Psalm 55
Prayer when slandered
This is another psalm wrestling with the problem of how to cope with evil. The poem introduces a new note: that of betrayal by close friends and compatriots. Verses 15 and 16 are omitted from liturgical recitation of the psalm as expressions unworthy of use in that context. I have chosen to include them in this reading. How often do we find feelings of violence welling up unbidden in ourselves as anger at injustice overwhelms us? The psalmist is being honest. What the rest of the poem goes on to show is the spirit of one who masters those feelings and arrives at a different resolution.
do not hide away from my plea,
give me a hearing, answer me,
my troubles give me no peace.
I shudder at the enemy's shouts,
at the outcry of the wicked;
they heap up charges against me,
in their anger bring hostile accusations against me.
My heart writhes within me,
the terrors of death come upon me,
fear and trembling overwhelm me,
and shuddering grips me.
And I say,
“Who will give me wings like a dove,
to fly away and find rest?”
How far I would escape,
and make a nest in the desert!
I would soon find a refuge
from the storm of abuse,
from the destructive tempest, Lord,
from the flood of their tongues.
For I see violence
and strife in the city,
day and night they make their rounds
along the city walls.
Inside live malice and mischief,
inside lives destruction,
tyranny and treachery never absent
from its central square.
Were it an enemy who insulted me,
that I could bear;
if an opponent pitted himself against me,
I could turn away from him.
But you, a person of my own rank,
a comrade and dear friend,
to whom I was bound by intimate friendship
in the house of God!
May they recoil in disorder,
may death descend on them,
may they go down alive to Sheol,
since evil shares their home with them.
For my part, I appeal to God,
and Yahweh saves me;
evening, morning, noon,
I complain and I groan.
He hears my cry,
he ransoms me and gives me peace
from the feud against me,
for they are taking me to law.
But God will listen and will humble them,
he who has been enthroned from the beginning;
no change of heart for them,
for they do not fear God.
They attack those at peace with them,
going back on their oaths;
though their mouth is smoother than butter,
enmity is in their hearts;
their words more soothing than oil,
yet sharpened like swords.
Unload your burden onto Yahweh
and he will sustain you;
never will he allow
the upright to stumble.
You, God, will thrust them down
to the abyss of destruction,
men bloodthirsty and deceptive,
before half their days are spent.
For my part, I put my trust in you.
Psalm 56
Trust in God
Many people have intellectual difficulties concerning their faith but the difficulties may disappear at the cutting edge of living the life of faith. The person living by faith in grace finds the profound truth expressed in these psalms. All that is said here is living experience and reality – but this can only be known from within the life of grace. The moment we attempt to extend the logic of the experience to a 'law' of physical life, the picture dissolves.
pressing their attacks home all day.
Those who harry me lie in wait for me all day,
countless are those who attack me from the heights.
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you,
in God, whose word I praise,
in God I put my trust and have no fear,
what power has human strength over me?
All day long they carp at my words,
their only thought is to harm me,
they gather together, lie in wait and spy on my movements,
as though determined to take my life.
Because of this crime reject them,
in your anger, God, strike down the nations.
You yourself have counted up my sorrows,
collect my tears in your wineskin.
Then my enemies will turn back
on the day when I call.
This I know, that God is on my side.
In God whose word I praise,
in Yahweh whose word I praise,
in God I put my trust and have no fear;
what can mortal man do to me?
I am bound by the vows I have made, God,
I will pay you the debt of thanks,
for you have saved my life from death
to walk in the presence of God,
in the light of the living.
Psalm 57
Among ferocious enemies
Here in this psalm is captured the spiritual vision that has produced a long and glorious history of martyrdom in both the Hebrew and Christian communities from earliest times. It is the vision of a transcendent God that puts human suffering in perspective.
When we are tempted to think the expressions are extreme, we may think of what people suffered in Nazi Germany, in Soviet Russia, and still suffer in many parts of the world today. The psalmist is not exaggerating.
for in you I take refuge,
in the shadow of your wings I take refuge,
until the destruction is past.
I call to God the Most High,
to God who has done everything for me;
may he send from heaven and save me,
and check those who harry me;
may God send his faithful love and his constancy.
I lie surrounded by lions,
greedy for human prey,
their teeth are spears and arrows,
their tongue a sharp sword.
Be exalted above the heavens, God!
Your glory over all the earth!
They laid a snare in my path
-- I was bowed with care --
they dug a pit ahead of me,
but fell in it themselves.
My heart is ready, God,
my heart is ready;
I will sing, and make music for you.
Awake, my glory,
awake, lyre and harp,
that I may awake the Dawn.
I will praise you among the peoples, Lord,
I will make music for you among nations,
for your faithful love towers to heaven,
your constancy to the clouds.
Be exalted above the heavens, God!
Your glory over all the earth!
Psalm 58
The judge of earthly judges
This is a psalm omitted from the liturgical lectionary for its expression of vengeance. Yet as I write these notes, the streets are the major country are packed with vast numbers protesting at an act of injustice by the country's powerful elite. Is it not exactly this passion to which the psalm gives voice?
do you judge fairly the children of Adam?
No! You devise injustice in your hearts,
and with your hands you administer tyranny on the earth.
Since the womb they have gone astray, the wicked,
on the wrong path since their birth, with their unjust verdicts.
They are poisonous as any snake,
deaf as an adder that blocks its ears
so as not to hear the magician's music,
however skilful his spells.
God, break the teeth in their mouths,
snap off the fangs of these young lions, Yahweh.
May they drain away like water running to waste,
may they wither like trampled grass,
like the slug that melts as it moves
or a still-born child that never sees the sun.
Before they sprout thorns like the bramble,
green or burnt up, may retribution whirl them away.
The upright will rejoice to see vengeance done,
and will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
“So”, people will say, “the upright does have a reward;
there is a God to dispense justice on earth.”
Psalm 59
Against the wicked
This is another psalm from which, in liturgical use, a number of verses are omitted for their expression of violence. I have chosen to retain them in this reading because, when we take them out, the psalm as a whole lacks real sense. What is more, when people are confronting real evil, especially when that evil is embodied in that power of the state used as an instrument for repression of freedom and human rights, can it not be appropriate to cry to God to destroy that power?
be my stronghold from my assailants,
rescue me from evil-doers,
from men of violence save me.
Look at them, lurking to ambush me,
violent men are attacking me,
for no fault, no sin of mine, Yahweh, for no guilt,
they come running to take up position.
Wake up, stand by me and keep watch,
Yahweh, God of Sabaoth, God of Israel,
rise up, to punish all the nations,
show no mercy to all these malicious traitors.
Back they come at nightfall,
snarling like curs,
prowling through the town.
Look how they rant in speech
with swords on their lips,
“Who is there to hear us?”
For your part, Yahweh, you laugh at them,
you make mockery of all nations.
My strength, I keep my eyes fixed on you.
For my stronghold is God,
the God who loves me faithfully is coming to meet me,
God will let me feast my eyes on those who lie in wait for me.
Do not annihilate them, or my people may forget;
shake them in your power, bring them low,
Lord, our shield.
Sin is in their mouths, sin on their lips,
so let them be trapped in their pride
for the curses and lies that they utter.
Destroy them in your anger, destroy them till they are no more,
and let it be known that God is Master
in Jacob and the whole wide world.
Back they come at nightfall,
snarling like curs,
prowling through the town,
scavenging for something to eat,
growling unless they have their fill.
And so I will sing of your strength,
in the morning acclaim your faithful love;
you have been a stronghold for me,
a refuge when I was in trouble.
My strength, I will make music for you,
for my stronghold is God,
the God who loves me faithfully.
Psalm 60
National prayer after defeat
It is an eternal struggle that every person of faith wrestles with to one degree or another: disappointed expectation and frustrated hope. We so easily make the step from conviction that what we are engaged on is God's will to the expectation that what we are doing will – must – succeed. Time and again these expectations are dashed and we are left bewildered and uncomprehending. The psalm gives expression to this confusion.
The core of the problem lies in the way we take what is myth (and by ‘myth’ I mean something that is deeply true as grace but not necessarily true as factual history) and expect it to translate into concrete experience. That is the point where religion always comes unstuck and we become vulnerable to disappointment and disillusionment.
you were angry, come back to us!
You made the earth tremble, split it open;
now mend the rifts, it is tottering still.
You have forced your people to drink a bitter draught,
forced us to drink a wine that made us reel.
You gave a signal to those who fear you
to let them escape out of range of the bow.
To rescue those you love,
save with your right hand and answer us.
God has spoken from his sanctuary,
“In triumph I will divide up Shechem,
and share out the Valley of Succoth.
“Mine is Gilead, mine Manasseh,
Ephraim the helmet on my head,
Judah my commander's baton,
“Moab a bowl for me to wash in,
on Edom I plant my sandal.
Now try shouting "Victory!" over me, Philistia!”
Who will lead me against a fortified city,
who will guide me into Edom,
if not you, the God who has rejected us?
God, you no longer march with our armies.
Bring us help in our time of crisis,
any human help is worthless.
With God we shall do deeds of valour,
he will trample down our enemies.
Psalm 61
Prayer of an exile
What does "exile" mean? It is separation from what we value most, a separation forced upon us by external circumstances beyond our control. This is a very real and universal human experience, expressed here.
The irony in the Hebrew experience is that it was among the exiles that the transforming grace was occurring – not among those 'at home'. The spiritual witness is that this, too, is a universal experience for those who have the wisdom to perceive it.
listen to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I call to you
with fainting heart.
Lead me to the high rock that stands far out of my reach.
For you are my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.
Let me stay in your tent for ever,
taking refuge in the shelter of your wings!
For you, God, accept my vows,
you grant me the heritage of those who fear your name.
Let the king live on and on,
let his years continue age after age.
May his throne be always in God's presence,
your faithful love and constancy watch over him.
Then I shall always sing to your name,
day after day fulfilling my vows.
Psalm 62
Hope in God alone
A classic wisdom psalm generating all the ambivalence in us normative to Hebrew wisdom: simultaneous delight and affirmation on the one hand, serious reservation on the other.
from him comes my safety;
he alone is my rock, my safety,
my stronghold so that I stand unshaken.
How much longer will you set on a victim,
all together, intent on murder,
like a rampart already leaning over,
a wall already damaged?
Trickery is their only plan,
deception their only pleasure,
with lies on their lips they pronounce a blessing,
with a curse in their hearts.
Rest in God alone, my soul!
He is the source of my hope.
He alone is my rock, my safety,
my stronghold, so that I stand unwavering.
In God is my safety and my glory,
the rock of my strength.
In God is my refuge; trust in him,
you people, at all times.
Pour out your hearts to him,
God is a refuge for us.
Ordinary people are a mere puff of wind,
important people a delusion;
set both on the scales together,
and they are lighter than a puff of wind.
Put no trust in extortion,
no empty hopes in robbery;
however much wealth may multiply,
do not set your heart on it.
Once God has spoken,
twice have I heard this:
Strength belongs to God,
to you, Lord, faithful love;
and you repay everyone as their deeds deserve.
Psalm 63
Yearning for God
Ambivalence comes to the fore again in the psalm. Almost to the end we can deeply identified with its spirituality – then suddenly there appears the streak of violent retribution that sits so oddly, in our minds, with what went before.
God, you are my God, I pine for you;
my heart thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
as a land parched, dreary and waterless.
Thus I have gazed on you in the sanctuary,
seeing your power and your glory.
Better your faithful love than life itself;
my lips will praise you.
Thus I will bless you all my life,
in your name lift up my hands.
All my longings fulfilled as with fat and rich foods,
a song of joy on my lips and praise in my mouth.
On my bed when I think of you,
I muse on you in the watches of the night,
for you have always been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;
my heart clings to you,
your right hand supports me.
May those who are hounding me to death
go down to the depths of the earth,
given over to the blade of the sword,
and left as food for jackals.
Then the king shall rejoice in God,
all who swear by him shall gain recognition,
for the mouths of liars shall be silenced.
Psalm 64
Punishment for slanderers
This is another wisdom psalm. Part of the problem with this understanding of wisdom is that, in actual life, it is extremely ambiguous as to who are the good and who are the wicked. Each side in every conflict sees itself as the upholder of the good and the upright, the other as the 'wicked': each believes God is on its side and the other side contains slanderers. The wisdom does indeed express the profound truth about God and human life, but any and every attempt to make that truth concrete becomes impaled on the stake of ambiguity.
protect my life from fear of the enemy;
hide me from the league of the wicked,
from the gang of evil-doers.
They sharpen their tongues like a sword,
aim their arrows of poisonous abuse,
shoot at the innocent from cover,
shoot suddenly, with nothing to fear.
They support each other in their evil designs,
they discuss how to lay their snares.
“Who will see us?” they say,
“or will penetrate our secrets?”
He will do that, he who penetrates human nature to its depths,
the depths of the heart.
God has shot them with his arrow,
sudden were their wounds.
He brings them down because of their tongue,
and all who see them shake their heads.
Everyone will be awestruck,
proclaim what God has done,
and understand why he has done it.
The upright will rejoice in Yahweh,
will take refuge in him,
and all the honest will praise him.
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