The Living Bible (186 page)

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Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers

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BOOK: The Living Bible
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Psalm
70

Rescue me, O God! Lord, hurry to my aid!
2-3
 They are after my life and delight in hurting me. Confuse them! Shame them! Stop them! Don’t let them keep on mocking me!
4
 But fill the followers of God with joy. Let those who love your salvation exclaim, “What a wonderful God he is!”
5
 But I am in deep trouble. Rush to my aid, for only you can help and save me. O Lord, don’t delay.

Psalm
71

Lord, you are my refuge! Don’t let me down!
2
 Save me from my enemies, for you are just! Rescue me! Bend down your ear and listen to my plea and save me.
3
 Be to me a great protecting Rock, where I am always welcome, safe from all attacks. For you have issued the order to save me.
4
 Rescue me, O God, from these unjust and cruel men.
5
 O Lord, you alone are my hope; I’ve trusted you from childhood.
6
 Yes, you have been with me from birth and have helped me constantly—no wonder I am always praising you!
7
 My success—at which so many stand amazed—is because you are my mighty protector.
8
 All day long I’ll praise and honor you, O God, for all that you have done for me.

    
9
 And now, in my old age, don’t set me aside. Don’t forsake me now when my strength is failing.
10
 My enemies are whispering,
11
 “God has forsaken him! Now we can get him. There is no one to help him now!”
12
 O God, don’t stay away! Come quickly! Help!
13
 Destroy them! Cover them with failure and disgrace—these enemies of mine.

    
14
 I will keep on expecting you to help me. I praise you more and more.
15
 I cannot count the times when you have faithfully rescued me from danger. I will tell everyone how good you are, and of your constant, daily care.
16
 I walk in the strength of the Lord God. I tell everyone that you alone are just and good.
17
 O God, you have helped me from my earliest childhood—and I have constantly testified to others of the wonderful things you do.
18
 And now that I am old and gray, don’t forsake me. Give me time to tell this new generation (and their children too) about all your mighty miracles.
19
 Your power and goodness, Lord, reach to the highest heavens. You have done such wonderful things. Where is there another God like you?
20
 You have let me sink down deep in desperate problems. But you will bring me back to life again, up from the depths of the earth.
21
 You will give me greater honor than before and turn again and comfort me.

    
22
 I will praise you with music, telling of your faithfulness to all your promises, O Holy One of Israel.
23
 I will shout and sing your praises for redeeming me.
24
 I will talk to others all day long about your justice and your goodness. For all who tried to hurt me have been disgraced and dishonored.

Psalm
72

O God, help the king to judge as you would, and help his son to walk in godliness.
2
 Help him to give justice to your people, even to the poor.
3
 May the mountains and hills flourish in prosperity because of his good reign.
4
 Help him to defend the poor and needy and to crush their oppressors.
5
 May the poor and needy revere you constantly, as long as sun and moon continue in the skies! Yes, forever!

    
6
 May the reign of this son of mine
*
be as gentle and fruitful as the springtime rains upon the grass—like showers that water the earth!
7
 May all good men flourish in his reign with abundance of peace to the end of time.

    
8
 Let him reign from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
9
 The desert nomads shall bow before him; his enemies shall fall face downward in the dust.
10
 Kings along the Mediterranean coast—the kings of Tarshish and the islands—and those from Sheba and from Seba—all will bring their gifts.
11
 Yes, kings from everywhere! All will bow before him! All will serve him!

    
12
 He will take care of the helpless and poor when they cry to him; for they have no one else to defend them.
13
 He feels pity for the weak and needy and will rescue them.
14
 He will save them from oppression and from violence, for their lives are precious to him.

    
15
 And he shall live; and to him will be given the gold of Sheba, and there will be constant praise for him.
*
His people
*
will bless him all day long.
16
 Bless us with abundant crops throughout the land, even on the highland plains; may there be fruit like that of Lebanon; may the cities be as full of people as the fields are of grass.
17
 His name will be honored forever; it will continue as the sun; and all will be blessed in him; all nations will praise him.

    
18
 Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who only does wonderful things!
19
 Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!

    
20
 (This ends the psalms of David, son of Jesse.)

Psalm
73

How good God is to Israel—to those whose hearts are pure.
2
 But as for me, I came
so
close to the edge of the cliff! My feet were slipping and I was almost gone.
3
 For I was envious of the prosperity of the proud and wicked.
4
 Yes, all through life their road is smooth!
*
They grow sleek and fat.
5
 They aren’t always in trouble and plagued with problems like everyone else,
6
 so their pride sparkles like a jeweled necklace, and their clothing is woven of cruelty!
7
 These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for!
8
 They scoff at God and threaten his people. How proudly they speak!
9
 They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut through the earth.

    
10
 And so God’s people are dismayed and confused and drink it all in.
11
 “Does God realize what is going on?” they ask.
12
 “Look at these men of arrogance; they never have to lift a finger—theirs is a life of ease; and all the time their riches multiply.”

    
13
 Have I been wasting my time? Why take the trouble to be pure?
14
 All I get out of it is trouble and woe—every day and all day long!
15
 If I had really said that, I would have been a traitor to your people.
16
 Yet it is so hard to explain it—this prosperity of those who hate the Lord.
17
 Then one day I went into God’s sanctuary to meditate and thought about the future of these evil men.
18
 What a slippery path they are on—suddenly God will send them sliding over the edge of the cliff and down to their destruction:
19
 an instant end to all their happiness, an eternity of terror.
20
 Their present life is only a dream! They will awaken to the truth as one awakens from a dream of things that never really were!

    
21
 When I saw this, what turmoil filled my heart!
22
 I saw myself so stupid and so ignorant; I must seem like an animal to you, O God.
23
 But even so, you love me! You are holding my right hand!
24
 You will keep on guiding me all my life with your wisdom and counsel, and afterwards receive me into the glories of heaven!
*
25
 Whom have I in heaven but you? And I desire no one on earth as much as you!
26
 My health fails; my spirits droop, yet God remains! He is the strength of my heart; he is mine forever!

    
27
 But those refusing to worship God will perish, for he destroys those serving other gods.

    
28
 But as for me, I get as close to him as I can! I have chosen him, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful ways he rescues me.

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