Psalms Of Petition

Psalm 4

A Psalm of David.

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

1 Answer me when I call, O God of my right!

Thou hast given me room when I was in distress.

Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.

2 O men, how long shall my honour suffer shame?

How long will you love vain words,

and seek after lies?

3 But know that the Lord has set apart the Godly for Himself;

the Lord hears when I call to Him.

4 Be angry, but sin not;

commune with your own hearts on your beds,

and be silent.

5 Offer right sacrifices,

and put your trust in the Lord.

6 There are many who say,

"O that we might see some good!

Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us,

O Lord!"

7 Thou hast put more joy in my heart

than they have when their grain and wine abound.

8 In peace, I will both lie down and sleep;

for thou alone, O Lord, makes me dwell in safety.

Psalm 20

A Psalm of David

To the choirmaster.

1 The Lord answer me in the day of trouble!

The name of the God of Jacob protect me!

2 Let Him send me help from the sanctuary,

and give me support from Zion!

3 Let He remember all my offerings,

and regard with favour my burnt sacrifices!

4 Let He grant me my heart's desire,

and fulfil all my plans!

5 Let us shout for joy over my victory,

and in the name of our God set up our banners!

Let the Lord fulfil all my petitions!

6 Now I know that the Lord will help his anointed;

He will answer him from His holy heaven

with mighty victories by His right hand.

7 Some boast of chariots, and some of horses;

but we boast of the name of the Lord our God.

8 They will collapse and fall;

but we shall rise and stand upright.

9 Give victory to the king, O Lord;

answer us when we call.

Psalm 25

A Psalm of David.

1 To thee, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, in thee I trust,

let me not be put to shame;

let not my enemies exult over me.

3 Yea, let none that wait for thee be put to shame;

let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

4 Make me to know thy ways, O Lord;

teach me thy paths.

5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me,

for thou art the God of my salvation;

for thee I wait all the day long.

6 Be mindful of thy mercy, O Lord,

and of thy steadfast love,

for they have been from of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth,

or my transgressions;

according to thy steadfast love

remember me,

for thy goodness' sake, O Lord!

8 Good and upright is the Lord;

therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

9 He leads the humble in what is right,

and teaches the humble his way.

10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love

and faithfulness,

for those who keep his covenant and his

testimonies.

11 For thy name's sake, O Lord,

pardon my guilt, for it is great.

12 Who is the man that loves the Lord?

Him will he instruct in the way that he

should choose.

13 He himself shall abide in prosperity,

and his children shall possess the land.

14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who

love him,

and he makes known to them his covenant.

15 My eyes are ever toward the Lord,

for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

16 Turn thou to me, and be gracious to me;

for I am lonely and afflicted.

17 Relieve the troubles of my heart,

and bring me out of my distresses.

18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,

and forgive all my sins.

19 Consider how many are my foes,

and with what violent hatred they hate me.

20 Oh guard my life, and deliver me;

let me not be put to shame, for I take

refuge in thee.

21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,

for I wait for thee.

22 Redeem Israel, O God,

out of all his troubles.

Psalm 55

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

A Maskil of David.

1 Give ear to my prayer, O God;

and hide not thyself from my

supplication!

2 Attend to me, and answer me;

I am overcome by my trouble.

3 I am distraught by the noise of the enemy,

because of the oppression of the wicked.

For they bring trouble upon me,

and in anger they cherish enmity against me.

4 My heart is in anguish within me,

the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

5 Fear and trembling come upon me,

and horror overwhelms me.

6 And I say, "O that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest;

7 yea, I would wander afar,

I would lodge in the wilderness,

8 I would haste to find me a shelter

from the raging wind and tempest."

9 Destroy their plans, O Lord, confuse their tongues;

for I see violence and strife in the city.

10 Day and night they go around it on its walls;

and mischief and trouble are within it,

11 ruin is in its midst;

oppression and fraud do not depart

from its market place.

12 It is not an enemy who taunts me —

then I could bear it;

it is not an adversary who deals insolently

with me —

then I could hide from him.

13 But it is you, my equal,

my companion, my familiar friend.

14 We used to hold sweet converse together;

within God's house we walked in fellowship.

15 Let death come upon them;

let them go down to Sheol alive;

let them go away in terror into their graves.

16 But I call upon God;

and the Lord will save me.

17 Evening and morning and at noon

I utter my complaint and moan,

and He will hear my voice.

18 He will deliver my soul in safety

from the battle that I wage,

for many are arrayed against me.

19 God will give ear, and humble them,

He who is enthroned from of old;

because they keep no law,

and do not fear God.

20 My companion stretched out his hand

against his friends,

he violated his covenant.

21 His speech was smoother than butter,

yet war was in his heart;

his words were softer than oil,

yet they were drawn swords.

22 Cast your burden on the Lord,

and he will sustain you;

He will never permit

the righteous to be moved.

23 But thou, O God, wilt cast them down

into the lowest pit;

men of blood and treachery

shall not live out half their days.

But I will trust in thee.

Psalm 63

A Psalm of David,

when he was in the Wilderness of

Judah.

1 O God, thou art my God, I seek thee,

my soul thirsts for thee;

my flesh faints for thee,

as in a dry and weary land where no water is.

2 So I have looked upon thee in the sanctuary,

beholding thy power and glory.

3 Because thy steadfast love is better than life,

my lips will praise thee.

4 So I will bless thee as long as I live;

I will lift up my hands and call on thy name.

5 My soul is feasted as with marrow and fat,

and my mouth praises thee with joyful lips,

6 when I think of thee upon my bed,

and meditate on thee in the watches of the night;

7 for thou hast been my help,

and in the shadow of thy wings I sing for joy.

8 My soul clings to thee;

thy right hand upholds me.

9 But those who seek to destroy my life

shall go down into the depths of the earth;

10 they shall be given over to the power

of the sword,

they shall be prey for jackals.

11 But the king shall rejoice in God;

all who swear by him shall glory;

for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Psalm 86

A Prayer of David.

1 Incline thy ear, O Lord, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

2 Preserve my life, for I am Godly;

save thy servant who trusts in thee.

3 Thou art my God; be gracious to me, O Lord,

for to thee do I cry all the day.

4 Gladden the soul of thy servant,

for to thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5 For thou, O Lord, art good and forgiving,

abounding in steadfast love to all who call

on thee.

6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;

hearken to my cry of supplication.

7 In the day of my trouble I call on thee,

for thou dost answer me.

8 There is none like thee among the Gods, O Lord,

nor are there any works like thine.

9 All the nations thou hast made shall come

and bow down before thee, O Lord,

and shall glorify thy name.

10 For thou art great and doest wondrous things,

thou alone art God.

11 Teach me thy way, O Lord,

that I may walk in thy truth;

unite my heart to love thy name.

12 I give thanks to thee, O Lord my God, with

my whole heart,

and I will glorify thy name forever.

13 For great is thy steadfast love toward me;

thou hast delivered my soul

from the depths of Sheol.

14 O God, insolent men have risen up against me;

a band of ruthless men seek my life,

and they do not set thee before them.

15 But thou, O Lord, art a God merciful

and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast

love and faithfulness.

16 Turn to me and take pity on me;

give thy strength to thy servant,

and save the son of thy handmaid.

17 Show me a sign of thy favour,

that those who hate me may see

and be put to shame

because thou, Lord,

hast helped me and comforted me.

Psalm 102

A prayer of one afflicted,

when he is faint and pours out

his complaint before the Lord.

1 Hear my prayer, O Lord;

let my cry come to thee!

2 Do not hide thy face from me

in the day of my distress!

Incline thy ear to me;

answer me speedily in the day when I call!

3 For my days pass away like smoke,

and my bones burn like a furnace.

4 My heart is smitten like grass, and withered;

I forget to eat my bread.

5 Because of my loud groaning

my bones cleave to my flesh.

6 I am like a vulture of the wilderness,

like an owl of the waste places;

7 I lie awake,

I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.

8 All the day my enemies taunt me,

those who deride me use my name for a curse.

9 For I eat ashes like bread,

and mingle tears with my drink,

10 because of thy indignation and anger;

for thou hast taken me up and thrown me away.

11 My days are like an evening shadow;

I wither away like grass.

12 But thou, O Lord, art enthroned forever;

thy name endures to all generations.

13 Thou wilt arise and have pity on Zion;

it is the time to favour her;

the appointed time has come.

14 For thy servants hold her stones dear,

and have pity on her dust.

15 The nations will love the name of the Lord,

and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

16 For the Lord will build up Zion,

He will appear in His glory;

17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute,

and will not despise their supplication.

18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come,

so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:

19 that He looked down from His holy height,

from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,

20 to hear the groans of the prisoners,

to set free those who were doomed to die;

21 that men may declare in Zion

the name of the Lord,

and in Jerusalem His praise,

22 when peoples gather together,

and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

23 He has broken my strength in mid-course;

He has shortened my days.

24 "O my God," I say, "take me not hence

in the midst of my days,

thou whose years endure

throughout all generations!"

25 Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of thy hands.

26 They will perish, but thou dost endure;

they will all wear out like a garment.

Thou changest them like raiment,

and they pass away;

27 but thou art the same, and thy years have no end.

28 The children of thy servants shall dwell secure;

and their posterity shall be established before thee.

Psalm 116

1 I love the Lord, because He has heard

my voice and my supplications.

2 Because He inclined His ear to me,

therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.

3 The snares of death encompassed me;

the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;

I suffered distress and anguish.

4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:

"O Lord, I beseech thee, save my life!"

5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;

our God is merciful.

6 The Lord preserves the simple;

when I was brought low, He saved me.

7 Return, O my soul, to your rest;

for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death,

my eyes from tears,

my feet from stumbling;

9 I walk before the Lord

in the land of the living.

10 I kept my faith, even when I said,

"I am greatly afflicted";

11 I said in my consternation,

"Men are all a vain hope."

12 What shall I render to the Lord

for all His bounty to me?

13 I will lift up the cup of salvation

and call on the name of the Lord,

14 I will pay my vows to the Lord

in the presence of all His people.

15 Precious in the sight of the Lord

is the death of His saints.

16 O Lord, I am thy servant;

I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid.

Thou hast loosed my bonds.

17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving

and call on the name of the Lord.

18 I will pay my vows to the Lord

in the presence of all His people,

19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!