Day 148: Psalms 7-9

Seeking Justice, Celebrating God’s Sovereignty, and Remembering the Oppressed

Psalm 7

1 Yahweh, my God, I take refuge in you. Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,

2 lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver.

3 Yahweh, my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands,

4 if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (yes, I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary),

5 let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; yes, let him tread my life down to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust. Selah.

6 Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.

7 Let the congregation of the peoples surround you. Rule over them from on high.

8 Yahweh administers judgment to the peoples. Judge me, Yahweh, according to my righteousness, and to my integrity that is in me.

9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.

10 My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.

11 God is a righteous judge, yes, a God who has indignation every day.

12 If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.

13 He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows.

14 Behold, he travails with iniquity; yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.

15 He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made.

16 The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.

17 I will give thanks to Yahweh according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most High.

Psalm 8

1 Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who has set your glory above the heavens!

2 From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;

4 what is man, that you think of him? The son of man, that you care for him?

5 For you have made him a little lower than God, and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:

7 All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field,

8 the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

9 Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 9

1 I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works.

2 I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

3 When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence.

4 For you have maintained my just cause. You sit on the throne judging righteously.

5 You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.

6 The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.

7 But Yahweh reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.

8 He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness.

9 Yahweh will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.

10 Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.

11 Sing praises to Yahweh, who dwells in Zion, and declare among the people what he has done.

12 For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.

13 Have mercy on me, Yahweh. See my affliction by those who hate me, and lift me up from the gates of death,

14 that I may show all of your praise. In the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in your salvation.

15 The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.

16 Yahweh has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah.

17 The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.

18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

19 Arise, Yahweh! Don’t let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight.

20 Put them in fear, Yahweh. Let the nations know that they are only men. Selah.

Scripture: World English Bible (WEB), public domain.