Amplified Bible (AMP)

Lament over Defeat in Battle, and Prayer for Help.

To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] “The Lily of the Testimony.” A Mikhtam of David [intended to record memorable thoughts and] to teach; when he struggled with the Arameans of Mesopotamia and the Arameans of Zobah, and when Joab returned and struck twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

1 O God, You have rejected usandcast us off. You have broken [down our defenses and scattered] us;

You have been angry; O restore usandturn again to us.

2 You have made the land quake, You have split it open;

Heal its rifts, for it shakesandtotters.

3 You have made Your people experience hardship;

You have given us wine to drink that makes us staggerandfall.

4 You have set up a banner for those who fear You [with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder–a banner to shield them from attack],

A banner that may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.

5 That Your beloved ones may be rescued,

Save with Your right hand and answer us.

6 God has spoken in His holiness [in His promises]:

“I will rejoice, I will divide [the land of] Shechem and measure out the Valley of Succoth [west to east].

7 “Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;

Ephraim is My helmet;

Judah is My scepter.

8 “Moab is Mywashbowl;

Over Edom I shall throw My shoe [in triumph];

Over Philistia I raise the shout [of victory].”

9 Who will bring me into the besieged city [of Petra]?

Who will lead me to Edom?

10 Have You not rejected us, O God?

And will You not go out with our armies?

11 Give us help against the enemy,

For the help of man is worthless (ineffectual, without purpose).

12 Through God we will have victory,

For He will trample down our enemies.

Confidence in God’s Protection.

To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments.

A Psalm

of David.

1 Hear my cry, O God;

Listen to my prayer.

2 From the end of the earth I call to You, when my heart is overwhelmedandweak;

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I [a rock that is too high to reach without Your help].

3 For You have been a shelteranda refuge for me,

A strong tower against the enemy.

4 Let me dwell in Your tent forever;

Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.

5 For You have heard my vows, O God;

You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name [with reverence].

6 You will prolong the king’s life [adding days upon days];

His years will be like many generations.

7 He will sit enthroned forever before [the face of] God;

Appoint lovingkindness and truth to watch overandpreserve him.

8 So I will sing praise to Your name forever,

Paying my vows day by day.

God Alone a Refuge from Treachery and Oppression.

To the Chief Musician; to Jeduthun [Ethan, the noted musician, founder of an official musical family]. A Psalm of David.

1 For God alone my soulwaitsin silence;

From Him comes my salvation.

2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,

My defenseandmy strong tower; I will not be shakenordisheartened.

3 How long will you attack a man

So that you may murder him, all of you,

Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?

4 They consult only to throw him down from his high position [to dishonor him];

They delight in lies.

They bless with [the words of] their mouths,

But inwardly they curse. Selah.

5 For God alone my soul waits in silenceandquietly submits to Him,

For my hope is from Him.

6 He only is my rock and my salvation;

My fortressandmy defense, I will not be shakenordiscouraged.

7 On God my salvation and my glory rest;

He is my rock of [unyielding] strength, my refuge is in God.

8 Trust [confidently] in Him at all times, O people;

Pour out your heart before Him.

God is a refuge for us. Selah.

9 Men of low degree are only a breath (emptiness), and men of [high] rank are a lie (delusion).

In the balances they go up [because they have no measurable weight or value];

They are together lighter than a breath.

10 Do not trust in oppression,

And do not vainly hope in robbery;

If riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

11 God has spoken once,

Twice I have heard this:

That power belongs to God.

12 Also to You, O Lord, belong lovingkindnessandcompassion,

For You compensate every man according to [the value of] his work.

The Thirsting Soul Satisfied in God.

A Psalm of David; when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

1 O God, You are my God; with deepest longing I will seek You;

Mysoul [my life, my very self] thirsts for You, my flesh longsandsighs for You,

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

2 So I have gazed upon You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.

3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips shall praise You.

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

I will lift up my hands in Your name.

5 Mysoul [my life, my very self] is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth offers praises [to You] with joyful lips.

6 When I remember You on my bed,

I meditateandthoughtfully focus on You in the night watches,

7 For You have been my help,

And in the shadow of Your wings [where I am always protected] I sing for joy.

8 Mysoul [my life, my very self] clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me.

9 But those who seek my life to destroy it

Will [be destroyed and] go into the depths of the earth [into the underworld].

10 They will be given over to the power of the sword;

They will be a prey for foxes.

11 But the king will rejoice in God;

Everyone who swears by Him [honoring the true God, acknowledging His authority and majesty] will glory,

For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped.

Prayer for Protection from Secret Enemies.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 Hear my voice, O God, in mycomplaint;

Guard my life from the terror of the enemy.

2 Hide me from the secret counselandconspiracy of the ungodly,

From the scheming of those who do wrong,

3 Who have sharpened their tongues like a sword.

They aim venomous words as arrows,

4 To shoot from ambush at the blameless [one];

Suddenly they shoot at him, without fear.

5 They encourage themselves in [their pursuit of] an evil agenda;

They talk of laying snares secretly;

They say, “Who will discover us?”

6 They devise acts of injustice,saying,

“We are ready with a well-conceived plan.”

For the inward thought and the heart of a man are deep (mysterious, unsearchable).

7 But God will shoot them with an [unexpected] arrow;

Suddenly they will be wounded.

8 So they will be caused to stumble;

Their own tongue is against them;

All who gaze at them will shake the head [in scorn].

9 Then all men will fear [God’s judgment];

They will declare the work of God,

And they will considerandwisely acknowledge what He has done.

10 The righteous will rejoice in the Lordand take refuge in Him;

All the upright in heart will gloryandoffer praise.

God’s Abundant Favor to Earth and Man.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song.

1 To You belongs silence [the submissive wonder of reverence], and [it bursts into] praise in Zion, O God;

And to You the vow shall be performed.

2 O You who hear prayer,

To You all mankind comes.

3 Wickednessandguilt prevail against me;

Yet as for our transgressions,

You forgive them [removing them from Your sight].

4 Blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near

To dwell in Your courts.

We will be filled with the goodness of Your house,

Your holy temple.

5 By awesomeandwondrous things You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation,

You who are the trustandhope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea;

6 Who creates the mountains by His strength,

Being clothed with power,

7 Who stills the roaring of the seas,

The roaring of their waves,

And the tumult of the peoples,

8 So they who dwell at the endsof the earthstand in awe of Your signs [the evidence of Your presence].

You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.

9 You visit the earth and make it overflow [with water];

You greatly enrich it;

The stream of God is full of water;

You provide their grain, when You have prepared the earth.

10 You water its furrows abundantly,

You smooth its ridges;

You soften it with showers,

You bless its growth.

11 You crown the year with Your bounty,

And Your paths overflow.

12 The pastures of the wilderness drip [with dew],

And the hills are encircled with joy.

13 The meadows are clothed with flocks

And the valleys are covered with grain;

They shout for joy and they sing.

Praise for God’s Mighty Deeds and for His Answer to Prayer.

To the Chief Musician. A Song. A Psalm.

1 Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;

2 Sing of the honorandgloryandmagnificence of His name;

Make His praise glorious.

3 Say to God, “How awesomeandfearfully glorious are Your works!

Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will pretend to be obedient to You.

4 “All the earth will [bow down to] worship You [in submissive wonder],

And will sing praises to You;

They will praise Your name in song.” Selah.

5 Come and see the works of God,

He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of men.

6 He turned the sea into dry land;

They crossed through the river on foot;

There we rejoiced in Him.

7 Who rules by His might forever,

His eyes keep watch on the nations;

Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

8 Bless our God, O peoples,

And make the sound of His praisebe heardabroad,

9 Who keeps us among the living,

And does not allow our feet to sliporstumble.

10 For You have tested us, O God;

You have refined us as silver is refined.

11 You brought us into the net;

You laid a heavy burden [of servitude] onus.

12 You made men (charioteers)ride over our heads [in defeat];

We went through fire and through water,

Yet You brought us out into a [broad]place ofabundance [to be refreshed].

13 I shall come into Your house with burnt offerings;

I shall pay You my vows,

14 Which my lips uttered

And my mouth spoke as a promise when I was in distress.

15 I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat lambs,

With the [sweet] smoke of rams;

I will offer bulls with male goats. Selah.

16 Come and hear, all who fear God [and worship Him with awe-inspired reverence and obedience],

And I will tell what He has done for me.

17 I cried aloud to Him;

He was highly praised with my tongue.

18 If I regard sinandbaseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it],

The Lord will not hear [me];

19 But certainly God has heard [me];

He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God,

Who has not turned away my prayer

Nor His lovingkindness from me.

The Nations Exhorted to Praise God.

To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

1 God be graciousandkind-hearted to us and bless us,

And make His face shine [with favor] on us– Selah.

2 That Your way may be known on earth,

Your salvationanddeliverance among all nations.

3 Let thepeoples praise You, O God;

Let all the peoples praise You.

4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

For You will judge the people fairly

And guide the nations on earth. Selah.

5 Let the peoples praise You, O God;

Let all the peoples praise You.

6 The earth has yielded its harvest [as evidence of His approval];

God, our God, blesses us.

7 God blesses us,

And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him [with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder].

The God of Sinai and of the Sanctuary.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song.

1 Let God arise, and His enemies be scattered;

Let those who hate Him flee before Him.

2 As smoke is driven away, so drivethemaway;

As wax melts before the fire,

So let the wickedandguilty perish before [the presence of] God.

3 But let the righteous be glad; let them be in good spirits before God,

Yes, let them rejoice with delight.

4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name;

Lift upa songfor Him who rides through the desert–

His name is the Lord–be in good spirits before Him.

5 A father of the fatherless and a judgeandprotector of the widows,

Is God in His holy habitation.

6 God makes a home for the lonely;

He leads the prisoners into prosperity,

Only the stubbornandrebellious dwell in a parched land.

7 O God, when You went out before Your people,

When You marched through the wilderness, Selah.

8 The earth trembled;

The heavens also poured downrainat the presence of God;

Sinai itself trembled at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

9 You, O God, sent abroad plentiful rain;

You confirmed Your inheritance when it was parchedandweary.

10 Your flock found a dwelling place in it;

O God, in Your goodness You provided for the poor.

11 The Lord gives the command [to take Canaan];

The women who proclaim the good news are a great host (army);

12 “The kings of the [enemies’] armies flee, they flee,

And the beautiful woman who remains at home divides the spoil [left behind].”

13 When you lie down [to rest] among thesheepfolds,

You [Israel] are like the wings of a dove [of victory] overlaid with silver,

Its feathers glistening with gold [trophies taken from the enemy].

14 When the Almighty scattered [the Canaanite] kings in the land of Canaan,

It was snowing onZalmon.

15 A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan;

A [high] mountain of many summits is Mount Bashan [rising east of the Jordan].

16 Why do you look with envy, mountains with many peaks,

At the mountain [of the city of Zion] which God has desired for His dwelling place?

Yes, the Lordwill dwellthereforever.

17 The chariots of God aremyriads, thousands upon thousands;

The Lord is among them as He was at Sinai, in holiness.

18 You have ascended on high, You have led away captiveYourcaptives;

You have received gifts among men,

Even from the rebellious also, that the LordGod may dwell there.

19 Blessed be the Lord, who bears our burden day by day,

The God who is our salvation! Selah.

20 God is to us a God of acts of salvation;

And toGodthe Lord belong escapes from death [setting us free].

21 Surely God will shatter the head of His enemies,

The hairy scalp of one who goes on in his guilty ways.

22 The Lord said, “I will bring your enemies back from Bashan;

I will bring them back from the depths of the [Red] Sea,

23 That your foot may crush them in blood,

That the tongue of your dogsmay haveits share from your enemies.”

24 They have seen Your [solemn]procession, O God,

The procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary [in holiness].

25 The singers go in front, the players of instruments last;

Between them the maidens playing on tambourines.

26 Bless God in the congregations, [give thanks, gratefully praise Him],

The Lord,you who arefrom [Jacob] the fountain of Israel.

27 The youngest is there, Benjamin, ruling them,

The princes of Judah and their company [the southern tribes],

The princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali [the northern tribes].

28 Your God has commanded your strength [your power in His service and your resistance to temptation];

Show Yourself strong, O God, who acted on our behalf.

29 Because of Your temple at Jerusalem

[Pagan] kings will bring gifts to You [out of respect].

30 Rebuke the beasts [living] among the reeds [in Egypt],

The herd of bulls (the leaders) with the calves of the peoples;

Trampling underfoot the pieces of silver;

He has scattered the peoples who delight in war.

31 Princesandenvoys shall come from Egypt;

Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands [with the offerings of submission] to God.

32 Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth,

Sing praises to the Lord! Selah.

33 To Him who rides in the highest heavens, the ancient heavens,

Behold, He sends out His voice, a mightyandmajestic voice.

34 Ascribe strength to God;

His majesty is over Israel

And His strength is in the skies.

35 O God,You areawesomeandprofoundly majestic from Your sanctuary;

The God of Israel gives strength and power to His people.

Blessed be God!

A Cry of Distress and Imprecation on Adversaries.

To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] “Lilies.”

A Psalm

of David.

1 Save me, O God,

For the waters have threatened my life [they have come up to my neck].

2 I have sunk in deep mire, where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters, where a flood overwhelms me.

3 I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched;

My eyes fail while I wait [with confident expectation] for my God.

4 Those who hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head;

Those who would destroy me are powerful, being my enemies wrongfully;

I am forced to restore what I did not steal.

5 O God, You know my folly;

My wrongs are not hidden from You.

6 Do not let those who wait [confidently] for You beashamed through me, O LordGodof hosts;

Do not let those who seek You [as necessary for life itself] be dishonored through me, O God of Israel,

7 Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;

Confusionanddishonor have covered my face.

8 I have become estranged from my brothers

And an alien to my mother’s sons.

9 For zeal for Your house has consumed me,

And the [mocking] insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.

10 When I weptandhumbled myself with fasting,

It became my reproach.

11 When I made sackcloth my clothing [as one in mourning],

I became a byword [a mere object of scorn] to them.

12 They who sit in the [city’s] gate talk about meandmock me,

And I am the song of the drunkards.

13 But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, at an acceptableandopportune time;

O God, in the greatness of Your favorandin the abundance of Your lovingkindness,

Answer me with truth [that is, the faithfulness of Your salvation].

14 Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink;

Let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep waters.

15 Do not let the floodwater overwhelm me,

Nor the deep waters swallow me up,

Nor the pit [of Sheol] shut its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is sweetandgoodandcomforting;

According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me.

17 Do not hide Your face from Your servant,

For I am in distress; answer me quickly.

18 Draw near to my soul and redeem it;

Ransom me because of my enemies [so that they do not delight in my distress].

19 You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor [how I am insulted];

My adversaries are all before You [each one fully known].

20 Reproachandinsults have broken my heart and I am so sick.

I looked for sympathy, but there was none,

And for comforters, but I found none.

21 They (self-righteous hypocrites) also gave me gall [poisonous and bitter] for my food,

And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 May their table [with all its abundance and luxury] become a snare [to them];

And when they are in peace [secure at their sacrificial feasts],may it becomea trap.

23 May their eyes be dimmed so that they cannot see,

And make their loins shake continually [in terror and weakness].

24 Pour out Your indignation on them,

And let [the fierceness of] Your burning anger overtake them.

25 May their encampment be desolate;

May no one dwell in their tents.

26 For they have persecuted him whom You have struck,

And they tell of the pain of those whom You have piercedandwounded.

27 Add [unforgiven] iniquity to their iniquity [in Your book],

And may they not come into Yourrighteousness.

28 May they be blotted out of the book of life [and their lives come to an end]

And may they not be recorded with the righteous (those in right standing with God).

29 But I am sorrowful and in pain;

May Your salvation, O God, set me [securely] on high.

30 I will praise the name of God with song

And magnify Him with thanksgiving.

31 And it will please the Lordbetter than an ox

Or a young bull with horns and hoofs.

32 The humble have seen it and are glad;

You who seek God [requiring Him as your greatest need], let your heart reviveandlive.

33 For the Lordhears the needy

And does not despise Hiswho areprisoners.

34 Let heaven and earth praise Him,

The seas and everything that moves in them.

35 For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah,

That His servants may remain there and possess it.

36 The descendants of His servants will inherit it,

And those who love His name will dwell in it.