Psalms 86–88

1Hear, Yahweh, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

2Preserve my soul, for I am godly. You, my God, save your servant who trusts in you.

3Be merciful to me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.

4Bring joy to the soul of your servant, for to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.

6Hear, Yahweh, my prayer. Listen to the voice of my petitions.

7In the day of my trouble I will call on you, for you will answer me.

8There is no one like you among the gods, Lord, nor any deeds like your deeds.

9All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They shall glorify your name.

10For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone.

11Teach me your way, Yahweh. I will walk in your truth. Make my heart undivided to fear your name.

12I will praise you, Lord my God, with my whole heart. I will glorify your name forever more.

13For your loving kindness is great toward me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.

14God, the proud have risen up against me. A company of violent men have sought after my soul, and they don’t hold regard for you before them.

15But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.

16Turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give your strength to your servant. Save the son of your servant.

17Show me a sign of your goodness, that those who hate me may see it, and be shamed, because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me.

1His foundation is in the holy mountains.

2Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

3Glorious things are spoken about you, city of God. Selah.

4I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me. Behold, Philistia, Tyre, and also Ethiopia: “This one was born there.”

5Yes, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one was born in her;” the Most High himself will establish her.

6Yahweh will count, when he writes up the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah.

7Those who sing as well as those who dance say, “All my springs are in you.”

1Yahweh, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you.

2Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry.

3For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.

4I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help,

5set apart among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand.

6You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.

7Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah.

8You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape.

9My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you.

10Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah.

11Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction?

12Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you.

14Yahweh, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?

15I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.

16Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off.

17They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.

18You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.