Today's prayer: Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

Psalm 43

1

Psalm 43 ^[1]

1

Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

2

You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?

3

Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.

4

Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.

5

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Today's prayer: As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.

Psalm 42

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Psalm 42 For the director of music. A maskil ^[1] of the Sons of Korah. ^[2]

1

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.

2

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

3

My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"

4

These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.

5

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and

6

my God. My ^[3] soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon--from Mount Mizar.

7

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

8

By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me-- a prayer to the God of my life.

9

I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?"

10

My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?"

11

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Today's bible teaching: You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god

Psalm 81

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Psalm 81 For the director of music. According to gittith. ^[1] Of Asaph.

1

Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob!

2

Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre.

3

Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast;

4

this is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

5

He established it as a statute for Joseph when he went out against Egypt, where we heard a language we did not understand. ^[2]

6

He says, "I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket.

7

In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

8

"Hear, O my people, and I will warn you-- if you would but listen to me, O Israel!

9

You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god.

10

I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

11

"But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me.

12

So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

13

"If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways,

14

how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!

15

Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.

16

But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

Today's praises: Praise the LORD.Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.

Psalm 113

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Psalm 113

1

Praise the LORD. ^[1] Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.

2

Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore.

3

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.

4

The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.

5

Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,

6

who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?

7

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

8

he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.

9

He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.

Today's prayer: Restore us, O God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

Psalm 80

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Psalm 80 For the director of music. To [the tune of] "The Lilies of the Covenant." Of Asaph. A psalm.

1

Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock; you who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth

2

before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us.

3

Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

4

O LORD God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people?

5

You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

6

You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us.

7

Restore us, O God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

8

You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.

9

You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.

10

The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.

11

It sent out its boughs to the Sea, ^[1] its shoots as far as the River. ^[2]

12

Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes?

13

Boars from the forest ravage it and the creatures of the field feed on it.

14

Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine,

15

the root your right hand has planted, the son ^[3] you have raised up for yourself.

16

Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish.

17

Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself.

18

Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.

19

Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

Today's prayer: Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death

Psalm 13

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Psalm 13 For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

2

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3

Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

4

my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6

I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.

Today's bible teaching: Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD

Psalm 31

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Psalm 31 For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1

In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.

2

Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.

3

Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

4

Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.

5

Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.

6

I hate those who cling to worthless idols; I trust in the LORD.

7

I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.

8

You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.

9

Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.

10

My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, ^[1] and my bones grow weak.

11

Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends-- those who see me on the street flee from me.

12

I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.

13

For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life.

14

But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."

15

My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.

16

Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.

17

Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I have cried out to you; but let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in the grave. ^[2]

18

Let their lying lips be silenced, for with pride and contempt they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

19

How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.

20

In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men; in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues.

21

Praise be to the LORD, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city.

22

In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!" Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.

23

Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.

24

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.