Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today we're continuing with the Psalms
of Praise and Thanksgiving, commemorating God's
works of salvation and victory. And today we're
reading Psalms 39, 62, 50, and Psalms 73 through
76. Psalm 39, inscription, to the chief musician,
to Jedisun, a psalm of David. I said I will guard
my ways, lest I sin with my tongue. I will restrain
my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked are
before me. I was mute with silence. I held my
peace even from good, and my sorrow was stirred
up. My heart was hot within me. While I was musing,
the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue.
Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the
measure of my days, that I may know how frail
I am. Indeed, you have made my days as hand breath,
and my age is as nothing before you. Certainly
every man at his best state is but vapor. Salah.
Surely every man walks about like a shadow. Surely
they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up riches
and does not know who will gather them. And now,
Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.
Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not
make me the reproach of the foolish. I was mute,
I did not open my mouth, because it was you who
did it. Remove your plague from me. I am consumed
by the blow of your hand. When with rebukes you
correct man for iniquity, you make his beauty
melt away like a moth. Surely every man is vapor.
Salah. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to
my cry. Do not be silent at my tears, for I am
a stranger with you, a sojourner as all my fathers
were. Remove your gaze from me, that I may regain
strength, before I go away and am no more. Psalm
62. Inscription. To the Chief Musician. To Jedusun.
A Psalm of David. Truly my soul silently waits
for God. From Him comes my salvation. He only
is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense.
I shall not be greatly moved. How long will you
attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you,
like a leaning wall and a tottering fence. They
only consult to cast him down from his high position.
They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth,
but they curse inwardly. Salah My soul waits
silently for God alone, for my expectation is
from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation.
He is my defense. I shall not be moved. In God
is my salvation and my glory, the rock of my
strength, and my refuge is in God. Trust in Him
at all times, you people. Pour out your heart
before Him. God is a refuge for us. Salah. Surely
men of low degree are a vapor. Men of high degree
are a lie. If they are weighed on the scales,
they are altogether lighter than vapor. Do not
trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery.
If riches increase, do not set your heart on
them. God has spoken once. Twice I have heard
this. The power belongs to God. Also to you,
O Lord, belongs mercy, for you render to each
one according to his work. Psalm 50, Inscription,
A Psalm of Asaph The Mighty One, God the Lord,
has spoken and called the earth, from the rising
of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion, the
perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. Our
God shall come and shall not keep silent. A fire
shall devour before Him, and it shall be very
tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to
the heavens from above, and to the earth, that
he may judge his people. Gather my saints together
to me, those who have made a covenant with me
by sacrifice, that the heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge. Salah Hear, O my people,
and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify
against you. I am God, your God. I will not rebuke
you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings,
which are continually before me. I will not take
a bull from your house, nor goats out of your
folds. For every beast of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all
the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts
of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would
not tell you, for the world is mine in all its
fullness. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink
the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving,
and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon
me in a day of trouble, I will deliver you, and
you shall glorify me. But to the wicked, God
says, What right have you to declare my statutes,
or take my covenant in your mouth? seeing you
hate instruction, and cast my words behind you.
When you saw a thief, you consented with him,
and have been a partaker with adulterers. You
give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames
deceit. You sit and speak against your brother,
you slander your own mother's son. These things
you have done, and I kept silent. You thought
that I was altogether like you, but I will rebuke
you, and set them in order before your eyes.
Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I
tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Whoever offers praise glorifies me, and to him
who orders his conduct aright, I will show the
salvation of God. Psalm 73, Inscription, A Psalm
of Asaph Truly God is good to Israel, to such
as are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet
had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped,
for I was envious of the boastful, when I saw
the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no
pangs in their death, but their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men. Nor are
they plagued like other men. Therefore pride
serves as their necklace. Violence covers them
like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance.
They have more than heart could wish. They scoff
and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They
speak loftily. They set their mouth against the
heavens, and their tongues walk through the earth.
Therefore his people return here, and waters
of a full cup are drained by them. And they say,
How does God know? And is their knowledge in
the Most High? behold these are the ungodly who
are always at ease they increase in riches surely
i have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my
hands in innocence for all day long i have been
plagued and chastened every morning if i had
said i will speak thus behold i would have been
untrue to the generation of your children when
i thought how to understand this it was too painful
for me until i went into the sanctuary of god
then i understood their end Surely you set them
in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction.
Oh, how they are brought to desolation as in
a moment. They are utterly consumed with terrors,
as a dream when one awakes. So, Lord, when you
awake, you shall despise their image. Thus my
heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind.
I was so foolish and ignorant. I was like a beast
before you. Nevertheless, I am continually with
you. You hold me by my right hand. You will guide
me with your counsel, and afterward receive me
to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And
there is none upon earth that I desire besides
you. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the
strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For indeed those who are far from you shall perish.
You have destroyed all those who desert you for
harlotry, but it is good for me to draw near
to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God that
I may declare all your works. Psalm 74 Inscription
A Contemplation of Asaph O God, why have you
cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke
against the sheep of your pasture? Remember your
congregation, which you have purchased of old,
the tribe of your inheritance, which you have
redeemed, this Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
Lift up your feet to the perpetual desolations.
The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
Your enemies roar in the midst of your meeting
place. They set up their banners for signs. They
seem like men who lift up axes among the thick
trees. And now they break down its carved work
all at once with axes and hammers. They have
set fire to your sanctuary. They have defiled
the dwelling place of your name to the ground.
They said in their hearts, let us destroy them
altogether. They have burned up all the meeting
places of God in the land. We do not see our
signs. There is no longer any prophet, nor is
there any among us who knows how long. O God,
how long will the adversary reproach? Will the
enemy blaspheme your name forever? Why do you
withdraw your hand, even your right hand? Take
it out of your bosom and destroy them, for God
is my King from of old, working salvation in
the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by
your strength. You broke the heads of the sea
serpents in the waters. You broke the heads of
Leviathan in pieces and gave him as food to the
people inhabiting the wilderness. You broke open
the fountain and the flood. You dried up mighty
rivers. The day is yours. The night also is yours.
You have prepared the light and the sun. You
have set all the borders of the earth. You have
made summer and winter. Remember this, that the
enemy has reproached, O Lord, and that a foolish
people has blasphemed your name. O, do not deliver
the life of your turtle dove to the wild beast.
Do not forget the life of your poor forever.
Have respect to the covenant, for the dark places
of the earth are full of the haunts of cruelty.
O, do not let the oppressed return ashamed. Let
the poor and needy praise your name. Arise, O
God, plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish
man reproaches you daily. Do not forget the voice
of your enemies. The tumult of those who rise
up against you increases continually. We give
thanks to you, O God, we give thanks. For your
wondrous works declare that your name is near.
When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly.
The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved.
I set up its pillars firmly. Salah. I said to
the boastful, do not deal boastfully. And to
the wicked, do not lift up the horn. Do not lift
up your horn on high. Do not speak with a stiff
neck. For exaltation comes neither from the east,
nor from the west, nor from the south. But God
is the judge. He puts down one and exalts another.
For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and
the wine is red. It is fully mixed, and he pours
it out. Surely its dregs shall all the wicked
of the earth drain and drink down. But I will
declare forever, I will sing praises to the God
of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked I will
also cut off, but the horns of the righteous
shall be exalted. Psalm 76, Inscription To the
chief musician, on stringed instruments, a psalm
of Asaph, a song. In Judah God is known, his
name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his
tabernacle. and his dwelling place in Zion. There
he broke the arrows of the bow, the shield and
sword of battle. Salah. You are more glorious
and excellent than the mountains of prey. The
stout -hearted were plundered, they have sunk
into their sleep, and none of the mighty men
have found the use of their hands. At your rebuke,
O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse were
cast into a dead sleep. You yourself are to be
feared, and who may stand in your presence, when
once you are angry? You cause judgment to be
heard from heaven. The earth feared and was still.
When God arose to judgment to deliver all the
oppressed of the earth. Salah. Surely the wrath
of man shall praise you. With the remainder of
wrath you shall gird yourself. Make vows to the
Lord your God and pay them. Let all who are around
him bring presents to him who ought to be feared.
He shall cut off the spirit of princes. He is
awesome to the kings of the earth. I hope you
enjoyed today's reading as much as I did and
I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow to
continue on our journey. God bless you and have
a great day.