Masada
Psalmsa
Language:
Hebrew
Date:
1 - 50 A.D.
Location:
Masada
Contents:
Psalms 81-85, ending with 85:5 (Hebrew 85:6)
Psalms
81
1 Sing
aloud to God, our strength!
Make
a joyful shout to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise
a song, and bring here the tambourine,
the
pleasant lyre with the harp.
3 Blow
the trumpet at the New Moon,
at
the full moon, on our feast day.
4 For
it is a statute for Israel,
an
ordinance of the God of
Jacob.
5 He
appointed it in Joseph for a testimony,
when
he went out over the land of Egypt,
I
heard a language that I didn’t know.
6 “I
removed his
shoulder from the burden.
His
hands were freed from the basket.
7 You called in trouble, and I
delivered you.
I
answered you in the secret place of thunder.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.”
Selah.
8 “Hear,
my people, and I will testify to you,
Israel,
if you would listen to me!
9 There
shall be no strange god in you,
neither
shall
you worship any foreign god.
10 I
am Yahweh, your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open
your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 But my people didn’t
listen to my voice.
Israel
desired none of me.
12 So I
let them go
after the stubbornness of their hearts,
that
they might walk in their own counsels.
13 Oh
that my
people would listen to me,
that
Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue
their enemies,
and
turn my hand against their adversaries.
15 The
haters of
Yahweh would cringe before him,
and
their punishment
would last forever.
16 But he would have
also fed them with the finest of the wheat.
I
will satisfy you
with honey out of the rock.”
Psalms
82
A Psalm
by Asaph.
1 God
presides in the great assembly.
He
judges among the gods.
2 “How long will you
judge unjustly,
and
show partiality to the wicked?”
Selah.
3 “Defend the weak, the
poor, and the fatherless.
Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and
needy.
Deliver
them out of the hand of the wicked.”
5 They don’t know,
neither do they understand.
They
walk back and forth in darkness.
All
the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I said, “You are
gods,
all
of you are sons of the Most High.
7 Nevertheless you
shall die like men,
and
fall like one of the rulers.”
8 Arise, God, judge the
earth,
for
you inherit all of the nations.
Psalms
83
A
song. A Psalm by Asaph.
1 God, don’t keep
silent.
Don’t
keep silent,
and
don’t be still, God.
2 For, behold, your enemies are stirred up.
Those
who hate you have lifted up their heads.
3 They
conspire
with cunning against your people.
They
plot against your cherished ones.
4 “Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation,
that
the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
5 For they have
conspired together with one mind.
They
form an alliance against you.
6 The tents of Edom and
the Ishmaelites;
Moab,
and the Hagrites;
7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia
with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assyria also is
joined with them.
They
have helped the children of Lot.
Selah.
9 Do to them as you did
to Midian,
as
to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;
10 who perished at
Endor,
who
became as dung for the earth.
11 Make their nobles
like Oreb and Zeeb;
yes,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna;
12 who said, “Let’s take
possession of God’s pasture lands.”
13 My God, make them like
tumbleweed;
like
chaff before the wind.
14 As the fire that burns
the forest,
as
the flame that sets the mountains on fire,
15 so pursue them with
your tempest,
and
terrify them with your storm.
16 Fill their faces with
confusion,
that
they may seek your name, Yahweh.
17 Let
them be disappointed and dismayed forever.
Yes,
let them be confounded and perish;
18 that
they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh,
are
the
Most High over all the earth.
Psalms 84
For
the Chief Musician. On an instrument of
Gath. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.
1 How lovely are your dwellings,
Yahweh
of Armies!
2 My
soul longs,
and even faints for the courts of Yahweh.
My
heart and my flesh cry out for the
living God.
3 Yes, the sparrow has found a home,
and
the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her
young,
near
your altars, Yahweh
of Armies, my King, and my God.
4 Blessed
are those who dwell in your house.
They
are always praising you.
Selah.
5 Blessed
are those whose strength is in you;
who
have set their hearts on a pilgrimage.
6 Passing
through the valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs.
Yes,
the autumn rain covers it with blessings.
7 They go from strength
to strength.
Everyone
of them appears before God in Zion.
8 Yahweh, God of Armies, hear my prayer.
Listen,
God of Jacob.
Selah.
9 Behold,
God our shield,
look at
the face of your anointed.
10 For
a day in your courts is better than a thousand.
I
would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
than
to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For
Yahweh God is a sun and a shield.
Yahweh
will give grace and glory.
He
withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
12 Yahweh of Armies,
blessed
is the man who trusts in you.
Psalms
85
For
the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of
Korah.
1 Yahweh, you have been
favorable to your land.
You
have restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the
iniquity of your people.
You
have covered all their sin.
Selah.
3 You have taken away
all your wrath.
You
have turned from the fierceness of your anger.
4 Turn us, God of our
salvation,
and
cause your indignation toward us to cease.
5 Will you be angry
with us forever?
Will
you draw out your anger to all generations?