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Psalms 38-42

Psalms 38

1O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger, or discipline me in your wrath.

2For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me.

3There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.

4For my iniquities have gone over my head; they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.

5My wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness;

6I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all day long I go around mourning.

7For my loins are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh.

8I am utterly spent and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

9O Lord, all my longing is known to you; my sighing is not hidden from you.

10My heart throbs, my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes — it also has gone from me.

11My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction, and my neighbors stand far off.

12Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin, and meditate treachery all day long.

13But I am like the deaf, I do not hear; like the mute, who cannot speak.

14Truly, I am like one who does not hear, and in whose mouth is no retort.

15But it is for you, O LORD, that I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

16For I pray, “Only do not let them rejoice over me, those who boast against me when my foot slips.”

17For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever with me.

18I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.

19Those who are my foes without cause are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully.

20Those who render me evil for good are my adversaries because I follow after good.

21Do not forsake me, O LORD; O my God, do not be far from me;

22make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.

Psalms 39

1I said, “I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will keep a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence.”

2I was silent and still; I held my peace to no avail; my distress grew worse,

3my heart became hot within me. While I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:

4“LORD, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.

5You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Selah

6Surely everyone goes about like a shadow. Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; they heap up, and do not know who will gather.

7“And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.

8Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool.

9I am silent; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.

10Remove your stroke from me; I am worn down by the blows of your hand.

11“You chastise mortals in punishment for sin, consuming like a moth what is dear to them; surely everyone is a mere breath. Selah

12“Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; do not hold your peace at my tears. For I am your passing guest, an alien, like all my forebears.

13Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more.”

Psalms 40

1I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

2He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

3He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

4Happy are those who make the LORD their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.

5You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.

6Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

7Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.

8I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

9I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.

10I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

11Do not, O LORD, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever.

12For evils have encompassed me without number; my iniquities have overtaken me, until I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.

13Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me.

14Let all those be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt.

15Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

16But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!”

17As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.

Psalms 41

1Happy are those who consider the poor; the LORD delivers them in the day of trouble.

2The LORD protects them and keeps them alive; they are called happy in the land. You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.

3The LORD sustains them on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities.

4As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you.”

5My enemies wonder in malice when I will die, and my name perish.

6And when they come to see me, they utter empty words, while their hearts gather mischief; when they go out, they tell it abroad.

7All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.

8They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me, that I will not rise again from where I lie.

9Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.

10But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.

11By this I know that you are pleased with me; because my enemy has not triumphed over me.

12But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.

13Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.

Psalms 42

1As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.

2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?

3My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”

4These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.

5Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help

6and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

7Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me.

8By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

9I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?”

10As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?”

11Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.