Daily Wisdom Plan

¹God presides over heaven’s court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings:

²“How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked? Interlude

³“Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.

⁴Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people.

⁵But these oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the core.

⁶I say, ‘You are gods; you are all children of the Most High.

⁷But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’”

⁸Rise up, O God, and judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you.

¹O God, do not be silent! Do not be deaf. Do not be quiet, O God.

²Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies? Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up?

³They devise crafty schemes against your people; they conspire against your precious ones.

⁴“Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation. We will destroy the very memory of its existence.”

⁵Yes, this was their unanimous decision. They signed a treaty as allies against you —

⁶these Edomites and Ishmaelites; Moabites and Hagrites;

⁷Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites; and people from Philistia and Tyre.

⁸Assyria has joined them, too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot. Interlude

⁹Do to them as you did to the Midianites and as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.

¹⁰They were destroyed at Endor, and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil.

¹¹Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did. Let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna,

¹²for they said, “Let us seize for our own use these pasturelands of God!”

¹³O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind!

¹⁴As a fire burns a forest and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,

¹⁵chase them with your fierce storm; terrify them with your tempest.

¹⁶Utterly disgrace them until they submit to your name, O LORD.

¹⁷Let them be ashamed and terrified forever. Let them die in disgrace.

¹⁸Then they will learn that you alone are called the LORD, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.

¹How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

²I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the LORD. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.

³Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!

⁴What joy for those who can live in your house, always singing your praises. Interlude

⁵What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

⁶When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.

⁷They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.

⁸O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Jacob. Interlude

⁹O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield! Show favor to the one you have anointed.

¹⁰A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.

¹¹For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.

¹²O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, what joy for those who trust in you.