In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord
To the choirmaster: according to yJeduthun. A Psalm of zAsaph.
1 I acry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
2 bIn the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in cthe night my dhand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul erefuses to be comforted.
3 When I remember God, I fmoan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
4 You hold my eyelids open;
I am so gtroubled that I cannot speak.
5 I consider hthe days of old,
the years long ago.
6 I said,1 “Let me remember my isong in the night;
let me jmeditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
7 “Will the Lord kspurn forever,
and never again lbe favorable?
8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his mpromises at an end for all time?
9 nHas God forgotten to be gracious?
oHas he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah
10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will qremember your wonders of old.
12 I will ponder all your rwork,
and meditate on your smighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is tholy.
uWhat god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who vworks wonders;
you have wmade known your might among the peoples.
15 You xwith your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16 When ythe waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
indeed, the deep trembled.
17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies zgave forth thunder;
your aarrows flashed on every side.
18 bThe crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
cyour lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth dtrembled and shook.
19 Your eway was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints fwere unseen.3
20 You gled your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Tell the Coming Generation
A Maskil4 of hAsaph.
1 iGive ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 jI will open my mouth kin a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
that our lfathers have told us.
4 We will not mhide them from their children,
but ntell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and othe wonders that he has done.
5 He established pa testimony in qJacob
and appointed a law in qIsrael,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6 that rthe next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7 so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget sthe works of God,
but tkeep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be ulike their fathers,
va stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation wwhose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The Ephraimites, armed with5 the bow,
xturned back on the day of battle.
10 They ydid not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11 They zforgot his works
and athe wonders that he had shown them.
12 In the sight of their fathers bhe performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in cthe fields of Zoan.
13 He ddivided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters estand like a heap.
14 fIn the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15 He gsplit rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 He made streams come out of hthe rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17 Yet they sinned still more against him,
irebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They jtested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God, saying,
k“Can God lspread a table in the wilderness?
20 mHe struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”
21 Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
na fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22 because they odid not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above
and popened the doors of heaven,
24 and he qrained down on them manna to eat
and gave them rthe grain of heaven.
25 Man ate of the bread of sthe angels;
he sent them food tin abundance.
26 He ucaused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27 he rained meat on them like vdust,
winged birds like wthe sand of the seas;
28 he xlet them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29 And they yate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they zcraved.
30 But before they had satisfied their craving,
awhile the food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed bthe strongest of them
and laid low cthe young men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they dstill sinned;
edespite his wonders, they did not believe.
33 So he made ftheir days gvanish like6 a breath,7
and their years in terror.
34 When he killed them, they hsought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35 They remembered that God was their irock,
the Most High God their jredeemer.
36 But they kflattered him with their mouths;
they llied to him with their tongues.
37 Their mheart was not nsteadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he, being ocompassionate,
patoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 He qremembered that they were but rflesh,
sa wind that passes and comes not again.
40 How often they trebelled against him in the wilderness
and ugrieved him in vthe desert!
41 They wtested God again and again
and provoked xthe Holy One of Israel.
42 They ydid not remember his power8
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43 zwhen he performed his asigns in Egypt
and his bmarvels in cthe fields of Zoan.
44 He dturned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45 He sent among them swarms of eflies, which devoured them,
and ffrogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave their crops to gthe destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hhail
and their sycamores with frost.
48 He gave over their icattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49 He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of jdestroying angels.
50 He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
51 He struck down every kfirstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of lHam.
52 Then he led out his people mlike sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 nHe led them in safety, so that they owere not afraid,
but pthe sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And he brought them to his qholy land,
rto the mountain which his right hand had swon.
55 He tdrove out nations before them;
he uapportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 Yet they vtested and wrebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,
57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted like xa deceitful bow.
58 For they yprovoked him to anger with their zhigh places;
they amoved him to jealousy with their bidols.
59 When God heard, he was full of cwrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
60 He dforsook his dwelling at eShiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61 and delivered his fpower to captivity,
his gglory to the hand of the foe.
62 He hgave his people over to the sword
and ivented his wrath on his heritage.
63 jFire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no kmarriage song.
64 Their lpriests fell by the sword,
and their mwidows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord nawoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.
66 And he oput his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting shame.
67 He rejected the tent of pJoseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he qloves.
69 He rbuilt his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70 He schose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from tfollowing the nursing ewes he brought him
to ushepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his vinheritance.
72 With wupright heart he shepherded them
and xguided them with his skillful hand.
The Seven Seals
1 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of ethe seven seals, and I heard fone of the four living creatures say gwith a voice like thunder, h“Come!” 2 And I looked, and behold, ia white horse! And jits rider had a bow, and ka crown was given to him, and he came out lconquering, and to conquer.
3 When he opened the second seal, I heard mthe second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, nbright red. Its rider was permitted oto take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the mthird living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, pa black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, q“A quart1 of wheat for a denarius,2 and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and rdo not harm the oil and wine!”
7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of mthe fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 And I looked, and behold, sa pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill twith sword and with famine and with pestilence and uby wild beasts of the earth.
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under vthe altar wthe souls of those who had been slain xfor the word of God and for ythe witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, zholy and true, ahow long bbefore you will judge and cavenge our blood on dthose who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given ea white robe and ftold to rest a little longer, guntil the number of their fellow servants and their brothers3 hshould be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, ithere was a great earthquake, and jthe sun became black as ksackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and lthe stars of the sky fell to the earth mas the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 nThe sky vanished mlike a scroll that is being rolled up, and oevery mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave4 and free, phid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 qcalling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of rhim who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for sthe great day of their wrath has come, and twho can stand?”