A psalm of Asaph.
82:1 God stands in the assembly of El;
in the midst of the gods he renders judgment.
82:2 He says, “How long will you make unjust legal decisions
and show favoritism to the wicked? (Selah)
82:3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless!
Vindicate the oppressed and suffering!
82:4 Rescue the poor and needy!
Deliver them from the power of the wicked!
82:5 They neither know nor understand.
They stumble around in the dark,
while all the foundations of the earth crumble.
82:6 I thought, ‘You are gods;
all of you are sons of the Most High.’
82:7 Yet you will die like mortals;
you will fall like all the other rulers.”
82:8 Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth!
For you own all the nations.
A song, a psalm of Asaph.
83:1 O God, do not be silent!
Do not ignore us! Do not be inactive, O God!
83:2 For look, your enemies are making a commotion;
those who hate you are hostile.
83:3 They carefully plot against your people,
and make plans to harm the ones you cherish.
83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation!
Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”
83:5 Yes, they devise a unified strategy;
they form an alliance against you.
83:6 It includes the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
83:7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,
Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre.
83:8 Even Assyria has allied with them,
lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. (Selah)
83:9 Do to them as you did to Midian –
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River!
83:10 They were destroyed at Endor;
their corpses were like manure on the ground.
83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna,
83:12 who said, “Let’s take over the pastures of God!”
83:13 O my God, make them like dead thistles,
like dead weeds blown away by the wind!
83:14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,
or the flames that consume the mountainsides,
83:15 chase them with your gale winds,
and terrify them with your windstorm.
83:16 Cover their faces with shame,
so they might seek you, O Lord.
83:17 May they be humiliated and continually terrified!
May they die in shame!
83:18 Then they will know that you alone are the Lord,
the sovereign king over all the earth.
For the music director; according to the gittith style; written by the Korahites, a psalm.
84:1 How lovely is the place where you live,
O Lord who rules over all!
84:2 I desperately want to be
in the courts of the Lord’s temple.
My heart and my entire being shout for joy
to the living God.
84:3 Even the birds find a home there,
and the swallow builds a nest,
where she can protect her young
near your altars, O Lord who rules over all,
my king and my God.
84:4 How blessed are those who live in your temple
and praise you continually! (Selah)
84:5 How blessed are those who find their strength in you,
and long to travel the roads that lead to your temple!
84:6 As they pass through the Baca Valley,
he provides a spring for them.
The rain even covers it with pools of water.
84:7 They are sustained as they travel along;
each one appears before God in Zion.
84:8 O Lord, sovereign God,
hear my prayer!
Listen, O God of Jacob! (Selah)
84:9 O God, take notice of our shield!
Show concern for your chosen king!
84:10 Certainly spending just one day in your temple courts is better
than spending a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather stand at the entrance to the temple of my God
than live in the tents of the wicked.
84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector.
The Lord bestows favor and honor;
he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity.
84:12 O Lord who rules over all,
how blessed are those who trust in you!