Searching the Psalms

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 55 (ESV) 1 Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy! 2 Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan, 3 because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me. 4 My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. 5 Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. 6 And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; 7 yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah 8 I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.” 9 Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city. 10 Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it; 11 ruin...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 54 (TPT) 1 God, deliver me by your mighty name! Come with your glorious power and save me! 2 Listen to my prayer; turn your ears to my cry! 3 These violent men have risen up against me; heartless, ruthless men who care nothing about God seek to take my life. Pause in his presence 4 But the Lord God has become my divine helper. He leans into my heart and lays his hands upon me! 5 God will see to it that those who sow evil will reap evil. So Lord, in your great faithfulness, destroy them once and for all! 6 Lord, I will offer myself freely, and everything I am I give to you. I will worship and praise your name, O Lord, for it is precious to me. 7 Through you I’m saved—rescued from every trouble. I’ve seen with my eyes the defeat of my enemies. I’ve triumphed over them all!

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 53 (ESV) 1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good. 2 God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand,[ b ] who seek after God. 3 They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. 4 Have those who work evil no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God? 5 There they are, in great terror, where there is no terror! For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you; you put them to shame, for God has rejected them. 6 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 52 (ESV) 1 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. 2 Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. 3 You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah 4 You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. 5 But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah 6 The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, 7 “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!” 8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. 9 I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good,...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 51 (ESV) 1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 50 (TPT) 1 The God of gods, the mighty Lord himself, has spoken! He shouts out over all the people of the earth in every brilliant sunrise and every beautiful sunset, saying, “Listen to me!” 2 God’s glory-light shines out of the Zion-realm with the radiance of perfect beauty. 3 With the rumble of thunder he approaches; he will not be silent, for he comes with an earsplitting sound! All around him are furious flames of fire, and preceding him is the dazzling blaze of his glory. 4 Here he comes to judge his people! He summons his court with heaven and earth as his jury, saying, 5 “Gather all my lovers, my godly ones whose hearts are one with me— those who have entered into my holy covenant by sacrifices upon the altar.” 6 And the heavens declare his justice: “God himself will be their judge, and he will judge them with righteousness!” Pause in his...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 49 (MSG) 1-2 Listen, everyone, listen— earth-dwellers, don’t miss this. All you haves and have-nots, All together now: listen. 3-4 I set plainspoken wisdom before you, my heart-seasoned understandings of life. I fine-tuned my ear to the sayings of the wise, I solve life’s riddle with the help of a harp. 5-6 So why should I fear in bad times, hemmed in by enemy malice, Shoved around by bullies, demeaned by the arrogant rich? 7-9 Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn’t guarantee Life forever, or insurance against the Black Hole. 10-11 Anyone can see that the brightest and best die, wiped out right along with fools and dunces. They leave all their prowess behind, move into their new home, The Coffin, The cemetery their permanent address. A...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 48 (ESV) 1 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, 2 beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. 3 Within her citadels God has made himself known as a fortress. 4 For behold, the kings assembled; they came on together. 5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded; they were in panic; they took to flight. 6 Trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in labor. 7 By the east wind you shattered the ships of Tarshish. 8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, which God will establish forever. Selah 9 We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. 10 As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled ...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 47 (ESV) 1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! 2 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. 3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. 4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah 5 God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! 7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! 8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. 9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 46 (ESV) 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. 6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 10 “Be still, and know that I a...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 45 (ESV) 1 My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. 2 You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever. 3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty! 4 In your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let your right hand teach you awesome deeds! 5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; the peoples fall under you. 6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; 7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; 8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and a...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 44 (ESV 1 O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old: 2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; 3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. 4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob! 5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us. 6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. 7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us. 8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us and hav...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 43 (NIV) 1 Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation. Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked. 2 You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? 3 Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. 5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 42 (MSG) 1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek; I want to drink God, deep draughts of God. I’m thirsty for God-alive. I wonder, “Will I ever make it— arrive and drink in God’s presence?” I’m on a diet of tears— tears for breakfast, tears for supper. All day long people knock at my door, Pestering, “Where is this God of yours?” 4 These are the things I go over and over, emptying out the pockets of my life. I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd, right out in front, Leading them all, eager to arrive and worship, Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving— celebrating, all of us, God’s feast! 5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God. 6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse everything I know of you, From Jordan...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 41 (NIV) 1 Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the Lord delivers them in times of trouble. 2 The Lord protects and preserves them— they are counted among the blessed in the land— he does not give them over to the desire of their foes. 3 The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness. 4 I said, “Have mercy on me, Lord; heal me, for I have sinned against you.” 5 My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die and his name perish?” 6 When one of them comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander; then he goes out and spreads it around. 7 All my enemies whisper together against me; they imagine the worst for me, saying, 8 “A vile disease has afflicted him; he will never get up from the place where he lies.” 9 Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 40 (NIV) 1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him. 4 Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. 5 Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare. 6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened— burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. 7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. 8 I desire to do your w...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 39 (NIV) 1 I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.” 2 So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased; 3 my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: 4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. 5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure. 6 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be. 7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. 8 Save me from all my transgressions; do not make me the scorn of fools. 9 I was silent; I wo...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 38 (NIV) 1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. 2 Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me. 3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. 4 My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. 5 My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. 6 I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. 7 My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. 8 I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. 9 All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. 10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. 11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away. 12 Those who want t...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 37 (MSG) 1-2 Don’t bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked. In no time they’ll shrivel like grass clippings and wilt like cut flowers in the sun. 3-4 Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last. Keep company with God, get in on the best. 5-6 Open up before God, keep nothing back; he’ll do whatever needs to be done: He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon. 7 Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him. Don’t bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top. 8-9 Bridle your anger, trash your wrath, cool your pipes—it only makes things worse. Before long the crooks will be bankrupt; God-investors will soon own the store. 10-11 Before you know it, the wicked will have had it; you’ll stare at his once famou...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 36 (TPT) 1 The rebellion of sin speaks as an oracle of God, speaking deeply to the conscience of wicked men. Yet they are still eager to sin, for the fear of God is not before their eyes. 2 See how they flatter themselves, unable to detect and detest their sins. They are crooked and conceited, convinced they can get away with anything. 3 Their wicked words are nothing but lies. Wisdom is far from them. Goodness is both forgotten and forsaken. 4 They lie awake at night to hatch their evil plots, always planning their schemes of darkness, and never once do they consider the evil of their ways. 5 But you, O Lord, your mercy-seat love is limitless, reaching higher than the highest heavens. Your great faithfulness is infinite, stretching over the whole earth. 6 Your righteousness is unmovable, just like the mighty mountains. Your judgments are as ful...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 35 (ESV) 1 Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! 2 Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! 3 Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, “I am your salvation!” 4 Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me! 5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away! 6 Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them! 7 For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life. 8 Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it—to his destruction! 9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation. 10 All my bo...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 34 (ESV) 1 I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! 4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! 10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 11 Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the f...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 33 (ESV) 1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. 2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. 4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. 10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11...

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly. Psalm 32 (ERV) 1 It is a great blessing when people are forgiven for the wrongs they have done, when their sins are erased. 2 It is a great blessing when the Lord says they are not guilty, when they don’t try to hide their sins. 3 Lord, I prayed to you again and again, but I did not talk about my sins. So I only became weaker and more miserable. 4 Every day you made life harder for me. I became like a dry land in the hot summertime. Selah 5 But then I decided to confess my sins to the Lord. I stopped hiding my guilt and told you about my sins. And you forgave them all! Selah 6 That is why your loyal followers pray to you while there is still time. Then when trouble rises like a flood, it will not reach them. 7 You are a hiding place for me. You protect me from my troubles. You surround me and protect me, so I sing about the way you saved me. Selah 8 T...