Another Boston Psalm

For the worship leader. A song of David to the tune “Death of a Son.”

In the Hebrew manuscripts, Psalms 9 and 10 work as a unit because together they form an acrostic poem, meaning each stanza begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This literary device has several functions. First, it provides a mnemonic device for easier memorization. Second, it is inherently beautiful; the rigid structure is a showcase for the author’s literary talents. Finally, it conveys the idea of completion by describing the reasons God is to be praised “from A to Z.” Psalm 9 offers David’s thanks and praise to God for defeating his enemies. Psalm 10, on the other hand, is a lament complaining that God is far off while the poor and helpless suffer.

All my heart will give thanks to You, Eternal One.
I will tell others about Your amazing works.
I will be glad and celebrate You!
I will praise You, O Most High!

When my adversaries turned and fled,
they fell and died right in front of You,
For You supported my just cause.
From Your throne, You have judged wisely.

You confronted the nations; You have destroyed the wicked.
You have erased their names from history.
The enemy is finished, their time is up;
their cities will lie in ruin forever;
all memory of them is gone.

Still the Eternal remains and will reign forever;
He has taken His place on His throne for judgment.
So He will judge the world rightly.
He shall execute that judgment equally on all people.

For the Eternal will be a shelter for those who know misery,
a refuge during troubling times.
Those who know Your name will rely on You,
for You, O Eternal One, have not abandoned those who search for You.

Praise Him who lives on Zion’s holy hill.
Tell the story of His great acts among the people!
For He remembers the victims of violence and avenges their blood;
He does not turn a deaf ear to the cry of the needy.

Be gracious to me, O Eternal One.
Notice the harm I have suffered because of my enemies,
You who carry me safely away from death’s door,
So that I may rehearse Your deeds, declare Your praise,
and rejoice in Your rescue
when I take my stand in the gates of Zion.

The nations have fallen into the pit they dug for others,
their own feet caught, snared by the net they hid.
The Eternal is well known, for He has taken action and secured justice;
He has trapped the wicked through the work of their own hands.

[pause with music]

The wicked are headed for death and the grave;
all the nations who forget the True God will share a similar fate.

For those in need shall not always be forgotten,
and the hope of the poor will never die.

Eternal One, arise! Do not allow mere mortals to win the day.
Judge the nations Yourself.
Put the fear of God in them, Eternal One!
Remind the nations they are mere men, not gods.

[pause]

Why, O Eternal One, are You so far away?
Why can’t You be found during troubling times?
Mean and haughty people hunt down the poor.
May they get caught up in their own wicked schemes.

For the wicked celebrates the evil cravings of his heart
as the greedy curses and rejects the Eternal.
The arrogance of the wicked one keeps him from seeking the True God.
He truly thinks, “There is no God.”

His ways seem always to be successful;
Your judgments, too, seem far beyond him, out of his reach.
He looks down on all his enemies.
In his heart he has decided, “Nothing will faze me.
From generation to generation I will not face trouble.”

His mouth is full of curses, lies, and oppression.
Beneath his tongue lie trouble and wickedness.
He hides in the shadows of the villages,
waiting to ambush and kill the innocent in dark corners.
He eyes the weak and the poor.

Ominously, like a lion in its lair,
he lurks in secret to waylay those who are downtrodden.
When he catches them, he draws them in and drags them off with his net.

Quietly crouching, lying low,
ready to overwhelm the next by his strength,
The wicked thinks in his heart, “God has forgotten us!
He has covered His face and will never notice!”

Arise, O Eternal, my True God. Lift up Your hand.
Do not forget the downtrodden.
Why does the wicked revile the True God?
He has decided, “He will not hold me responsible.”

But wait! You have seen,
and You will consider the trouble and grief he caused.
You will impose consequences for his actions.
The helpless, the orphans, commit themselves to You,
and You have been their Helper.

Break the arm of the one guilty of doing evil;
investigate all his wicked acts;
hold him responsible for every last one of them.
The Eternal will reign as King forever.
The other nations will be swept off His land.

O Eternal One, You have heard the longings of the poor and lowly.
You will strengthen them; You who are of heaven will hear them,
Vindicating the orphan and the oppressed
so that men who are of the earth will terrify them no more (The Voice).

A Boston Attack Psalm

From today’s Book of Common Prayer:

Psalm 28

Ad te, Domine

1O LORD, I call to you;
     my Rock, do not be deaf to my cry; *
     lest, if you do not hear me,
     I become like those who go down to the Pit.
2Hear the voice of my prayer when I cry out to you, *
     when I lift up my hands to your holy of holies.
3Do not snatch me away with the wicked or with the
     evildoers, *
     who speak peaceably with their neighbors,
     while strife is in their hearts.
4Repay them according to their deeds, *
     and according to the wickedness of their actions.
5According to the work of their hands repay them, *
     and give them their just deserts.
6They have no understanding of the LORD'S doings,
     nor of the works of his hands; *
     therefore he will break them down and not
     build them up.
7Blessed is the LORD! *
     for he has heard the voice of my prayer.
8The LORD is my strength and my shield; *
     my heart trusts in him, and I have been helped;
9Therefore my heart dances for joy, *
     and in my song will I praise him.
10The LORD is the strength of his people, *
     a safe refuge for his anointed.
11Save your people and bless your inheritance; *
     shepherd them and carry them for ever.

Verses 10-12

So leaders, kings, and judges,
be wise, and be warned.
There is only one God, the Eternal;
worship Him with respect and awe;
take delight in Him and tremble.
Bow down before God’s son.
If you don’t, you will face His anger and retribution,
And you won’t stand a chance.
For it doesn’t take long to kindle royal wrath,

But blessings await all who trust in Him.
They will find God a gentle refuge (The Voice).

 

Praying for Jack as he will be baptized during the service tomorrow morning!

Verses 7-9

I am telling all of you the truth. I have heard the Eternal’s decree.
He said clearly to me, “You are My son.
Today I have become your Father.
The nations shall be yours for the asking,
and the entire earth will belong to you.
They are yours to crush with an iron scepter,
yours to shatter like fragile, clay pots.” (The Voice)

“You are My son. Today I have become your Father” is quoted in Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5, and Hebrews 5:5 to describe Jesus’ ministry.

Verses 1-6

You are wondering: What has provoked the nations to embrace anger and chaos?
Why are the people making plans to pursue their own vacant and empty greatness?
Leaders of nations stand united;
rulers put their heads together,
plotting against the Eternal One and His Anointed King, trying to figure out
How they can throw off the gentle reign of God’s love,
step out from under the restrictions of His claims to advance their own schemes.

At first, the Power of heaven laughs at their silliness.
The Eternal mocks their ignorant selfishness.
But His laughter turns to rage, and He rebukes them.
As God displays His righteous anger, they begin to know the meaning of fear. He says,
“I am the One who appointed My king who reigns from Zion, My mount of holiness.
He is the one in charge.” (The Voice)

It is interesting to imagine God laughing and raging at stupid choices. Not much different than what I see each day in my Facebook news feed.

Psalm 2 NT Reference

According to Acts 4:25, King David wrote Psalm 2.

Psalm 2

You are wondering: What has provoked the nations to embrace anger and chaos?
Why are the people making plans to pursue their own vacant and empty greatness?
Leaders of nations stand united;
rulers put their heads together,
plotting against the Eternal One and His Anointed King, trying to figure out
How they can throw off the gentle reign of God’s love,
step out from under the restrictions of His claims to advance their own schemes.

At first, the Power of heaven laughs at their silliness.
The Eternal mocks their ignorant selfishness.
But His laughter turns to rage, and He rebukes them.
As God displays His righteous anger, they begin to know the meaning of fear. He says,
“I am the One who appointed My king who reigns from Zion, My mount of holiness.
He is the one in charge.”

I am telling all of you the truth. I have heard the Eternal’s decree.
He said clearly to me, “You are My son.
Today I have become your Father.
The nations shall be yours for the asking,
and the entire earth will belong to you.
They are yours to crush with an iron scepter,
yours to shatter like fragile, clay pots.”

So leaders, kings, and judges,
be wise, and be warned.
There is only one God, the Eternal;
worship Him with respect and awe;
take delight in Him and tremble.
Bow down before God’s son.
If you don’t, you will face His anger and retribution,
And you won’t stand a chance.
For it doesn’t take long to kindle royal wrath,

But blessings await all who trust in Him.
They will find God a gentle refuge (The Voice).

Wrong Road

For those who focus on sin, the story is different.
They are like the fallen husk of wheat, tossed by an open wind, left deserted and alone.
In the end, the wicked will fall in judgment;
the guilty will be separated from the innocent.
Their road suddenly will end in death,
yet the journey of the righteous has been charted by the Eternal (The Voice translation).

God’s Word

For you, the Eternal’s Word is your happiness.
It is your focus—from dusk to dawn.
You are like a tree,
planted by flowing, cool streams of water that never run dry.
Your fruit ripens in its time;
your leaves never fade or curl in the summer sun.
No matter what you do, you prosper.

Streams provide a continual source of fresh water. God’s Word is constantly replenishing, too.

God’s Blessings

God’s blessings follow you and await you at every turn:
when you don’t follow the advice of those who delight in wicked schemes,
When you avoid sin’s highway,
when judgment and sarcasm beckon you, but you refuse.

I particularly like the phrase “when judgment and sarcasm beckon you.’ We’ve all experienced this feeling!