Psalms and Proverbs in a Month – read today’s “Psalms and Proverbs in a Month” excerpt

This page updates daily, automatically switching between Bible reading plans for Psalms and Proverbs in a Month and Psalms in 30 Days, depending on the number of days in the current month.

reading plan entry for day #6

Psalm 31 ()

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

[1] In you, Yahweh, I take refuge.
Let me never be disappointed.
Deliver me in your righteousness.
[2] Bow down your ear to me.
Deliver me speedily.
Be to me a strong rock,
a house of defense to save me.
[3] For you are my rock and my fortress,
therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.
[4] Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me,
for you are my stronghold.
[5] Into your hand I commend my spirit.
You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth.
[6] I hate those who regard lying vanities,
but I trust in Yahweh.
[7] I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness,
for you have seen my affliction.
You have known my soul in adversities.
[8] You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.
You have set my feet in a large place.
[9] Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am in distress.
My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
[10] For my life is spent with sorrow,
my years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
My bones are wasted away.
[11] Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,
a horror to my acquaintances.
Those who saw me on the street fled from me.
[12] I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.
I am like broken pottery.
[13] For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side,
while they conspire together against me,
they plot to take away my life.
[14] But I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
[15] My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
[16] Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.
[17] Let me not be disappointed, Yahweh, for I have called on you.
Let the wicked be disappointed.
Let them be silent in Sheol.
[18] Let the lying lips be mute,
which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.
[19] Oh how great is your goodness,
which you have laid up for those who fear you,
which you have worked for those who take refuge in you,
before the sons of men!
[20] In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man.
You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.
[21] Praise be to Yahweh,
for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city.
[22] As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.”
Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.
[23] Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints!
Yahweh preserves the faithful,
and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.
[24] Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who hope in Yahweh.

Psalm 31:17 Sheol is the place of the dead.

Psalm 32 ()

By David. A contemplative psalm.

[1] Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
[2] Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity,
in whose spirit there is no deceit.
[3] When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
[4] For day and night your hand was heavy on me.
My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.
Selah.

[5] I acknowledged my sin to you.
I didn’t hide my iniquity.
I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh,
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Selah.

[6] For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found.
Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.
[7] You are my hiding place.
You will preserve me from trouble.
You will surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah.

[8] I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go.
I will counsel you with my eye on you.
[9] Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding,
who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.
[10] Many sorrows come to the wicked,
but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh.
[11] Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous!
Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!

Psalm 33 ()

[1] Rejoice in Yahweh, you righteous!
Praise is fitting for the upright.
[2] Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre.
Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings.
[3] Sing to him a new song.
Play skillfully with a shout of joy!
[4] For Yahweh’s word is right.
All his work is done in faithfulness.
[5] He loves righteousness and justice.
The earth is full of the loving kindness of Yahweh.
[6] By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made:
all their army by the breath of his mouth.
[7] He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap.
He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
[8] Let all the earth fear Yahweh.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
[9] For he spoke, and it was done.
He commanded, and it stood firm.
[10] Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.
He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.
[11] The counsel of Yahweh stands fast forever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
[12] Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh,
the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
[13] Yahweh looks from heaven.
He sees all the sons of men.
[14] From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
[15] he who fashions all of their hearts;
and he considers all of their works.
[16] There is no king saved by the multitude of an army.
A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
[17] A horse is a vain thing for safety,
neither does he deliver any by his great power.
[18] Behold, Yahweh’s eye is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his loving kindness,
[19] to deliver their soul from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
[20] Our soul has waited for Yahweh.
He is our help and our shield.
[21] For our heart rejoices in him,
because we have trusted in his holy name.
[22] Let your loving kindness be on us, Yahweh,
since we have hoped in you.

Psalm 34 ()

By David; when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

[1] I will bless Yahweh at all times.
His praise will always be in my mouth.
[2] My soul shall boast in Yahweh.
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
[3] Oh magnify Yahweh with me.
Let’s exalt his name together.
[4] I sought Yahweh, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
[5] They looked to him, and were radiant.
Their faces shall never be covered with shame.
[6] This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
[7] Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him,
and delivers them.
[8] Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good.
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
[9] Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints,
for there is no lack with those who fear him.
[10] The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger,
but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.

[11] Come, you children, listen to me.
I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.
[12] Who is someone who desires life,
and loves many days, that he may see good?
[13] Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking lies.
[14] Depart from evil, and do good.
Seek peace, and pursue it.
[15] Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous.
His ears listen to their cry.
[16] Yahweh’s face is against those who do evil,
to cut off their memory from the earth.
[17] The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears,
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
[18] Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart,
and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
[19] Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.
[20] He protects all of his bones.
Not one of them is broken.
[21] Evil shall kill the wicked.
Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
[22] Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants.
None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.

Psalm 34:1 Psalm 34 is an acrostic poem, with each verse starting with a letter of the alphabet (ordered from Alef to Tav).

Proverbs 6 ()

[1] My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor,
if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger,
[2] you are trapped by the words of your mouth;
you are ensnared with the words of your mouth.
[3] Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself,
since you have come into the hand of your neighbor.
Go, humble yourself.
Press your plea with your neighbor.
[4] Give no sleep to your eyes,
nor slumber to your eyelids.
[5] Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

[6] Go to the ant, you sluggard.
Consider her ways, and be wise;
[7] which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,
[8] provides her bread in the summer,
and gathers her food in the harvest.
[9] How long will you sleep, sluggard?
When will you arise out of your sleep?
[10] A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to sleep—
[11] so your poverty will come as a robber,
and your scarcity as an armed man.

[12] A worthless person, a man of iniquity,
is he who walks with a perverse mouth,
[13] who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
who motions with his fingers,
[14] in whose heart is perverseness,
who devises evil continually,
who always sows discord.
[15] Therefore his calamity will come suddenly.
He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

[16] There are six things which Yahweh hates;
yes, seven which are an abomination to him:
[17] arrogant eyes, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
[18] a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are swift in running to mischief,
[19] a false witness who utters lies,
and he who sows discord among brothers.

[20] My son, keep your father’s commandment,
and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.
[21] Bind them continually on your heart.
Tie them around your neck.
[22] When you walk, it will lead you.
When you sleep, it will watch over you.
When you awake, it will talk with you.
[23] For the commandment is a lamp,
and the law is light.
Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
[24] to keep you from the immoral woman,
from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.
[25] Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart,
neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.
[26] For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread.
The adulteress hunts for your precious life.
[27] Can a man scoop fire into his lap,
and his clothes not be burned?
[28] Or can one walk on hot coals,
and his feet not be scorched?
[29] So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife.
Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.
[30] Men don’t despise a thief
if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry,
[31] but if he is found, he shall restore seven times.
He shall give all the wealth of his house.
[32] He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding.
He who does it destroys his own soul.
[33] He will get wounds and dishonor.
His reproach will not be wiped away.
[34] For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband.
He won’t spare in the day of vengeance.
[35] He won’t regard any ransom,
neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.