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 #29

Psalm 138 ()

By David.

[1] I will give you thanks with my whole heart.
Before the gods, I will sing praises to you.
[2] I will bow down toward your holy temple,
and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth;
for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all.
[3] In the day that I called, you answered me.
You encouraged me with strength in my soul.
[4] All the kings of the earth will give you thanks, Yahweh,
for they have heard the words of your mouth.
[5] Yes, they will sing of the ways of Yahweh,
for Yahweh’s glory is great!
[6] For though Yahweh is high, yet he looks after the lowly;
but he knows the proud from afar.
[7] Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me.
You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies.
Your right hand will save me.
[8] Yahweh will fulfill that which concerns me.
Your loving kindness, Yahweh, endures forever.
Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.

Psalm 138:1 The word elohim, used here, usually means “God” but can also mean “gods”, “princes”, or “angels”.

Psalm 139 ()

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

[1] Yahweh, you have searched me,
and you know me.
[2] You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
[3] You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
[4] For there is not a word on my tongue,
but behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
[5] You hem me in behind and before.
You laid your hand on me.
[6] This knowledge is beyond me.
It’s lofty.
I can’t attain it.
[7] Where could I go from your Spirit?
Or where could I flee from your presence?
[8] If I ascend up into heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
[9] If I take the wings of the dawn,
and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,
[10] even there your hand will lead me,
and your right hand will hold me.
[11] If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me.
The light around me will be night,”
[12] even the darkness doesn’t hide from you,
but the night shines as the day.
The darkness is like light to you.
[13] For you formed my inmost being.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
[14] I will give thanks to you,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful.
My soul knows that very well.
[15] My frame wasn’t hidden from you,
when I was made in secret,
woven together in the depths of the earth.
[16] Your eyes saw my body.
In your book they were all written,
the days that were ordained for me,
when as yet there were none of them.
[17] How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is their sum!
[18] If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand.
When I wake up, I am still with you.
[19] If only you, God, would kill the wicked.
Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
[20] For they speak against you wickedly.
Your enemies take your name in vain.
[21] Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you?
Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
[22] I hate them with perfect hatred.
They have become my enemies.
[23] Search me, God, and know my heart.
Try me, and know my thoughts.
[24] See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the everlasting way.

Psalm 139:8 Sheol is the place of the dead.

Psalm 140 ()

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

[1] Deliver me, Yahweh, from evil men.
Preserve me from violent men:
[2] those who devise mischief in their hearts.
They continually gather themselves together for war.
[3] They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent.
Viper’s poison is under their lips.
Selah.

[4] Yahweh, keep me from the hands of the wicked.
Preserve me from the violent men who have determined to trip my feet.
[5] The proud have hidden a snare for me,
they have spread the cords of a net by the path.
They have set traps for me.
Selah.

[6] I said to Yahweh, “You are my God.”
Listen to the cry of my petitions, Yahweh.
[7] Yahweh, the Lord, the strength of my salvation,
you have covered my head in the day of battle.
[8] Yahweh, don’t grant the desires of the wicked.
Don’t let their evil plans succeed, or they will become proud.
Selah.

[9] As for the head of those who surround me,
let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
[10] Let burning coals fall on them.
Let them be thrown into the fire,
into miry pits, from where they never rise.
[11] An evil speaker won’t be established in the earth.
Evil will hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
[12] I know that Yahweh will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
and justice for the needy.
[13] Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name.
The upright will dwell in your presence.

Psalm 141 ()

A Psalm by David.

[1] Yahweh, I have called on you.
Come to me quickly!
Listen to my voice when I call to you.
[2] Let my prayer be set before you like incense;
the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
[3] Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth.
Keep the door of my lips.
[4] Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing,
to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity.
Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.
[5] Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness;
let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head;
don’t let my head refuse it;
Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.
[6] Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock.
They will hear my words, for they are well spoken.
[7] “As when one plows and breaks up the earth,
our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”
[8] For my eyes are on you, Yahweh, the Lord.
I take refuge in you.
Don’t leave my soul destitute.
[9] Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me,
from the traps of the workers of iniquity.
[10] Let the wicked fall together into their own nets
while I pass by.

Psalm 141:7 Sheol is the place of the dead.

Psalm 142 ()

A contemplation by David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.

[1] I cry with my voice to Yahweh.
With my voice, I ask Yahweh for mercy.
[2] I pour out my complaint before him.
I tell him my troubles.
[3] When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
you knew my route.
On the path in which I walk,
they have hidden a snare for me.
[4] Look on my right, and see;
for there is no one who is concerned for me.
Refuge has fled from me.
No one cares for my soul.
[5] I cried to you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
[6] Listen to my cry,
for I am in desperate need.
Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me.
[7] Bring my soul out of prison,
that I may give thanks to your name.
The righteous will surround me,
for you will be good to me.

Psalm 143 ()

A Psalm by David.

[1] Hear my prayer, Yahweh.
Listen to my petitions.
In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me.
[2] Don’t enter into judgment with your servant,
for in your sight no man living is righteous.
[3] For the enemy pursues my soul.
He has struck my life down to the ground.
He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
[4] Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me.
My heart within me is desolate.
[5] I remember the days of old.
I meditate on all your doings.
I contemplate the work of your hands.
[6] I spread out my hands to you.
My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land.
Selah.

[7] Hurry to answer me, Yahweh.
My spirit fails.
Don’t hide your face from me,
so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
[8] Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning,
for I trust in you.
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
for I lift up my soul to you.
[9] Deliver me, Yahweh, from my enemies.
I flee to you to hide me.
[10] Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
Your Spirit is good.
Lead me in the land of uprightness.
[11] Revive me, Yahweh, for your name’s sake.
In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble.
[12] In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies,
and destroy all those who afflict my soul,
for I am your servant.