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 #30

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.

Proverbs 30 ()

[1] The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the revelation:
the man says to Ithiel,
to Ithiel and Ucal:
[2] “Surely I am the most ignorant man,
and don’t have a man’s understanding.
[3] I have not learned wisdom,
neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.
[4] Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended?
Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
Who has bound the waters in his garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you know?

[5] “Every word of God is flawless.
He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
[6] Don’t you add to his words,
lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.

[7] “Two things I have asked of you.
Don’t deny me before I die.
[8] Remove far from me falsehood and lies.
Give me neither poverty nor riches.
Feed me with the food that is needful for me,
[9] lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is Yahweh?’
or lest I be poor, and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

[10] “Don’t slander a servant to his master,
lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

[11] There is a generation that curses their father,
and doesn’t bless their mother.
[12] There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes,
yet are not washed from their filthiness.
[13] There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes!
Their eyelids are lifted up.
[14] There is a generation whose teeth are like swords,
and their jaws like knives,
to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.

[15] “The leech has two daughters:
‘Give, give.’

“There are three things that are never satisfied;
four that don’t say, ‘Enough!’:
[16] Sheol,
the barren womb,
the earth that is not satisfied with water,
and the fire that doesn’t say, ‘Enough!’

[17] “The eye that mocks at his father,
and scorns obedience to his mother,
the ravens of the valley shall pick it out,
the young eagles shall eat it.

[18] “There are three things which are too amazing for me,
four which I don’t understand:
[19] The way of an eagle in the air,
the way of a serpent on a rock,
the way of a ship in the middle of the sea,
and the way of a man with a maiden.

[20] “So is the way of an adulterous woman:
She eats and wipes her mouth,
and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’

[21] “For three things the earth trembles,
and under four, it can’t bear up:
[22] For a servant when he is king,
a fool when he is filled with food,
[23] for an unloved woman when she is married,
and a servant who is heir to her mistress.

[24] “There are four things which are little on the earth,
but they are exceedingly wise:
[25] The ants are not a strong people,
yet they provide their food in the summer.
[26] The hyraxes are but a feeble folk,
yet make they their houses in the rocks.
[27] The locusts have no king,
yet they advance in ranks.
[28] You can catch a lizard with your hands,
yet it is in kings’ palaces.

[29] “There are three things which are stately in their march,
four which are stately in going:
[30] The lion, which is mightiest among animals,
and doesn’t turn away for any;
[31] the greyhound;
the male goat;
and the king against whom there is no rising up.

[32] “If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself,
or if you have thought evil,
put your hand over your mouth.
[33] For as the churning of milk produces butter,
and the wringing of the nose produces blood,
so the forcing of wrath produces strife.”

Proverbs 30:16 Sheol is the place of the dead.