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 #16

Psalm 77 ()

For the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm by Asaph.

[1] My cry goes to God!
Indeed, I cry to God for help,
and for him to listen to me.
[2] In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired.
My soul refused to be comforted.
[3] I remember God, and I groan.
I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed.
Selah.

[4] You hold my eyelids open.
I am so troubled that I can’t speak.
[5] I have considered the days of old,
the years of ancient times.
[6] I remember my song in the night.
I consider in my own heart;
my spirit diligently inquires:
[7] “Will the Lord reject us forever?
Will he be favorable no more?
[8] Has his loving kindness vanished forever?
Does his promise fail for generations?
[9] Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?”
Selah.

[10] Then I thought, “I will appeal to this:
the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
[11] I will remember Yah’s deeds;
for I will remember your wonders of old.
[12] I will also meditate on all your work,
and consider your doings.
[13] Your way, God, is in the sanctuary.
What god is great like God?
[14] You are the God who does wonders.
You have made your strength known among the peoples.
[15] You have redeemed your people with your arm,
the sons of Jacob and Joseph.
Selah.

[16] The waters saw you, God.
The waters saw you, and they writhed.
The depths also convulsed.
[17] The clouds poured out water.
The skies resounded with thunder.
Your arrows also flashed around.
[18] The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind.
The lightnings lit up the world.
The earth trembled and shook.
[19] Your way was through the sea,
your paths through the great waters.
Your footsteps were not known.
[20] You led your people like a flock,
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalm 78 ()

A contemplation by Asaph.

[1] Hear my teaching, my people.
Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
[2] I will open my mouth in a parable.
I will utter dark sayings of old,
[3] which we have heard and known,
and our fathers have told us.
[4] We will not hide them from their children,
telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh,
his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.
[5] For he established a covenant in Jacob,
and appointed a teaching in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers,
that they should make them known to their children;
[6] that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born;
who should arise and tell their children,
[7] that they might set their hope in God,
and not forget God’s deeds,
but keep his commandments,
[8] and might not be as their fathers—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal,
whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
[9] The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,
turned back in the day of battle.
[10] They didn’t keep God’s covenant,
and refused to walk in his law.
[11] They forgot his doings,
his wondrous deeds that he had shown them.
[12] He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers,
in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
[13] He split the sea, and caused them to pass through.
He made the waters stand as a heap.
[14] In the daytime he also led them with a cloud,
and all night with a light of fire.
[15] He split rocks in the wilderness,
and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
[16] He brought streams also out of the rock,
and caused waters to run down like rivers.
[17] Yet they still went on to sin against him,
to rebel against the Most High in the desert.
[18] They tempted God in their heart
by asking food according to their desire.
[19] Yes, they spoke against God.
They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
[20] Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out,
and streams overflowed.
Can he give bread also?
Will he provide meat for his people?”
[21] Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry.
A fire was kindled against Jacob,
anger also went up against Israel,
[22] because they didn’t believe in God,
and didn’t trust in his salvation.
[23] Yet he commanded the skies above,
and opened the doors of heaven.
[24] He rained down manna on them to eat,
and gave them food from the sky.
[25] Man ate the bread of angels.
He sent them food to the full.
[26] He caused the east wind to blow in the sky.
By his power he guided the south wind.
[27] He also rained meat on them as the dust,
winged birds as the sand of the seas.
[28] He let them fall in the middle of their camp,
around their habitations.
[29] So they ate, and were well filled.
He gave them their own desire.
[30] They didn’t turn from their cravings.
Their food was yet in their mouths,
[31] when the anger of God went up against them,
killed some of their strongest,
and struck down the young men of Israel.
[32] For all this they still sinned,
and didn’t believe in his wondrous works.
[33] Therefore he consumed their days in vanity,
and their years in terror.
[34] When he killed them, then they inquired after him.
They returned and sought God earnestly.
[35] They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God, their redeemer.
[36] But they flattered him with their mouth,
and lied to him with their tongue.
[37] For their heart was not right with him,
neither were they faithful in his covenant.
[38] But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn’t destroy them.
Yes, many times he turned his anger away,
and didn’t stir up all his wrath.
[39] He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.
[40] How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,
and grieved him in the desert!
[41] They turned again and tempted God,
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
[42] They didn’t remember his hand,
nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
[43] how he set his signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the field of Zoan,
[44] he turned their rivers into blood,
and their streams, so that they could not drink.
[45] He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them;
and frogs, which destroyed them.
[46] He also gave their increase to the caterpillar,
and their labor to the locust.
[47] He destroyed their vines with hail,
their sycamore fig trees with frost.
[48] He also gave over their livestock to the hail,
and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
[49] He threw on them the fierceness of his anger,
wrath, indignation, and trouble,
and a band of angels of evil.
[50] He made a path for his anger.
He didn’t spare their soul from death,
but gave their life over to the pestilence,
[51] and struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
[52] But he led out his own people like sheep,
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
[53] He led them safely, so that they weren’t afraid,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
[54] He brought them to the border of his sanctuary,
to this mountain, which his right hand had taken.
[55] He also drove out the nations before them,
allotted them for an inheritance by line,
and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
[56] Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God,
and didn’t keep his testimonies,
[57] but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers.
They were twisted like a deceitful bow.
[58] For they provoked him to anger with their high places,
and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
[59] When God heard this, he was angry,
and greatly abhorred Israel,
[60] so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh,
the tent which he placed among men,
[61] and delivered his strength into captivity,
his glory into the adversary’s hand.
[62] He also gave his people over to the sword,
and was angry with his inheritance.
[63] Fire devoured their young men.
Their virgins had no wedding song.
[64] Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows couldn’t weep.
[65] Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep,
like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
[66] He struck his adversaries backward.
He put them to a perpetual reproach.
[67] Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph,
and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim,
[68] But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which he loved.
[69] He built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth which he has established forever.
[70] He also chose David his servant,
and took him from the sheepfolds;
[71] from following the ewes that have their young,
he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people,
and Israel, his inheritance.
[72] So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart,
and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

Proverbs 16 ()

[1] The plans of the heart belong to man,
but the answer of the tongue is from Yahweh.
[2] All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes,
but Yahweh weighs the motives.
[3] Commit your deeds to Yahweh,
and your plans shall succeed.
[4] Yahweh has made everything for its own end—
yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.
[5] Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to Yahweh;
they shall certainly not be unpunished.
[6] By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for.
By the fear of Yahweh men depart from evil.
[7] When a man’s ways please Yahweh,
he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
[8] Better is a little with righteousness,
than great revenues with injustice.
[9] A man’s heart plans his course,
but Yahweh directs his steps.
[10] Inspired judgments are on the lips of the king.
He shall not betray his mouth.
[11] Honest balances and scales are Yahweh’s;
all the weights in the bag are his work.
[12] It is an abomination for kings to do wrong,
for the throne is established by righteousness.
[13] Righteous lips are the delight of kings.
They value one who speaks the truth.
[14] The king’s wrath is a messenger of death,
but a wise man will pacify it.
[15] In the light of the king’s face is life.
His favor is like a cloud of the spring rain.
[16] How much better it is to get wisdom than gold!
Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
[17] The highway of the upright is to depart from evil.
He who keeps his way preserves his soul.
[18] Pride goes before destruction,
and an arrogant spirit before a fall.
[19] It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor,
than to divide the plunder with the proud.
[20] He who heeds the Word finds prosperity.
Whoever trusts in Yahweh is blessed.
[21] The wise in heart shall be called prudent.
Pleasantness of the lips promotes instruction.
[22] Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it,
but the punishment of fools is their folly.
[23] The heart of the wise instructs his mouth,
and adds learning to his lips.
[24] Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
[25] There is a way which seems right to a man,
but in the end it leads to death.
[26] The appetite of the laboring man labors for him,
for his mouth urges him on.
[27] A worthless man devises mischief.
His speech is like a scorching fire.
[28] A perverse man stirs up strife.
A whisperer separates close friends.
[29] A man of violence entices his neighbor,
and leads him in a way that is not good.
[30] One who winks his eyes to plot perversities,
one who compresses his lips, is bent on evil.
[31] Gray hair is a crown of glory.
It is attained by a life of righteousness.
[32] One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty;
one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.
[33] The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from Yahweh.