Psalms

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Chapters in Psalms

Psalms 1: The Two Ways
The opening psalm contrasts the person who avoids the company of the wicked and delights in God's law with those who reject it. The righteous are pictured as a fruitful, well-watered tree, the wicked as windblown husks, and the Lord watches over the way His people walk.
Psalms 2: The Lord's Anointed King
The nations and their rulers plot to overthrow the Lord and His chosen King, but God laughs at them and declares that His own King already reigns on Zion. The King announces God's decree naming him Son, heir of the nations, and the psalm warns rulers to honor the Son and blesses all who shelter in Him.
Psalms 3: Confidence Amid a Son's Revolt
Set during Absalom's revolt against his father David, this psalm answers the many foes who say God will not help him. David confesses the Lord as his protector, sleeps and wakes in safety, asks God to rise and save him, and declares that deliverance comes from the Lord.
Psalms 4: Peace and Rest in God
David asks God to hear him, recalling past relief, and rebukes those who chase lies, reminding them that God has claimed the godly as His own. He urges quiet reflection and trust, and says the joy God gives surpasses a rich harvest, so he can sleep in safety.
Psalms 5: A Plea for Guidance Against the Wicked
In a morning prayer David lays his request before God, the holy King who takes no pleasure in evil and opposes liars and the violent. By God's loving devotion David enters His house to worship, asks to be led in righteousness, describes the deceit of his enemies, and calls those who shelter in God to rejoice.
Psalms 6: A Prayer for Mercy in Distress
David pleads with God not to discipline him in anger but to heal and rescue him because of His loving devotion. He describes nights of weeping and grief over his enemies, then suddenly turns in confidence that God has accepted his prayer and his foes will be put to shame.
Psalms 7: The Righteous Judge
David takes refuge in the Lord from pursuers after the accusations of Cush the Benjamite and swears he is innocent of the charge. He calls on God, who probes hearts and minds, to judge the peoples, warns that the unrepentant face judgment and that evil recoils on its schemers, and ends in praise of God's righteousness.
Psalms 8: God's Majesty and Human Dignity
David praises the LORD whose name is majestic across the earth and marvels that the Maker of the moon and stars cares for mere humans. God has honored mankind and given it rule over the animals, a picture the New Testament sees fulfilled in Jesus.
Psalms 9: Thanks for God's Righteous Judgment
David thanks the LORD for defeating his enemies and judging the nations with fairness from His eternal throne. He celebrates God as a secure shelter for the afflicted who never forgets their suffering, and he prays that the proud nations will learn they are only human.
Psalms 10: A Plea Against the Arrogant Wicked
The psalmist asks why God seems distant while proud, greedy men prey on the helpless and assume God will never hold them to account. He calls on the LORD to act and ends confident that the eternal King hears the humble and defends orphans and the oppressed.
Psalms 11: Refuge in the LORD Instead of Flight
Urged to escape to the mountains because the wicked are ready to attack, David refuses, since his refuge is the LORD. God reigns from His heavenly throne, examines everyone, judges the violent, and promises the upright they will behold Him.
Psalms 12: Lying Lips and God's Pure Words
David cries for help in a time when faithful people seem gone and everyone deceives with flattery and boasting. The LORD promises to rise up for the oppressed, and His words are praised as perfectly pure, like refined silver, as He guards His people.
Psalms 13: From Lament to Trust
David repeatedly asks how long God will seem to forget him while his enemy triumphs. He pleads for God to answer and revive him, then turns to trust in God's loving devotion and ends by singing of God's goodness to him.
Psalms 14: The Folly of Denying God
David describes the fool who inwardly denies God and the corruption that has spread through all humanity, for the LORD looks and finds not one person who seeks Him or lives rightly. Evildoers who prey on God's people end in terror, and the psalm closes longing for Israel's rescue to go forth out of Zion.
Psalms 15: Who May Dwell with the LORD
David asks who may live in God's holy presence and answers with a portrait of a person of integrity. Such a person speaks honestly, neither slanders nor wrongs a neighbor, keeps promises that cost him, makes loans free of interest, will not be paid to hurt the innocent, and stands firm.
Psalms 16: The LORD as My Portion and Hope
David takes refuge in God, calls the LORD his only good and his inheritance, and delights in God's people while rejecting other gods. Kept steady by God's nearness, he trusts that God will not leave him to the realm of the dead, words the apostles apply to the resurrection of Jesus, and looks to lasting joy with God.
Psalms 17: A Prayer for Protection from Enemies
David asks God to hear his just cause, saying God has examined his heart and found him innocent. He asks to be guarded as something precious from proud enemies who hunt him like a lion, contrasts them with his own hope, and ends longing to see God's face and find full contentment in Him.
Psalms 18: David's Song of Deliverance
David praises God for rescuing him from Saul and all his enemies, picturing the LORD as his rock and fortress. He describes God coming down in storm and fire to pull him from danger, credits God for his strength and victories, and ends with praise among the nations and God's lasting love for David's line.
Psalms 19: Creation and the Word Reveal God
David celebrates how the sky and the sun display God's glory to the whole earth without words. He then praises the LORD's law as perfect and more valuable than gold, and closes by asking God to cleanse the faults he cannot see, keep him from deliberate sin, and accept his words and thoughts.
Psalms 20: A Prayer for the King Before Battle
The people pray that God will answer, protect, and grant victory to their king in a time of trouble. A voice then declares confidence that God will rescue His chosen king, contrasting those who rely on chariots and horses with those who trust in God's name, and the psalm ends with a plea to save the king.
Psalms 21: The King Thanks God for Victory
David's psalm gives thanks that God has answered the king's prayers, crowning him with blessing and granting him long life. Because the king relies on God Most High, he stands secure, and God's enemies and their plots are sure to fail, so the people close by praising God's might.
Psalms 22: From Forsakenness to Worldwide Praise
David cries out as one abandoned by God, mocked by onlookers, surrounded by enemies, and near death, and Jesus spoke its opening cry from the cross. The psalm then turns to thanksgiving because God has answered, and it foresees all nations and future generations worshiping the LORD.
Psalms 23: The Shepherd Psalm
David describes the LORD as a shepherd who provides rest, renewal, and guidance, and who stays with him even through the darkest valley. The picture then shifts to a generous host who honors him before his enemies, and David is confident of God's lifelong kindness and an eternal home with Him.
Psalms 24: The Glorious King Enters
David declares that the whole earth belongs to the LORD because He created it. He asks who may approach God's holy hill and answers that it is the person of pure life and heart, then calls the gates and ancient doors to open for the glorious King, the mighty LORD of armies.
Psalms 25: A Prayer for Guidance and Pardon
In a psalm arranged by the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, David trusts God and asks to be taught His ways. He pleads for forgiveness based on God's mercy and name, describes the friendship God gives those who revere Him, asks for rescue from many enemies, and ends by praying for all Israel.
Psalms 26: A Plea for Vindication
David asks the LORD to judge his cause and examine his heart, since he has lived in loyal trust and kept apart from deceivers and evildoers. He speaks of his love for the place where God's glory dwells, asks not to share the fate of violent men, and pleads for redemption and mercy before ending in public praise.
Psalms 27: Confidence in the LORD Amid Enemies
David declares that with the LORD as his light and fortress he need not fear even an army. His one great desire is to live in God's presence and behold His beauty. He pleads for God not to turn him away, trusts God to receive him if even his parents abandon him, and urges patient waiting on the LORD.
Psalms 28: A Cry Answered With Thanksgiving
David begs the LORD, his Rock, not to stay silent, and asks God to repay deceitful evildoers who ignore His works. The psalm then turns to praise because God has heard his plea, and it closes with a prayer that God would save, shepherd, and carry His people.
Psalms 29: God Speaks in the Thunderstorm
The heavenly beings are called to honor the LORD as His name deserves. A mighty thunderstorm sweeping over waters, forests, and wilderness displays the power of God's voice. The psalm ends with the LORD reigning as King over the flood and giving His people strength and peace.
Psalms 30: Thanksgiving for Rescue From Death
David praises the LORD for healing him and bringing him back from the edge of death, and calls God's faithful people to join him, since God's anger is brief while His favor endures. He recalls his overconfidence in prosperity, his plea for mercy, and how God turned his grief into joy and lasting thanks.
Psalms 31: A Life Entrusted to God
David takes refuge in the LORD and commits his life into God's hands, words Jesus prayed on the cross. He describes grief, weakness, and rejection by friends, yet confesses that his whole life is in God's care. The psalm ends praising God's stored-up goodness and urging the faithful to love the LORD and take courage.
Psalms 32: The Joy of Forgiven Sin
David celebrates the happiness of the person whose sins God has forgiven and no longer counts against him. He recalls wasting away while he hid his sin, finding pardon when he confessed it, and then urges others to pray, to be teachable, to trust God's loving devotion, and to rejoice.
Psalms 33: Praise for the Creator and Ruler of Nations
A call for the righteous to worship God with instruments and a new song. The psalm celebrates God's faithful word, His creation of the heavens by speaking, His rule over the plans of nations, and His chosen people, then shows that armies cannot save and ends with His people waiting in hope for Him.
Psalms 34: God's Rescue of the Humble
David praises God after escaping the king by feigning madness, inviting the humble to join him. He testifies that God answered his prayer, urges others to experience God's goodness, teaches honest speech and pursuit of peace, and promises that God is close to the brokenhearted and redeems His servants.
Psalms 35: A Plea Against Unjust Enemies
David asks the LORD to fight for him against enemies who attack him without cause and repay his kindness with evil. He prays that their schemes will fall back on them, describes their mockery when he stumbled, and asks God to vindicate him, vowing to praise God's righteousness.
Psalms 36: The Wicked Heart and God's Faithful Love
David contrasts the self-deceived heart of the wicked, who has no reverence for God, with the vast love, faithfulness, and justice of the LORD. He describes God as a sheltering refuge and the source of life and light, prays for continued protection, and sees the evildoers overthrown.
Psalms 37: Trusting God When the Wicked Prosper
A wisdom psalm of David urging God's people not to fret over or envy evildoers, whose success quickly fades. It calls for trust, patience, and generosity, promises that the humble will receive the land as their inheritance, and ends with the LORD rescuing those who shelter in Him.
Psalms 38: A Plea for Mercy Under Discipline
Sick and in pain, David pleads that the LORD not discipline him in anger and traces his suffering to his own sin. Shunned by friends and hunted by enemies, he stays silent and waits for God, confesses his guilt, and closes with an urgent cry for help from his Savior.
Psalms 39: Life as a Fleeting Breath
David tries to keep silent before the wicked, but his inner distress breaks out in prayer about how short human life is. He places his hope in the Lord, accepts God's correction for his sin, and asks for relief as a temporary resident living before God.
Psalms 40: Rescue, Obedience, and a Plea for Help
David praises God for pulling him out of a desperate pit and giving him fresh praise that leads others to trust the LORD. He says God values an obedient heart above offerings, words Hebrews applies to Christ, then confesses his many sins and begs for swift rescue.
Psalms 41: Care for the Weak and a Friend's Betrayal
David describes God's care for those who look after the poor, then confesses his sin and asks for healing while enemies wish him dead. Even a trusted companion turns on him, a betrayal Jesus applies to Judas, and the psalm ends with praise closing the first book of Psalms.
Psalms 42: A Soul Thirsting for God
A psalm of the Korahites compares the longing for God to a thirsty deer seeking water. Far from the temple and mocked by enemies, the psalmist recalls joyful festival worship, feels overwhelmed like one under crashing waves, and repeatedly urges his discouraged soul to keep hoping in God.
Psalms 43: A Plea for Vindication and Guidance
The psalmist asks God to defend his cause against lying and unjust enemies and wonders why God seems to have rejected him. He prays for God's light and truth to lead him back to the altar and ends with the same call to hope in God that runs through Psalm 42.
Psalms 44: A Lament of Faithful Israel in Defeat
A Korahite psalm recalls how God, not Israel's weapons, gave their ancestors the land, and it confesses trust in Him alone. It then laments a crushing defeat and public shame that came though the people stayed loyal to Him, and it pleads for God to rise and redeem them for the sake of His covenant love.
Psalms 45: A Royal Wedding Song
A love song celebrates the king at his wedding, praising his gracious speech, his victories for truth and justice, and his everlasting throne, addressing him as God in words Hebrews applies to Christ. The bride is urged to leave her old home and honor the king, and a royal procession and lasting fame follow.
Psalms 46: God Our Refuge and Fortress
A Korahite psalm declares that God is His people's refuge, so they need not fear even if the earth itself is shaken. His presence keeps His city secure while nations rage, and God, who ends wars, calls for stillness and for all the earth to acknowledge Him as God.
Psalms 47: God Reigns Over Every Nation
All peoples are called to clap and shout for joy to God, the great King who rules the whole earth and chose Israel's inheritance out of love. God goes up amid shouts and horn blasts, and the rulers of the nations gather to belong to Abraham's God.
Psalms 48: The Glory of Zion, God's City
A Korahite psalm praises God in Zion, His holy city, where He has proved to be its defense. Hostile kings who came against it fled in terror, and the worshipers reflect on God's covenant love in the temple, then are urged to tour the city to tell their children of the God who is theirs forever and will guide them.
Psalms 49: Wealth Cannot Buy Life
Attributed to the sons of Korah, this psalm calls all people, wealthy and needy, to hear wisdom about riches and death. No one can pay God the price of another's life, but the psalmist trusts God to rescue him from the grave, so the prosperous need not be feared, since they take nothing along when they die.
Psalms 50: God Summons His People to Judgment
Asaph describes God coming from Zion in fire and storm to judge His covenant people. God needs none of their animal offerings, since every creature is His, and asks for thanks and trust. He rebukes those who recite His law while living wickedly, warning those who forget Him and promising salvation to the thankful.
Psalms 51: David's Prayer of Repentance
David pleads for mercy after the prophet Nathan confronts him over his sin with Bathsheba. He confesses his guilt before God and his sinfulness from birth, asks God to wash him and renew his heart, offers a humble, repentant spirit, and prays for Jerusalem to be built up so right offerings may follow.
Psalms 52: The Boaster and the Olive Tree
Written when Doeg the Edomite reported to Saul that David had visited Ahimelech, this psalm confronts a powerful man who boasts in evil and uses his tongue to destroy. God will uproot him for trusting in riches, while David, like a thriving olive tree in God's house, trusts God's loving devotion.
Psalms 53: The Fool Who Denies God
David describes the fool who inwardly denies God and the corruption of all humanity, since God finds no one who seeks Him or does good. Evildoers who prey on God's people are struck with terror, and the psalm ends longing for salvation to come from Zion.
Psalms 54: A Prayer When the Ziphites Betrayed David
David prays for rescue after the men of Ziph report his hiding place to Saul. He names the ruthless men seeking his life, confesses God as his helper, leaves his enemies to God's faithful justice, and vows a freewill offering of thanks.
Psalms 55: Betrayed by a Close Friend
David pours out his fear and wishes he could fly away from the violence filling the city. His deepest wound is a trusted companion turned traitor, yet he prays day and night, urges others to hand their burdens to the LORD, and ends in trust.
Psalms 56: Trust in God Amid Fear at Gath
Set during David's capture by the Philistines at Gath, this psalm answers fear with trust in God and His word. David describes enemies twisting his words, asks God to keep account of his tears, and vows thank offerings for his deliverance from death.
Psalms 57: Refuge in God From the Cave
Hiding from Saul in a cave, David shelters under God's protection and trusts the Most High to carry out His purpose for him. His enemies fall into their own trap, and he resolves to praise God among the nations, praying that God's glory fill the earth.
Psalms 58: A Plea Against Unjust Rulers
David confronts corrupt rulers who pervert justice and describes the wicked as wayward from birth and deaf to warning like a stubborn snake. He asks God to break their power and ends confident that the righteous will be rewarded and that God truly judges the world.
Psalms 59: Deliverance From Enemies at Night
Set when Saul had David's home watched by men sent to kill him, this prayer asks God to rescue an innocent man from attackers who prowl the city like dogs each evening. David asks that God's rule be known everywhere and closes with a morning song to God his fortress.
Psalms 60: A Plea After Defeat
David laments that God has rejected His people and let the land tremble during the wars with Aram and Edom. He recalls God's promise claiming Israel's tribes and the neighboring nations as His own, and he ends trusting God, not human help, for victory.
Psalms 61: A Faint Heart Seeks the Higher Rock
Far from home and weary, David asks God to lead him to a high place of safety and to let him live in God's presence under His protection. He prays for the king's long reign guarded by God's love and faithfulness and vows lifelong praise.
Psalms 62: Quiet Trust in God Alone
David declares that his rest and salvation come from God alone, even while two-faced enemies try to bring him down. He urges the people to trust God and open their hearts to Him, warns against trusting wealth or force, and affirms that power and love belong to God, who repays all.
Psalms 63: Thirsting for God in the Wilderness
In the Judean wilderness David longs for God like a thirsty body in a dry land. He praises God because His love is worth more than life, remembers Him through the night, rests in God's upholding hand, and expects his enemies to fall while the king rejoices.
Psalms 64: Protection From Secret Plots
David asks God to protect him from wicked people who wound with words and plot in secret, sure that no one sees. God turns their own weapons against them, so that all people fear Him and the righteous rejoice and find shelter in Him.
Psalms 65: Praise for God's Forgiveness and Harvest
David praises God in Zion as the One who hears prayer, forgives sin, and brings His chosen people near to Him. He celebrates God's power over mountains, seas, and nations, and ends with a picture of God watering the land and enriching the whole year with an abundant harvest.
Psalms 66: Praise for God Who Refines and Hears
The whole world is summoned to praise God for His mighty works, such as turning the sea to dry ground. The people recall hard trials that God used to purify them before bringing them to plenty, and a worshiper then keeps his vows and testifies that God answered his prayer.
Psalms 67: Blessing for the Sake of the Nations
The psalmist prays for God's favor on His people in words drawn from the priestly blessing. The purpose is that every nation will come to know God's saving ways, praise Him for His just rule, and revere Him as the land yields its harvest.
Psalms 68: God's Victorious March to His Sanctuary
God rises to scatter His enemies and is praised as protector of orphans, widows, and the lonely. The psalm recalls His march through the desert and Sinai, His chosen mountain, His triumphant ascent cited by Paul, and a festal procession, and closes with the kingdoms bringing Him gifts and praise.
Psalms 69: A Cry From the Deep Waters
David, sinking under hatred he has not earned and mocked for his devotion to God's house, begs God to rescue him. He asks God to judge his cruel enemies, then turns to praise and to hope for Zion. The New Testament applies many of its lines to the sufferings of Jesus and to Judas.
Psalms 70: An Urgent Prayer for Help
A brief, urgent prayer of David asking God to hurry to his rescue. He asks that those seeking his life be turned back in disgrace and that all who seek God rejoice in Him, and he ends by confessing his need and God's help. It closely matches the end of Psalm 40.
Psalms 71: Trusting God Into Old Age
An older believer who has relied on God since birth asks for rescue from enemies who claim God has abandoned him. He pleads not to be cast off in old age so he can tell the next generation of God's power, and he ends in joyful praise of God's righteousness and redemption.
Psalms 72: A Prayer for the Righteous King
A royal psalm headed as Solomon's asks God to give the king His justice so that he defends the poor and rules well. It prays for a long, fruitful reign honored by distant kings and blessing all nations, then closes by praising God and noting the end of David's prayers.
Psalms 73: Envy of the Wicked and Nearness to God
Asaph confesses that he nearly lost his faith envying the easy lives of arrogant, wicked people while he suffered. Entering God's sanctuary showed him their sudden end, and he ends by treasuring God as his guide, strength, and lasting inheritance.
Psalms 74: A Lament over the Ruined Sanctuary
Asaph mourns that enemies have smashed and burned God's sanctuary, with no prophet to say how long it will last. He recalls God's ancient power over the sea and His rule over day, night, and seasons, and pleads with God to remember His covenant and defend His own name.
Psalms 75: God the Judge Who Humbles and Exalts
The people thank God, and God Himself answers that He will judge with justice at the time He chooses and holds the earth steady. The proud are warned that only God lifts people up or brings them down, and the wicked must drink the cup of His judgment while the righteous are raised.
Psalms 76: God Victorious in Zion
Asaph praises God, who dwells in Jerusalem, for shattering an enemy army by His rebuke alone. God is to be held in awe because His judgment rescues the humble, even human fury ends in His praise, and the psalm calls Israel and the nations to honor Him.
Psalms 77: Remembering God's Wonders in Distress
Asaph describes a sleepless night of trouble in which he wonders whether God has rejected His people and forgotten His mercy. He then resolves to recall God's ancient deeds, above all the crossing of the sea, where God led His flock through Moses and Aaron.
Psalms 78: Lessons From the History of Israel
Asaph retells the history of Israel so each generation will trust God and not repeat the rebellion of their fathers. He recalls the exodus, the wilderness provisions and the unbelief of the people, the plagues on Egypt, the loss at Shiloh, and the choice of Judah, Zion, and the shepherd David.
Psalms 79: A Lament Over Ruined Jerusalem
Asaph grieves that foreign nations have defiled the temple, ruined Jerusalem, and left the dead unburied. He asks how long the anger of God will last, pleads for forgiveness on the basis of the divine name, calls for justice on the mocking nations, and ends with a vow of lasting praise.
Psalms 80: A Plea to Restore God's Vine
Asaph calls on God as Israel's Shepherd to rescue His suffering people, repeating a refrain that asks Him to restore them and show His favor. He pictures Israel as a vine God brought from Egypt and planted, now broken down and burned, and asks God to revive it.
Psalms 81: A Festival Call and God's Plea to Listen
Asaph summons Israel to joyful festival worship commanded by God. God then speaks, recalling how He freed them from slavery in Egypt, forbidding foreign gods, and lamenting that Israel refused to heed Him, though He longed to defeat their enemies and feed them richly.
Psalms 82: God's Verdict on the Unjust Gods
God presides over an assembly of those called gods, judging them for favoring the wicked and neglecting the weak, the orphan, and the needy. Though given exalted titles, they will die like mortals, and the psalm ends by asking God Himself to judge all the nations.
Psalms 83: A Prayer Against a Coalition of Enemies
Asaph asks God not to stay silent while a league of surrounding nations, backed by Assyria, plots to wipe out Israel. He asks God to defeat them as He defeated Midian and Sisera in the days of the judges, so that they are shamed and come to know the LORD alone rules the earth.
Psalms 84: Longing for the House of God
A psalmist of the Korahite family longs to be in the LORD's dwelling, envying even the birds that nest near His altars. He blesses pilgrims who grow stronger on the way to Zion, prefers one day in God's house to a thousand elsewhere, and praises the LORD as sun and shield.
Psalms 85: A Prayer for Renewed Mercy
The people recall how the LORD once forgave their sin and brought them back from captivity, and they ask Him to end His anger and revive them again. The psalmist then waits for God's word of peace and pictures loyal love, faithfulness, righteousness, and peace meeting as God blesses the land.
Psalms 86: David Prays for an Undivided Heart
David, poor and in need, asks the LORD to hear and save him, appealing to God's kindness and readiness to forgive. He praises God as beyond compare, foresees all nations worshiping Him, asks God to teach him and make his heart undivided, and pleads for help against violent enemies.
Psalms 87: Zion, Birthplace of the Nations
This short psalm celebrates Zion as the city God founded and loves above every other place in Israel. God names foreign nations, including Egypt and Babylon, as peoples who know Him and records them as citizens born in Zion, and musicians sing of the source of all their joy.
Psalms 88: A Lament from the Edge of Death
Heman the Ezrahite cries day and night to the God who saves him, though he feels close to death, forgotten, and crushed by God's anger. He asks whether the dead can praise God and why God hides His face, and the psalm ends without relief, with darkness pictured as his nearest companion.
Psalms 89: God's Covenant with David
Ethan the Ezrahite praises the LORD's loyal love and faithfulness, His rule of the seas and all creation, and His sworn promise that David's family would rule forever. The psalm then laments that the king has been defeated and shamed, asks how long God will hide, and ends with a blessing.
Psalms 90: The Eternal God and Human Frailty
In a prayer credited to Moses, the psalm sets God's eternity beside the brevity of human life, which fades like grass under God's anger at sin. Moses asks God to teach His people to count their days wisely, to turn and show compassion, and to make their work last.
Psalms 91: Safe in God's Shelter
The psalm describes the security of the one who takes refuge in the Most High, pictured as a fortress and as a bird spreading its wings over those it shelters. It promises God's protection and angelic care, then closes with God's own pledge to rescue, answer, and stay with the one who loves Him.
Psalms 92: A Sabbath Song of Praise
A psalm whose heading assigns it to the Sabbath day celebrates God's loyal love and faithfulness from morning to night. The wicked spring up like grass and vanish, while the righteous thrive like palms and cedars rooted in God's house, still fruitful in old age and declaring that God is just.
Psalms 93: The LORD Reigns Above the Floods
A short hymn proclaims the LORD as King, clothed in majesty and strength, whose throne has stood from eternity and keeps the world secure. The roaring floods and seas rise up, but God on high is mightier, and His decrees are trustworthy and His house is marked by holiness.
Psalms 94: A Plea for God to Judge the Wicked
The psalmist calls on God as Judge to act against the arrogant wicked who kill widows, foreigners, and orphans while claiming God cannot see. He answers that the Maker of ear and eye sees all, calls God's discipline a blessing, rests in the LORD who upholds him, and trusts God to repay the wicked.
Psalms 95: A Call to Worship and a Warning
Israel is summoned to sing and to bow in worship before God, the great King who made land and sea and shepherds His people. The psalm then warns against hardening hearts as the wilderness generation did at Meribah and Massah, who were barred from God's rest, a warning Hebrews applies to believers.
Psalms 96: A New Song for All Nations
All the earth is called to praise the LORD and tell the nations of His salvation and glory, for the other peoples' gods are mere idols while He made the heavens. The nations are invited to worship Him, and all creation rejoices because He is on His way to rule the world as its just Judge.
Psalms 97: The King Whose Throne Is Justice
The LORD's reign is pictured in cloud, fire, lightning, and melting mountains, with righteousness and justice as the base of His throne. Idol worshipers are shamed while Zion rejoices at His judgments, and those who love Him are called to hate evil, trusting His protection, light, and joy.
Psalms 98: All Creation Praises the Coming Judge
This psalm calls for fresh praise because the LORD has won salvation by His own power and made it known to every nation. All the earth, with harp and horn, and even the sea, rivers, and hills, are summoned to rejoice before the King who comes to rule the world with fairness.
Psalms 99: The Holy King Enthroned in Zion
This psalm celebrates the LORD as King, seated above the cherubim and great in Zion, and repeats three times that He is holy. It praises His love of justice and recalls how Moses, Aaron, and Samuel called on Him and were answered by a God who forgives yet also punishes wrongdoing.
Psalms 100: A Call to Joyful Thanksgiving
This short psalm invites the whole earth to worship the LORD gladly. It grounds that joy in knowing that He is God, who made His people and owns them as His flock, and calls them into His courts with thanks because His goodness, loyal love, and faithfulness never end.
Psalms 101: A King Resolves to Rule Justly
In this psalm David praises God's loyal love and justice and then vows to live blamelessly, beginning within his own household. He promises to keep slanderers, the proud, and liars away from his court, to favor the faithful as his servants, and to remove evildoers from God's city.
Psalms 102: The Prayer of an Afflicted Sufferer
An afflicted, lonely sufferer pours out his distress to God, feeling his life fade under divine displeasure. He turns to the LORD's eternal reign, trusts God to restore Zion and free prisoners, praises the unchanging Creator, in words Hebrews applies to the Son, and ends sure that God's servants' children are secure.
Psalms 103: Remembering the Mercies of the LORD
David stirs his own soul to praise God for forgiveness, healing, rescue, and lasting love. He recalls the merciful character God revealed to Moses, celebrates sins removed and a father's tender care for frail people, and ends by calling angels and all creation to praise the King of all.
Psalms 104: The Creator Who Sustains All Things
The psalmist praises God as the majestic Creator, robed in light, who holds the seas within their limits. He describes springs, crops, trees, animals, the moon and sun, and the sea with its creatures, all depending on God for food and breath, and closes with a vow of lifelong praise and a plea for wickedness to end.
Psalms 105: God's Faithfulness from Abraham to Canaan
This psalm calls God's people to thank Him and make His deeds known to the nations. It retells how He kept His covenant with the patriarchs, protected them, sent Joseph ahead into Egypt, and multiplied Israel there, then recalls Moses, the plagues, the exodus, wilderness care, and the gift of the land.
Psalms 106: Israel's Rebellions and God's Mercy
After opening praise, the psalmist confesses that his generation has sinned like its ancestors and retells Israel's rebellions from the exodus through the wilderness to idol worship in Canaan. God judged and rescued them again and again, and the psalm closes pleading for regathering and blessing the LORD.
Psalms 107: Four Rescues and a Call to Thanks
This psalm calls those the LORD has redeemed to thank Him for His goodness and lasting love. Lost travelers, rebel prisoners, sick fools, and storm-tossed sailors each cry to Him and are rescued; He ruins and restores lands, humbles nobles, lifts the needy, and the wise are urged to ponder His love.
Psalms 108: Confident Praise and a Plea for Victory
David resolves to praise God among the nations for a love and faithfulness higher than the sky, then asks Him to save His people. God announces His claim over Israel's lands and the nations around it, and David ends trusting God rather than human help for victory. Its wording closely matches parts of Psalms 57 and 60.
Psalms 109: A Plea Against Lying Accusers
David, slandered and repaid with hatred for his love, asks God not to stay silent. A long string of curses follows against a man charged with hounding the poor, words Peter later applies to Judas. David then asks rescue on the basis of God's own name and ends vowing public praise to the LORD who defends the needy.
Psalms 110: David's Lord the Priest King
David records God's promise to enthrone his Lord at God's right hand until every enemy is subdued. The King rules from Zion with a willing people, is sworn in as an eternal priest like Melchizedek, and judges the nations; the New Testament applies the psalm to Jesus.
Psalms 111: Praise for the LORD's Great Deeds
An alphabetic hymn of thanks for the LORD's great deeds. The psalmist praises His grace, His provision, His covenant faithfulness, the gift of the land, and the redemption He sent His people, and concludes that reverence for the LORD is where wisdom starts.
Psalms 112: The Blessed Life of the God-Fearer
A companion alphabetic poem to Psalm 111 describing the person who reveres the LORD and delights in His commands. Such a person is generous to the poor, steady in trouble because he trusts God, and lastingly honored, while the wicked look on in frustration.
Psalms 113: The High God Who Lifts the Lowly
A call for the LORD's servants to praise His name at all times and in every land. God is enthroned far above the nations and heavens, yet He stoops to raise the poor to sit among princes and to give the childless woman a home and children.
Psalms 114: Creation Trembles at the Exodus
A short poem recalling Israel's departure from Egypt, when God made His people His holy dwelling and realm. The sea, the Jordan, and the mountains react to His presence, and the earth is summoned to tremble before the God who brought water from rock.
Psalms 115: Glory to God, Not to Idols
The psalmist asks that all glory go to the LORD for His loving devotion and faithfulness, and answers the nations' taunt by declaring that God rules from heaven as He wills. Lifeless idols are mocked, Israel is urged to trust the LORD, and His people vow lasting praise.
Psalms 116: Thanksgiving for Rescue from Death
The psalmist thanks the LORD for rescuing him when he was near death and helpless. He urges his soul to rest in God's kindness, asks what he can give back, and answers with worship, kept vows, and a thank offering among God's people in Jerusalem.
Psalms 117: All Nations Called to Praise
The shortest psalm summons every nation and people on earth to praise the LORD. Its reason is God's great, loyal love toward His people and His faithfulness that lasts forever, and Paul later cites it to show that God meant the Gentiles to glorify Him.
Psalms 118: The Rejected Stone Made Cornerstone
This festive song gives thanks for the LORD's enduring love, voiced by one whom enemies had surrounded and God had rescued. At the LORD's gate it celebrates a rejected stone made the cornerstone, words Jesus applied to Himself, and it closes with blessing, sacrifice, and renewed thanks.
Psalms 119: The Word of God Celebrated
The longest psalm, an acrostic of 22 eight-verse stanzas, celebrates God's word under many names. The psalmist loves it, meditates on it, and learns through affliction, while praying for God to teach him, revive him, and hold him fast. It closes with a plea for God to seek a wandering servant.
Psalms 120: A Cry Against Lying Tongues
The first song of ascents begins with the psalmist recalling that God answered him in trouble. He asks rescue from deceitful speech and foresees its punishment, then laments living far from home among people who want war while he seeks peace.
Psalms 121: The LORD Who Keeps His People
A pilgrim song names the Creator as the source of help for the traveler looking toward the hills. The LORD never sleeps, shades His people from harm by day and night, and guards their life in every coming and going, now and forever.
Psalms 122: Joy in Going Up to Jerusalem
David recalls his gladness at the call to worship at the LORD's house and the pilgrims' arrival in Jerusalem, where the tribes gather to give thanks and David's royal line sits in judgment. He urges prayer for the city's peace out of love for his people and God's house.
Psalms 123: Eyes Lifted to the Enthroned LORD
A short prayer looks up to the LORD reigning in heaven, the way servants watch their master's hand, and waits for His mercy. The people plead for help because they have endured long ridicule and contempt from proud and arrogant people.
Psalms 124: Rescued Because the LORD Was for Us
David leads Israel in confessing that without the LORD on their side, their attackers would have destroyed them like a devouring beast or a raging flood. They praise God for their escape, like a bird slipping out of a broken trap, and rest their help in the Creator's name.
Psalms 125: Secure Like Mount Zion
Those who trust the LORD are pictured as immovable as Mount Zion, and God encircles His people as the hills encircle Jerusalem. He limits the rule of the wicked, does good to the upright, removes those who drift into crooked paths, and grants peace to Israel.
Psalms 126: Captives Restored and a Harvest of Joy
The people remember the overwhelming joy of the LORD bringing Zion's captives home, a work even the nations recognized. They pray for renewal like streams returning to a dry land and trust that sowing done in sorrow will end in a joyful harvest.
Psalms 127: The LORD as Builder and Giver
A song attributed to Solomon teaches that building, guarding, and endless toil all fail without the LORD, who gives rest to those He loves. Children are then described as His gift and reward, like arrows in a warrior's hand, so that a father is not disgraced before opponents at the gate.
Psalms 128: The Blessed Home of the God-Fearer
The one who reveres the LORD and follows His ways is pictured enjoying the fruit of his work, with a flourishing wife and children around his table. The psalm ends with a blessing from Zion for Jerusalem's good, long life to see grandchildren, and peace on Israel.
Psalms 129: Israel Oppressed but Never Overcome
In this song of ascents, Israel recalls enemies who have attacked it cruelly since its earliest days, yet never defeated it. The righteous LORD has freed His people, and the psalm asks that Zion's enemies be shamed and wither like shallow-rooted grass that yields no harvest.
Psalms 130: A Cry for Mercy and Forgiveness
From deep distress the psalmist pleads for mercy, confessing that no one could survive if God tallied every sin, but that He forgives so people will revere Him. He waits for God more eagerly than night guards await dawn and calls Israel to trust the LORD, who will free His people from all their sins.
Psalms 131: The Quiet Trust of a Weaned Child
David tells the LORD he has set aside pride and ambitions beyond his reach. He has calmed his soul so that it rests like a young child content beside its mother, and he calls all Israel to trust the LORD now and always.
Psalms 132: David's Vow and God's Oath for Zion
This song of ascents recalls David's vow to secure a home for the LORD, the finding of the ark, and a prayer for God to enter His place of rest. It then sets out God's sworn promise to keep David's heirs on the throne and His choice of Zion as His home, with blessings for its priests, its poor, and David's line.
Psalms 133: The Blessing of Unity
David celebrates how good and delightful it is when God's people share life in harmony. He compares such unity to the anointing oil poured over Aaron the high priest and to Hermon's dew falling on Zion, where the LORD has granted lasting life and blessing.
Psalms 134: A Night Call to Bless the LORD
The last of the songs of ascents calls the LORD's servants who serve in His house through the night to raise their hands toward the sanctuary and praise Him. It closes with a blessing on them from the Creator, given from Zion.
Psalms 135: Praise for the Sovereign God of Israel
The psalmist calls the LORD's servants to praise Him because He is good, chose Israel as His own, and does whatever He pleases in all creation. He recalls the judgment on Egypt and the defeat of Sihon and Og, contrasts the living God with lifeless idols, and calls every group in Israel to bless Him.
Psalms 136: God's Enduring Love Through History
A song of thanks in which every verse ends with a refrain praising God's everlasting covenant love. It traces His works from creation through the exodus, the sea crossing, the wilderness, and the defeat of Sihon and Og, to His rescue of His lowly people and His care for every creature.
Psalms 137: Lament of the Exiles in Babylon
Jewish exiles weep beside Babylon's rivers and refuse their captors' demand for songs of Zion. The psalmist vows never to forget Jerusalem, asks the LORD to remember Edom's part in the city's fall, and calls for Babylon to be repaid for what it had done.
Psalms 138: Wholehearted Thanks for Answered Prayer
David thanks God as he bows toward the temple, praising His covenant love and faithfulness and His answer that gave him new strength. He foresees earth's kings praising the LORD, who cares for the humble but keeps the proud at a distance, and he trusts God to complete His purpose for him.
Psalms 139: God's Complete Knowledge and Presence
David marvels that God knows his every thought and word and that no place, not even darkness, is beyond His presence. He praises God for forming him before birth and planning all his days, sides with God against the wicked, and asks God to search his own heart.
Psalms 140: A Prayer for Rescue From Violent Men
David asks the LORD to protect him from violent, slanderous enemies who set hidden traps for him. He confesses God as his protector in battle, prays that their own harm would fall back on them, and ends confident that God defends the poor and keeps the upright near Him.
Psalms 141: A Prayer to Be Kept From Evil
David asks that his prayer rise to God like incense and that God guard his speech and keep his heart from the ways of evildoers. He welcomes correction from the righteous, looks to the Lord for refuge, and asks to escape the traps his enemies have set.
Psalms 142: A Prayer From the Cave
Hiding in a cave, David pours out his trouble to the LORD because no one else stands with him or cares for him. He names God as his refuge and his share in life, and asks to be set free so he can praise God with the righteous gathered around him.
Psalms 143: A Plea for Mercy and Guidance
Crushed by an enemy, David asks God not to judge him, since no living person is righteous before Him. He remembers God's past works, longs for Him, and asks to be taught God's will and led by His Spirit, appealing to God's name and loyal love.
Psalms 144: The Warrior King's Prayer for Rescue
David praises the LORD as the Rock who trains him for battle and marvels that God cares for fragile human beings. He asks God to come down and rescue him from lying foreigners, vows a new song, and pictures a nation at peace whose true blessing is belonging to the LORD.
Psalms 145: Praise for the Great and Gracious King
David's alphabetical hymn praises God as King, whose greatness no one can measure and whose works each generation tells to the next. It celebrates His grace, His kindness to all creatures, His everlasting kingdom, His nearness to those who pray, His care for those who love Him, and His judgment on the wicked.
Psalms 146: Trust the Lord, Not Princes
The psalmist vows lifelong praise and warns against relying on mortal rulers, whose plans die with them. Instead he calls blessed the one who hopes in the Creator, who stays faithful, cares for the oppressed, the hungry, the blind, and the vulnerable, and reigns forever.
Psalms 147: Praise for the Rebuilder of Jerusalem
The psalmist calls for praise to the God who restores Jerusalem, gathers exiles, heals grieving hearts, and names every star. He feeds animals, delights in those who revere Him rather than in human might, rules snow and thaw by His command, and gave His laws to Israel alone.
Psalms 148: All Creation Called to Praise
The psalm summons everything in the heavens to worship the LORD, from angels to sun, moon, and stars, because He created them by His command. It then calls the sea, weather, land, animals, and every rank and age of people to join in, since His name stands above every other and He has strengthened Israel.
Psalms 149: A New Song for Israel's King
The faithful of Israel are called to sing a new song and rejoice with dance and music in their Maker and King, who delights in them and adorns the lowly with salvation. The psalm then pairs their praise with the sword, as the judgment recorded against the nations and their kings is carried out, an honor for His people.
Psalms 150: The Closing Hallelujah
The final psalm calls for God to be praised in His sanctuary and in the heavens for His mighty deeds and surpassing greatness. It lists horn, strings, tambourine, dancing, flute, and cymbals, and ends the book of Psalms by summoning every living, breathing creature to praise the LORD.