Meet Harmony Brown

My Soul Longs for the Courts of the LORD

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. ^{1 84:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term} A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

1  How lovely is your dwelling place,
    O LORD of hosts!
2  My soul longs, yes, faints
    for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
    to the living God.

3  Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
    my King and my God.
4  Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
    ever singing your praise! Selah

5  Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    in whose heart are the highways to Zion. ^{2 84:5 Hebrew lacks to Zion}
6  As they go through the Valley of Baca
    they make it a place of springs;
    the early rain also covers it with pools.
7  They go from strength to strength;
    each one appears before God in Zion.

8  O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
    give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9  Behold our shield, O God;
    look on the face of your anointed!

10  For a day in your courts is better
    than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11  For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
    the LORD bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
    from those who walk uprightly.
12  O LORD of hosts,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Revive Us Again

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

1  LORD, you were favorable to your land;
    you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2  You forgave the iniquity of your people;
    you covered all their sin. Selah
3  You withdrew all your wrath;
    you turned from your hot anger.

4  Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
    and put away your indignation toward us!
5  Will you be angry with us forever?
    Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6  Will you not revive us again,
    that your people may rejoice in you?
7  Show us your steadfast love, O LORD,
    and grant us your salvation.

8  Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
    for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
    but let them not turn back to folly.
9  Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
    that glory may dwell in our land.

10  Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
    righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11  Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
    and righteousness looks down from the sky.
12  Yes, the LORD will give what is good,
    and our land will yield its increase.
13  Righteousness will go before him
    and make his footsteps a way.

Great Is Your Steadfast Love

A Prayer of David.

1  Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me,
    for I am poor and needy.
2  Preserve my life, for I am godly;
    save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.
3  Be gracious to me, O Lord,
    for to you do I cry all the day.
4  Gladden the soul of your servant,
    for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5  For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
    abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
6  Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;
    listen to my plea for grace.
7  In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
    for you answer me.

8  There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
    nor are there any works like yours.
9  All the nations you have made shall come
    and worship before you, O Lord,
    and shall glorify your name.
10  For you are great and do wondrous things;
    you alone are God.
11  Teach me your way, O LORD,
    that I may walk in your truth;
    unite my heart to fear your name.
12  I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
    and I will glorify your name forever.
13  For great is your steadfast love toward me;
    you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

14  O God, insolent men have risen up against me;
    a band of ruthless men seeks my life,
    and they do not set you before them.
15  But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
16  Turn to me and be gracious to me;
    give your strength to your servant,
    and save the son of your maidservant.
17  Show me a sign of your favor,
    that those who hate me may see and be put to shame
    because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

Glorious Things of You Are Spoken

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song.

1  On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
2      the LORD loves the gates of Zion
    more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
3  Glorious things of you are spoken,
    O city of God. Selah

4  Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
    behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush ^{3 87:4 Probably Nubia} —
    “This one was born there,” they say.
5  And of Zion it shall be said,
    “This one and that one were born in her”;
    for the Most High himself will establish her.
6  The LORD records as he registers the peoples,
    “This one was born there.” Selah

7  Singers and dancers alike say,
    “All my springs are in you.”

I Cry Out Day and Night Before You

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil ^{4 88:1 Probably musical or liturgical terms} of Heman the Ezrahite.

1  O LORD, God of my salvation,
    I cry out day and night before you.
2  Let my prayer come before you;
    incline your ear to my cry!

3  For my soul is full of troubles,
    and my life draws near to Sheol.
4  I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
    I am a man who has no strength,
5  like one set loose among the dead,
    like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
    for they are cut off from your hand.
6  You have put me in the depths of the pit,
    in the regions dark and deep.
7  Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
    and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

8  You have caused my companions to shun me;
    you have made me a horror ^{5 88:8 Or an abomination} to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9      my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O LORD;
    I spread out my hands to you.
10  Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
11  Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
    or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12  Are your wonders known in the darkness,
    or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13  But I, O LORD, cry to you;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14  O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?
    Why do you hide your face from me?
15  Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
    I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. ^{6 88:15 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain}
16  Your wrath has swept over me;
    your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17  They surround me like a flood all day long;
    they close in on me together.
18  You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
    my companions have become darkness. ^{7 88:18 Or darkness has become my only companion}

I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the LORD

A Maskil ^{8 89:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term} of Ethan the Ezrahite.

1  I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever;
    with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2  For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
    in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
3  You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
    I have sworn to David my servant:
4  ‘I will establish your offspring forever,
    and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah

5  Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD,
    your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
6  For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD?
    Who among the heavenly beings ^{9 89:6 Hebrew the sons of God, or the sons of might} is like the LORD,
7  a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
    and awesome above all who are around him?
8  O LORD God of hosts,
    who is mighty as you are, O LORD,
    with your faithfulness all around you?
9  You rule the raging of the sea;
    when its waves rise, you still them.
10  You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
    you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11  The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
    the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
12  The north and the south, you have created them;
    Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
13  You have a mighty arm;
    strong is your hand, high your right hand.
14  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
    steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
15  Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
    who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face,
16  who exult in your name all the day
    and in your righteousness are exalted.
17  For you are the glory of their strength;
    by your favor our horn is exalted.
18  For our shield belongs to the LORD,
    our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19  Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, ^{10 89:19 Some Hebrew manuscripts godly ones} and said:
    “I have granted help to one who is mighty;
    I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20  I have found David, my servant;
    with my holy oil I have anointed him,
21  so that my hand shall be established with him;
    my arm also shall strengthen him.
22  The enemy shall not outwit him;
    the wicked shall not humble him.
23  I will crush his foes before him
    and strike down those who hate him.
24  My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
    and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25  I will set his hand on the sea
    and his right hand on the rivers.
26  He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
    my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
27  And I will make him the firstborn,
    the highest of the kings of the earth.
28  My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
    and my covenant will stand firm ^{11 89:28 Or will remain faithful} for him.
29  I will establish his offspring forever
    and his throne as the days of the heavens.
30  If his children forsake my law
    and do not walk according to my rules, ^{12 89:30 Or my just decrees}
31  if they violate my statutes
    and do not keep my commandments,
32  then I will punish their transgression with the rod
    and their iniquity with stripes,
33  but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
    or be false to my faithfulness.
34  I will not violate my covenant
    or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
35  Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
    I will not lie to David.
36  His offspring shall endure forever,
    his throne as long as the sun before me.
37  Like the moon it shall be established forever,
    a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah

38  But now you have cast off and rejected;
    you are full of wrath against your anointed.
39  You have renounced the covenant with your servant;
    you have defiled his crown in the dust.
40  You have breached all his walls;
    you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
41  All who pass by plunder him;
    he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
42  You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
    you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43  You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
    and you have not made him stand in battle.
44  You have made his splendor to cease
    and cast his throne to the ground.
45  You have cut short the days of his youth;
    you have covered him with shame. Selah

46  How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
    How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47  Remember how short my time is!
    For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
48  What man can live and never see death?
    Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

49  Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
    which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
50  Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
    and how I bear in my heart the insults ^{13 89:50 Hebrew lacks the insults} of all the many nations,
51  with which your enemies mock, O LORD,
    with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.

52  Blessed be the LORD forever!
    Amen and Amen.