Psalm 36
Difference between God and sinners
Sin is all a sinner knows
A psalm of David, [1] servant of the LORD. For the music leader.
1Sinners always think about sinning.It’s who they are.
They don’t respect God.
2They’re so proud of themselves
They don’t see their sin anymore.
So, they don’t hate what they’re doing.
3When they open their mouths
Evil and lies fall out.
Wisdom is long gone.
Goodness went with it.
4Falling asleep or waking up
Their first and last thoughts of the day are evil.
They’re plotting for nothing good.
And they’re rejecting nothing evil.
God’s love from here to heaven
5LORD, your love and kindnessStretch from here to high heaven.
Your devotion to us fills the land to the sky.
6Your goodness is as majestic as the mountains.
Your judgments, as deep as the sea.
Humans and critters, it doesn’t matter which,
You save them all.
7God, your kindness is precious to us.
Humans have always found protection and comfort
In the shadows and the shade beneath your winds.
8They eat all they can hold
Because your house holds more than enough.
You let them drink to their delight
From the river of your delights. [2]
9You are the life-giver, the fountain of life.
You are the light-giver; you open our eyes.
Evil KO’d
10Keep pouring love and kindnessOn the people devoted to you.
Keep showing your goodness and justice
To those with goodness in their hearts.
11Don’t let proud people kick me aside.
Don’t let bad people push me around.
Evil KO’d
10Look at that. It’s a knockout.Evil people aren’t moving.
They’re down, they’re out, and they’re not getting up.
Footnotes
The subtitle wasn’t part of the original psalm. And the possible byline “of David,” isn’t necessarily a byline. The vague phrase could mean the song was written by David, about David, or was inspired by David. Almost half of the psalms are attributed to David in this way, 73 of 150. Ancient Jewish history tells of David playing a lyre and writing songs. For one, he wrote a song of mourning at the battlefield death of King Saul and his sons: “How have the mighty fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19-27 New American Standard Bible). An ancient Jewish scroll from about the time of Jesus, discovered among the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, reports that David wrote 3,600 songs.
Possibly meaning something like this: “Whatever delights the LORD is available to his people—who will be delighted with it.”
Discussion Questions
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