Prayer for National Deliverance and Security

Of David.

1Blessed be the LORD, my rock,

who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;

2my rock144.2 With 18.2 and 2 Sam 22.2: Heb my steadfast love and my fortress,

my stronghold and my deliverer,

my shield, in whom I take refuge,

who subdues the peoples144.2 Heb Mss Syr Aquila Jerome: MT my people under me.

3O LORD, what are human beings that you regard them,

or mortals that you think of them?

4They are like a breath;

their days are like a passing shadow.

5Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down;

touch the mountains so that they smoke.

6Make the lightning flash and scatter them;

send out your arrows and rout them.

7Stretch out your hand from on high;

set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters,

from the hand of aliens,

8whose mouths speak lies,

and whose right hands are false.

9I will sing a new song to you, O God;

upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,

10the one who gives victory to kings,

who rescues his servant David.

11Rescue me from the cruel sword,

and deliver me from the hand of aliens,

whose mouths speak lies,

and whose right hands are false.

12May our sons in their youth

be like plants full grown,

our daughters like corner pillars,

cut for the building of a palace.

13May our barns be filled

with produce of every kind;

may our sheep increase by thousands,

by tens of thousands in our fields,

14and may our cattle be heavy with young.

May there be no breach in the walls,144.14 Heb lacks in the walls no exile,

and no cry of distress in our streets.

15Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall;

happy are the people whose God is the LORD.