What this is about . . .

Hello Fellow Travelers!

This blog has been set up to provide a place - either anonymously or signed - us ladies from the Liberty Church Beth Moore Stepping Up Bible study can share our personal versions of the Psalms of Ascents. I don't know about you but I'm very eager (curious) to read others' psalms.

I will post each Psalms of Ascents in the HSCB version as its own post. To share your personal version, click on the "comment" button and leave your version as a comment. I've ventured out on a limb and left my versions as comments as an example. Please only leave your psalm version as a comment for the corresponding Psalm.

If anyone wants to participate in this but still has questions or doesn't understand how to use this, please feel free to email me at kristylynna@bellsouth.net

Enjoy!!!

Kristy Anderson

P.S. This blog is only intended for the purpose listed above. Please do not use this blog other than what is listed above. Any inappropriate or unrelated comments will be deleted. =)

Psalm 120

A Cry for Truth and Peace

A • song of ascents.

1 In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me:
2 “Lord, deliver me from lying lips and a deceitful tongue.”
3 What will He give you, and what will He do to you, you deceitful tongue?
4 A warrior’s sharp arrows, with burning charcoal!
5 What misery that I have stayed in Meshech, that I have lived among the tents of Kedar!
6 I have lived too long with those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

Psalm 121

The Lord Our Protector

A song of ascents.

1 I raise my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.
4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.
5 The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side.
6 The sun will not strike you by day, or the moon by night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all harm; He will protect your life.
8 The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever.

Psalm 122

A Prayer for Jerusalem

A Davidic song of ascents.

1 I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
2 Our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem—
3 Jerusalem, built as a city [should be] , solidly joined together,
4 where the tribes, the tribes of the Lord, go up to give thanks to the name of the Lord. (This is an ordinance for Israel.)
5 There, thrones for judgment are placed, thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper;
7 may there be peace within your walls, prosperity within your fortresses.”
8 Because of my brothers and friends, I will say, “Peace be with you.”
9 Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.

Day 5, page 32 - sixfold alliteration

Beth Moore's:
Give praise to the God of glory whose greatness brings grandeur and whose goodness brings gladness.

Psalm 123

Looking for God’s Favor

A song of ascents.

1 I lift my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.
2 Like a servant’s eyes on His master’s hand, like a servant girl’s eyes on her mistress’s hand, so our eyes are on the Lord our God until He shows us favor.
3 Show us favor, Lord, show us favor, for we’ve had more than enough contempt.
4 We’ve had more than enough scorn from the arrogant [and] contempt from the proud.

Psalm 124

The Lord Is on Our Side

A Davidic song of ascents.

1 If the Lord had not been on our side— let Israel say—
2 If the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us,
3 then they would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger against us.
4 Then the waters would have engulfed us; the torrent would have swept over us;
5 the raging waters would have swept over us.
6 Praise the Lord, who has not let us be ripped apart by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird from the hunter’s net; the net is torn, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 125

Israel’s Stability

A song of ascents.

1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion. It cannot be shaken; it remains forever.
2 Jerusalem—the mountains surround her. And the Lord surrounds His people, both now and forever.
3 The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, so that the righteous will not apply their hands to injustice.
4 Do what is good, Lord, to the good, to those whose hearts are upright.
5 But as for those who turn aside to crooked ways, the Lord will banish them with the evildoers. Peace be with Israel.

Psalm 126

Zion’s Restoration

A song of ascents.

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter then, and our tongues with shouts of joy. Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord had done great things for us; we were joyful.
4 Restore our fortunes, Lord, like watercourses in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy.
6 Though one goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed, he will surely come back with shouts of joy, carrying his sheaves.

Psalm 127

The Blessing of the Lord

A Solomonic song of ascents.

1 Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.
2 In vain you get up early and stay up late, eating food earned by hard work; certainly He gives sleep to the one He loves.
3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, children, a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them. Such men will never be put to shame when they speak with [their] enemies at the city gate.

Psalm 128

Blessings for Those Who Fear God

A song of ascents.

1 How happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways!
2 You will surely eat what your hands have worked for. You will be happy, and it will go well for you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your sons, like young olive trees around your table.
4 In this very way the man who fears the Lord will be blessed.
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion, so that you will see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life,
6 and will see your children’s children! Peace be with Israel.

Psalm 129

Protection of the Oppressed

A song of ascents.

1 Since my youth they have often attacked me— let Israel say—
2 Since my youth they have often attacked me, but they have not prevailed against me.
3 Plowmen plowed over my back; they made their furrows long.
4 The Lord is righteous; He has cut the ropes of the wicked.
5 Let all who hate Zion be driven back in disgrace.
6 Let them be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it grows up
7 and can’t even fill the hands of the reaper or the arms of the one who binds sheaves.
8 Then none who pass by will say, “May the Lord’s blessing be on you.” We bless you in the name of the Lord

Psalm 130

Awaiting Redemption

A song of ascents.

1 Out of the depths I call to You, Lord!
2 Lord, listen to my voice; let Your ears be attentive to my cry for help.
3 Lord, if You considered sins, Lord, who could stand?
4 But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be revered.
5 I wait for the Lord; I wait, and put my hope in His word.
6 I [wait]* The bracketed text has been added for clarity. for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning— more than watchmen for the morning.
7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord.For there is faithful love with the Lord, and with Him is redemption in abundance.
8 And He will redeem Israel from all its sins.

Psalm 131

A Childlike Spirit

A Davidic song of ascents.

1 Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I do not get involved with things too great or too difficult for me.
2 Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself like a little weaned child with its mother; I am like a little child.
3 Israel, put your hope in the Lord, both now and forever.

Psalm 132

David and Zion Chosen

A • song of ascents.

1 Lord, remember David and all the hardships he endured,
2 and how he swore an oath to the Lord, making a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3 “I will not enter my house
4 I will not allow my eyes to sleep or my eyelids to slumber
5 until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
6 We heard of [the ark] in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 Let us go to His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool.
8 Arise, Lord, come to Your resting place, You and the ark [that shows] Your strength.
9 May Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and may Your godly people shout for joy.
10 Because of Your servant David, do not reject Your anointed one.
11 The Lord swore an oath to David, a promise He will not abandon: “I will set one of your descendantson your throne.
12 If your sons keep My covenant and My decrees that I will teach them, their sons will also sit on your throne, forever.”
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home:
14 “This is My resting place forever; I will make My home here because I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless its food; I will satisfy its needy with bread.
16 I will clothe its priests with salvation, and its godly people will shout for joy.
17 There I will make a horn grow for David; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one.
18 I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown he wears will be glorious.”

Psalm 133

Living in Harmony

A Davidic song of ascents.

1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers can live together!
2 It is like fine oil on the head, running down on the beard, running down Aaron’s beard, on his robes.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has appointed the blessing— life forevermore.

Psalm 134

Call to Evening Worship

A song of ascents.

1 Now praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who stand in the Lord’s house at night!
2 Lift up your hands in the holy place, and praise the Lord!
3 May the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.