Psalms
Chapter 28
David calls out to God for help and asks not to be silent. He asks God not to sweep him away with people who act friendly but plan harm, and asks that those people get back what they have done. Then the psalm turns to thanks: God heard him, and God is his strength and shield. It ends with a prayer for all of God's people.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
1LORD, I am calling out to you. You are my rock. Please do not stay silent. If you say nothing to me, I will be like the dead who go down into the grave.
2Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
2Hear me begging for help when I cry out to you. Hear me when I lift my hands toward your holy place.
"Holy oracle" means the most holy room inside God's temple. Lifting up your hands was a normal way to pray.
3Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.
3Do not drag me away with the wicked, with people who do evil. They speak kindly to their neighbors, but they are planning harm inside.
4Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
4Pay them back for what they have done and for the evil they keep working at. Give them what their own hands have earned.
"Render to them their desert" does not mean a desert of sand. It means give them what they deserve.
5Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.
5They pay no attention to what the LORD does or to the work of his hands. So he will tear them down and never build them up again.
6Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.
6Praise the LORD! He has heard me begging him for help.
7The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
7The LORD is my strength and my shield. My heart trusted him, and he helped me. So my heart is full of joy, and I will thank him with my song.
8The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.
8The LORD is the strength of his people. He is a safe place that saves his chosen king.
"His anointed" means the person God chose and marked out as king, by pouring oil on his head.
9Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.
9Save your people. Bless the ones who belong to you. Care for them like a shepherd and carry them forever.
← → to turn the page · P for plain English · click a verse to sit with it