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A Prayer for the Nation

For the director of music. A psalm of the sons of Korah [C descendants of Kohath, son of Levi, who served as temple musicians; 1 Chr. 6:22].

85 Lord, you ·have been kind to [delight in] your land;
    you ·brought back [restored the fortunes of; C perhaps at the end of the exile] the people of Jacob [C another name for Israel].
You forgave the guilt of the people
    and covered all their sins. ·Selah [Interlude]
You ·stopped [drew back from] all your anger;
    you turned back from your ·strong [burning] anger.

God our Savior, ·bring us back again [restore us again].
    Stop being angry with us.
Will you be angry with us forever?
    Will you ·stay angry [draw out your anger against us] from now on?
Won’t you give us life again?
    Your people would rejoice in you.
Lord, show us your ·love [loyalty],
    and ·save us [L give to us your salvation/victory].

I will listen to what God the Lord says.
    He has ·ordered [spoken; promised] ·peace [prosperity] for ·those who worship him [L his people, his saints/loyal ones].
    Don’t let them go back to foolishness.
·God will soon save those who respect him [L His salvation/victory is near to those who fear him; Prov. 1:7],
    and his glory will ·be seen [L dwell] in our land.
10 ·Love [Loyalty] and ·truth [faithfulness] ·belong to God’s people [L meet];
    ·goodness [righteousness] and ·peace [prosperity] ·will be theirs [L kiss].
11 ·On earth people will be loyal to God [Faithfulness sprouts/blooms from the earth/land],
    and ·God’s goodness [righteousness] will ·shine [look] down from heaven.
12 The Lord will give his ·goodness [or good gifts],
    and the land will give its crops.
13 ·Goodness [Righteousness] will go before ·God [L him]
    and prepare the way for ·him [L his steps].

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