Psalm 85

A prayer for peace and justice

¹Lord , you have blessed your land.

You have made Jacob's descendants strong again.

²You forgave your people's sins .

You took away their guilt .

³You stopped being so angry with them.

You did not punish them any more.

⁴But now turn back to us,

and make us strong again, God.

You are the one who rescues us.

Please stop being angry with us.

⁵Will you continue to be angry with us for ever?

Will you be angry with our children too?

⁶Please turn back to us

and give us new life!

Then your people will be happy

and they will praise you.

⁷Lord , show us again your faithful love!

Please rescue us!

⁸Now I will listen to what the Lord God says.

He will give peace to his people,

to those who serve him.

But they must not turn back

to do foolish things again.

⁹Yes, God will soon rescue his people who serve him.

Then we will see his glory again in our land.

¹⁰God will be faithful to us

and he will love us with his faithful love.

His justice and his peace will join together,

like friends that hug each other.

¹¹Faithful truth will grow like a plant in the ground.

Justice will look down from the sky above.

¹²Yes! The Lord will bless us with many good things.

Plenty of food will grow in our land.

¹³Justice will go before our God,

and it will make a way for him to walk on.