Possible texts for inclusion in Royal Psalms book
The Song of Moses
Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider28 he has thrown into the sea. 2The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name. 4“Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. 5The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. 6Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. 7In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. 8At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. 9The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ 10You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11“Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? 12You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. 13“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. 14The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. 15Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. 16Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O LORD, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. 17You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. 18The LORD will reign forever and ever.” 19For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Hannah's Prayer
2:1 And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my strength5 is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 2“There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. 3Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 4The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. 5Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. 6The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. 7The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. 8He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and on them he has set the world. 9“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. 10The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the power6 of his anointed.”
David's Song of Deliverance
David's final psalm, 2 Samuel 22 — which is essentially Psalm 18 with slight variations. The 2 Samuel version has textual differences worth knowing.
22:1 And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. 2He said, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, 3my63 God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. 4I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. 5“For the waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me;64 6the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. 7“In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears. 8“Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked, because he was angry. 9Smoke went up from his nostrils,65 and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. 10He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. 11He rode on a cherub and flew; he was seen on the wings of the wind. 12He made darkness around him his canopy, thick clouds, a gathering of water. 13Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth. 14The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice. 15And he sent out arrows and scattered them; lightning, and routed them. 16Then the channels of the sea were seen; the foundations of the world were laid bare, at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. 17“He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. 18He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. 19They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. 20He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me. 21“The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. 22For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God. 23For all his rules were before me, and from his statutes I did not turn aside. 24I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt. 25And the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight. 26“With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; 27with the purified you deal purely, and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. 28You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down. 29For you are my lamp, O LORD, and my God lightens my darkness. 30For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. 31This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 32“For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? 33This God is my strong refuge and has made my66 way blameless.67 34He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. 35He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 36You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great. 37You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet68 did not slip; 38I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, and did not turn back until they were consumed. 39I consumed them; I thrust them through, so that they did not rise; they fell under my feet. 40For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me. 41You made my enemies turn their backs to me,69 those who hated me, and I destroyed them. 42They looked, but there was none to save; they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them. 43I beat them fine as the dust of the earth; I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets. 44“You delivered me from strife with my people;70 you kept me as the head of the nations; people whom I had not known served me. 45Foreigners came cringing to me; as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me. 46Foreigners lost heart and came trembling71 out of their fortresses. 47“The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation, 48the God who gave me vengeance and brought down peoples under me, 49who brought me out from my enemies; you exalted me above those who rose against me; you delivered me from men of violence. 50“For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations, and sing praises to your name. 51Great salvation he brings72 to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.”
The Last Words of David 23:1 Now these are the last words of David: The oracle of David, the son of Jesse, the oracle of the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel:73 2“The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; his word is on my tongue. 3The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, 4he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain74 that makes grass to sprout from the earth. 5“For does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire? 6But worthless men75 are all like thorns that are thrown away, for they cannot be taken with the hand; 7but the man who touches them arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they are utterly consumed with fire.”76
Habakkuk 3 - prophet's prayer
Habakkuk 3. The prophet's prayer at the end of Habakkuk is structurally a complete psalm — lament, cosmic theophany, descent into fear, then one of the most extraordinary declarations of trust in all scripture.
3:1 Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city! 2She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the LORD; she does not draw near to her God. 3Her officials within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning. 4Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men; her priests profane what is holy; they do violence to the law. 5The LORD within her is righteous; he does no injustice; every morning he shows forth his justice; each dawn he does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame. 6“I have cut off nations; their battlements are in ruins; I have laid waste their streets so that no one walks in them; their cities have been made desolate, without a man, without an inhabitant. 7I said, ‘Surely you will fear me; you will accept correction. Then your[10] dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you.’[11] But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. 8“Therefore wait for me,” declares the LORD, “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. The Conversion of the Nations 9“For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord. 10From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering. 11“On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. 12But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD, 13those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” Israel's Joy and Restoration 14Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. 16On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. 17The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. 18I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.[12] 19Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. 20At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the LORD.