Psalms

He is like a tree planted by channels of water,
that gives its fruit in its season, and its leaves do not wither;
in all that he does, he prospers.
Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
So the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

“I myself have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
I will tell of the decree:
the LORD said to me, “You are my son;
today I have fathered you.
Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
the ends of the earth as your possession.note

You will break them with a rod of iron;
you will smash them like a potter’s jar.”
So now, you kings, be wise;
take warning, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the son, or he will be angry and you will perish on the way, for his anger flares up quickly.
Happy are all who take refuge in him.note

But you, LORD, are a shield around me,
my glory, the one who lifts up my head.
I cry aloud to the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy mountain. Selah
I lay down and slept;
I woke again,
for the LORD sustains me.

I will not fear the tens of thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
Rise up, LORD! Save me, my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
Deliverance belongs to the LORD;
may your blessing be on your people. Selah

Know this: the LORD has set apart the faithful for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
Tremble, and do not sin;
speak in your hearts on your beds,
and be still. Selah
Offer right sacrifices,
and trust in the LORD.

Many are saying, “Who will show us good?”
Lift up the light of your face upon us, LORD.
You have put joy in my heart,
more than when their grain and new wine abound.
In peace I will lie down and sleep at once,
for you alone, LORD,
make me dwell in safety.

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil cannot stay with you as a guest.
The boastful cannot stand before your eyes;
you hate all who do wrong.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the bloodthirsty and the deceitful
the LORD abhors.

But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house;
I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.
LORD, lead me in your righteousness because of those who lie in wait for me;
make your way straight before me.
For there is nothing reliable in their mouths; within them is ruin.
Their throat is an open grave;
they make their tongues smooth.

Hold them guilty, God; let them fall by their own schemes.
Because of their many crimes, drive them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing for joy forever, and shelter them,
and let those who love your name exult in you.
For you bless the righteous,
LORD;
you surround them with favor as with a shield.

Turn back, LORD, rescue my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death there is no remembering you;
in Sheol, who gives you thanks?
I am worn out with my groaning; every night I flood my bed;
with my tears I drench my couch.note

My eye is wasted with grief;
it has grown old because of all my foes.
Get away from me, all you who do wrong,
for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
The LORD has heard my plea;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
All my enemies will be ashamed and shake with terror;
they will turn back, ashamed, in an instant.

if I have repaid my friend with evil,
or plundered my foe without cause,
then let the enemy pursue me and overtake me, and trample my life into the ground,
and lay my glory in the dust. Selah
Rise up, LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my foes;
awake for me—you have commanded justice.

Let the assembly of the peoples gather around you,
and over it return on high.
The LORD judges the peoples;
judge me, LORD,
according to my righteousness and the integrity that is in me.
Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and establish the righteous,
for the one who tests hearts and inmost selves
is a righteous God.

My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge,
a God who is indignant every day.
If someone does not turn back, he sharpens his sword;
he has bent his bow and made it ready.
He has prepared deadly weapons for him;
he makes his arrows into flaming shafts.

Look: he is in labor with wickedness;
he has conceived trouble and given birth to lies.
He dug a pit and hollowed it out,
and has fallen into the hole he made.
His trouble comes back on his own head;
his violence comes down on his own skull.
I will thank the LORD for his righteousness,
and sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have set in place—
what is a human being, that you remember him,
a mortal, that you care for him?
You have made him little less than God,
and crowned him with glory and honor.note

You have given him rule over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet:
sheep and oxen, all of them,
and the wild animals too,
the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked;
you have wiped out their name forever and ever.
The enemy is finished, in ruins forever;
you have uprooted their cities;
the very memory of them has perished.
But the LORD sits enthroned forever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.

He judges the world in righteousness;
he judges the peoples with fairness.
The LORD will be a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you have not abandoned those who seek you, LORD.
Sing praise to the LORD, who dwells in Zion;
proclaim his deeds among the peoples.

For the one who avenges blood remembers them;
he does not forget the cry of the humble.
Be gracious to me, LORD; see how I suffer from those who hate me,
you who lift me up from the gates of death,
so that I may tell of all your praises
in the gates of Daughter Zion,
and rejoice in your deliverance.

The nations have sunk into the pit they made;
in the net they hid, their own foot is caught.
The LORD has made himself known; he has done justice;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.
Higgaion. Selah
The wicked will return to Sheol,
all the nations that forget God.note

For the needy will not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
Rise up, LORD! Do not let mortals prevail;
let the nations be judged before you.
Put fear into them, LORD;
let the nations know
that they are only mortal. Selah

The wicked, in his haughtiness, does not seek him;
“There is no God” is all his thinking.
His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are high above, out of his sight;
he snorts at all his foes.
He says in his heart, “I will not be shaken;
through all generations I will never meet harm.”

His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression;
under his tongue are trouble and wickedness.
He sits in ambush near the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent;
his eyes watch in secret for the helpless.
He lies in wait in hiding like a lion in its thicket; he lies in wait to seize the poor;
he seizes the poor and drags him off in his net.

He crushes, he crouches low,
and the helpless fall by his might.
He says in his heart, “God has forgotten;
he has hidden his face; he will never see.”
Rise up, LORD! God, lift up your hand;
do not forget the humble.

Why does the wicked spurn God,
saying in his heart, “You will not call me to account”?
But you do see! For you look on trouble and grief, to take it into your hand.
The helpless entrust themselves to you;
you have been the helper of the orphan.
Break the arm of the wicked;
as for the evildoer, seek out his wickedness until none is found.

The LORD is king forever and ever;
the nations have perished from his land.
You have heard the desire of the humble, LORD;
you strengthen their hearts, you incline your ear,
to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
so that never again
will mortals from the earth strike terror.

When the foundations are torn down,
what can the righteous do?”
The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes watch;
his searching gaze tests human beings.

The LORD tests the righteous,
but the wicked and the one who loves violence
he hates with his whole being.
He will rain snares down on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind
will be the portion of their cup.
For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds;
the upright will see his face.

those who say, “With our tongues we will prevail; our lips are our own—
who is master over us?”
“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
now I will rise up,” says the LORD;
“I will place them in the safety they long for.”

The words of the LORD are pure words,
silver refined in a furnace in the earth,
purified seven times.
You, LORD, will keep them;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
All around the wicked prowl,
when vileness is exalted among humankind.

Look at me, answer me, LORD my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
or my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I am shaken.
But I trust in your steadfast love; my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
I will sing to the LORD,
for he has dealt generously with me.

They have all turned aside; together they have gone rotten;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
Do they not know, all who do wrong,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call on the LORD?

There they are, in great dread,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
You would put to shame the plans of the poor,
but the LORD is their refuge.
Oh, that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.

In his eyes the despicable are despised, but he honors those who fear the LORD;
he keeps his oath even when it hurts him, and does not change it.
He does not lend his money at interest, or take a bribe against the innocent.
Whoever does these things
will never be shaken.

The LORD is my allotted share and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
yes, my inheritance is beautiful to me.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even at night my inmost self instructs me.
I keep the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.note

So my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
my body too rests secure.
For you will not abandon my life to Sheol;
you will not let your faithful one see the Pit.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence is fullness of joy,
at your right hand are pleasures forever.

As for human deeds—by the word of your lips
I have kept away from the paths of the violent.
My steps have held fast to your tracks;
my feet have not slipped.
I call on you, for you will answer me, God;
turn your ear to me, hear my words.

Show your wondrous acts of steadfast love, you who save those who take refuge
from their attackers by your right hand.
Keep me as the pupil of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
from the wicked who assault me,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
They have closed up their callous hearts;
their mouths speak arrogantly.

Now they have surrounded our steps;
they set their eyes on bringing us down to the ground.
He is like a lion eager to tear,
like a young lion lurking in hiding.
Rise up, LORD, confront him, bring him down!
Rescue my life from the wicked with your sword,

from mortals by your hand, LORD, from mortals whose share in life is of this world. Fill their bellies with what you have stored up for them;
may their children have their fill,
and leave what is left over to their little ones.
As for me, in righteousness I will see your face;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with your likeness.

The LORD is my crag, my fortress, and my rescuer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield, the horn of my deliverance, my stronghold.
I call on the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.
The cords of death encircled me;
the torrents of destruction terrified me.
The cords of Sheol surrounded me;
the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called on the LORD; I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry before him reached his ears.
Then the earth shook and quaked; the foundations of the mountains trembled;
they shook because he was angry.

Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals blazed from him.
He bent the heavens and came down,
with thick darkness under his feet.
He rode on a cherub and flew;
he swooped on the wings of the wind.note

He made darkness his cover, his canopy all around him,
dark waters, thick clouds of the skies.
Out of the brightness before him
his clouds passed by,
hail and coals of fire.
The LORD thundered in the heavens, and the Most High gave voice:
hail and coals of fire.

He sent out his arrows and scattered them,
lightning in abundance, and routed them.
The beds of the waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, LORD,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
He reached down from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of mighty waters.

He rescued me from my strong enemy,
from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
They confronted me on the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.
He brought me out into a broad place;
he set me free because he delighted in me.
The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he repaid me.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD,
and have not wickedly turned away from my God.
For all his judgments are before me,
and his statutes I do not put away from me.
I was blameless with him,
and I kept myself from guilt.
So the LORD repaid me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

With the loyal you show yourself loyal;
with the blameless you show yourself blameless;
with the pure you show yourself pure,
but with the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
For you save a humble people,
but haughty eyes you bring low.
For you light my lamp;
the LORD my God lights up my darkness.

For with you I can charge a troop,
and with my God I can leap over a wall.
This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is refined;
he is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
For who is God except the LORD?
And who is a rock besides our God?

The God who girds me with strength
and makes my way perfect,
who makes my feet like the feet of deer
and sets me on my heights,
who trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You have given me the shield of your deliverance;
your right hand supports me,
and your gentleness makes me great.

You widen the path beneath my steps,
and my ankles have not given way.
I pursue my enemies and overtake them;
I do not turn back until they are finished.
I strike them down, and they cannot rise;
they fall beneath my feet.
You girded me with strength for battle;
you made my attackers bow beneath me.

You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
They cried for help, but there was no one to save them;
they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
I ground them fine as dust before the wind;
I emptied them out like mud in the streets.
You rescued me from the strife of the people;
you made me head of the nations;
a people I did not know served me.

As soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me;
foreigners came cringing to me.
Foreigners lost heart
and came trembling out of their strongholds.
The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock!
Exalted be the God of my deliverance,
the God who gave me vengeance
and subdued peoples under me,

who rescued me from my enemies.
Yes, you lifted me above my attackers;
you delivered me from the violent.
So I will praise you among the nations, LORD,
and sing praise to your name.
He gives great victories to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his descendants
forever.

Yet through all the earth
their line goes out, and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has pitched a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom from his canopy,
and rejoices like a champion to run his course.
Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit reaches the other end,
and nothing is hidden from its heat.note

The teaching of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;
the decree of the LORD is trustworthy, making the simple wise.
The precepts of the LORD are right, making the heart glad;
the commandment of the LORD is clear, giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever;
the judgments of the LORD are true
and righteous altogether.
They are more desirable than gold, than much fine gold,
and sweeter than honey, than drippings from the honeycomb.
By them your servant is warned too;
in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can discern their own errors?
Clear me of hidden faults.
Keep your servant back also from willful sins; do not let them rule over me. Then I will be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you,
LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

May he give you your heart’s desire,
and fulfill all your plans.
We will shout for joy at your victory, and in the name of our God raise our banners.
May the LORD fulfill all your requests.
Now I know that the LORD gives victory to his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the mighty victories of his right hand.

Some rely on chariots, and some on horses,
but we call on the name of the LORD our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.
LORD, give victory!
May the King answer us on the day we call.

He asked you for life; you gave it to him,
length of days forever and ever.
Great is his glory through your victory;
splendor and majesty you lay upon him.
For you make him a blessing forever;
you gladden him with joy in your presence.

For the king trusts in the LORD,
and through the steadfast love of the Most High he will not be shaken.
Your hand will find all your enemies;
your right hand will find those who hate you.
You will make them like a blazing furnace when you appear;
the LORD will swallow them up in his anger,
and fire will consume them.

You will destroy their offspring from the earth,
and their descendants from among humankind.
Though they planned evil against you,
though they devised a scheme, they will not succeed.
For you will make them turn their backs;
you will aim your bowstrings at their faces.
Be exalted, LORD, in your strength!
We will sing and make music to your might.

In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you rescued them.
To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm, not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they curl their lips and shake their heads:

“Commit yourself to the LORD! Let him rescue him;
let him deliver him, since he delights in him!”
Yet you are the one who drew me from the womb,
who made me feel safe at my mother’s breasts.
On you I was cast from birth;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Do not be far from me, for trouble is near,
and there is no one to help.

Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
They open their mouths wide against me,
like a lion tearing and roaring.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart has become like wax,
melting deep within me.note

My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs surround me;
a gang of evildoers encircles me;
like a lion, my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones;
they stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my garment they cast lots.note

But you, LORD, do not be far away;
my strength, hurry to help me!
Rescue my life from the sword,
my one precious life from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lion’s mouth!
From the horns of the wild oxen you have answered me.
I will tell of your name to my kin;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.

You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, honor him!
Stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he has not despised or loathed the affliction of the afflicted; he has not hidden his face from him,
but when he cried to him, he heard.

From you comes my praise
in the great assembly;
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear him.
The humble will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise him.
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations will bow down before you.

For kingship belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.
All the prosperous of the earth will eat and bow down; before him will kneel all who go down to the dust,
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Descendants will serve him;
they will tell of the Lord to the next generation.
They will come and proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet to be born: that he has done it.note

You spread a table before me in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and steadfast love will pursue me all the days of my life,
and I will return to the house of the LORD for length of days.

He will carry away blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, Jacob. Selah
Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts—
he is the King of glory. Selah

Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.
Remember your compassion, LORD, and your acts of steadfast love,
for they are from of old.
The sins of my youth and my rebellions—do not remember them;
in your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, LORD.

Good and upright is the LORD;
so he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in justice
and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

For the sake of your name, LORD,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
Who is the one who fears the LORD?
He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
His life will rest in good things,
and his descendants will inherit the land.
The LORD’s close counsel is for those who fear him,
and his covenant, to make it known to them.

My eyes are always on the LORD,
for he will pull my feet out of the net.
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am alone and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart have grown wide;
bring me out of my distress.
See my affliction and my toil,
and forgive all my sins.

See my enemies, how many they are,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
Guard my life and rescue me;
let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.
Redeem Israel, O God,
from all its troubles.

I hate the company of evildoers,
and with the wicked I will not sit.
I wash my hands in innocence
and go around your altar, LORD,
making thanksgiving heard aloud
and telling all your wonders.
LORD, I love the house where you dwell,
the place where your glory lives.

Do not gather me up with sinners,
nor my life with men of bloodshed,
in whose hands are schemes,
whose right hands are full of bribes.
But I walk in my integrity;
redeem me and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on level ground;
in the assemblies I will bless the LORD.

Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fear;
though war rise up against me,
even then I will trust.
One thing I have asked of the LORD, this I seek:
to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter on the day of trouble;
he will conceal me in the hiding place of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.
And now my head will be raised above my enemies all around me, and in his tent I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.
Hear, LORD, my voice when I call;
be gracious to me and answer me.

Of you my heart says, “Seek my face.”
Your face, LORD, I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me; do not turn your servant away in anger.
You have been my help;
do not cast me off, do not abandon me, God of my salvation.
Though my father and my mother abandon me,
the LORD will take me in.

Teach me your way, LORD,
and lead me on a level path
because of those who lie in wait for me.
Do not hand me over to the will of my foes,
for false witnesses have risen against me, breathing out violence.
If I had not believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living—
Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD.note

Give them what their deeds deserve, as their evil acts deserve;
give them according to the work of their hands;
pay them back what they have earned.
Because they do not understand the deeds of the LORD or the work of his hands,
he will tear them down and not build them up.
Blessed be the LORD,
for he has heard the sound of my pleading.

The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusted, and I was helped;
so my heart exults,
and with my song I will thank him.
The LORD is strength for his people,
and he is a stronghold of salvation for his anointed.
Save your people and bless your inheritance;
shepherd them and carry them forever.

The voice of the LORD breaks cedars;
the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes them skip like a calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the LORD hews out
flames of fire.
The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.note

The voice of the LORD makes the deer writhe in labor and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple
all cry, “Glory!”
The LORD sat enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
May the LORD give strength to his people;
may the LORD bless his people with peace.

Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts a moment, his favor a lifetime;
in the evening weeping comes to stay the night,
but at morning, a shout of joy.
As for me, I said in my ease,
“I will never be shaken.”

LORD, by your favor you set me firm as a mighty mountain;
you hid your face,
and I was terrified.
To you, LORD, I call,
and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
What gain is there in my blood if I go down to the grave?
Will the dust thank you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?note

Hear, LORD, and be gracious to me;
LORD, be my helper.
You turned my mourning into dancing for me;
you loosened my sackcloth
and wrapped me in joy,
so that my whole being may sing to you and not be silent.
LORD my God, I will thank you forever.

Bring me out of the net they have hidden for me,
for you are my stronghold.
Into your hand I entrust my spirit;
you have redeemed me, LORD,
God of faithfulness.
I hate those who cling to worthless idols,
but I trust in the LORD.

I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
because you saw my affliction
and knew the distress of my soul.
You did not hand me over to the enemy;
you set my feet in a broad place.
Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am in distress;
my eye is wasted with grief,
my soul and my body too.

For my life is spent in sorrow and my years in sighing;
my strength fails because of my guilt,
and my bones waste away.
Because of all my foes I have become a disgrace, especially to my neighbors, and a dread to those who know me;
those who see me in the street
flee from me.

I am forgotten, out of mind like the dead;
I have become like a broken pot.
For I hear the whispering of many—terror on every side—
as they plot together against me,
scheming to take my life.
But I trust in you, LORD;
I say, “You are my God.”

My times are in your hand;
rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who pursue me.
Make your face shine on your servant;
save me in your steadfast love.
LORD, let me not be put to shame, for I call on you;
let the wicked be put to shame; let them be silent in Sheol.
Let lying lips be struck silent,
which speak arrogantly against the righteous
with pride and contempt.

How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you,
which you have worked for those who take refuge in you
in the sight of all people!
You hide them in the shelter of your presence from human plots;
you keep them safe in a shelter
from quarreling tongues.
Blessed be the LORD,
for he has shown me the wonder of his steadfast love in a city under siege.

As for me, I said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.”
Yet you heard the sound of my pleading
when I cried to you for help.
Love the LORD, all you his faithful ones!
The LORD guards the faithful
and repays in full the one who acts with pride.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the LORD.

For day and night your hand was heavy on me;
my vigor was turned
as by the droughts of summer. Selah
My sin I made known to you, and my guilt I did not cover; I said, “I will confess my offenses to the LORD,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

So let everyone who is faithful pray to you at a time when you may be found;
surely, when the great waters rush in,
they will not reach him.
You are a hiding place for me; you guard me from trouble;
with shouts of deliverance
you surround me. Selah
I will instruct you
and teach you the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
whose harness of bit and bridle is needed to hold it in,
or it will not come near you.
Many are the pains of the wicked,
but the one who trusts in the LORD
is surrounded by steadfast love.
Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous;
shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
He gathers the waters of the sea as in a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations;
he thwarts the designs of the peoples.
The plan of the LORD stands forever,
the designs of his heart from generation to generation.

Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen as his own inheritance.
From heaven the LORD looks down;
he sees all humankind.
From the place where he sits enthroned he gazes
on all who live on the earth—
he who shapes the hearts of them all,
who understands all their deeds.

No king is saved by a great army;
no warrior is rescued by great strength.
The horse is a false hope for victory;
for all its great might, it cannot save.
Look—the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who wait for his steadfast love,
to rescue their lives from death
and to keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
For in him our heart rejoices,
because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, LORD, be upon us,
even as we wait for you.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and rescued me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces will never be ashamed.
This poor man called, and the LORD heard
and saved him from all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD camps around those who fear him
and delivers them.

Taste and see that the LORD is good;
happy is the one who takes refuge in him.
Fear the LORD, you his holy ones,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
Young lions go hungry and starve,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Come, children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.note

Who is the one who desires life
and loves many days to see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their cry.

The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
They cry out, and the LORD hears
and rescues them from all their troubles.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves those crushed in spirit.
Many are the troubles of the righteous,
but the LORD rescues him from them all.

He guards all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
Evil will kill the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;
none who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Let those who seek my life be shamed and disgraced;
let them be turned back and confounded,
those who plot evil against me.
Let them be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the LORD driving them on.
Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.

For without cause they hid their net for me in a pit;
without cause they dug it for my life.
Let ruin come on him unawares,
and let the net he hid catch him;
let him fall into it, to his ruin.
Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD
and delight in his salvation.

All my bones will say, “LORD, who is like you?
You rescue the poor from one too strong for him,
the poor and needy from one who robs him.”
Malicious witnesses rise up;
they question me about things I do not know.
They repay me evil for good;
my soul is bereft.

But I, when they were sick, wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting,
and my prayer would return to my own breast.
I went about as though for a friend or a brother;
like one mourning a mother, I bowed down in grief.
But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered;
attackers gathered against me, people I did not know;
they tore at me and did not stop.

Like godless mockers jeering for a cake,
they gnash their teeth at me.
Lord, how long will you look on?
Rescue my life from their ravages,
my one precious life from the lions.
I will thank you in the great assembly;
among a mighty throng I will praise you.note

Do not let my lying enemies rejoice over me,
or those who hate me without cause wink their eyes.
For they do not speak peace,
but against the quiet ones of the land
they devise words of deceit.
They open their mouths wide against me;
they say, “Aha, aha!
Our eyes have seen it!”

You have seen, LORD; do not be silent.
Lord, do not be far from me.
Wake up, rouse yourself for my cause,
my God and my Lord, for my case!
Judge me by your righteousness, LORD my God,
and do not let them rejoice over me.
Do not let them say in their hearts, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up.”

Let those who rejoice at my misfortune be shamed and confounded together;
let them be clothed with shame and disgrace,
those who exalt themselves over me.
Let those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and be glad,
and let them say always, “Great is the LORD,
who delights in the well-being of his servant.”
Then my tongue will tell of your righteousness,
of your praise all day long.

He plots wickedness on his bed;
he sets himself on a path that is not good;
evil he does not reject.
LORD, your steadfast love reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness
is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep;
humans and animals alike you save, LORD.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of humankind
take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
Continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your righteousness to the upright in heart.
Do not let the foot of the arrogant come against me,
or the hand of the wicked drive me away.
There the evildoers lie fallen,
thrust down, unable to rise.

Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make your righteousness shine like the light,
and your justice like the noonday.
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret over one who prospers in his way,
over one who carries out evil schemes.

Let go of anger and abandon rage;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
For evildoers will be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD will inherit the land.
A little while longer, and the wicked will be no more;
you will look closely at his place, and he will not be there.
But the humble will inherit the land
and delight in abundant peace.

The wicked plots against the righteous
and gnashes his teeth at him.
The Lord laughs at him,
for he sees that his day is coming.
The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slaughter those whose way is upright.

Their sword will enter their own heart,
and their bows will be broken.
Better is the little that the righteous has
than the wealth of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked will be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.
The LORD knows the days of the blameless,
and their inheritance will last forever.

They will not be put to shame in evil times;
in days of famine they will have plenty.
But the wicked will perish, and the enemies of the LORD, like the beauty of the meadows,
vanish—like smoke they vanish.
The wicked one borrows and does not repay,
but the righteous one is generous and gives.

For those he blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be cut off.
By the LORD a man’s steps are made firm,
and he delights in his way.
Though he falls, he will not be hurled down,
for the LORD holds his hand.
I have been young, and now I am old,
yet I have not seen a righteous person abandoned
or his children begging for bread.

All day long he is generous and lends,
and his children become a blessing.
Turn from evil and do good,
and you will dwell secure forever.
For the LORD loves justice and will not abandon his faithful ones; they are kept safe forever,
but the children of the wicked will be cut off.
The righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever.

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
The teaching of his God is in his heart;
his steps do not slip.
The wicked watches for the righteous
and seeks to kill him.
The LORD will not abandon him to his power
or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.

Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will raise you up to inherit the land;
when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
I have seen a wicked man, ruthless,
spreading himself out like a flourishing native tree.
Then he passed away, and look—he was gone;
I searched for him, but he could not be found.

Mark the blameless and look at the upright,
for there is a future for the person of peace.
But transgressors will be destroyed together;
the future of the wicked will be cut off.
The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
The LORD helps them and rescues them;
he rescues them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

For my guilt has gone over my head;
like a heavy burden, it is too heavy for me.
My wounds stink and fester
because of my folly.
I am bent and bowed down utterly;
all day long I go about in mourning.
For my loins are filled with burning,
and there is no soundness in my flesh.

I am numb and utterly crushed;
I roar because of the groaning of my heart.
Lord, all my longing is before you;
my sighing is not hidden from you.
My heart throbs, my strength has left me,
and the light of my eyes—even that is gone from me.
My loved ones
and my friends stand aloof from my affliction,
and those close to me stand far off.

Those who seek my life lay snares; those who seek my harm speak of ruin
and mutter deceit all day long.
But I am like the deaf, who do not hear,
like the mute, who do not open their mouths.
I have become like one who does not hear,
in whose mouth there is no retort.

For in you, LORD, I hope;
you will answer, Lord my God.
For I said, “Do not let them rejoice over me,
who boast against me when my foot slips.”
For I am ready to fall,
and my pain is always before me.
I confess my guilt;
I am anxious because of my sin.

My enemies are lively and strong,
and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
Those who repay evil for good
accuse me because I pursue good.
Do not abandon me, LORD;
my God, do not be far from me.
Hurry to help me,
Lord, my salvation.

Let me know, LORD, my end, and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am.
Look, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you;
surely every human, however firmly he stands, is only a breath. Selah
Surely everyone walks about as a mere shadow; surely they bustle about for nothing;
he heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather it.

And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in you.
Rescue me from all my offenses;
do not make me the scorn of fools.
I am mute; I do not open my mouth,
for it is you who have done this.
Take your blow away from me;
I am worn out by the hostility of your hand.

With rebukes for guilt you discipline a person, and like a moth you consume what he holds dear;
surely every human is only a breath. Selah
Hear my prayer, LORD, and listen to my cry; do not be silent at my tears.
For I am a stranger with you,
a sojourner, like all my ancestors.
Look away from me, that I may smile again,
before I go and am no more.

Happy is the one who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not turn to the arrogant or to those who stray after lies.
Many are the wonders you have done, LORD my God, and your plans for us;
none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and speak of them,
they would be too many to count.

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—you have dug open my ears—
burnt offering and sin offering you did not ask for.
Then I said, “Here I come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
To do your will, my God, is my delight;
your teaching is deep within me.”note

I have proclaimed righteousness in the great assembly; look, I do not hold back my lips,
LORD, as you know.
I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your truth from the great assembly.

You, LORD, will not hold back your compassion from me;
your steadfast love and your truth will always guard me.
For evils beyond number have surrounded me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed me.

Be pleased, LORD, to rescue me;
LORD, hurry to help me.
Let those who seek to snatch away my life be shamed and confounded together;
let them be turned back and disgraced,
those who delight in my harm.
Let them be appalled at their own shame,
those who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;
let them say always, “Great is the LORD,”
those who love your salvation.
As for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
my God, do not delay.

As for me, I said, “LORD, be gracious to me;
heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
My enemies speak evil of me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
And if one comes to see me, he speaks empty words, while his heart gathers mischief;
he goes out into the street and speaks of it.

All who hate me whisper together about me;
they plan harm against me:
“Something deadly has been poured into him;
now that he has lain down, he will not rise again.”
Even my close friend, whom I trusted, who ate my bread,
has lifted his heel against me.
But you, LORD, be gracious to me and raise me up,
that I may repay them.

By this I know that you delight in me:
that my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.
As for me, you uphold me in my integrity
and set me in your presence forever.
Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and amen.note

My tears have been my bread day and night,
while all day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”
These things I remember as I pour out my soul within me: how I used to pass along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving,
a festive crowd.

Why are you bowed down, my soul, and why do you groan within me?
Hope in God, for I will yet praise him,
the saving help of his presence.
My God, my soul is bowed down within me;
therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan
and the Hermons, from Mount Mizar.note

Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves have swept over me.
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my crag, “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about in mourning
under the enemy’s oppression?”

Like a crushing in my bones, my foes taunt me,
while all day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”
Why are you bowed down, my soul, and why do you groan within me?
Hope in God, for I will yet praise him,
my saving help and my God.

Then I will come to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
Why are you bowed down, my soul, and why do you groan within me?
Hope in God, for I will yet praise him,
my saving help and my God.

For not by their own sword did they take the land, nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm and the light of your face,
because you delighted in them.
You are my King, O God;
command victories for Jacob.
Through you we gore our foes;
through your name we trample those who rise against us.

For not in my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me;
but you saved us from our foes
and put those who hate us to shame.
In God we have boasted all day long,
and we will praise your name forever. Selah
Yet you have rejected us and humiliated us,
and you do not go out with our armies.

You make us turn back from the foe,
and those who hate us take plunder for themselves.
You hand us over like sheep to be eaten,
and you have scattered us among the nations.
You sell your people for nothing
and gain nothing from their price.
You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.
You make us a byword among the nations,
a shaking of heads among the peoples.

All day long my disgrace is before me,
and shame has covered my face
at the voice of the taunter and reviler,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you,
nor been false to your covenant.
Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps strayed from your path.

Yet you crushed us in the haunt of jackals
and covered us with deep darkness.
If we had forgotten the name of our God
and spread out our hands to a foreign god,
would not God search this out?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
But for your sake we are killed all day long;
we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

Wake up! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
Why do you hide your face
and forget our misery and oppression?
For our life sinks down to the dust;
our belly clings to the ground.
Rise up and help us;
redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.

Strap your sword on your thigh, O warrior,
your splendor and your majesty.
And in your majesty ride on to victory for the cause of truth and humility and righteousness,
and let your right hand teach you awesome deeds.
Your arrows are sharp—
peoples fall beneath you—
in the heart of the king’s enemies.

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness
above your companions.
All your robes are myrrh and aloes and cassia;
from ivory palaces strings make you glad.note

Daughters of kings are among your honored women;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
Listen, daughter, look, and turn your ear:
forget your people and your father’s house,
and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow down to him.note

The daughter of Tyre
will seek your favor with gifts—
the richest of the people.
All glorious is the king’s daughter within;
her clothing is woven with gold.
In embroidered robes she is led to the king;
young women, her companions, follow behind her,
brought to you.

They are led in with joy and gladness;
they enter the palace of the king.
In place of your fathers will be your sons;
you will make them princes in all the land.
I will make your name remembered in every generation;
therefore peoples will praise you forever and ever.

though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains quake at its surging. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in her midst; she will not totter;
God will help her at the break of dawn.

Nations roar, kingdoms totter;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah
Come, see the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and snaps the spear;
he burns the wagons with fire.
“Stop, and know that I am God;
I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted on the earth.”
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah

He chooses our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. Selah
God has gone up amid shouting,
the LORD with the sound of the ram’s horn.
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.

For God is King of all the earth;
sing praises with a maskil.
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
The nobles of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted.note

For look: the kings assembled;
they advanced together.
They saw, and at once they were astounded;
they panicked and fled in alarm.
Trembling seized them there,
anguish like a woman in labor.
With an east wind
you shatter the ships of Tarshish.note

As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God:
God establishes her forever. Selah
We ponder your steadfast love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
Like your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;
your right hand is full of righteousness.

Let Mount Zion be glad, let the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments.
Walk around Zion, go all the way around her,
count her towers.
Take note of her ramparts, pass through her citadels,
so that you may recount to the next generation
that this is God, our God forever and ever;
he will lead us beyond death.note

I will turn my ear to a proverb;
I will set out my riddle to the lyre.
Why should I fear in days of trouble,
when the iniquity of those at my heels surrounds me—
those who trust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?
No one can ever redeem a brother,
or give God a ransom for him.

The ransom of a life is too costly;
one must give it up forever—
that he should live on forever
and never see the Pit.
For he sees that the wise die; the fool and the brute perish together
and leave their wealth to others.

In their hearts their houses last forever, their dwellings for generation after generation;
they have named lands after themselves.
But a human being in splendor does not abide;
he is like the beasts that are silenced.
This is the way of those who are foolishly confident,
and of those after them who approve their words. Selah

Like sheep they are herded into Sheol; Death is their shepherd.
The upright will rule over them in the morning, and their form will waste away in Sheol,
far from its lofty dwelling.
But God will redeem my life from the grasp of Sheol,
for he will take me. Selah
Do not be afraid when someone grows rich,
when the glory of his house increases.note

For when he dies he will take nothing with him;
his glory will not go down after him.
Though in his lifetime he congratulates himself—
and people praise you when you do well for yourself—
he will join the generation of his ancestors,
who will never again see the light.
A human being in splendor who does not understand
is like the beasts that are silenced.note

“Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge. Selah
“Listen, my people, and I will speak; Israel, I will testify against you:
I am God, your God.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are always before me.

“I will not take a bull from your house,
or goats from your folds.
For every animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird of the mountains,
and whatever moves in the field is with me.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world is mine and all that fills it.

“Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
Offer thanksgiving as your sacrifice to God,
and pay your vows to the Most High.
Call on me in the day of trouble;
I will rescue you, and you will honor me.”
But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?note

“You hate discipline,
and you toss my words behind you.
When you see a thief, you make friends with him,
and you throw in your lot with adulterers.
You let your mouth loose for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your own mother’s son.

“These things you have done, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you.
I will rebuke you and lay the case before your eyes.
Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you apart, with no one to rescue.
Whoever offers thanksgiving as sacrifice honors me,
and to the one who sets his way aright
I will show the salvation of God.”

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned and done what is evil in your eyes,
so that you are in the right when you speak
and blameless when you judge.
Indeed, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin my mother conceived me.

Indeed, you desire truth in the inward parts;
in the hidden place you teach me wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.note

Create a pure heart for me, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain me with a willing spirit.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.

Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you take no delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you are not pleased with burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and crushed heart,
O God, you will not despise.
In your favor do good to Zion;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will delight in right sacrifices, burnt offering and whole offering;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.note

You love evil more than good,
lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
You love all words that devour,
you deceitful tongue.
But God will tear you down forever;
he will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent
and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
The righteous will see and be afraid,
and they will laugh at him:

“Look at the man who would not make God his stronghold,
but trusted in his great wealth
and grew strong through his destruction!”
But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in God’s steadfast love forever and ever.
I will thank you forever for what you have done,
and I will hope in your name, for it is good, before your faithful ones.

All of them have turned back; together they have become rotten;
no one does good,
not even one.
Do they not know, these evildoers,
who devour my people as they eat bread,
and do not call on God?

There they were in great terror, where there was nothing to fear,
for God has scattered the bones of those who besiege you;
you have put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come from Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.

For strangers have risen against me, and ruthless men seek my life;
they do not set God before them. Selah
But look, God is my helper;
the Lord is with those who uphold my life.

He will repay the evil to those who lie in wait for me;
in your faithfulness, destroy them.
With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will praise your name, O LORD, for it is good.
For he has rescued me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

My heart writhes within me,
and the terrors of death have fallen on me.
Fear and trembling come over me,
and horror overwhelms me.
And I say, “If only I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and find rest.
Yes, I would wander far away;
I would lodge in the wilderness.” Selah

I would hurry to find a shelter
from the raging wind and the storm.
Confound them, O Lord, divide their speech,
for I see violence and strife in the city.
Day and night they make their rounds on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
ruin is within it,
and oppression and fraud never leave its square.

For it is not an enemy who taunts me—that I could bear;
it is not one who hates me who exalts himself against me—
then I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man my equal,
my companion and my close friend,
with whom I shared sweet counsel;
in the house of God we walked with the throng.

Let death come upon them by surprise; let them go down alive to Sheol,
for evil is in their dwellings, in their very midst.
As for me, I call to God,
and the LORD will save me.
Evening and morning and noon I complain and moan,
and he hears my voice.
He redeems my life in peace from the battle against me,
for many are ranged against me.

God will hear and answer them—he who is enthroned from of old, Selah—because they do not change
and do not fear God.
He stretched out his hands against his friends;
he violated his covenant.
His mouth was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
yet they were drawn swords.

Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you;
he will never allow the stumbling
of the righteous.
But you, O God, will bring them down to the well of the Pit; men of blood and deceit will not live out half their days.
But as for me, I trust in you.

In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not fear;
what can flesh do to me?
All day long they twist my words;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps,
as they have waited for my life.

Despite their wickedness, shall they escape?
In anger bring down the peoples, O God.
You have counted my wanderings;
put my tears in your flask—
are they not in your record?
Then my enemies will turn back on the day I call;
this I know: God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,note

in God I trust; I will not fear;
what can a human do to me?
Your vows are upon me, O God;
I will render thank offerings to you.
For you have rescued my life from death, yes, my feet from stumbling,
so that I may walk before God
in the light of life.

He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame the one who tramples me. Selah
God will send his steadfast love and his faithfulness.
My life is in the midst of lions; I lie down among those who devour—
humans whose teeth are spears and arrows,
and whose tongue is a sharp sword.

Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
let your glory be over all the earth.
They set a net for my steps; my life was bowed down.
They dug a pit before me,
but they fell into it themselves. Selah
My heart is steady, O God, my heart is steady;
I will sing and make music.

Wake up, my glory! Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake the dawn.
I will praise you among the peoples, O Lord;
I will sing of you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is great, reaching to the heavens,
and your faithfulness to the clouds.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
let your glory be over all the earth.note

The wicked are estranged from the womb;
liars go astray from birth.
Their venom is like the venom of a snake,
like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,
that will not listen to the voice of the charmers,
of the most skillful caster of spells.

God, smash the teeth in their mouths;
break the fangs of the young lions, LORD!
Let them melt away like water that runs off;
when he aims his arrows, let them be like stalks cut down.
Let them be like a snail that dissolves as it goes,
like a woman’s stillborn child that never sees the sun.note

Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns,
green or burning, he will sweep them away in a storm.
The righteous one will rejoice when he sees vengeance;
he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
People will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on the earth.”note

For look, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men gather against me,
not for any offense or sin of mine, LORD.
Through no fault of mine they run and take up their positions;
rouse yourself to meet me, and see!
You, LORD God of hosts, God of Israel, wake up to punish all the nations;
show no mercy to any treacherous evildoers. Selah

They come back at evening, snarling like dogs,
and prowl around the city.
Look, they spew it from their mouths—swords are on their lips—
for “Who is listening?”
But you, LORD, laugh at them;
you mock all the nations.
My strength, I will watch for you,
for God is my stronghold.note

The God of my steadfast love will come to meet me;
God will let me look in triumph on my foes.
Do not kill them, or my people may forget; scatter them by your might and bring them down,
Lord, our shield.
For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,
let them be caught in their pride,
for the curses and the lies they utter.

Consume them in your wrath, consume them till they are no more,
and let them know that God rules in Jacob
to the ends of the earth. Selah
They come back at evening, snarling like dogs,
and prowl around the city.
They roam about for food,
and if they are not filled, they growl all night.

But I will sing of your strength, and in the morning shout for joy at your steadfast love,
for you have been a stronghold for me,
a refuge in the day of my distress.
My strength, to you I will sing praise,
for God is my stronghold, the God of my steadfast love.

You have made the land quake, you have split it open;
heal its breaches, for it is tottering.
You have made your people see hard things;
you have given us wine to drink that makes us reel.
You have given those who fear you a banner to rally to,
out of range of the bow. Selah
So that those you love may be rescued,
save with your right hand, and answer me.note

God has spoken in his holiness: “I will exult;
I will divide up Shechem
and measure out the Valley of Succoth.
Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, Ephraim is the helmet on my head,
Judah is my scepter.
Moab is my washbasin; on Edom I toss my sandal;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”note

Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
Is it not you, God, who have rejected us?
You do not go out, God, with our armies.
Give us help against the foe,
for human help is worthless.
With God we will do valiantly,
and he will trample our foes.

For you have been a refuge for me,
a strong tower against the enemy.
Let me dwell in your tent forever,
and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah
For you, God, have heard my vows;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

Add days to the days of the king;
may his years be like generation upon generation.
May he sit enthroned forever before God;
appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to guard him.
So I will sing praise to your name forever,
as I fulfill my vows day after day.

They only plan to thrust him down from his height; they delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless,
but inwardly they curse. Selah
For God alone, my soul, wait in silence,
for from him comes my hope.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my stronghold; I shall not be shaken.

On God rest my salvation and my glory;
my strong rock, my refuge, is in God.
Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
Human beings are only a breath, mortals are a lie;
placed on the scales they go up;
together they weigh less than a breath.

Do not trust in extortion, and set no empty hopes on robbery;
if wealth increases,
do not set your heart on it.
Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this:
that strength belongs to God,
and steadfast love belongs to you, Lord;
for you repay everyone according to what they have done.

So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
As with fat and rich food my appetite is satisfied,
and with joyful lips my mouth praises you,
when I remember you upon my bed,
and through the watches of the night I murmur of you.
For you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.

I cling close to you;
your right hand holds me up.
But those who seek my life to ruin it
will go down into the depths of the earth.
They will be given over to the power of the sword;
they will be a portion for jackals.
But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by him will glory,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

shooting from ambush at the blameless;
suddenly they shoot at him, without fear.
They strengthen one another;
they plot an evil thing, they talk of hiding snares;
they say, “Who will see them?”
They search out crimes: “We have perfected a well-searched plan!”
The inner self and heart of a person are deep.

But God shoots them
with an arrow; suddenly
they are wounded.
Their own tongues make them stumble;
all who see them shake their heads.
Then all people fear;
they tell what God has done
and ponder his work.
Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him,
and let all the upright in heart glory.

Happy is the one you choose and bring near to dwell in your courts!
We shall be filled with the good things of your house,
your holy temple.
With awesome deeds you answer us in righteousness, God of our salvation,
the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,
who by his strength set the mountains firm,
girded with might,

who stills the roar of the seas, the roar of their waves,
and the tumult of the peoples.
Those who live at the far ends stand in awe of your signs;
you make the gateways of morning and evening shout for joy.
You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the channel of God is full of water;
you provide their grain, for so you have prepared the land.

You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its growth.
You crown the year with your goodness,
and your cart tracks drip with abundance.
The pastures of the wilderness drip,
and the hills gird themselves with joy.
The meadows are clothed with flocks, and the valleys wrap themselves in grain;
they shout for joy, yes, they sing.

Come and see the works of God,
awesome in his deeds toward humankind.
He turned the sea into dry land; they crossed the river on foot;
there we rejoiced in him.
He rules by his might forever; his eyes keep watch on the nations;
let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah

Bless our God, you peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard.
He has kept us among the living
and has not let our feet slip.
For you have tested us, God;
you have refined us as silver is refined.
You brought us into the net;
you laid a crushing burden on our backs.
You let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
but you brought us out to abundance.

I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will fulfill my vows to you,
the vows my lips uttered
and my mouth spoke when I was in distress.
Burnt offerings of fatlings I will offer you, with the smoke of rams;
I will sacrifice bulls with goats. Selah
Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell
what he has done for me.

I cried aloud to him,
and his praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished wrong in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But God has truly listened;
he has heeded the sound of my prayer.
Blessed be God,
who has not turned away my prayer or his steadfast love from me.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations on earth. Selah
Let the peoples praise you, God;
let all the peoples praise you.
The earth has yielded its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
May God bless us,
and let all the ends of the earth fear him.

But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God;
let them rejoice with gladness.
Sing to God, sing praise to his name;
build up a road for him who rides through the deserts—the LORD is his name—
and exult before him.
Father of orphans and defender of widows
is God in his holy dwelling.note

God settles the lonely in a home; he leads prisoners out to prosperity;
but the rebellious live in a parched land.
God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the wasteland, Selah

the earth quaked, the heavens poured down before God,
the One of Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
A generous rain you shed abroad, God;
when your heritage grew weary, you restored it.
Your flock settled in it;
in your goodness, God, you provided for the poor.note

The Lord gives the word;
the women who bring the news are a great host:
“The kings of armies flee, they flee!”
and the woman at home divides the spoil.
Though you lie among the sheepfolds—
the wings of a dove covered with silver,
its pinions with gleaming gold.note

When Shaddai scattered kings there,
it snowed on Zalmon.
A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan;
a many-peaked mountain is the mountain of Bashan.
Why do you look with envy, you many-peaked mountains,
at the mountain God desired for his dwelling,
where the LORD will dwell forever?note

The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands;
the Lord is among them, Sinai in holiness.
You went up to the height, you led captives away, you received gifts from people,
even from the rebellious, that the LORD God might dwell there.

Blessed be the Lord, who day after day bears our burden,
God, our salvation. Selah
Our God is a God of saving deeds,
and to GOD the Lord
belong the ways of escape from death.
But God will shatter the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crown
of those who walk on in their guilt.note

The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan;
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
so that you may bathe your feet in blood,
and the tongues of your dogs
may have their share of the enemies.”
Your processions are seen, God,
the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.

The singers go in front, the musicians behind,
among them young women playing tambourines:
“In the great assemblies bless God,
bless the LORD, you who spring from Israel’s fountain!”
There is Benjamin, the youngest, leading them, the princes of Judah in their throng,
the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

Your God has commanded your strength;
show your strength, God,
you who have acted for us.
Because of your temple at Jerusalem
kings bring you gifts.
Rebuke the beast of the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples, until they come cringing with bars of silver;
scatter the peoples who delight in war.note

Envoys will come from Egypt;
Cush will hasten to stretch out its hands to God.
Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
sing praise to the Lord, Selah
to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;
listen, he sends out his voice, a mighty voice.note

Ascribe strength to God,
whose majesty is over Israel,
and whose strength is in the skies.
Awesome are you, God, from your sanctuary;
the God of Israel—he gives strength and power to the people.
Blessed be God!

More than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me, my enemies who lie about me;
what I did not steal, must I now restore?
God, you know my folly,
and my guilty deeds are not hidden from you.

Let those who hope in you not be put to shame because of me, Lord GOD of hosts;
let those who seek you not be disgraced because of me,
God of Israel.
For it is for your sake that I have borne insult,
that shame has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my brothers,
a foreigner to my mother’s sons.

For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
When I wept and humbled myself with fasting,
it brought me insults.
When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
Those who sit in the gate gossip about me,
and drunkards make songs about me.

But as for me, my prayer is to you, LORD, at a time of favor; God, in the abundance of your steadfast love,
answer me with your faithful help.
Rescue me from the mire, and do not let me sink;
let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep waters.
Do not let the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me,
or the pit close its mouth over me.

Answer me, LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
in your abundant compassion turn to me.
Do not hide your face from your servant,
for I am in distress; answer me quickly.
Come near to me and redeem my life;
ransom me because of my enemies.

You know the insults I bear, my shame and my disgrace;
all my foes are before you.
Insults have broken my heart, and I am sick;
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
They put poison in my food,
and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Let their table before them become a trap,
and a snare to them in their security.
Let their eyes grow dark so they cannot see,
and make their loins shake continually.
Pour out your wrath on them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
Let their encampment be desolate;
let no one live in their tents.

For they persecute the one you have struck,
and they make a tale of the pain of those you have wounded.
Add guilt to their guilt;
let them have no share in your righteousness.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
But I am poor and in pain;
let your salvation, God, set me on high.

I will praise God’s name with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the LORD more than an ox,
a bull with horns and hoofs.
Let the humble see it and be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
For the LORD listens to the needy,
and does not despise his own who are prisoners.

Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah,
and they will live there and possess it.
The offspring of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell in it.

Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;
let them say continually, “God is great!”—
all who love your salvation.
But I am poor and needy; God, hurry to me!
You are my help and my deliverer;
LORD, do not delay.

For you are my hope,
Lord GOD, my trust since my youth.
On you I have leaned since birth; from my mother’s womb you drew me out;
my praise is always of you.
I have become a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
My mouth is filled with your praise,
with your splendor all day long.

Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
when my strength fails, do not forsake me.
For my enemies speak against me,
and those who watch for my life plot together,
saying, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him, for there is no one to rescue him.”
God, do not be far from me;
my God, hurry to help me!

Let my accusers be shamed and consumed;
let them be wrapped in insult and disgrace,
those who seek my harm.
But I will hope continually,
and will add to all your praise.
My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your saving deeds all day long,
though I do not know how to count them.

I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD;
I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.
God, you have taught me since my youth,
and to this day I declare your wonders.
So even to old age and gray hair, God, do not forsake me,
until I declare your arm to this generation,
your might to all who are to come.

Your righteousness, God, reaches the heights;
you who have done great things,
God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and turn and comfort me.

I too will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you,
and so will my life, which you have redeemed.
My tongue too will murmur of your righteousness all day long,
for those who sought my harm have been shamed and disgraced.

May they fear you as long as the sun endures,
and as long as the moon, through all generations.
May he be like rain falling on mown grass,
like showers that water the earth.
In his days may the righteous flourish,
and peace abound till the moon is no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.note

May the desert dwellers bow before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
May the kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
May all kings bow down to him,
all nations serve him.
For he rescues the needy who cry for help,
and the poor who have no one to help them.note

He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their lives,
and their blood is precious in his sight.
Long may he live! May gold of Sheba be given to him;
may prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked on him all day long.

May there be abundance of grain in the land, even on the mountaintops;
may its fruit rustle like Lebanon,
and may people flourish in the cities like the grass of the field.
May his name endure forever, his name increase as long as the sun shines;
may people bless themselves by him;
may all nations call him happy.

Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel,
who alone does wonders.
Blessed be his glorious name forever;
may his glory fill the whole earth.
Amen and amen.
Here end the prayers
of David son of Jesse.note

They have no part in the troubles of mortals;
they are not struck down like other people.
So pride is their necklace;
violence covers them like a garment.
Their eyes bulge out from fatness;
the fancies of their hearts overflow.
They scoff and speak with malice of oppression;
they speak from on high.

They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues strut through the earth.
So his people turn back to them
and drink down waters in abundance.
And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Look—these are the wicked:
always at ease, they pile up wealth.note

All for nothing I have kept my heart pure
and washed my hands in innocence.
I have been struck all day long
and punished every morning.
If I had said, “I will talk like that,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
So I tried to understand this,
but it was a weary task in my eyes,

until I went into the sanctuary of God
and understood their end.
Truly you set them on slippery ground;
you make them fall into ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away, finished off by terrors!
Like a dream when one wakes,
Lord, when you rouse yourself you despise their image.

When my heart was soured
and I was pierced in my inmost being,
I was stupid and did not understand;
I was like a beast before you.
Yet I am always with you;
you hold my right hand.
With your counsel you guide me,
and afterward you will receive me with glory.
Whom else have I in heaven?
And with you I desire nothing on earth.

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but the rock of my heart and my portion
is God forever.
For look—those far from you will perish;
you destroy everyone who turns from you in unfaithfulness.
But as for me, to be near God is good;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
so that I may tell of all your works.

Your foes roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they set up their own signs as signs.
They seemed like those who swing axes high
in a thicket of trees.
And now all its carved work together
they smash with hatchet and hammers.
They set your sanctuary on fire;
they defiled the dwelling place of your name, razing it to the ground.note

They said in their hearts, “Let us crush them all together!”
They burned all God’s meeting places in the land.
We do not see our signs;
there is no prophet anymore,
and none among us knows how long.
How long, God, will the foe taunt?
Will the enemy scorn your name forever?

Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Draw it out of your bosom and finish them!
Yet God is my king from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
You split the sea by your strength;
you shattered the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.

You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.
You split open spring and stream;
you dried up ever-flowing rivers.
Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you set in place the light and the sun.note

You fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
summer and winter—you formed them.
Remember this: the enemy taunts, LORD,
and a foolish people scorns your name.
Do not hand over the life of your dove to the wild beasts;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.

Look to the covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.
Do not let the oppressed turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
Rise up, God, plead your cause;
remember how the fool taunts you all day long.
Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually.

“I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
do not lift your horn on high
or speak with an arrogant neck.’”
For not from the east or from the west,
and not from the wilderness, does lifting up come.
No, it is God who judges:
he puts down one and lifts up another.note

For there is a cup in the LORD’s hand, with foaming wine, full of spice, and he pours from it;
they will drain even its dregs and drink them,
all the wicked of the earth.
But I will declare it forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous will be lifted high.

Despoiled lie
the stouthearted; they have sunk into sleep,
and none of the warriors can lift their hands.
At your rebuke, God of Jacob,
both chariot and horse lay stunned.
You—you are awesome! Who can stand before you
once your anger is roused?
From heaven you made your judgment heard;
the earth feared and was still

when God rose up to judgment,
to save all the humble of the earth. Selah
For even human wrath will praise you;
with what remains of wrath you gird yourself.
Make vows and fulfill them to the LORD your God;
let all who are around him
bring gifts to the one who is to be feared.
He cuts down the spirit of princes;
he is awesome to the kings of the earth.note

I remember God, and I moan;
I muse, and my spirit grows faint. Selah
You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled I cannot speak.
I think of days long past,
the years of ages gone.
I remember my song in the night;
I muse in my heart,
and my spirit searches:

“Will the Lord reject forever
and never again show favor?
Has his steadfast love ceased forever?
Has his promise come to an end for all generations?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah
Then I said, “This is my wound:
that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”note

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
I will ponder all your work
and muse on your deeds.
God, your way is in holiness;
what god is great like God?
You are the God who works wonders;
you have made your strength known among the peoples.

With your arm you redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed;
the very depths trembled.
The clouds poured down water; the skies thundered;
your arrows flashed back and forth.

The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind; lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
Your way went through the sea, your path through the mighty waters,
yet your footprints were not seen.
You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

He established a decree in Jacob and set a teaching in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to make known to their children,
so that the next generation might know them, children yet to be born,
and they in turn would rise and tell their own children,