Bible

Job

¹There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and Job was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned from evil.²There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.³He possessed seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred donkeys and a great many servants. He was the man who was the greatest of all the people of the East.

⁴On each son's assigned day, he would give a feast in his house. They would send and call for their three sisters to eat and drink with them.⁵When the days of the feast were over, Job would send for them and he would consecrate them. He would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for each of his children, for he would say, "It may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Job always did this.

⁶Then it was the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh. Satan also came with them.⁷Yahweh said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, "From wandering on the earth, from going back and forth on it."⁸Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil."

⁹Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, "Is it for no reason that Job fears God?¹⁰Have you not put a barrier around him, around his house, and around all that is his from every side? You have blessed the deeds of his hands, and his livestock have spread throughout the land.¹¹But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and see if he does not curse you to your face."¹²Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him himself do not stretch out your hand." Then Satan went away from the presence of Yahweh.

¹³It came about that on a certain day, his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house.¹⁴A messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them.¹⁵Then the Sabeans fell on them and took them away. As for the servants, they have struck them with the edge of the sword. I alone have escaped to make it known to you."

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants. I alone have escaped to make it known to you."¹⁷While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three groups, made a raid on the camels, and have taken them away. As for the servants, they have struck them with the edge of the sword. I alone have escaped to make it known to you."

¹⁸While he was yet speaking, another also came and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house.¹⁹A strong wind came from the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house. It fell on the young people, and they died. I alone have escaped to make it known to you."

²⁰Then Job rose, tore his robe, shaved his head, lay facedown on the ground, and worshiped God.²¹He said, "I was naked when I came out of my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I will return there. It is Yahweh who gave, and it is Yahweh who has taken away. May the name of Yahweh be blessed."

²²In all this matter, Job did not sin, nor did he accuse God of wrongdoing.

¹Then it was the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh. Satan also came with them to present himself before Yahweh.²Yahweh said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, "From wandering on the earth, from going back and forth on it."

³Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. He still holds fast to his integrity, although you misled me against him, to destroy him without cause."

⁴Satan answered Yahweh and said, "Skin for skin, indeed; a man will give all he has for his life.⁵But stretch out your hand now and touch his bones and his flesh, and see if he does not curse you to your face."

⁶Yahweh said to Satan, "See, he is in your hand; it is only his life that you must spare."

⁷Then Satan went away from the presence of Yahweh. He struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his feet to his head.⁸Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself with, and he sat down in the middle of ashes.

⁹Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die."¹⁰But he said to her, "You talk as a foolish woman talks. Should we receive the good from God and not receive the bad?" In all this matter, Job did not sin with his lips.

¹¹Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, each of them came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They set a time to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.

¹²When they lifted up their eyes at a distance, they did not recognize him. They raised their voices and wept; each tore his robe and threw dust into the air and upon his own head.¹³Then they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights. No one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

¹After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born.²He said,

³"May the day on which I was born perish,

the night that said, 'A boy has been conceived.'

⁴May that day be dark!

May God not care about it,

nor light shine on it.

⁵May darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own.

May a cloud live over it;

may everything that makes the day black truly terrify it.

⁶As for that night, may thick darkness seize it.

May it not rejoice among the days of the year;

may it not come into the number of the months.

⁷See, may that night be barren;

may no joyful voice come into it.

⁸Those who curse the day–may they curse it,

those who know how to wake up Leviathan.

⁹May the stars of that day's dawn be dark.

May that day look for light, but find none;

neither may it see the eyelids of the dawn,

¹⁰because it did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb,

and because it did not hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹Why did I not die when I came out from the womb?

Why did I not perish when my mother bore me?

¹²Why did her knees welcome me?

Why did her breasts receive me so that I should suck?

¹³For now I would have been lying down quietly.

I would have slept and been at rest

¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth,

who built up tombs for themselves that are now in ruins.

¹⁵Or I would have been lying down with princes who once had gold,

who had filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶Or perhaps I would have been stillborn,

like infants that never see the light.

¹⁷There the wicked cease from trouble;

there the weary are at rest.

¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together;

they do not hear the voice of the slave driver.

¹⁹Both small and great people are there;

the servant is free from his master there.

²⁰Why is light given to him who suffers?

Why is life given to the one who is bitter in soul,

²¹to one who longs for death without it coming;

to one who digs for it more than for hidden treasure?

²²Why is light given to one who rejoices very much

and is glad when he finds the grave?

²³Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,

a man whom God has hedged in?

²⁴For my sighing happens instead of eating;

my groaning is poured out like water.

²⁵For the thing that I feared has come upon me;

what I was afraid of has come to me.

²⁶I am not at ease, I am not quiet, and I have no rest;

trouble comes instead."

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²If anyone tries to speak with you, will you be impatient?

But who can stop himself from speaking?

³See, you have instructed many;

you have strengthened weak hands.

⁴Your words have supported him who was falling;

you have made feeble knees strong.

⁵But now trouble has come to you, and you are weary;

it touches you, and you are troubled.

⁶Is not your fear your confidence,

and the integrity of your ways your hope?

⁷Think about this, please: Who has ever perished when innocent?

Or when were the upright people ever cut off?

⁸According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity

and sow trouble reap it.

⁹By the breath of God they perish;

by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

¹⁰The roaring of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,

the teeth of the young lions—they are broken.

¹¹The old lion perishes for lack of victims;

the cubs of the lioness are scattered everywhere.

¹²Now a certain matter was secretly brought to me,

and my ear received a whisper about it.

¹³Then came thoughts from visions in the night,

when deep sleep falls on people.

¹⁴It was at night when fear and trembling came upon me,

and all my bones shook.

¹⁵Then a spirit passed before my face,

and the hair of my flesh stood up.

¹⁶The spirit stood still,

but I could not discern its appearance.

A form was before my eyes;

there was silence, and I heard a voice that said,

¹⁷"Can a mortal man be more righteous than God?

Can a man be more pure than his Maker?

¹⁸See, if God puts no trust in his servants;

if he accuses his angels of folly,

¹⁹how much more is this true of those who live in houses of clay,

whose foundation is in the dust,

who are crushed sooner than a moth?

²⁰Between morning and evening they are destroyed;

they perish forever without anyone noticing them.

²¹Are not their tent cords plucked up among them?

They die; they die without wisdom.

¹Call out now; is there anyone who will answer you?

To which of the holy ones will you turn?

²For anger kills the foolish;

jealousy causes the death of the silly.

³I have seen a foolish person taking root,

but suddenly I cursed his home.

⁴His children are far from safety;

they are crushed in the city gate.

There is no one to rescue them.

⁵The hungry eat up their harvest;

they even take it from among the thorns.

The thirsty pant for their wealth.

⁶For difficulties do not come out from the soil;

neither does trouble sprout from the ground.

⁷Yet, mankind is born for trouble,

just as sparks fly upward.

⁸But as for me, I would turn to God himself;

to him I would commit my cause—

⁹he who does great and unsearchable things,

marvelous things without number.

¹⁰He gives rain on the earth,

and sends water on the fields.

¹¹He does this in order to set up on high those who are low;

to raise to safety those who mourn.

¹²He breaks the plans of crafty people,

so that their hands cannot achieve success.

¹³He traps wise people in their own crafty actions;

the plans of twisted people are hurried to their end.

¹⁴They encounter darkness in the daytime,

and grope at noonday as if it were night.

¹⁵But he saves the poor person from the sword in their mouths

and the needy person from the hand of mighty people.

¹⁶So the poor person has hope,

and injustice shuts her own mouth.

¹⁷See, blessed is the man whom God corrects;

therefore, do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For he inflicts pain and then binds up;

he wounds and then his hands heal.

¹⁹He will rescue you out of six troubles;

indeed, in seven troubles, no evil will touch you.

²⁰In famine he will ransom you from death,

and in war from the hands of the sword.

²¹You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue;

and you will not be afraid of destruction when it comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and famine,

and you will not be afraid of beasts of the earth.

²³For you will have a covenant with the stones in your field,

and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your tent is in safety;

you will visit your sheepfold and you will not miss anything.

²⁵You will also know that your seed will be great,

that your descendants will be like the grass on the ground.

²⁶You will come to your grave at a full age,

like a stack of grain bundles that goes up at its time.

²⁷See, we have examined this matter; it is like this;

listen to it, and know it for yourself."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"Oh, if only my anguish were weighed;

if only all my calamity were laid in the balance!

³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas.

That is why my words were reckless.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are in me,

my spirit drinks up the poison;

the terrors of God have arranged themselves in array against me.

⁵Does the wild donkey bray in despair when he has grass?

Or does the ox low in hunger when it has fodder?

⁶Can that which has no taste be eaten without salt?

Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

⁷I refuse to touch them;

they are like disgusting food to me.

⁸Oh, that I might have my request;

oh, that God would grant me the thing I long for:

⁹that it would please God to crush me once,

that he would set his hand free and cut me off from this life!

¹⁰May this still be my consolation—

even if I rejoice in pain that does not lessen:

that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What is my strength, that I should continue to hope?

What is my end, that I should prolong my life?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones?

Or is my flesh made of bronze?

¹³Is it not true that I have no help in myself,

and that wisdom has been driven out of me?

¹⁴To the person who is about to faint, faithfulness should be shown by his friend;

even to him who abandons the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵But my brothers have acted as deceitfully to me as a desert streambed,

as channels of water that pass away to nothing,

¹⁶which are darkened because of ice over them,

and because of the snow that hides itself in them.

¹⁷When they thaw out, they vanish;

when it is hot, they melt out of their place.

¹⁸The caravans that travel by their way turn aside for water;

they wander into wasteland and then perish.

¹⁹Caravans from Tema looked there,

while companies of Sheba hoped in them.

²⁰They were disappointed because they had been confident of finding water.

They went there, but they were put to shame.

²¹For now you friends are nothing to me;

you see my dreadful situation and are afraid.

²²Did I say to you, 'Give something to me'

or, 'Offer me a bribe from your wealth'

²³or, 'Save me from my adversary's hand'

or, 'Ransom me from the hand of oppressors'?

²⁴Teach me, and I will hold my peace;

make me understand where I have been wrong.

²⁵How painful are upright words!

But your arguments, how do they actually rebuke me?

²⁶Do you plan to ignore my words,

treating the words of a desperate man like the wind?

²⁷Indeed, you cast lots for a fatherless child,

and haggle over your friend like merchandise.

²⁸Now, therefore, please look at me,

for surely I would not lie to your face.

²⁹Relent, I beg you; let there be no injustice with you;

Indeed, relent, for my cause is just.

³⁰Is there evil on my tongue?

Cannot my mouth detect destructive things?

¹Does not man have hard labor on earth?

Are not his days like the days of a hired man?

²Like a slave earnestly desires the shadows of evening,

like a hired man looks for his wages—

³so I have been assigned months of emptiness;

I have been given trouble-filled nights.

⁴When I lie down, I say to myself,

'When will I get up and when will the night be gone?'

I am full of tossing to and fro until the day's dawning.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust;

the sores in my skin harden up and then dissolve and run afresh.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle;

they pass without hope.

⁷God, call to mind that my life is only a breath;

my eye will no more see good.

⁸The eye of God, who sees me, will see me no more;

God's eyes will be on me, but I will not exist.

⁹As a cloud is consumed and vanishes away,

so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more.

¹⁰He will return no more to his house;

neither will his place know him again.

¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea or a sea monster

that you place a guard over me?

¹³When I say, 'My bed will comfort me,

and my couch will ease my complaint,'

¹⁴then you frighten me with dreams

and terrify me through visions,

¹⁵so that my soul would choose strangling

and death rather than preserving these bones of mine.

¹⁶I despise my life; I would not wish to always be alive;

let me alone, for my days are useless.

¹⁷What is man that you should pay attention to him,

that you should set your mind on him,

¹⁸that you should observe him every morning

and test him every moment?

¹⁹How long will it be before you look away from me,

before you let me alone long enough for me to swallow down my own saliva?

²⁰Even if I have sinned, what would that do to you,

you who watch men?

Why have you made a target of me,

so that I am a burden for you?

²¹Why do you not pardon my transgression

and take away my iniquity?

For now will I lie down in the dust;

you will seek me carefully, but I will not exist."

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

²"How long will you say these things?

How long will the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

³Does God pervert justice?

Does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

⁴Your children have sinned against him;

we know this, for he gave them into the hand of their sins.

⁵But suppose you diligently sought God

and sought the favor of the Almighty.

⁶If you are pure and upright,

then he would surely stir himself on your behalf

and restore you to your rightful place.

⁷Even though your beginning was small,

still your final condition would be much greater.

⁸Please ask the former generations,

and give your attention to what our ancestors learned.

⁹(We were only born yesterday and know nothing

because our days on earth are a shadow.)

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you?

Will they not speak words from their hearts?

¹¹Can papyrus grow without a marsh?

Can reeds grow without water?

¹²While they are still green and not cut down,

they wither before any other plant.

¹³So also are the paths of all who forget God;

the hope of the godless will perish.

¹⁴His confidence will break apart,

and his trust is as weak as a spider's web.

¹⁵He leans on his house, but it will not support him;

he takes hold of it, but it does not stand.

¹⁶Under the sun he is green,

and his shoots go out over his entire garden.

¹⁷His roots are wrapped about the heaps of stone;

they look for good places among the rocks.

¹⁸But if this person is destroyed out of his place,

then that place will deny him and say, 'I never saw you.'

¹⁹See, this is the "joy" of such a person's behavior;

other plants will sprout out of the same soil in his place.

²⁰See, God will not reject an innocent man;

neither will he take the hand of evildoers.

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,

your lips with shouting.

²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame;

the tent of the wicked will be no more."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"I truly know that this is so.

But how can a person be in the right with God?

³If he wants to argue with God,

he cannot answer him once in a thousand times.

⁴God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;

who has ever hardened himself against him and succeeded?—

⁵he who removes the mountains without warning anyone

when he overturns them in his anger—

⁶he who shakes the earth out of its place

and sets its pillars trembling.

⁷It is the same God who tells the sun not to rise, and it does not,

and who covers up the stars,

⁸who by himself stretches out the heavens

and tramples down the waves of the sea,

⁹who makes the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades,

and the constellations of the south.

¹⁰He does great and unsearchable things,

and wonderful things that cannot be counted.

¹¹See, he goes by me, and I do not see him;

he passes on, but I do not understand him.

¹²If he takes something away, who can stop him?

Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?'

¹³God will not withdraw his anger;

the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him.

¹⁴How much less could I answer him,

could I choose words to reason with him?

¹⁵Even if I were righteous, I could not answer him;

I could only plead for mercy with my judge.

¹⁶Even if I called and he answered me,

I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

¹⁷For he breaks me with a tempest

and multiplies my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He does not allow me to regain my breath;

but he fills me with bitterness.

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty!

If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

²⁰Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;

and though I am blameless, my words would prove me to be guilty.

²¹I am blameless, but I do not care any more about myself;

I despise my own life.

²²It makes no difference, which is why I say

that he destroys blameless people and wicked people together.

²³When a whip suddenly kills,

he mocks the despair of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is given into the hand of wicked people;

God covers the faces of its judges.

If it is not he who does it, then who is it?

²⁵My days are swifter than a running messenger;

my days flee away; they see no good anywhere.

²⁶They are as fast as papyrus reed boats,

and as fast as the eagle that swoops down on its victim.

²⁷If I said that I would forget about my complaints,

that I would take off my sad face and be happy,

²⁸I would be afraid of all my sorrows

because I know that you will not consider me innocent.

²⁹I will be condemned;

why, then, should I try in vain?

³⁰If I washed myself with snow water

and made my hands ever so clean,

³¹God would plunge me in a ditch,

and my own clothes would be disgusted with me.

³²For God is not a man, as I am, that I could answer him,

that we could come together in court.

³³There is no judge between us

who might lay his hand upon us both.

³⁴There is no other judge who could take God's rod off me,

who could keep his terror from frightening me.

³⁵Then would I speak up and not fear him.

But as things are now, I cannot do that.

¹I am weary of my life;

I will give free expression to my complaint;

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God, 'Do not merely condemn me;

show me why you accuse me.

³Is it good to you that you should oppress me,

to despise the labor of your hands

while you smile on the plans of the wicked?

⁴Do you have eyes of flesh?

Do you see like a man sees?

⁵Are your days like the days of mankind

or your years like the years of people,

⁶that you inquire after my iniquity

and search after my sin,

⁷although you know I am not guilty

and there is no one who can rescue me from your hand?

⁸Your hands have framed and fashioned me

together round about, yet you are destroying me.

⁹Call to mind, I beg you, that you have fashioned me like clay;

will you bring me into dust again?

¹⁰Have you not poured me out like milk

and curdled me like cheese?

¹¹You have clothed me with skin and flesh

and knit me together with bones and sinews.

¹²You have granted me life and covenant faithfulness;

your care has guarded my spirit.

¹³Yet these things you hid in your heart—

I know that this is what you were thinking:

¹⁴that if I sinned, you would notice it;

you would not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹⁵If I have acted wickedly, woe to me;

and even if I acted righteously,

I could not lift up my head,

since I am filled with disgrace—

see my affliction!

¹⁶If my head were lifted up,

you would stalk me like a lion;

and again you would show yourself with marvellous acts of power against me.

¹⁷You bring new witnesses against me

and increase your anger against me;

you attack me with fresh armies.

¹⁸Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb?

I wish I had died and that no eye had ever seen me.

¹⁹I would have been as though I had never existed;

I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.

²⁰Are not my days only a few? Stop then,

let me alone, so that I may have a little rest

²¹before I go from where I will not return,

to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death,

²²the land that is as dark as darkness,

the land of the shadow of death, without any order,

where the light is like darkness.'"

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

²"Should not such a multitude of words be answered?

Should this man, so full of talk, be acquitted?

³Should your boasting make others remain silent?

When you mock, will no one make you feel ashamed?

⁴For you say to God, 'My beliefs are pure,

I am clean in your eyes.'

⁵But, oh, that God would speak

and open his lips against you;

⁶that he would show you the secrets of wisdom!

For sound wisdom has two sides.

Know then that God demands from you less than your iniquity deserves.

⁷Can you understand God by searching for him?

Can you comprehend the Almighty perfectly?

⁸The matter is as high as heaven; what can you do?

It is deeper than Sheol; what can you know?

⁹Its measure is longer than the earth,

and wider than the sea.

¹⁰If he passes through and shuts anyone up,

if he calls an assembly, then who can stop him?

¹¹For he knows deceitful people;

when he sees iniquity, does he not notice it?

¹²But foolish people will gain understanding

when the foal of a wild donkey is born a man.

¹³But suppose that you set your heart right

and reach out with your hands toward God;

¹⁴suppose that iniquity is in your hand,

but that you put it far away from you,

and do not let unrighteousness live in your tents.

¹⁵Then you will certainly lift up your face without a sign of shame;

indeed, you will be steadfast and will not fear.

¹⁶You will forget your trouble;

you will remember it only like waters that have flowed away.

¹⁷Your life will be brighter than the noonday;

though there be darkness, it will become like the morning.

¹⁸You will be secure because there is hope;

indeed, you will find safety about you and will take your rest in safety.

¹⁹Also you will lie down in rest, and none will make you afraid;

indeed, many will seek your favor.

²⁰But the eyes of wicked people will fail;

they will have no refuge;

their only hope will be a last gasp of life."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"No doubt you are the people;

wisdom will die with you.

³But I have understanding as well as you;

I am not inferior to you.

Indeed, who does not know such things as these?

⁴I am something for my neighbor to laugh at—

I, one who called on God and who was answered by him!

I, a just and blameless man—I am now something to laugh at.

⁵In the thought of someone who is at ease, there is contempt for misfortune;

he thinks in a way that brings more misfortune to those whose foot is slipping.

⁶The tents of robbers prosper,

and those who provoke God feel secure;

their own hands are their gods.

⁷But now ask the animals, and they will teach you;

ask the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you.

⁸Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;

the fish of the sea will declare to you.

⁹Which animal among all these does not know

that the hand of Yahweh has done this?

¹⁰In his hand is the life of every living thing

and the breath of all mankind.

¹¹Does not the ear test words

just as the palate tastes its food?

¹²With aged men is wisdom;

in length of days is understanding.

¹³With God are wisdom and might;

he has counsel and understanding.

¹⁴See, he breaks things down, and they cannot be built again;

if he imprisons someone, there can be no release.

¹⁵See, if he withholds the waters, they dry up;

and if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

¹⁶With him are strength and wisdom;

people who are deceived and the deceiver are both in his power.

¹⁷He leads counselors away barefoot in sorrow;

he turns judges into fools.

¹⁸He removes the bond of kings;

he wraps a cloth about their waists.

¹⁹He leads priests away barefoot in sorrow

and overthrows mighty people.

²⁰He removes the speech of those who had been trusted

and takes away the understanding of the elders.

²¹He pours contempt upon princes

and unfastens the belt of the strong.

²²He reveals the deep things of darkness

and brings utter darkness into the light.

²³He makes nations strong, and he also destroys them;

He enlarges nations, and he also leads them along as prisoners.

²⁴He takes away understanding from the leaders of the people of the earth;

he causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no path.

²⁵They grope in the dark without light;

he makes them stagger like a drunk man.

¹See, my eye has seen all this;

my ear has heard and understood it.

²What you know, the same I also know;

I am not inferior to you.

³However, I would rather speak with the Almighty;

I wish to reason with God.

⁴But you whitewash the truth with lies;

you are all worthless healers.

⁵Oh, that you would altogether hold your peace!

That would be your wisdom.

⁶Hear now my own reasoning;

listen to the pleading of my own lips.

⁷Will you speak unrighteousness for God,

and will you talk deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show him partiality?

Will you argue the case for God?

⁹Will it be good for you when he examines you?

Could you deceive him as you might deceive men?

¹⁰He would surely reprove you

if in secret you showed partiality.

¹¹Will not his majesty terrify you,

and the dread of him fall upon you?

¹²Your memorable sayings are proverbs made of ashes;

your defenses are defenses made of clay.

¹³Hold your peace, let me alone, so that I may speak,

let come what may on me.

¹⁴I will take my own flesh in my teeth;

I will take my life in my hands.

¹⁵See, if he kills me, I will have no hope left;

nevertheless, I will defend my ways before him.

¹⁶This will be the reason for my deliverance,

for no godless person would come before him.

¹⁷God, listen carefully to my speech;

let my declaration come to your ears.

¹⁸See now, I have set my defense in order;

I know that I will be vindicated.

¹⁹Who is the one who would argue against me in court?

If you came to do so, and if I were proved wrong, then I would be silent and die.

²⁰God, do only two things for me,

and then I will not hide myself from your face:

²¹withdraw your oppressive hand from me,

and do not let your terrors make me afraid.

²²Then call me, and I will answer;

or let me speak to you, and you answer me.

²³How many are my iniquities and sins?

Let me know my transgression and my sin.

²⁴Why do you hide your face from me

and treat me like your enemy?

²⁵Will you cause a driven leaf to tremble?

Will you pursue dry stubble?

²⁶For you write down bitter things against me;

you make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷You also put my feet in the stocks;

you closely watch all my paths;

you examine the ground where the soles of my feet have walked

²⁸although I am like a rotten thing that wastes away,

like a garment that moths have eaten.

¹Man, who is born of woman,

lives only a few days and is full of trouble.

²He sprouts from the ground like a flower and is cut down;

he flees like a shadow and does not last.

³Do you look at any of these?

Do you bring me into judgment with you?

⁴Who can bring something clean out of something unclean?

No one.

⁵Man's days are determined.

The number of his months is with you;

you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass.

⁶Look away from him that he may rest,

so that he may enjoy his day like a hired man if he can do so.

⁷There can be hope for a tree;

if it is cut down, it might sprout again,

so that its tender stalk does not disappear.

⁸Though its root grows old in the earth,

and its stump dies in the ground,

⁹yet even if it only smells water, it will bud

and send out branches like a plant.

¹⁰But man dies; he becomes weak;

indeed, man stops breathing, and then where is he?

¹¹As water disappears from a lake,

and as a river becomes dry and dries up,

¹²so people lie down and do not rise again.

Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake

nor be roused out of their sleep.

¹³Oh, that you would hide me away in Sheol away from troubles,

and that you would keep me in private until your wrath is over,

that you would set me a fixed time to stay there and then call me to mind!

¹⁴If a man dies, will he live again?

All my time of service there I will wait

until my release should come.

¹⁵You would call, and I would answer you.

You would have a desire for the work of your hands.

¹⁶You would number and care for my footsteps;

you would not keep track of my sin.

¹⁷My transgression would be sealed up in a bag;

you would cover up my iniquity.

¹⁸But even mountains fall and crumble to nothing;

even rocks are moved out of their place;

¹⁹the waters wear down the stones;

their flooding washes away the dust of the earth.

Like this, you destroy the hope of man.

²⁰You forever defeat him, and he passes away;

you change his face and send him away to die.

²¹If his sons are honored, he does not know it;

and if they are brought low, he does not see it.

²²He feels only the pain of his own body,

and he mourns for himself.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²"Should a wise man answer with useless knowledge

and fill himself with the east wind?

³Should he reason with unprofitable talk

or with speeches with which he can do no good?

⁴Indeed, you diminish respect for God;

you obstruct meditation before him,

⁵for your iniquity teaches your mouth;

you choose to have the tongue of the crafty.

⁶Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;

indeed, your own lips testify against you.

⁷Are you the first man that was born?

Were you brought into existence before the hills?

⁸Have you heard the secret knowledge of God?

Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹What do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that is not also in us?

¹⁰With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men

who are much older than your father.

¹¹Are the consolations of God too small for you,

the words that are gentle toward you?

¹²Why does your heart carry you away?

Why do your eyes flash,

¹³so that you turn your spirit against God

and bring out such words from your mouth?

¹⁴What is man that he should be clean?

What is he who is born of a woman that he should be righteous?

¹⁵See, God puts no trust even in his holy ones;

indeed, the heavens are not clean in his sight;

¹⁶how much less clean is one who is abhorrent and corrupt,

a man who drinks iniquity like water!

¹⁷I will show you; listen to me;

I will announce to you the things I have seen,

¹⁸the things that wise men have passed down from their fathers,

the things that their ancestors did not hide.

¹⁹These were their ancestors, to whom alone the land was given,

and among whom no stranger ever passed.

²⁰The wicked man twists in pain all his days,

the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor to suffer.

²¹A sound of terrors is in his ears;

while he is in prosperity, the destroyer will come upon him.

²²He does not think that he will return out of darkness;

he has been marked out for the sword.

²³He goes to various places for bread, saying, 'Where is it?'

He knows that the day of darkness is at hand.

²⁴Distress and anguish make him afraid;

they prevail against him, as a king ready for battle.

²⁵Because he has reached out with his hand against God

and has behaved proudly against the Almighty,

²⁶this wicked man runs at God with a stiff neck,

with a thick shield.

²⁷This is true, even though he has covered his face with his fat

and gathered fat on his loins,

²⁸and has lived in desolate cities;

in houses which no man inhabits now

and which were ready to become heaps.

²⁹He will not be rich; his wealth will not last

and his possessions will not spread over the land.

³⁰He will not depart out of darkness;¹

a flame will dry up his stalks;

at the breath of God's mouth he will go away.²

³¹Let him not trust in useless things, deceiving himself;

for uselessness will be his reward.

³²It will happen before his time should come to die;

his palm branch will not be green.

³³He will drop his unripe grapes like a grapevine;

he will cast off his flowers like the olive tree.

³⁴For the company of godless people will be barren;

fire will consume their tents of bribery.

³⁵They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity;

their womb conceives deceit."

¹Many modern translations leave out He will not depart out of darkness, because they believe that this expression was mistakenly copied from 15:22.

²The copies of the ancient Hebrew text have He will go away by the breath of his mouth, which some modern translations interpret as meaning the breath of God's mouth. However, other modern translations follow the ancient Greek translation of the ancient Hebrew copies, which reads, his flower will fall with the wind.

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"I have heard many such things;

you are all troublesome comforters.

³Will useless words ever have an end?

What is wrong with you that you answer like this?

⁴I also could speak as you do,

if you were in my place;

I could collect and join words together against you

and shake my head at you in mockery.

⁵I would strengthen you with my mouth,

and the quivering of my lips will bring you relief!

⁶If I speak, my grief is not lessened;

if I keep from speaking, how am I helped?

⁷But now, God, you have made me weary;

you have made all my family desolate.

⁸You have made me dry up,

which itself is a witness against me;

the leanness of my body rises up against me,

and it testifies against my face.

⁹God has torn me in his wrath and persecuted me;

He grinds his teeth in rage;

my enemy fastens his eyes on me as he tears me apart.

¹⁰People have gaped with open mouth at me;

they have hit me on the cheek with contempt;

they have gathered together against me.

¹¹God hands me over to ungodly people,

and throws me into the hands of wicked people.

¹²I was at ease, and he broke me apart.

Indeed, he has taken me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;

he has also set me up as his target.

¹³His archers surround me all around;

God pierces my kidneys and does not spare me;

he pours out my bile on the ground.

¹⁴He smashes through my wall again and again;

he runs upon me like a warrior.

¹⁵I have sewn sackcloth on my skin;

I have thrust my horn into the ground.

¹⁶My face is red with weeping;

on my eyelids is utter darkness,

¹⁷although there is no violence in my hands,

and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸Earth, do not cover up my blood;

let my cry have no resting place.

¹⁹Even now, see, my witness is in heaven;

he who vouches for me is on high.

²⁰My friends scoff at me,

but my eye pours out tears to God.

²¹I ask for that witness in heaven to argue for this man with God

as a man does with his neighbor!

²²For when a few years have passed,

I will go to a place from where I will not return.

¹My spirit is broken, and my days are over;

the grave is ready for me.

²Surely there are mockers with me;

my eye must always see their provocation.

³Give now a pledge, be a guarantee for me with yourself;

who else is there who will help me?

⁴For you, God, have kept their hearts from understanding;

therefore, you will not exalt them over me.

⁵He who denounces his friends for a reward,

the eyes of his children will fail.

⁶But he has made me a byword of the people;

they spit in my face.

⁷My eye is also dim because of sorrow;

all my members are as thin as shadows.

⁸Upright men will be appalled by this;

the innocent man will stir himself up against godless men.

⁹The righteous man will keep to his way;

he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

¹⁰But as for you all, come on now;

I will not find a wise man among you.

¹¹My days are past; my plans are shattered,

and so are the desires of my heart.¹

¹²These people, these mockers, change the night into day;

light is near to darkness.

¹³If the only home I hope for is Sheol;

and if I have spread my couch in the darkness;

¹⁴and if I have said to the pit, 'You are my father,'

and to the worm, 'You are my mother or my sister,'

¹⁵where then is my hope?

As for my hope, who can see any?

¹⁶Will hope go down with me to the gates of Sheol

when we descend to the dust?"

¹Some modern translations have My days are past, as are my plans. The wishes of my heart are finished or ... the strings of my heart have been broken. Some translations have My days are past; my plans are over, as are the wishes of my heart.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

²"When will you stop your talk?

Consider, and afterwards we will speak.

³Why are we regarded as cattle,

stupid in your sight?

⁴You who tear at yourself in your anger,

should the earth be abandoned for you

or should the rocks be removed out of their places?

⁵Indeed, the light of the wicked person will be put out;

the spark of his fire will not shine.

⁶The light will be dark in his tent;

his lamp above him will be put out.

⁷The steps of his strength will be made short;

his own plans will cast him down.

⁸For he will be thrown into a net by his own feet;

he will walk into a pitfall.

⁹A trap will take him by the heel;

a snare will lay hold on him.

¹⁰A noose is hidden for him on the ground;

and a trap for him in the way.

¹¹Terrors will make him afraid on every side;

they will chase him at every step.

¹²His wealth will turn into hunger,

and calamity will be ready at his side.

¹³The parts of his body will be devoured;

indeed, the firstborn of death will devour his parts.

¹⁴He is torn from the safety of his tent

and marched off to the king of terrors.

¹⁵People not his own will live in his tent

after they see that sulfur is scattered within his home.

¹⁶His roots will be dried up beneath;

above will his branch be cut off.

¹⁷His memory will perish from the earth;

he will have no name in the street.

¹⁸He will be driven from light into darkness

and be chased out of this world.

¹⁹He has no offspring or descendants among his people,

no survivor where he once lived.

²⁰Those who live in the west are appalled at what happens to him one day,

and horror seizes those who live in the east.

²¹Surely such are the homes of unrighteous people,

the places of those who do not know God."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"How long will you torment me

and crush me with words?

³These ten times you have insulted me;

you are not ashamed that you have treated me harshly.

⁴If it is indeed true that I have erred,

my error remains my own concern.

⁵If indeed you will exalt yourselves above me

and use my humiliation against me,

⁶then you should know that God has done wrong to me

and has caught me in his net.

⁷See, I cry out, "Violence!" but I get no answer.

I call out for help, but there is no justice.

⁸He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,

and he has set darkness in my path.

⁹He has stripped me of my glory,

and he has taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone;

he has pulled up my hope like a tree.

¹¹He has also kindled his wrath against me;

he regards me as one of his adversaries.

¹²His troops come on together;

they cast up siege mounds against me

and encamp around my tent.

¹³He has put my brothers far from me;

my acquaintances are wholly alienated from me.

¹⁴My kinsfolk have failed me;

my close friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵Those who once stayed as guests in my house and my female servants regard me as a stranger;

I am an alien in their sight.

¹⁶I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer

although I seek his favor with my mouth.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife;

I am even detestable to those who were born from my mother's womb.

¹⁸Even young children despise me;

if I rise to speak, they speak against me.

¹⁹All my familiar friends abhor me;

those whom I love have turned against me.

²⁰My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh;

I survive only by the skin of my teeth.

²¹Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, my friends,

for the hand of God has touched me.

²²Why do you pursue me like God does?

Will you ever be satisfied with my flesh?

²³Oh, that my words were now written down!

Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!

²⁴Oh, that with an iron pen and lead

they were engraved in the rock forever!

²⁵But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that at last he will stand on the earth;

²⁶after my skin, that is, this body, is destroyed,

then in my flesh I will see God.

²⁷I will see him with my own eyes—I, and not someone else.

My heart fails within me.

²⁸If you say, 'How we will persecute him!

The root of his troubles lies in him,'

²⁹then be afraid of the sword,

because wrath brings the punishment of the sword,

so that you may know there is a judgment."

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

²"My thoughts make me answer quickly

because of the worry that is in me.

³I hear a rebuke that dishonors me,

but a spirit from my understanding answers me.

⁴Do you not know this fact from ancient times,

when God placed man on earth:

⁵the triumph of a wicked man is short,

and the joy of a godless man lasts only for a moment?

⁶Though his height reaches up to the heavens,

and his head reaches to the clouds,

⁷yet such a person will perish forever like his own dung;

those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?'

⁸He will fly away like a dream and will not be found;

indeed, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more;

his place will see him no longer.

¹⁰His children will apologize to poor people;

his hands will have to give back his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of youthful strength,

but it will lie down with him in the dust.

¹²Although wickedness is sweet in his mouth,

although he hides it under his tongue,

¹³although he holds it there and does not let it go

but keeps it still in his mouth—

¹⁴the food in his intestines turns bitter;

it becomes the poison of asps inside him.

¹⁵He swallows down riches, but he will vomit them up again;

God will cast them out of his stomach.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of asps;

the viper's tongue will kill him.

¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams,

the torrents of honey and butter.

¹⁸He will give back the fruit of his labor and will not be able to swallow it;

he will not enjoy the wealth earned by his commerce.

¹⁹For he has oppressed and neglected poor people;

he has violently taken away houses that he did not build.

²⁰Because he has known no satisfaction in his belly,

he will not be able to save anything in which he takes pleasure.

²¹There is nothing left that he did not devour;

therefore his prosperity will not be permanent.

²²In the fullness of his abundance he will fall into trouble;

the hand of everyone who suffers will come against him.

²³When he is about to fill his stomach,

God will throw the fierceness of his wrath on him;

God will rain it down on him while he is eating.

²⁴Although that man will flee from the iron weapon,

a bow of bronze will shoot him.

²⁵He pulls it out of his back

and the gleaming point comes out of his liver.

Terrors come over him.

²⁶Complete darkness is reserved for his treasures;

a fire not fanned will devour him;

it will consume what is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will reveal his iniquity,

and the earth will rise up against him as a witness.

²⁸The wealth of his house will vanish;

his goods will flow away on the day of God's wrath.

²⁹This is the wicked man's portion from God,

the heritage decreed for him by God."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"Listen carefully to my words,

and let this be the comfort you offer to me.

³Put up with me, and I also will speak;

after I have spoken, mock on.

⁴As for me, is my complaint to a person?

Why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me and be appalled,

and lay your hand upon your mouth.

⁶When I think about my sufferings, I am terrified,

and trembling seizes my body.

⁷Why do wicked people continue to live,

become old, and grow mighty in power?

⁸Their descendants are established with them in their sight,

and their offspring are established before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear;

neither is the rod of God on them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds; it does not fail to do so;

their cow gives birth and does not lose her calf prematurely.

¹¹They send out their little ones like a flock,

and their children dance.

¹²They sing to the tambourine and harp

and rejoice with the music of the flute.

¹³They spend their days in prosperity,

and they go down quietly to Sheol.

¹⁴They say to God, 'Depart from us

for we do not wish any knowledge of your ways.

¹⁵What is the Almighty, that we should worship him?

What profit would we get if we prayed to him?'

¹⁶See, is not their prosperity in their own hands?

I have nothing to do with the advice of wicked people.

¹⁷How often is it that the lamp of wicked people is put out,

or that their calamity comes upon them?

How often does it happen that God distributes sorrows to them in his anger?

¹⁸How often is it that they become like stubble before the wind

or like chaff that the storm carries away?

¹⁹You say, 'God lays up one's iniquity for his children.'

Let him pay it himself, so that he might know it.

²⁰Let his eyes see his own destruction,

and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what does he care about his family after him

when the number of his months is cut off?

²²Can anyone teach God knowledge,

since he judges even those who are high?

²³One man dies in his full strength,

being completely quiet and at ease.

²⁴His body is full of milk,

and the marrow of his bones is moist.

²⁵Another man dies in bitterness of soul,

one who has never experienced anything good.

²⁶They lie down alike in the dust;

the worms cover them both.

²⁷See, I know your thoughts,

and your schemes to do violence to me.

²⁸For you say, 'Where now is the house of the prince?

Where is the tent in which the wicked man once lived?'

²⁹Have you never asked traveling people?

Do you not know the evidence they can tell,

³⁰that the wicked man is kept from the day of calamity,

and that he is led away from the day of wrath?

³¹Who will condemn the wicked man's way to his face?

Who will repay him for what he has done?

³²Yet he will be borne to the grave;

men will keep watch over his tomb.

³³The clods of the valley will be sweet to him;

all people will follow after him,

as there were innumerable people before him.

³⁴How then do you comfort me with nonsense,

since in your answers there is nothing but falsehood?"

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²"Can a man be useful to God?

Can a wise man be useful to him?

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous?

Is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?

⁴Is it because of your reverence for him that he rebukes you

and takes you to judgment?

⁵Is not your wickedness great?

Is there no end to your iniquities?

⁶For you have demanded guarantee of a loan from your brother for no reason,

and you have stripped away clothing from the naked.

⁷You have not given water to weary people to drink;

you have withheld bread from hungry people

⁸although you, a mighty man, possessed the earth,

although you, an honored man, lived in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty;

the arms of the fatherless have been crushed.

¹⁰Therefore, snares are all around you,

and sudden fear troubles you.

¹¹There is darkness, so that you cannot see;

an abundance of waters covers you.

¹²Is not God in the heights of heaven?

Look at the height of the stars, how high they are!

¹³You say, 'What does God know?

Can he judge through the thick darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he does not see us;

he walks on the vault of heaven.'

¹⁵Will you keep the old way

that wicked men have walked—

¹⁶those who were snatched away before their time,

those whose foundations have washed away like a river,

¹⁷those who said to God, 'Depart from us';

those who said, 'What can the Almighty do to us?'

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things;

the plans of wicked people are far from me.

¹⁹Righteous people see their fate and are glad;

innocent people mock them.

²⁰They say, 'Surely those who rose up against us are cut off;

fire has consumed their possessions.'

²¹Now agree with God and be at peace with him;

in that way, good will come to you.

²²Receive, I beg you, instruction from his mouth;

store up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up,

if you put unrighteousness far away from your tents.

²⁴Lay your treasure down in the dust,

the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks,

²⁵and the Almighty will be your treasure,

precious silver to you.

²⁶For then you will take pleasure in the Almighty;

you will lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you;

you will pay your vows to him.

²⁸You will also decree anything, and it will be confirmed for you;

light will shine on your paths.

²⁹God humbles a proud man,

and he saves the one with humble eyes.

³⁰He will rescue even the man who is not innocent;

who will be rescued through the cleanness of your hands."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"Even today my complaint is rebellion;¹

my hand² is heavy because of my groaning.

³Oh, that I knew where I might find him!

Oh, that I might come to his place!

⁴I would lay my case in order before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn the words with which he would answer me

and would understand what he would say to me.

⁶Would he argue against me in the greatness of his power?

No, he would pay attention to me.

⁷There the upright person might argue with him.

In this way I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

⁸See, I go eastward, but he is not there,

and westward, but I cannot find him.

⁹To the north, where he is at work, but I cannot see him,

and to the south, where he hides himself so that I cannot see him.

¹⁰But he knows the way that I take;

when he has tested me, I will come out like gold.

¹¹My foot has held fast to his steps;

I have kept to his way and turned not aside.

¹²I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

¹³But he is one of a kind, who can turn him back?

What he desires, he does.

¹⁴For he carries out his decree against me;

there are many like them.

¹⁵Therefore, I am terrified in his presence;

when I think about him, I am afraid of him.

¹⁶For God has made my heart weak;

the Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷I have not been brought to an end by darkness,

because of the thick darkness that covers the gloom of my face.

¹Some ancient translations and many English translations have: bitter.

²Some copies have: his hand.

¹Why are times for judging wicked people not set by the Almighty?

Why do not those who are faithful to God see his days of judgment come?

²There are wicked people who remove boundary markers;

there are wicked people who take away flocks by force

and put them in their own pastures.

³They drive away the donkey of those without fathers;

they take the widow's ox as a pledge.

⁴They force needy people out of their path;

poor people of the earth all hide themselves from them.

⁵See, these poor people go out to their work

like wild donkeys in the wilderness, looking carefully for food;

perhaps the Arabah will provide them food for their children.

⁶They reap fodder in the field;

they glean the vineyard of the wicked.

⁷They lie naked all night without clothing;

they have no covering in the cold.

⁸They are wet with the showers of the mountains;

they lie next to large rocks because they have no shelter.

⁹The fatherless is seized from the breast,

and they take a pledge against the poor.

¹⁰But the poor people go about naked without clothing;

although they go hungry,

they carry bundles of grain belonging to other people.

¹¹The poor people make oil within the walls of those wicked men;

they tread the wicked men's winepresses,

but they themselves suffer thirst.

¹²From out of the city the dying groan,

and the throat of the wounded cries out for help.

But God does not charge anyone with wrongdoing.

¹³Some of these wicked people rebel against the light;

they know not its ways,

nor do they stay in its paths.

¹⁴Before daylight the murderer rises

and he kills the poor and the needy;

in the night he is like a thief.

¹⁵Also, the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight;

he says, 'No eye will see me.'

He disguises his face.

¹⁶In the darkness they dig into houses;

but they shut themselves up in the daytime;

they do not care for the light.

¹⁷For all of them, thick darkness is like the morning;

for they are friends with the terrors of thick darkness.

¹⁸Swiftly they pass away, however, like foam on the surface of the waters;

their portion of the land is cursed;

no one goes to work in their vineyards.

¹⁹As drought and heat melt away the snow into waters,

so Sheol takes away those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb that bore him will forget him;

the worm will feed sweetly on him;

he will be remembered no more;

in this way, wickedness will be broken like a tree.

²¹The wicked one devours the barren women who have not borne children;

he does no good to the widow.

²²Yet God drags away the mighty by his power;

he rises up and does not strengthen him in life.

²³God gives him what he needs for security, and he is supported,

but his eyes are on his ways.

²⁴These people are exalted; still, in only a little while, they will be gone;

indeed, they will be brought low; they will be gathered up like all the others;

they will be cut off like the tops of ears of grain.

²⁵If it is not so, who can prove me to be a liar;

who can make my speech worth nothing?"

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

²"Dominion and fear are with him;

he makes order in his high places of heaven.

³Is there any end to the number of his armies?

Upon whom does his light not shine?

⁴How then can man be righteous with God?

How can he who is born of a woman be clean, acceptable to him?

⁵See, even the moon has no brightness to him;

the stars are not pure in his sight.

⁶How much less man, who is a worm—

a son of man, who is a worm!"

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"How you have helped one who has no power!

How you have saved the arm that has no strength!

³How you have advised one who has no wisdom

and announced to him sound wisdom!

⁴With whose help have you spoken these words?

Whose spirit was it that came out from you?

⁵The dead are made to tremble,

those who are beneath the waters

and all who dwell in them.

⁶Sheol is naked before God;

destruction itself has no covering against him.

⁷He stretches out the northern skies

over the empty space,

and he hangs the earth over nothing.

⁸He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,

but the clouds are not torn under them.

⁹He covers the surface of the moon

and spreads his clouds on it.

¹⁰He has engraved a circular boundary on the surface of the waters

as the line between light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble

and are astonished at his rebuke.

¹²He calmed the sea with his power;

by his understanding he shattered Rahab.

¹³By his breath he made the skies clear;

his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

¹⁴See, these are but the fringes of his ways;

how small a whisper do we hear of him!

Who can understand the thunder of his power?"

¹Job continued his discourse, and he said,

²"As surely as God lives, who has taken away my justice,

the Almighty, who made my life bitter,

³while my life is yet in me,

and the breath from God is in my nostrils,

this is what I will do.

⁴My lips will not speak wickedness,

neither will my tongue speak deceit;

⁵I will never admit that you are right;

until I die I will never deny my integrity.

⁶I hold fast to my righteousness and will not let it go;

my conscience will not accuse me so long as I live.

⁷Let my enemy be like a wicked man;

let him who rises up against me be like an unrighteous man.

⁸For what is the hope of a godless man when God cuts him off,

when God takes away his life?

⁹Will God hear his cry

when trouble comes upon him?

¹⁰Will he delight himself in the Almighty

and call upon God at all times?

¹¹I will teach you concerning the hand of God;

I will not conceal the thoughts of the Almighty.

¹²See, all of you have seen this yourselves;

why then have you become completely useless?

¹³This is the portion of a wicked man with God,

the inheritance of the oppressor that he receives from the Almighty:

¹⁴If his children multiply, it is for the sword;

his offspring will never have enough food.

¹⁵Those who survive him will be buried by plague,

and their widows will make no lament for them.

¹⁶Though the wicked man heaps up silver like the dust,

and heaps up clothing like clay,

¹⁷he may heap up clothing, but righteous people will put it on,

and innocent people will divide up the silver among themselves.

¹⁸He builds his house like a spider,

like a hut that a guard makes.

¹⁹He lies down in bed rich, but he will not keep doing so;

he opens his eyes, and everything is gone.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like waters;

a storm takes him away in the night.

²¹The east wind carries him away, and he leaves;

it sweeps him out of his place.

²²It throws itself at him and does not stop;

he tries to flee out of its hand.

²³It claps its hands at him

and hisses him from his place.

¹Surely there is a mine for silver,

a place where they refine gold.

²Iron is taken out of the earth;

copper is smelted out of the stone.

³A man sets an end to darkness

and searches out to the farthest limit

the stones in the blackest darkness.

⁴He breaks open a shaft away from where people live,

places that are forgotten by anyone's foot.

He hangs far away from people; he swings to and fro.

⁵As for the earth, out of which comes bread,

it is turned up below as if by fire.

⁶Its stones are the place where sapphires are found,

and its dust contains gold.

⁷No bird of prey knows the path to it,

nor has the falcon's eye seen it.

⁸The proud animals have not walked such a path,

nor has the fierce lion passed there.

⁹A man lays his hand on the flinty rock;

he overturns mountains by their roots.

¹⁰He cuts out channels among the rocks;

his eye sees every valuable thing there.

¹¹He ties up the streams so they do not run;

what is hidden there he brings out to the light.

¹²Where will wisdom be found?

Where is the place of understanding?

¹³Man does not know its price;

neither is it found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The deep waters under the earth say, 'It is not in me';

the sea says, 'It is not with me.'

¹⁵It cannot be gotten for gold;

neither can silver be weighed as its price.

¹⁶It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,

with precious onyx or sapphire.

¹⁷Gold and crystal cannot equal it in worth;

neither can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

¹⁸No mention is worth making of coral or jasper;

indeed, the price of wisdom is more than rubies.

¹⁹The topaz of Cush does not equal it;

neither can it be valued in terms of pure gold.

²⁰From where, then, comes wisdom?

Where is the place of understanding?

²¹Wisdom is hidden from the eyes of all living things

and is kept hidden from the birds of the heavens.

²²Destruction and Death say,

'We have heard just a rumor about it with our ears.'

²³God understands the way to it;

he knows its place.

²⁴For he looks to the very ends of the earth

and sees under all the heavens.

²⁵He made the force of the wind

and parceled out the waters by measure.

²⁶He made a decree for the rain

and a path for the thunder.

²⁷Then he saw wisdom and announced it;

he established it, indeed, and he examined it.

²⁸To people he said,

'See, the fear of the Lord—that is wisdom;

to depart from evil is understanding.'"

¹Job resumed speaking and said,

²"Oh, that I were as I was in the past months

when God cared for me,

³when his lamp shined on my head,

and when I walked through darkness by his light.

⁴Oh, that I were as I was in the ripeness of my days

when the friendship of God was on my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was yet with me,

and my children were around me,

⁶when my way was covered with cream,

and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁷When I went out to the city gate,

when I sat in my place in the city square,

⁸the young men saw me and kept their distance from me in respect,

and the aged people rose and stood for me.

⁹The princes used to refrain from talking when I came;

they would lay their hand on their mouths.

¹⁰The voices of the noblemen were hushed,

and their tongue clung to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹For after their ears heard me, they would then bless me;

after their eyes saw me, they would then give witness to me and approve of me

¹²because I rescued the one who was poor when he cried out,

and the one who had no father when he had no one to help him.

¹³The blessing of him who was about to perish came on me;

I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes to blind people;

I was feet to lame people.

¹⁶I was a father to needy people;

I would investigate the case even of one whom I did not know.

¹⁷I broke the jaws of the unrighteous man;

I plucked the victim out from between his teeth.

¹⁸Then I said, 'I will die in my nest;

I will multiply my days like the grains of sand.

¹⁹My roots are spread out to the waters,

and dew lies all night on my branches.

²⁰The honor in me is always fresh,

and the bow of my strength is always new in my hand.'

²¹To me men listened; they waited for me;

they stayed silent to hear my advice.

²²After my words were done, they did not speak again;

my speech dropped like water on them.

²³They always waited for me as they waited for rain;

they opened their mouth wide to drink in my words,

as they would do for the latter rain.

²⁴I smiled on them when they did not expect it;

they did not reject the light of my face.

²⁵I selected their way and sat as their chief;

I lived like a king in his army,

like one who comforts mourners.

¹Now those who are younger than I have nothing but mockery for me—

these young men whose fathers I would have refused to allow to work beside the dogs of my flock.

²Indeed, the strength of their fathers' hands, how could it have helped me—

men in whom the strength of their mature age had perished?

³They were thin from poverty and hunger;

they gnawed at the dry ground in the darkness of wilderness and desolation.

⁴They plucked saltwort and bushes' leaves;

the roots of the broom tree were their food.

⁵They were driven out from among people

who shouted after them as one would shout after a thief.

⁶So they had to live in river valleys,

in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

⁷Among the bushes they brayed like donkeys

and they gathered together under the nettles.

⁸They were the sons of fools, indeed, sons of nameless people!

They were driven out of the land with whips.

⁹But now I have become the subject of their taunting song;

I have become a byword for them.

¹⁰They abhor me and stand far off from me;

they do not refrain from spitting in my face.

¹¹For God has unstrung the string to my bow and afflicted me,

and those who taunt me cast off restraint before my face.

¹²Upon my right hand rise the rabble;

they drive me away and

pile up against me their siege mounds.

¹³They destroy my path;

they push forward disaster for me,

men who have no one to hold them back.

¹⁴They come against me like an army through a wide hole in a city wall;

in the midst of the destruction they roll themselves in on me.

¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me;

my honor is driven away as if by the wind;

my prosperity passes away as a cloud.

¹⁶Now my life is pouring out from within me;

many days of suffering have laid hold on me.

¹⁷In the night my bones in me are pierced;

the pains that gnaw at me take no rest.

¹⁸God's great force has seized my clothing;

it wraps around me like the collar of my tunic.

¹⁹He has thrown me into the mud;

I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰I cry to you, God, but you do not answer me;

I stand up, and you merely look at me.

²¹You have changed and become cruel to me;

with the might of your hand you persecute me.

²²You lift me up to the wind and cause it to drive me along;

you throw me back and forth in a storm.¹

²³For I know that you will bring me to death,

to the house appointed for all the living.

²⁴However, does no one reach out with his hand to beg for help when he falls?

Does no one in trouble call out for help?

²⁵Did not I weep for him whose day is hard?

Did I not grieve for the needy man?

²⁶When I hoped for good, then evil came;

when I waited for light, darkness came instead.

²⁷My heart is troubled and does not rest;

days of affliction have come on me.

²⁸I have gone about like one who was living in the dark,

but not because of the sun;

I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

²⁹I am a brother to jackals,

a companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin is black and falls away from me;

my bones are burned with heat.

³¹Therefore my harp is tuned for songs of mourning,

my flute for the singing of those who wail.

¹Some modern translations have you dissolve me in a storm.

¹I have made a covenant with my eyes;

how then should I look with desire on a virgin?

²For what is the portion from God above,

the inheritance from the Almighty on high?

³I used to think that calamity is for unrighteous people,

and that disaster is for those who behave wickedly.

⁴Does not God see my ways

and count all my steps?

⁵If I have walked with falsehood,

if my foot has hurried to deceit,

⁶let me be weighed in an even balance

so that God will know my integrity.

⁷If my step has turned aside from the way,

if my heart has gone after my eyes,

if any spot has stuck to my hands,

⁸then let me sow, and let another eat,

and let my crops be uprooted.

⁹If my heart has been deceived by a woman,

if I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

¹⁰then let my wife grind grain for another,

and let others bow down on her.

¹¹For that would be a terrible crime;

indeed, it would be a crime to be punished by judges.

¹²For that is a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,

and it would burn all my harvest to the root.

¹³If I rejected the plea for justice from my male servant or my female servant

when they argued with me,

¹⁴what then would I do when God rises up to accuse me?

When he comes to judge me, how would I answer him?

¹⁵Did the one who made me in the womb not make them also?

Did not the same one mold us all in the womb?

¹⁶If I have withheld poor people from their desire,

or if I have caused the eyes of the widow to grow dim from crying,

¹⁷or if I have eaten my morsel alone

and not allowed those without fathers to eat it also—

¹⁸because from my youth the orphan grew up with me as with a father,

and I have guided his mother, a widow, from my own mother's womb.

¹⁹If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,

or if I have seen that a needy man had no clothing;

²⁰if his heart has not blessed me

because he has not been warmed with the wool of my sheep,

²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the orphan

because I saw my support in the city gate,

then bring charges against me!

²²If I have done these things, then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,

and let my arm be broken from its joint.

²³For I dreaded destruction from God;

because of his majesty, I was not able to do those things.

²⁴If I have made gold my hope,

and if I have said to fine gold, 'You are what I am confident in';

²⁵if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,

because my hand had gotten many possessions,

then bring charges against me!

²⁶If I have seen the sun when it shone,

or the moon walking in its splendor,

²⁷and if my heart has been secretly attracted,

so that my mouth has kissed my hand in worship of them—

²⁸this also would be a crime to be punished by judges,

for I would have denied the God who is above.

²⁹If I have rejoiced at the destruction of anyone who hated me

or congratulated myself when disaster overtook him,

then bring charges against me!

³⁰Indeed, I have not even allowed my mouth to sin

by asking for his life with a curse.

³¹If the men of my tent have never said,

'Who can find one who has not been filled with Job's food?'

³²(even the foreigner has never had to stay in the city square,

because I have always opened my doors to the traveler),

and if that is not so, then bring charges against me!

³³If, like mankind, I have hidden my sins

by hiding my guilt inside my bosom

³⁴(because I feared the great multitude,

because the contempt of the families terrified me,

so that I kept silent and would not go outside)—

³⁵Oh, if only I had someone to hear me!

See, here is my signature; let the Almighty answer me!

If only I had the indictment that my opponent has written!

³⁶Surely I would carry it openly on my shoulder;

I would bind it on myself like a crown.

³⁷I would declare to him an accounting for my steps;

as a confident prince I would go up to him.

³⁸If my land ever cries out against me,

and its furrows weep together,

³⁹if I have eaten its harvest without paying for it

or have caused its owners to lose their lives,

⁴⁰then let thorns grow instead of wheat

and weeds instead of barley."

The words of Job are finished.

¹So these three men stopped answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes.²Then the anger of Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled; it was kindled against Job because he justified himself rather than God.

³Elihu's anger was also kindled against his three friends because they had found no answer to Job, and yet they had condemned Job.⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because the other men were older than he.⁵However, when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, his anger was kindled.

⁶Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite spoke up and said,

"I am young, and you are very old.

That is why I held back and was afraid to tell you my own thoughts.

⁷I said, "Length of days should speak;

a multitude of years should teach wisdom.

⁸But there is a spirit in a man;

the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.

⁹It is not only the great people who are wise,

nor the aged people alone who understand justice.

¹⁰Therefore I say to you, 'Listen to me;

I will also tell you my knowledge.'

¹¹See, I waited for your words;

I listened to your arguments

while you were searching for a word.

¹²Indeed, I paid attention to you,

but, see, there was not one of you who could convince Job

or who could respond to his words.

¹³Be careful not to say, 'We have found wisdom!'

God will have to defeat Job; mere man cannot do it.

¹⁴For Job has not directed his words against me,

so I will not answer him with your words.

¹⁵These three men are dismayed; they can answer Job no longer;

they have not a word more to say.

¹⁶Should I wait because they are not speaking,

because they stand there silent and answer no more?

¹⁷No, I also will answer on my part;

I will also tell them my knowledge.

¹⁸For I am full of words;

the spirit in me compels me.

¹⁹See, my breast is like fermenting wine that has no vent;

like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.

²⁰I will speak so that I may be refreshed;

I will open my lips and answer.

²¹I will not show favoritism;

neither will I give honorific titles to any man.

²²For I do not know how to give such titles;

if I did so, my Maker would soon take me away.

¹So now, Job, I beg you, hear my speech;

listen to all my words.

²See now, I have opened my mouth;

my tongue has spoken in my mouth.

³My words come from the uprightness of my heart;

my lips speak pure knowledge.

⁴The Spirit of God has made me;

the breath of the Almighty has given me life.

⁵If you can, answer me;

set your words in order before me and stand up.

⁶See, I am just as you are in God's sight;

I also have been formed out of the clay.

⁷See, terror of me will not make you afraid;

neither will my pressure be heavy upon you.

⁸You have certainly spoken in my hearing;

I have heard the sound of your words saying,

⁹'I am clean and without transgression;

I am innocent, and there is no iniquity in me.

¹⁰See, God finds opportunities to attack me;

he regards me as his enemy.

¹¹He puts my feet in stocks;

he watches all my paths.'

¹²See, in this you are not in the right—I will answer you,

for God is greater than man.

¹³Why do you struggle against him?

He does not account for any of his doings.

¹⁴For God speaks once—

yes, twice, though man does not notice it.

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night,

when deep sleep falls upon men,

in slumber on the bed—

¹⁶then God opens the ears of men,

and frightens them with threats,

¹⁷to cause man to turn away from his deed,

and keep pride from a man.

¹⁸God keeps man's life back from the pit,

his life from crossing over to death.

¹⁹Man is punished also with pain on his bed,

with constant strife in his bones,

²⁰so that his life abhors food,

and his soul abhors delicacies.

²¹His flesh is consumed away so that it cannot be seen;

his bones, once not seen, now stick out.

²²Indeed, his soul draws close to the pit,

his life to those who wish to destroy it.

²³But if there is an angel who can be a mediator for him,

one out of a thousand,

to tell a man what is right for him,

²⁴to be gracious to him and say,

'Save this person from going down to the pit;

I have found a ransom for him,'

²⁵then his flesh will become fresher than a youth's;

it is restored to the days of his youthful vigor.

²⁶He will pray to God, and God will be kind to him,

so that he sees God's face with joy.

God will restore to the person his righteousness.

²⁷Then that person will sing in front of other people and say,

'I sinned and perverted that which was right,

but my sin was not punished.

²⁸God has rescued my soul from going down into the pit;

my life will continue to see light.'

²⁹See, God does all these things with a person,

twice, yes, even three times,

³⁰to bring his soul back from the pit,

so that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

³¹Pay attention, Job, and listen to me;

be silent and I will speak.

³²If you have anything to say, answer me;

speak, for I wish to justify you.

³³If not, then listen to me;

remain silent, and I will teach you wisdom."

¹Moreover, Elihu continued to speak:

²"Listen to my words, you wise men;

hear me, you who have knowledge.

³For the ear tests words

as the palate tastes food.

⁴Let us choose for ourselves what is just:

let us discover among ourselves what is good.

⁵For Job has said, 'I am righteous,

but God has taken away my rights.

⁶Regardless of my rights

I am considered to be a liar.

My wound is incurable,

although I am without sin.'

⁷What man is like Job,

who drinks up mockery like water,

⁸who goes around in the company of those who behave wickedly,

and who walks with wicked men?

⁹For he has said, 'It is no use to a person

to take pleasure in doing what God wants.'

¹⁰So listen to me, you men of understanding:

far be it from God that he should do wickedness;

far be it from the Almighty that he should commit sin.

¹¹For he pays back a person's work;

he makes every man come upon the reward of his own ways.

¹²Indeed, God does nothing wicked,

nor does the Almighty ever pervert justice.

¹³Who put him in charge over the earth?

Who put the whole world under him?

¹⁴If he ever set his intentions only on himself,

and if he ever gathered back to himself his spirit and his breath,

¹⁵then all flesh would perish together;

mankind would return to dust again.

¹⁶If now you have understanding, listen to this;

listen to the sound of my words.

¹⁷Can one who hates justice govern?

Will you condemn God, who is righteous and mighty?

¹⁸God, who says to a king, 'You are worthless,'

or says to nobles, 'You are wicked'?

¹⁹God, who does not show favoritism to leaders

and does not acknowledge rich people more than poor,

for they all are the work of his hands.

²⁰In a moment they will die;

at midnight people will be shaken and will pass away;

mighty people will be taken away, but not by human hands.

²¹For God's eyes are upon a person's ways;

he sees all his steps.

²²There is no darkness and there is no deep shadow

where those who behave wickedly may hide themselves.

²³For God does not need to examine a person further;

there is no need for any person to go before him in judgment.

²⁴He breaks mighty men into pieces for their ways that need no further investigation;

he puts others in their places.

²⁵In this way he has knowledge of their deeds;

he overthrows these people in the night; they are crushed.

²⁶In the open sight of others, he kills them for their wicked deeds like criminals

²⁷because they turned away from following him

and refused to acknowledge any of his ways.

²⁸In this way, they made the cry of poor people come to him;

he heard the cry of afflicted people.

²⁹When he stays silent, who can condemn him?

If he hides his face, who can see him?

He rules over nation and individual alike,

³⁰so that a godless man may not reign,

so that there may be no one to entrap people.

³¹Suppose someone says to God,

'I am certainly guilty, but I will not act corruptly any longer;

³²teach me what I cannot see;

I have committed sin, but I will do it no longer.'

³³Is it according to your desires that God must punish that person?

For you reject this!

You must choose, not I.

So say what it is that you know.

³⁴Men of understanding will say to me—

indeed, every wise man who hears me will say,

³⁵'Job speaks without knowledge;

his words are without wisdom.'

³⁶If only Job were put on trial in the smallest details of his case

because of his talking like wicked men.

³⁷For he adds rebellion to his sin;

he claps his hands in mockery in our midst;

he piles up words against God."

¹Moreover Elihu continued, saying,

²"Do you think this is just

when you say, 'I am in the right before God'?

³For you ask, 'What use is it to me?'

and, 'Would I be better off if I had sinned?'

⁴I will answer you,

both you and your friends.

⁵Look up at the sky, and see it;

see the sky, which is higher than you.

⁶If you have sinned, what harm do you do to God?

If your transgressions are many, what do you do to him?

⁷If you are righteous, what can you give to him?

What will he receive from your hand?

⁸Your wickedness may hurt a man, as you are a man,

and your righteousness might benefit another son of man.

⁹Because of many acts of oppression, people cry out;

they call for help from the arms of mighty men.

¹⁰But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker,

who gives songs in the night,

¹¹who teaches us more than he teaches the wild animals of the earth,

and who makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?'

¹²There they cry out, but God gives no answer

because of the pride of evil men.

¹³God will certainly not hear a foolish cry;

the Almighty will pay no attention to it.

¹⁴How much less will he answer you if you say that you do not see him,

that your case is before him, and that you are waiting for him!

¹⁵Now you say that his anger does not punish,

and he does not take even a litte notice of transgression.

¹⁶So Job opens his mouth only to speak foolishness;

he multiplies words without knowledge."

¹Elihu continued on and said,

²"Be patient with me a little longer, and I will show you some things

because I have a little more to say in defense of God.

³I will obtain my knowledge from far off;

I will acknowledge that righteousness belongs to my Maker.

⁴For indeed, my words will not be false;

someone who is mature in knowledge is with you.

⁵See, God is mighty, and despises no one;

he is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁶He does not preserve the life of wicked people

but gives justice those who suffer.

⁷He does not withdraw his eyes from righteous people

but sets them on thrones with kings forever,

and they are lifted up.

⁸If they are bound in chains

and trapped in cords of suffering,

⁹then he reveals to them what they have done,

and their transgressions and their pride.

¹⁰He also opens their ears to his instruction,

and commands them to turn back from iniquity.

¹¹If they listen to him and worship him,

they will spend their days in prosperity,

their years in contentment.

¹²However, if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword;

they will die because they have no knowledge.

¹³Those who are godless in heart store up their anger;

they do not cry out for help even when God ties them up.

¹⁴They die in their youth;

their lives end among the cultic prostitutes.

¹⁵God rescues afflicted people by means of their afflictions;

he opens their ears by means of their oppression.

¹⁶Indeed, he would like to draw you out of distress

into a broad place where there is no hardship

and where your table would be set with food full of fatness.

¹⁷But you are full of judgment on wicked people;

judgment and justice have laid hold of you.

¹⁸Do not let your anger entice you to mockery,

or the greatness of a ransom to turn you aside.

¹⁹Can your wealth benefit you, so that you will not be in distress,

or can all the force of your strength help you?

²⁰Do not desire the night, to commit sin against others,

when peoples are cut off in their place.

²¹Be careful that you do not turn to wickedness

because you are being tested by suffering so that you will stay away from sinning.

²²See, God is exalted in his power;

who is a teacher like him?

²³Who has ever instructed him about his way?

Who can ever say to him, 'You have committed unrighteousness?'

²⁴Remember to praise his deeds,

of which people have sung.

²⁵All people have looked on those deeds,

but they see those deeds only from far away.

²⁶See, God is great, but we do not understand him well;

the number of his years is incalculable.

²⁷For he draws up the drops of water

that he distills as rain from his vapor,¹

²⁸which the clouds pour down

and drop in abundance on mankind.

²⁹Indeed, can anyone understand the extensive spread of the clouds

and the thunder from his hut?

³⁰See, he spreads his lightning around him

and covers the roots of the sea.

³¹In this way he judges the peoples

and gives food in abundance.

³²He fills his hands with the lightning

until he commands it to strike its mark.

³³Its thunder warns of the storm,

the cattle can also hear it is coming.

¹Some modern translations have that distill as rain from his vapor.

¹Indeed, my heart trembles at this;

it is moved out of its place.

²Hear, oh, hear the noise of his voice,

the sound that goes out from his mouth.

³He sends it out under the whole sky,

and he sends out his lightning to the edges of the earth.

⁴A voice roars after it;

he thunders with the voice of his majesty;

he does not restrain the lightning bolts

when his voice is heard.

⁵God thunders marvelously with his voice;

he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

⁶For he says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth';

and to the rain shower, 'Be strong.'

⁷He stops the hand of every man from working,

so that all people whom he has made may see his deeds.

⁸Then the beasts go into hiding

and stay in their dens.

⁹The storm comes from its chamber in the south

and the cold from the scattering winds in the north.

¹⁰By the breath of God ice is given;

the expanse of the waters is frozen like metal.

¹¹Indeed, he weighs down the thick cloud with moisture;

he scatters his lightning through the clouds.

¹²He swirls the clouds around by his guidance,

so that they may do whatever he commands them

above the surface of the earthly world.

¹³He makes all of this happen; sometimes it happens for correction, sometimes for his land,

and sometimes as acts of covenant faithfulness.

¹⁴Listen to this, Job;

stop and think about God's marvelous deeds.

¹⁵Do you know how God establishes the clouds

and makes the lightning bolts to flash in them?

¹⁶Do you understand the floating of the clouds,

the marvelous deeds of God, who is perfect in knowledge?

¹⁷Do you understand how your garments become hot

when the land is still because the wind comes from the south?

¹⁸Can you spread out the sky as he can—

the sky, which is as strong as a mirror of cast metal?

¹⁹Teach us what we should say to him,

for we cannot lay out our arguments in order because of the darkness of our minds.

²⁰Should he be told that I wish to speak with him?

Would a person wish to be swallowed up?

²¹Now, people cannot look at the sun when it is bright in the sky

after the wind has passed through and has cleared it of its clouds.

²²Out of the north comes golden splendor—

over God is fearsome majesty.

²³As for the Almighty, we cannot find him!

He is great in power;

he does not oppress justice and abundant righteousness.

²⁴Therefore, people fear him.

He does not pay any attention to those who are wise in their own minds."

¹Then Yahweh called to Job out of a fierce storm and said,

²"Who is this who brings darkness to plans

by means of words without knowledge?

³Now gird up your loins like a man

for I will ask you questions,

and you must answer me.

⁴Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations?

Tell me, if you have so much understanding.

⁵Who determined its dimensions? Tell me, if you know.

Who stretched the measuring line over it?

⁶On what were its foundations laid?

Who laid its cornerstone

⁷when the morning stars sang together

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸Who shut up the sea with doors

when it burst out, as if it had come out of the womb—

⁹when I made clouds its clothing,

and thick darkness its swaddling bands?

¹⁰That was when I marked out for the sea my boundary,

and when I placed its bars and doors,

¹¹and when I said to it, 'You may come this far, but no farther;

here is where I will put a boundary to the pride of your waves.'

¹²Have you given orders to the morning,

or caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³so that it might take hold of the edges of the earth

and shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴The earth is changed in appearance like clay changes under a seal;

all things on it stand out clearly like the folds of a piece of clothing.

¹⁵From wicked people their light is taken away;

their uplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶Have you gone to the springs of the sea?

Have you walked in the lowest parts of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

¹⁸Have you understood the earth in its expanse?

Tell me, if you know it all.

¹⁹Where is the way to the resting place of light—

as for darkness, where is its place?

²⁰Can you lead light and darkness to their places of work?

Can you find the way back to their houses for them?

²¹Undoubtedly you know, for you were born then;

the number of your days is so large!

²²Have you entered the storehouses for the snow,

or have you seen the storehouses for the hail,

²³these things that I have kept for times of trouble,

for days of battle and war?

²⁴What is the path to where the lightning bolts are distributed

or to where the winds are scattered from the east over the earth?

²⁵Who has created the channels for the floods of rain,

or who has made a path for the thunder,

²⁶to cause it to rain on lands where no person exists,

and on the wilderness, in which there is no one,

²⁷to satisfy the devastated and desolate places,

and to make the ground sprout with grass?

²⁸Does the rain have a father,

or, who fathers the drops of dew?

²⁹Out of whose womb did the ice come?

Who bore the white frost out of the sky?

³⁰The waters hide themselves and become like stone;

the surface of the deep becomes frozen.

³¹Can you fasten chains on the Pleiades,

or undo the cords of Orion?

³²Can you lead the constellations to appear at their proper times?

Can you guide the Bear with its children?

³³Do you know the regulations of the sky?

Could you set in place the sky's rule over the earth?

³⁴Can you raise your voice up to the clouds,

so that an abundance of rainwater may cover you?

³⁵Can you send out bolts of lightning that they may go out,

that they say to you, 'Here we are'?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the clouds

or has given understanding to the mists?

³⁷Who can number the clouds by his skill?

Who can pour out the water skins of the sky

³⁸when the dust runs into a hard mass

and the clods of earth clump tightly together?

³⁹Can you hunt down a victim for a lioness

or satisfy the appetite of her young lion cubs

⁴⁰when they are crouching in their dens

and sheltering in hiding to lie in wait?

⁴¹Who provides victims for the ravens

when their young ones cry out to God

and stagger about for lack of food?

¹Do you know at what time the wild goats in the rocks bear their young?

Can you watch when the deer are having their fawns?

²Can you count the months that they gestate?

Do you know the time when they bear their young?

³They crouch down and give birth to their young,

and then they finish their labor pains.

⁴Their young ones become strong and grow up in the open fields;

they go out and do not return to them.

⁵Who sent the wild donkey out free?

Who has untied the bonds of the swift donkey,

⁶whose home I have made in the Arabah,

his house in the salt land?

⁷He laughs in scorn at the noises in the city;

he does not hear the driver's shouts.

⁸He roams over the mountains as his pastures;

there he looks for every green plant to eat.

⁹Will the wild ox be happy to serve you?

Will he consent to stay by your manger?

¹⁰Can you use ropes to hold the wild ox in the furrows?

Will he harrow the valleys as he follows after you?

¹¹Will you trust him because his strength is great?

Will you leave your labor to him to do?

¹²Will you depend on him to bring your grain home,

to gather the grain for your threshing floor?

¹³The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,

but are they the pinions and plumage of love?

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the earth,

and she lets them keep warm in the dust;

¹⁵she forgets that a foot might crush them

or that a wild beast might trample them.

¹⁶She deals roughly with her young ones as if they were not hers;

she does not fear that her labor might have been in vain,

¹⁷because God has deprived her of wisdom

and has not given her any understanding.

¹⁸When she runs swiftly,

she laughs in scorn at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹Have you given the horse his strength?

Did you clothe his neck with his flowing mane?

²⁰Have you ever made him jump like a locust?

The majesty of his snorting is fearsome.

²¹He paws in might and rejoices in his strength;

he rushes out to meet the weapons.

²²He mocks fear and is not dismayed;

he does not turn back from the sword.

²³The quiver rattles against his flank,

along with the flashing spear and the javelin.

²⁴He swallows up ground with fierceness and rage;

at the sound of the ram's horn, he cannot stand in one place.

²⁵Whenever the ram's horn sounds, he says, 'Aha!'

He smells the battle from far away—

the thunderous shouts of the commanders and the outcries.

²⁶Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,

that he stretches out his wings for the south?

²⁷Is it at your orders that the eagle mounts up

and makes his nest in high places?

²⁸He lives on cliffs and makes his home

on the peaks of cliffs, a stronghold.

²⁹From there he searches for victims;

his eyes see them from very far away.

³⁰His young also drink up blood;

where killed people are, there he is."

¹Yahweh continued to speak to Job; he said,

²"Should anyone who wishes to criticize try to correct the Almighty?

He who argues with God, let him answer."

³Then Job answered Yahweh and said,

⁴"See, I am insignificant; how can I answer you?

I put my hand over my mouth.

⁵I spoke once, and I will not answer;

indeed, twice, but I will proceed no further."

⁶Then Yahweh answered Job out of a fierce storm and said,

⁷"Now gird up your loins like a man,

for I will ask you questions, and you must answer me.

⁸Will you actually say that I am unjust?

Will you condemn me so you may claim that you are in the right?

⁹Do you have an arm like God's,

and can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰Now clothe yourself in glory and dignity;

array yourself in honor and majesty.

¹¹Scatter around the excess of your anger;

look at everyone who is proud and bring him low.

¹²Look at everyone who is proud and bring him low;

trample down wicked people where they stand.

¹³Bury them in the earth together;

imprison their faces in the hidden place.

¹⁴Then will I also acknowledge about you

that your own right hand can save you.

¹⁵See now, the behemoth,

which I made when I made you—

he eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶See now, his strength is in his loins,

and his power is in his belly's muscles.

¹⁷He makes his tail like a cedar;

the sinews of his thighs are joined together.

¹⁸His bones are like tubes of bronze;

his legs are like bars of iron.

¹⁹He is the chief of the creatures of God.

Only God, who made him, can defeat him.

²⁰For the hills provide him with food;

the beasts of the field play nearby.

²¹He lies under the lotus plants

in the shelter of the reeds, in the marshes.

²²The lotus plants cover him with their shade;

the willows of the brook are all around him.

²³See, if a river floods its banks, he does not tremble;

he is confident, though the Jordan should surge up to his mouth.

²⁴Can anyone capture him with a hook,

or pierce his nose through with a snare?

¹Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?

Or tie up his jaws with a cord?

²Can you put a rope into his nose,

or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

³Will he make many pleas to you?

Will he speak soft words to you?

⁴Will he make a covenant with you,

that you should take him for a servant forever?

⁵Will you play with him as you would with a bird?

Will you tie him up for your servant girls?

⁶Will the groups of fishermen bargain for him?

Will they divide him up to trade among the merchants?

⁷Can you fill his hide with harpoons

or his head with fishing spears?

⁸Put your hand on him just once,

and you will remember the battle and do it no more.

⁹See, the hope of anyone who does that is a lie;

will not anyone be thrown down to the ground just by the sight of him?

¹⁰None is so fierce that he dare stir Leviathan up;

who, then, is he who can stand before me?

¹¹Who has first given anything to me in order that I should repay him?

Whatever is under the whole sky is mine.

¹²I will not keep silent concerning Leviathan's legs,

nor about the matter of his strength, nor about his graceful form.

¹³Who can strip off his outer garment?

Who can penetrate his double armor?

¹⁴Who can open the doors of his face—

ringed with his teeth, which are a terror?

¹⁵his back is made up of rows of shields,

tight together as with a close seal.

¹⁶One is so near to another

that no air can come between them.

¹⁷They are joined to each other;

they stick together, so that they cannot be pulled apart.

¹⁸Light flashes out from his snorting;

his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning dawn.

¹⁹Out of his mouth go burning torches,

sparks of fire leap out.

²⁰Out of his nostrils goes smoke

like a boiling pot on a fire that has been fanned to be very hot.

²¹His breath kindles coals into flame;

fires go out from his mouth.

²²In his neck is strength,

and terror dances in front of him.

²³The folds of his flesh are joined together;

they are firm on him; they cannot be moved.

²⁴His heart is as hard as a stone—

indeed, as hard as a lower millstone.

²⁵When he raises himself up, even the gods become afraid;

because of its thrashing they draw back.

²⁶If a sword strikes him, it does nothing—

and neither does a spear, an arrow, or any other pointed weapon.

²⁷He thinks of iron as if it were straw,

and of bronze as if it were rotten wood.

²⁸An arrow cannot make him flee;

to him sling stones become chaff.

²⁹Clubs are regarded as straw;

he laughs at the whirring flight of a spear.

³⁰His lower parts are like sharp pieces of broken pottery;

he leaves a spreading trail in the mud as if he were a threshing sledge.

³¹He makes the deep to foam up like a pot of boiling water;

he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

³²He makes a shining wake behind him;

one would think the deep had gray hair.

³³On earth there is no equal to him,

who has been made to live without fear.

³⁴He sees everything that is proud;

he is king over all the sons of pride."

¹Then Job answered Yahweh and said,

²"I know that you can do all things,

that no purpose of yours can be stopped.

³'Who is this who without knowledge conceals plans?'

Indeed, I have spoken things that I did not understand,

things too difficult for me to understand, which I did not know about.

⁴You said to me, 'Listen, now, and I will speak;

I will ask you things,

and you will tell me.'

⁵I had heard about you by my ear's hearing,

but now my eye sees you.

⁶So I despise myself;

I repent in dust and ashes."

⁷It came about that after he had said these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.⁸Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer, so that I may not deal with you after your folly. You have not said what is right about me, as my servant Job has done."⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as Yahweh had commanded them, and Yahweh accepted Job.

¹⁰When Job prayed for his friends, Yahweh reversed his captivity. Yahweh gave him twice as much as he had possessed before.¹¹Then all Job's brothers, and all his sisters, and all who knew him before, came to him and ate food with him in his house. They showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the disasters that Yahweh had brought upon him, and each of them gave Job a piece of silver and a ring of gold.

¹²Yahweh blessed the final end of Job's life more than the first; he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.¹³He also had seven sons and three daughters.¹⁴He called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-Happuch.

¹⁵In all the land no women were found as beautiful as Job's daughters. Their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers.¹⁶After this, Job lived 140 years; he saw his sons and his sons' sons, up to four generations.¹⁷Then Job died, being old and full of days.

Psalms

¹Blessed is the man

who does not walk in the advice of the wicked,

or stand in the pathway with sinners,

or sit in the assembly of mockers.

²But his delight is in the law of Yahweh,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

³He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water

that produces its fruit in its season,

whose leaves do not wither;

whatever he does will prosper.

⁴The wicked are not so,

but are like the chaff that the wind drives away.

⁵So the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

⁶For Yahweh approves of the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

¹Why are the nations in turmoil,

and why do the peoples devise vain plans?

²The kings of the earth take their stand together

and the rulers take counsel together

against Yahweh and against his Messiah, saying,

³"Let us tear off the shackles they put on us

and throw off their chains."

⁴He who sits in the heavens will sneer at them;

the Lord mocks them.

⁵Then he will speak to them in his anger

and terrify them in his rage, saying,

⁶"I myself have set my king in place

on Zion, my holy mountain."

⁷I will announce a decree of Yahweh.

He said to me, "You are my son!

This day I have become your Father.

⁸Ask me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance

and the ends of the earth for your possession.

⁹You will break them with an iron rod;

like a jar of a potter, you will smash them to pieces."

¹⁰So now, you kings, be prudent;

be corrected, you judges of the earth.

¹¹Worship Yahweh in fear

and rejoice with trembling.

¹²Kiss the son or he will be angry with you,

and you will die in the way when his anger burns for just a moment.

How blessed are all those who seek refuge in him.

A psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

¹Yahweh, how many are my enemies!

Many have risen against me.

²Many say about me,

"There is no deliverance for him from God."

Selah

³But you, Yahweh, are a shield around me,

my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.

⁴I lift up my voice to Yahweh,

and he answers me from his holy hill.

Selah

⁵I lay down and slept;

I awoke, for Yahweh protected me.

⁶I will not be afraid of the multitudes of people

who have set themselves against me on every side.

⁷Rise up, Yahweh! Save me, my God!

For you will hit all my enemies on the jaw;

you will break the teeth of the wicked.

⁸Salvation comes from Yahweh.

May your blessings be on your people.

Selah

For the chief musician; on stringed instruments. A psalm of David.

¹Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness;

give me room when I am hemmed in.

Have mercy on me and listen to my prayer.

²You people, how long will you turn my honor into shame?

How long will you love what is worthless and seek after lies?

Selah

³But know that Yahweh has set apart the faithful ones for himself.

Yahweh will hear when I call to him.

⁴Tremble in fear, but do not sin!

Meditate in your heart on your bed and be silent.

Selah

⁵Offer the sacrifices of righteousness

and put your trust in Yahweh.

⁶Many say, "Who will show us anything good?"

Yahweh, lift up the light of your face on us.

⁷You have given my heart more gladness

than others have when their grain and new wine abound.

⁸It is in peace that I will lie down and sleep,

for you alone, Yahweh, make me safe and secure.

For the chief musician; with wind instruments. A psalm of David.

¹Give ear to my words, Yahweh;

think about my groanings.

²Listen to the sound of my call, my King and my God,

for it is to you that I pray.

³Yahweh, in the morning you hear my cry;

in the morning I will bring my petition to you and wait expectantly.

⁴Certainly you are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;

evil people will not be your guests.

⁵The arrogant will not stand in your presence;

you hate all who behave wickedly.

⁶You will destroy liars;

Yahweh abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

⁷But as for me, because of your great covenant faithfulness,

I will come into your house;

in reverence I will bow down toward your holy temple.

⁸Oh Lord, lead me in your righteousness because of my enemies;

make your path straight before me.

⁹For there is no truth in their mouth;

their inward being is wicked;

their throat is an open tomb;

they flatter with their tongue.

¹⁰Declare them guilty, God;

may their schemes be their downfall!

Drive them out for their many transgressions,

for they have rebelled against you.

¹¹But may all those who take refuge in you rejoice;

let them always shout for joy because you defend them;

let them be joyful in you, those who love your name.

¹²For you will bless the righteous, Yahweh;

you will surround them with favor as with a shield.

For the chief musician; on stringed instruments, set to the Sheminith style. A psalm of David.

¹Yahweh, do not rebuke me in your anger

or discipline me in your wrath.

²Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am frail;

heal me, Yahweh, for my bones are shaking.

³My soul also is very troubled.

But you, Yahweh—how long will this continue?

⁴Return, Yahweh! rescue me.

Save me because of your covenant faithfulness!

⁵For in death there is no remembrance of you.

In Sheol who will give you thanks?

⁶I am weary with my groaning.

All night I drench my bed with tears;

I dissolve my couch with my tears.

⁷My eyes grow dim from grief;

they grow weak because of all my adversaries.

⁸Get away from me, all you who behave wickedly;

for Yahweh has heard the sound of my weeping.

⁹Yahweh has heard my appeal for mercy;

Yahweh has accepted my prayer.

¹⁰All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly troubled.

They will turn back and be suddenly humiliated.

A musical composition of David, which he sang to Yahweh concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.

¹Yahweh my God, I take refuge in you!

Save me from all who chase me, and rescue me.

²Otherwise, they will rip me apart like a lion,

tearing me in pieces with no one else able to bring me to safety.

³Yahweh my God, if I have done this,

and there is injustice on my hands—

⁴if I have done evil to him who was at peace with me,

or harmed my enemy for no reason—

⁵then let my enemy pursue my life and overtake me;

let him trample my life to the ground

and lay my honor in the dust.

Selah

⁶Arise, Yahweh, in your anger;

stand up against the rage of my enemies;

wake up for my sake and carry out the righteous decrees that you have commanded for them.

⁷The peoples are assembled all around you;

take once more your rightful place over them.

⁸Yahweh, judge the nations;

vindicate me, Yahweh, because I am righteous and innocent, Most High.

⁹May the evil deeds of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous people,

righteous God, you who examine hearts and minds.

¹⁰My shield comes from God,

the one who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹God is a righteous judge,

a God who is indignant each day.

¹²If a person does not repent,

God will sharpen his sword

and will prepare his bow for battle.

¹³He prepares to use deadly weapons against him;

he makes his arrows flaming shafts.

¹⁴Think about the one who is pregnant with wickedness,

who conceives destructive plans, who gives birth to harmful lies.

¹⁵He digs a pit and hollows it out

and then falls into the pit he has made.

¹⁶His own destructive plans return to his own head,

for his violence comes down on his own head.

¹⁷I will give thanks to Yahweh for his justice;

I will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most High.

For the chief musician; set to the Gittith style. A psalm of David.

¹Yahweh our Lord, how magnificent is your name in all the earth,

you who reveal your glory in the heavens above.

²Out of the mouth of babies and infants you have established praise¹

because of your enemies,

so that you might silence both the enemy and the avenger.

³When I look up at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

⁴Of what importance is the human race that you notice them,

or mankind that you pay attention to them?

⁵Yet you have made them only a little lower than the heavenly beings

and have crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶You make him to rule over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet:

⁷all sheep and oxen,

and even the wild animals of the field,

⁸the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

everything that passes through the currents of the seas.

⁹Yahweh our Lord,

how magnificent is your name in all the earth!

¹The copies of the ancient Hebrew text can be read either as established praise or established strength.

For the chief musician; set to Muth Labben style. A psalm of David.

¹I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart;

I will tell about all your marvelous deeds.

²I will be glad and rejoice in you;

I will sing praise to your name, Most High!

³When my enemies turn back,

they stumble and perish before you.

⁴For you have defended my just cause;

you sit on your throne, a righteous judge!

⁵You rebuked the nations;

you have destroyed the wicked;

you have blotted out their name forever and ever.

⁶The enemy crumbled like ruins

when you overthrew their cities.

All remembrance of them has perished.

⁷But Yahweh remains forever;

he has established his throne for justice.

⁸He will judge the world with righteousness,

and he will execute judgment for the nations with fairness.

⁹Yahweh also will be a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know your name trust in you,

for you, Yahweh, do not abandon those who seek you.

¹¹Sing praises to Yahweh, who rules in Zion;

tell the nations of his deeds.

¹²For the God who avenges bloodshed remembers;

he does not forget the cry of the oppressed.

¹³Have mercy on me, Yahweh; see my affliction by those who hate me,

you who can snatch me from the gates of death.

¹⁴Oh, that I might proclaim all your praise.

In the gates of the daughter of Zion

I will rejoice in your salvation!

¹⁵The nations have sunk down into the pit that they made;

their feet are caught in the net that they hid.

¹⁶Yahweh has made himself known; he has executed judgment;

the wicked is ensnared by his own actions.

Selah

¹⁷The wicked are turned back and sent to Sheol,

all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸For the needy will not always be forgotten,

nor will the hope of the oppressed be forever dashed.

¹⁹Arise, Yahweh; do not let man win against you;

may the nations be judged in your sight.

²⁰Terrify them, Yahweh;

may the nations know that they are mere men.

Selah

¹Why, Yahweh, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

²Because of their arrogance, wicked people chase the oppressed;

but please let the wicked be trapped by their own schemes that they have devised.

³For the wicked person boasts of his deepest desires;

he blesses the greedy and insults Yahweh.

⁴The wicked in the haughtiness of his face does not seek God.

All his thoughts are that there is no God.

⁵He is secure at all times,

but your righteous decrees are too high for him;

he snorts at all his enemies.

⁶He says in his heart," I will never fail;

throughout all generations I will not meet adversity."

⁷His mouth is full of curses and lies and oppression;

under his tongue are mischief and evil.

⁸He waits in ambush near the villages;

in the secret places he murders the innocent;

his eyes look for some helpless victim.

⁹He lurks in secret like a lion in the thicket;

he lies in wait to catch the oppressed.

He catches the oppressed when he pulls in his net.

¹⁰His victims are crushed and beaten down;

they fall into his strong nets.

¹¹He says in his heart, "God has forgotten;

he covers his face; he will never see it."

¹²Arise, Yahweh! Lift up your hand, God!

Do not forget the oppressed.

¹³Why does the wicked man reject God

and say in his heart, "You will not hold me accountable"?

¹⁴You have taken notice, for you always see the one who inflicts the misery and sorrow.

The helpless entrusts himself to you;

you rescue the fatherless.

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and evil man.

Make him account for his evil deeds,

which he thought you would not discover.

¹⁶Yahweh is King forever and ever;

the nations are driven out of his land.

¹⁷Yahweh, you have heard the needs of the oppressed;

you strengthen their heart, you listen to their prayer;

¹⁸You defend the fatherless and the oppressed

so that no man on the earth will cause terror again.

For the chief musician. A psalm of David.

¹I take refuge in Yahweh;

how will you say to me,

"Flee like a bird to the mountain"?

²For see! The wicked prepare their bows.

They make ready their arrows on the strings

to shoot in the darkness at the upright in heart.

³For if the foundations are ruined,

what can the righteous do?

⁴Yahweh is in his holy temple;

his eyes watch, his eyes examine the children of mankind.

⁵Yahweh examines both the righteous and the wicked,

but he hates those who love to do violence.

⁶He rains burning coals and sulfur upon the wicked;

a scorching wind will be their portion from his cup!

⁷For Yahweh is righteous, and he loves righteousness;

the upright will see his face.

For the chief musician; set to the Sheminith. A psalm of David.

¹Help, Yahweh, for the faithful ones have disappeared;

those who have integrity have vanished from the children of men.

²Everyone says empty words to his neighbor;

everyone speaks with flattering lips and a double heart.

³Yahweh, cut off all flattering lips,

every tongue declaring great things.

⁴These are those who have said, "With our tongues we will prevail.

When our lips speak, who can be master over us?"

⁵"Because of violence against the poor, because of the groans of the needy,

I will arise," says Yahweh.

"I will provide the safety for which they long."

⁶The words of Yahweh are pure words,

like silver purified in a furnace on the earth,

refined seven times.

⁷You are Yahweh! You keep them.

You preserve the godly people from this wicked generation and forever.

⁸The wicked walk on every side

when evil is exalted among the children of mankind.

For the chief musician. A psalm of David.

¹How long, Yahweh, will you forget me? Forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

²How long must I worry

and have grief in my heart all day?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

³Look at me and answer me, Yahweh my God!

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death.

⁴Do not let my enemy say, "I have defeated him,"

so that my enemy may not say, "I have prevailed over my adversary";

otherwise, my enemies will rejoice when I am brought down.

⁵But I have trusted in your covenant faithfulness;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

⁶I will sing to Yahweh

because he has treated me very generously.

For the chief musician. A psalm of David.

¹A fool says in his heart, "There is no God."

They are corrupt and have done abominable iniquity;

there is no one who does good.

²Yahweh looks down from heaven on the children of mankind

to see if there are any who understand,

who seek after him.

³They have all turned away. Together they have become corrupt.

There is no one who does good, no, not one.

⁴Do they not know anything, those who behave wickedly,

those who eat up my people as they eat bread,

but who do not call on Yahweh?

⁵They tremble with dread,

for God is with the righteous generation!

⁶You want to humiliate the poor person

even though Yahweh is his refuge.

⁷Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion!

When Yahweh brings back his people from the captivity,

then Jacob will rejoice and Israel will be glad!

A psalm of David.

¹Yahweh, who may stay in your tabernacle?

Who may live on your holy hill?

²Whoever walks blamelessly, does what is right

and speaks truth from his heart.

³He does not slander with his tongue,

he does not harm others,

and he does not insult his neighbor.

⁴The abhorrent is despised in his eyes,

but he honors those who fear Yahweh.

He swears to his own disadvantage

and does not take back his promises.

⁵He does not charge interest when he lends money.

He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent.

He who does these things will never be shaken.

A michtam of David.

¹Protect me, God,

for I take refuge in you.

²I say to Yahweh, "You are my Lord;

my goodness is nothing apart from you.

³As for the holy people who are on the earth,

they are noble people; all my delight is in them.

⁴Their troubles will be increased, those who seek out other gods.

I will not pour out drink offerings of blood to their gods

or lift up their names with my lips.

⁵Yahweh, you are my chosen portion and my cup.

You hold onto my lot.

⁶Measuring lines have been laid for me in pleasant places;

surely a beautiful inheritance is mine.

⁷I will bless Yahweh, who counsels me;

even at night my mind instructs me.

⁸I set Yahweh before me at all times,

so I will not be shaken from his right hand!

⁹Therefore my heart is glad; my glory is rejoicing.

Surely I will live in security.

¹⁰For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol.

You will not let your faithful one see the pit.

¹¹You teach me the path of life;

abundant joy resides in your presence;

delights abide in your right hand forever!"

A prayer of David.

¹Listen to my plea for justice, Yahweh;

pay attention to my cry for help!

Give ear to my prayer from lips without deceit.

²Let my vindication come from your presence;

let your eyes see what is right!

³If you test my heart, if you come to me in the night,

you will purify me and will not find any evil plans;

my mouth will not transgress.

⁴As for the deeds of mankind,

it is at the word of your lips

that I have kept myself from the ways of the lawless.

⁵My steps have held firmly to your tracks;

my feet have not slipped.

⁶I call to you, for you answer me, God;

turn your ear to me and listen when I speak.

⁷Show your covenant faithfulness in a wonderful way,

you who save by your right hand

those who take refuge in you from their enemies!

⁸Protect me like the apple of your eye;

hide me under the shadow of your wings

⁹from the presence of the wicked ones who deal violently with me,

my enemies who surround me.

¹⁰They have no mercy on anyone;

their mouths speak with pride.

¹¹They have surrounded my steps.

They set their eyes to strike me to the ground.

¹²They are like a lion eager for a victim,

like a young lion crouching in hidden places.

¹³Arise, Yahweh! Attack them! Throw them down on their faces!

Rescue my life from the wicked by your sword!

¹⁴Rescue me from men by your hand, Yahweh,

from men of this world whose prosperity is in this life alone!

You will fill the bellies of your treasured ones with riches;

they will have many children

and will leave their wealth to their children.

¹⁵As for me, I will see your face in righteousness;

I will be satisfied, when I awake, with a sight of you.

For the chief musician. A psalm of David, the servant of Yahweh, when he sang to Yahweh the words of this song on the day that Yahweh rescued him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He sang:

¹I love you, Yahweh, my strength.

²Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, the one who brings me to safety;

he is my God, my rock; I take refuge in him.

He is my shield, the horn of my salvation, and my stronghold.

³I will call on Yahweh who is worthy to be praised,

and I will be saved from my enemies.

⁴The cords of death surrounded me,

and the rushing waters of worthlessness overwhelmed me.

⁵The cords of Sheol surrounded me;

the snares of death trapped me.

⁶In my distress I called to Yahweh;

I called for help to my God.

He heard my voice from his temple;

my cry for help went into his presence;

it went into his ears.

⁷Then the earth shook and trembled;

the foundations of the mountains also trembled

and were shaken because God was angry.

⁸Smoke went up from out of his nostrils,

and blazing fire came out of his mouth.

Coals were kindled by it.

⁹He opened the heavens and came down,

and thick darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰He rode on a cherub and flew;

he glided on the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness a tent around him,

heavy rainclouds in the skies.

¹²Hailstones and coals of fire fell from the lightning before him.

¹³Yahweh thundered in the heavens!

The voice of the Most High shouted.¹

¹⁴He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies;

many lightning bolts dispersed them.

¹⁵Then the water channels appeared;

the foundations of the world were laid bare

at your rebuke, Yahweh,

at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶He reached down from above; he took hold of me!

He pulled me out of the surging water.

¹⁷He rescued me from my strong enemy,

from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.

¹⁸They came against me on the day of my distress

but Yahweh was my support!

¹⁹He set me free in a wide open place;

he saved me because he was pleased with me.

²⁰Yahweh has rewarded me because of my righteousness;

he has restored me because my hands were clean.

²¹For I have kept the ways of Yahweh

and have not wickedly turned away from my God.

²²For all his righteous decrees have been before me;

as for his statutes, I have not turned away from them.

²³I have also been innocent before him,

and I have kept myself from iniquity.

²⁴Therefore Yahweh has restored me because of my righteousness,

because my hands were clean before his eyes.

²⁵To one who is faithful, you show yourself to be faithful;

to a man who is blameless, you show yourself to be blameless.

²⁶To one who is pure, you show yourself to be pure;

but to one who is perverse, you show yourself to be shrewd.

²⁷For you save afflicted people,

but you abase those with proud, uplifted eyes!

²⁸For you give light to my lamp;

Yahweh my God lights up my darkness.

²⁹For by you I can run over a barricade;

by my God I can leap over a wall.

³⁰As for God—his way is perfect!

The word of Yahweh is pure!

He is a shield to everyone who takes refuge in him.

³¹For who is God except Yahweh?

Who is a rock except our God?

³²It is God who puts strength on me like a belt,

who places the blameless person on his path.

³³He makes my feet swift like a deer

and places me on the heights!

³⁴He trains my hands for war

and my arms to bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵You have given me the shield of your salvation.

Your right hand has supported me,

and your favor has made me great.

³⁶You have made a wide place for my feet beneath me

so that my feet have not slipped.

³⁷I pursued my enemies and caught them;

I did not turn back until they were destroyed.

³⁸I smashed them so that they were unable to rise;

they have fallen under my feet.

³⁹For you have girded me with strength for battle;

you put under me those who rise up against me.

⁴⁰You gave me the back of my enemies' necks;

I annihilated those who hated me.

⁴¹They called for help, but no one saved them;

they called out to Yahweh, but he did not answer them.

⁴²I beat them into fine pieces like dust before the wind;

I threw them out like mud in the streets.

⁴³You rescued me from the disputes of people;

you have made me head over nations;

people whom I have not known serve me.

⁴⁴As soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me;

foreigners were forced to bow to me.

⁴⁵The foreigners came trembling out of their strongholds.

⁴⁶Yahweh lives; may my rock be praised.

May the God of my salvation be exalted.

⁴⁷He is the God who executes vengeance for me,

who subdues the nations under me.

⁴⁸I am set free from my enemies!

Indeed, you lifted me above the ones who rose against me!

You rescued me from violent men.

⁴⁹Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations;

I will sing praises to your name!

⁵⁰God gives great victory to his king,

and he shows his covenant loyalty to his anointed one,

to David and to his descendants forever.

¹This verse follows some Hebrew copies and the Septuagint, ending after shouted. Most Hebrew copies have the additional phrase hailstones and coals of fire.

For the chief musician. A psalm of David.

¹The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the skies make known the work of his hands!

²Day after day speech pours out;

night after night it reveals knowledge.

³There is no speech or spoken words;

their voice is not heard.

⁴Yet their words go out over all the earth,

and their speech to the end of the world.

He has pitched a tent for the sun among them.

⁵The sun is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber

and like a strong man who rejoices when he runs his race.

⁶The sun rises from the one horizon

and crosses the sky to the other;

nothing escapes its heat.

⁷The law of Yahweh is perfect,

restoring the soul;

the testimony of Yahweh is reliable,

making the simple wise.

⁸The instructions of Yahweh are right,

making the heart glad;

the commandment of Yahweh is pure,

bringing light to the eyes.

⁹The fear of Yahweh is pure,

enduring forever;

the righteous decrees of Yahweh are true

and altogether right!

¹⁰They are of greater value than gold,

even more than much fine gold;

they are sweeter than honey

and the dripping honey from the honeycomb.

¹¹Yes, by them your servant is warned;

in obeying them there is great reward.

¹²Who can discern all his own errors?

Cleanse me from hidden faults.

¹³Keep your servant also from arrogant sins;

let them not rule over me.

Then I will be perfect,

and I will be innocent from many transgressions.

¹⁴May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

Yahweh, my rock and my redeemer.

For the chief musician. A psalm of David.

¹May Yahweh help you in the day of trouble;

may the name of the God of Jacob protect you

²and send help from the holy place

to support you from Zion.

³May he call to mind all your offerings

and accept your burnt sacrifice.

Selah

⁴May he grant you your heart's desire

and fulfill all your plans.

⁵Then we will rejoice in your victory,

and, in the name of our God, we will raise banners.

May Yahweh grant all your petitions.

⁶Now I know that Yahweh will rescue his anointed one;

he will answer him from his holy heaven

with the saving strength of his right hand.

⁷Some trust in chariots and others in horses,

but we trust in the name of Yahweh our God.

⁸They will be brought down and fall,

but we will rise and stand upright!

⁹Yahweh, rescue the king;

help us when we call.

For the chief musician. A psalm of David.

¹The king rejoices in your strength, Yahweh!

How greatly he rejoices in the salvation you provide!

²You have given him his heart's desire

and have not held back the request of his lips.

Selah

³For you bring him rich blessings;

you placed on his head a crown of purest gold.

⁴He asked you for life; you gave it to him;

you gave him the length of his days forever and ever.

⁵His glory is great because of your victory;

you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty.

⁶For you grant him lasting blessings;

you make him glad with the joy of your presence.

⁷For the king trusts in Yahweh;

through the covenant faithfulness of the Most High

he will not be moved.

⁸Your hand will seize all your enemies;

your right hand will seize those who hate you.

⁹At the time of your anger,

you will burn them up as in a fiery furnace.

Yahweh will consume them in his wrath,

and the fire will devour them.

¹⁰You will destroy their offspring from the earth

and their descendants from among the human race.

¹¹For they intended evil against you;

they conceived a plot with which they will not succeed!

¹²For you will turn them back;

you will draw your bow before them.

¹³Be exalted, Yahweh, in your strength;

we will sing and praise your power.

For the chief musician; set to "The rhythm of the deer." A psalm of David.

¹My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

Why are you so far from saving me

and far from the words of my anguish?

²My God, I cry out in the daytime, but you do not answer,

and at night I am not silent!

³Yet you are holy;

you sit as king with the praises of Israel.

⁴Our ancestors trusted in you;

they trusted in you, and you rescued them.

⁵They cried to you and they were rescued.

They trusted in you and were not disappointed.

⁶But I am a worm and not a man,

a disgrace to humanity and despised by the people.

⁷All those who see me taunt me;

they mock me; they shake their heads at me.

⁸They say, "He trusts in Yahweh;

let Yahweh rescue him.

Let him rescue him, for he delights in him."

⁹For you brought me from the womb;

you made me trust you when I was on my mother's breasts.

¹⁰I have been thrown on you from the womb;

you are my God since I was in my mother's womb!

¹¹Do not be far away from me, for trouble is near;

there is no one to help.

¹²Many bulls surround me;

strong bulls of Bashan surround me.

¹³They open their mouths wide against me

like a roaring lion ripping its victim.

¹⁴I am being poured out like water,

and all my bones are dislocated.

My heart is like wax;

it melts away within my inner parts.

¹⁵My strength has dried up like a piece of pottery;

my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

You have laid me in the dust of death.

¹⁶For dogs have surrounded me;

a company of evildoers has encircled me;

they have pierced my hands and my feet.

¹⁷I can count all my bones.

They look and stare at me.

¹⁸They divide my garments among themselves,

they cast lots for my clothes.

¹⁹Do not be far away, Yahweh;

please hurry to help me, my strength!

²⁰Rescue my soul from the sword,

my only life from the claws of wild dogs.

²¹Save me from the lion's mouth;

rescue me from the horns of the wild oxen.

²²I will declare your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.

²³You who fear Yahweh, praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!

²⁴For he has not despised or abhorred

the suffering of the afflicted one;

Yahweh has not hidden his face from him;

when the afflicted one cried to him, he heard.

²⁵My praise will be because of you in the great assembly;

I will fulfill my vows before those who fear him.

²⁶The oppressed will eat and be satisfied;

those who seek Yahweh will praise him.

May your hearts live forever.

²⁷All the peoples of the earth will remember and turn to Yahweh;

all the families of the nations will bow down before you.

²⁸For the kingdom is Yahweh's;

he is the ruler over the nations.

²⁹All the prosperous people of the earth will feast and will worship;

all those who are descending into the dust will bow before him,

those who cannot preserve their own souls alive.

³⁰A generation to come will serve him;

they will tell the next generation of the Lord.

³¹They will come and tell of his righteousness;

they will tell to a people not yet born what he has done!

A psalm of David.

¹Yahweh is my shepherd; I will lack nothing.

²He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside tranquil water.

³He brings back my life;

he guides me along paths that are right

for his name's sake.

⁴Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I will fear no harm, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff comfort me.

⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

you have anointed my head with oil;

my cup runs over.

⁶Surely goodness and covenant faithfulness will pursue me

all the days of my life;

and I will live in the house of Yahweh

for the length of my days!

A psalm of David.

¹The earth is Yahweh's, and its fullness,

the world, and all who live in it.

²For he has founded it upon the seas

and established it on the rivers.

³Who will ascend the mountain of Yahweh?

Who will stand in his holy place?

⁴He who has clean hands and a pure heart;

who has not lifted up a falsehood,

and has not sworn an oath in order to deceive.

⁵He will receive a blessing from Yahweh

and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

⁶Such is the generation of those who seek him,

those who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Selah

⁷Lift up your heads, you gates;

be lifted up, everlasting doors,

so that the King of glory may come in!

⁸Who is this King of glory?

Yahweh, strong and mighty;

Yahweh, mighty in battle.

⁹Lift up your heads, you gates;

be lifted up, everlasting doors,

so that the King of glory may come in!

¹⁰Who is this King of glory?

Yahweh of hosts,

he is the King of glory.

Selah

A psalm of David.

¹To you, Yahweh,

I lift up my life!

²My God, I trust in you.

Do not let me be humiliated;

do not let my enemies rejoice triumphantly over me.

³May no one who hopes in you be disgraced;

may those who act treacherously without cause be ashamed!

⁴Make known to me your ways, Yahweh;

teach me your paths.

⁵Guide me into your truth and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation;

I hope in you all day long.

⁶Call to mind, Yahweh, your acts of compassion and of covenant faithfulness;

for they have always existed.

⁷Do not think about the sins of my youth

or my rebelliousness;

Call me to mind with covenant faithfulness

because of your goodness, Yahweh!

⁸Yahweh is good and upright;

therefore he teaches sinners the way.

⁹He guides the humble in what is right

and he teaches them his way.

¹⁰All the paths of Yahweh are steadfast love and faithfulness

to those who keep his covenant and his solemn commands.

¹¹For your name's sake, Yahweh,

pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

¹²Who is the man who fears Yahweh?

The Lord will instruct him in the way that he should choose.

¹³His life will go along in goodness;

and his descendants will inherit the land.

¹⁴The friendship of Yahweh is for those who honor him,

and he makes his covenant known to them.

¹⁵My eyes are always on Yahweh,

for he will free my feet from the net.

¹⁶Turn toward me and have mercy on me;

for I am alone and afflicted.

¹⁷The troubles of my heart are enlarged;

draw me out from my distress!

¹⁸See my affliction and my toils;

forgive all my sins.

¹⁹See my enemies, for they are many;

they hate me with violent hatred.

²⁰Protect my life and rescue me;

do not let me be humiliated,

for I take refuge in you!

²¹May integrity and uprightness preserve me,

for I hope in you.

²²Rescue Israel, God,

from all of his troubles!

A psalm of David.

¹Judge me, Yahweh,

for I have walked with integrity;

I have trusted in Yahweh without wavering.

²Examine me, Yahweh, and test me;

test the purity of my inner parts and my heart!

³For your covenant faithfulness is before my eyes,

and I walk about in your faithfulness.

⁴I do not associate with deceitful people,

nor do I mingle with dishonest people.

⁵I hate the assembly of evildoers,

and I do not live with the wicked.

⁶I wash my hands in innocence,

and I go around your altar, Yahweh,

⁷to sing a loud song of praise

and report all your wonderful deeds.

⁸Yahweh, I love the house where you live,

the place where your glory lives!

⁹Do not sweep me away with sinners,

or my life with men of bloodshed,

¹⁰in whose hands there is a plot,

and whose right hand is full of bribes.

¹¹But as for me, I will walk in integrity;

redeem me and have mercy on me.

¹²My foot stands on level ground;

in the assemblies will I bless Yahweh!

A psalm of David.

¹Yahweh is my light and my salvation;

whom should I fear?

Yahweh is my life's refuge;

whom should I dread?

²When evildoers approached me to devour my flesh,

my adversaries and my enemies stumbled and fell.

³Though an army encamps against me,

my heart will not fear;

though war rises up against me,

even then I will remain confident.

⁴One thing have I asked of Yahweh,

and I will seek that:

that I may live in the house of Yahweh

all the days of my life,

to see the beauty of Yahweh

and to meditate in his temple.

⁵For in the day of trouble

he will hide me in his shelter;

in the cover of his tent he will conceal me.

He will lift me high on a rock!

⁶Then my head will be lifted up above my enemies all around me,

and I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tent!

I will sing and make songs to Yahweh!

⁷Hear, Yahweh, my voice when I cry out!

Have mercy on me, and answer me!

⁸My heart says about you,

"Seek his face!" I seek your face, Yahweh!

⁹Do not hide your face from me;

do not turn your servant away in anger!

You have been my helper;

do not abandon me or reject me,

God of my salvation!

¹⁰Even if my father and my mother abandon me,

Yahweh will take me in.

¹¹Teach me your way, Yahweh!

Lead me on a level path

because of my enemies.

¹²Do not give me up to the desires of my enemies,

for false witnesses have risen up against me,

and they breathe out violence!

¹³What would have happened to me

if I had not believed that I would see the goodness of Yahweh

in the land of the living?

¹⁴Wait for Yahweh;

be strong, and let your heart be courageous!

Wait for Yahweh!

A psalm of David.

¹To you, Yahweh, I cry out;

my rock, do not ignore me.

If you do not respond to me,

I will join those who go down to the pit.

²Hear the sound of my pleading

when I call for help from you,

when I lift up my hands

toward your most holy place!

³Do not drag me away with the wicked,

those who behave wickedly,

who speak peace with their neighbors

but have evil in their hearts.

⁴Give them what their deeds deserve

and repay them what their wickedness demands;

repay them for the work of their hands

and render to them their due.

⁵Because they do not understand the deeds of Yahweh

or the work of his hands,

he will break them down

and never rebuild them.

⁶Blessed be Yahweh

because he has heard the sound of my pleading!

⁷Yahweh is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.

Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,

and I will praise him with singing.

⁸Yahweh is the strength of his people,

and he is the saving refuge of his anointed one.

⁹Save your people and bless your inheritance.

Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

A psalm of David.

¹Ascribe to Yahweh, you sons of God,

ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength!

²Ascribe to Yahweh the glory his name deserves.

Bow down to Yahweh in the splendor of holiness!

³The voice of Yahweh is heard over the waters;

the God of glory thunders,

Yahweh thunders over many waters.

⁴The voice of Yahweh is powerful;

the voice of Yahweh is majestic.

⁵The voice of Yahweh breaks the cedars;

Yahweh breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes Lebanon skip like a calf

and Sirion like a young ox.

⁷The voice of Yahweh sends out flames of fire.

⁸The voice of Yahweh shakes the wilderness;

Yahweh shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of Yahweh causes the oaks to twist

and strips the forests bare.

Everyone in his temple says, "Glory!"

¹⁰Yahweh sits as king over the flood;

Yahweh sits as king forever.

¹¹Yahweh gives strength to his people;

Yahweh blesses his people with peace.

A psalm; a song at the dedication of the temple. A psalm of David.

¹I will exalt you, Yahweh,

for you have raised me up

and have not allowed my enemies to rejoice over me.

²Yahweh my God, I cried to you for help,

and you healed me.

³Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;

you have kept me alive from going down to the pit.

⁴Sing praises to Yahweh, you his faithful ones!

Give thanks when you remember his holiness.

⁵For his anger is only for a moment;

but his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping comes for a night,

but joy comes in the morning.

⁶In confidence I said, "I will never be shaken."

⁷Yahweh, by your favor

you established me as a strong mountain;

but when you hid your face,

I was troubled.

⁸I cried to you, Yahweh,

and sought favor from my Lord!

⁹What advantage is there in my blood,

if I go down to the grave?

Will the dust praise you?

Will it declare your trustworthiness?

¹⁰Hear, Yahweh, and have mercy on me!

Yahweh, be my helper.

¹¹You have turned my mourning into dancing;

you have removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness.

¹²So now my glory will sing praise to you and not be silent;

Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

For the chief musician. A psalm of David.

¹In you, Yahweh, I take refuge;

never let me be humiliated.

Rescue me in your righteousness.

²Listen to me; rescue me quickly;

be my rock of refuge,

a stronghold to save me.

³For you are my rock and my fortress;

therefore for your name's sake, lead and guide me.

⁴Pluck me out of the net that they have hidden for me,

for you are my refuge.

⁵Into your hands I entrust my spirit;

you will redeem me, Yahweh, God of trustworthiness.

⁶I hate those who serve worthless idols,

but I trust in Yahweh.

⁷I will be glad and rejoice in your covenant faithfulness,

for you saw my affliction;

you knew the distress of my soul.

⁸You have not given me into the hand of my enemy.

You have set my feet in a wide open place.

⁹Have mercy upon me, Yahweh, for I am in distress;

my eyes grow weary with grief

with my soul and my body.

¹⁰For my life is weary with sorrow

and my years with groaning.

My strength fails because of my iniquity,

and my bones are wasting away.

¹¹Because of all my enemies, I have become contemptible;

my neighbors are appalled at my situation,

and those who know me are horrified.

Those who see me in the street run from me.

¹²I am forgotten as a dead man whom no one thinks about.

I am like a broken pot.

¹³For I have heard the whispering of many,

terrifying news from every side

as they plot together against me.

They plot to take away my life.

¹⁴But I trust in you, Yahweh;

I say, "You are my God."

¹⁵My times are in your hand.

Rescue me from the hands of my enemies

and from those who pursue me.

¹⁶Make your face shine on your servant;

save me in your covenant faithfulness.

¹⁷Do not let me be humiliated, Yahweh;

for I call out to you!

May the wicked be humiliated!

May they be silent in Sheol.

¹⁸May lying lips be silenced

that speak against the righteous defiantly

with arrogance and contempt.

¹⁹How great is your goodness

that you have stored up for those who revere you,

that you perform for those who take refuge in you

before all the children of mankind!

²⁰In the shelter of your presence, you hide them from the plots of men.

You hide them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.

²¹Blessed be Yahweh,

for he showed me his marvelous covenant faithfulness when I was in a besieged city.

²²Though I said in my alarm,

"I am cut off from your eyes,"

yet you heard my plea for help

when I cried to you.

²³Love Yahweh, all you faithful ones.

Yahweh protects the faithful,

but he pays back the arrogant in full.

²⁴Be strong and let your heart take courage,

all you who trust in Yahweh for help.

A psalm of David. A maschil.

¹Blessed is the person

whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

²Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh reckons no guilt

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³When I remained silent,

my bones were wasting away

while I groaned all day long.

⁴For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.

My strength withered as in summer drought.

Selah

⁵Then I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I no longer hid my iniquity.

I said, "I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh,"

and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Selah

⁶For this reason every one of your faithful followers should pray to you

at a time of great distress.

When the surging waters overflow,

the waters will not reach them.

⁷You are my hiding place;

you will guard me from trouble.

You will surround me with the songs of victory.

Selah

⁸I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go.

I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

⁹Do not be like a horse or like a mule,

which have no understanding;

it is only with bridle and bit to control them

that they will go where you want them to.

¹⁰The wicked have many sorrows,

but Yahweh's covenant faithfulness will surround the one who trusts in him.

¹¹Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous;

shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

¹Rejoice in Yahweh, you righteous;

praise is appropriate for the upright.

²Give thanks to Yahweh with the harp;

sing praises to him with the lute having ten strings.

³Sing to him a new song;

play skillfully and shout for joy.

⁴For Yahweh's word is upright,

and all his deeds are done in faithfulness.

⁵He loves righteousness and justice.

The earth is full of Yahweh's covenant faithfulness.

⁶By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made,

and all the stars were made by the breath of his mouth.

⁷He gathers the waters of the sea together like a heap;

he puts the oceans in storehouses.

⁸Let the whole earth fear Yahweh;

let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

⁹For he spoke, and it was done;

he commanded, and it stood in place.

¹⁰Yahweh frustrates the alliances of nations;

he overrules the plans of the peoples.

¹¹The plans of Yahweh stand forever,

the plans of his heart for all generations.

¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh,

the people whom he has chosen as his own inheritance.

¹³Yahweh looks from heaven;

he sees all the people.

¹⁴From the place where he lives,

he looks down on all who live on the earth.

¹⁵He who shapes the hearts of them all

observes all their deeds.

¹⁶No king is saved by a vast army;

a warrior is not saved by his great strength.

¹⁷A horse is a false hope for victory;

in spite of his great strength, he cannot rescue.

¹⁸See, Yahweh's eye is on those who fear him,

on those who hope in his covenant faithfulness

¹⁹to deliver their lives from death

and to keep them alive in times of famine.

²⁰We wait for Yahweh;

he is our help and our shield.

²¹Our hearts rejoice in him,

for we trust in his holy name.

²²Let your covenant faithfulness, Yahweh, be with us

as we put our hope in you.

A psalm of David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him out.

¹I will praise Yahweh at all times,

his praise will always be in my mouth.

²I will praise Yahweh!

May the oppressed hear and rejoice.

³Praise Yahweh with me,

let us lift up his name together.

⁴I sought Yahweh and he answered me,

and he gave me victory over all my fears.

⁵Those who look to him are radiant,

and their faces are not ashamed.

⁶This oppressed man cried and Yahweh heard him

and saved him from all his troubles.

⁷The angel of Yahweh camps around those who fear him

and rescues them.

⁸Taste and see that Yahweh is good.

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

⁹Fear Yahweh, you his holy people.

There is no lack for those who fear him.

¹⁰The young lions sometimes lack food and suffer hunger,

but those who seek Yahweh will not lack anything good.

¹¹Come, sons, listen to me.

I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.

¹²What man is there who delights in life

and loves many days,

that he may see good?

¹³Then keep your tongue from evil

and keep your lips from speaking lies.

¹⁴Turn away from evil and do good.

Seek peace and go after it.

¹⁵The eyes of Yahweh are on the righteous

and his ears are directed toward their cry.

¹⁶The face of Yahweh is against those who do evil,

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷The righteous cry out and Yahweh hears

and he rescues them from all their troubles.

¹⁸Yahweh is close to the brokenhearted,

and he saves those who are crushed in spirit.

¹⁹Many are the troubles of the righteous,

but Yahweh delivers them out of them all.

²⁰He keeps all his bones,

not one of them will be broken.

²¹Evil will kill the wicked.

Those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

²²Yahweh rescues the lives of his servants.

None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

A psalm of David.

¹Yahweh, work against those who work against me;

fight against those who fight against me.

²Grab your small shield and large shield;

rise up and help me.

³Use your spear and battle ax

against those who chase me;

say to my soul,

"I am your salvation."

⁴May those who seek my life

be shamed and dishonored.

May those who plan to harm me

be turned back and ashamed.

⁵May they be as chaff before the wind,

as the angel of Yahweh drives them away.

⁶May their way be dark and slippery,

as the angel of Yahweh chases them.

⁷Without cause they set their net for me;

without cause they dug a pit for my life.

⁸Let destruction overtake them by surprise.

Let the net that they have set catch them.

Let them fall into it, to their destruction.

⁹But I will be joyful in Yahweh

and rejoice in his salvation.

¹⁰All my bones will say,

"Yahweh, who is like you,

who rescues the oppressed from those who are too strong for them

and the poor and needy from those who try to rob them?"

¹¹Unrighteous witnesses rise up;

they accuse me falsely.

¹²They repay me evil for good.

I am sorrowful.

¹³As for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth;

I fasted for them,

and my prayer returned to my bosom.

¹⁴I went about in grief as for my brother;

I bent down in mourning as for my mother.

¹⁵But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together;

they gathered together against me, and I was surprised by them.

They tore at me without stopping.

¹⁶With no respect at all they mocked me;

they grind their teeth at me in rage.

¹⁷Lord, how long will you look on?

Rescue my soul from their destructive attacks,

my only life from the lions.

¹⁸Then I will thank you in the great assembly;

I will praise you among many people.

¹⁹Do not let my deceitful enemies rejoice over me;

do not let them carry out their wicked schemes.

²⁰For they do not speak peace,

but they devise deceitful words

against those in our land who live in peace.

²¹They open their mouths wide against me;

they said, "Aha, Aha, our eyes have seen it."

²²You have seen it, Yahweh, do not be silent;

Lord, do not be far from me.

²³Arouse yourself and awake to my defense;

My God and my Lord, defend my cause.

²⁴Defend me, Yahweh my God, because of your righteousness;

do not let them rejoice over me.

²⁵Do not let them say in their heart, "Aha, we have what we wanted."

Do not let them say, "We have devoured him."

²⁶May they be put to shame and may they be humiliated who rejoice at my distress.

May those who exalt themselves over me be clothed with shame and dishonor.

²⁷Let those who desire my vindication

shout for joy and be glad;

may they say continually, "Yahweh be praised,

he who delights in the welfare of his servant."

²⁸Then I will tell of your justice

and praise you all day long.

For the chief musician. A psalm of David the servant of Yahweh.

¹An evil man speaks of his transgression from deep in his heart,

there is no fear of God in his eyes.

²For he comforts himself,

thinking that his iniquity will not be discovered and be hated.

³The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;

he does not want to be wise and do good.

⁴While he lies in bed, he plans ways to sin;

he sets out on an evil way;

he does not reject evil.

⁵Your covenant faithfulness, Yahweh, reaches to the heavens;

your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

⁶Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

your judgments are like the great deep.

Yahweh, you preserve both mankind and the animals.

⁷How precious is your covenant faithfulness, God!

Humanity takes refuge under the shadow of your wings.

⁸They feast upon the abundance of your house;

you let them drink from the river of your delights.

⁹For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we will see light.

¹⁰Extend your covenant faithfulness fully to those who know you,

your defense to the upright of heart.

¹¹Do not let the foot of the arrogant man come near to me.

Do not let the hand of the wicked drive me away.

¹²Over there those who behave wickedly have fallen;

they have been pushed down and are not able to get up.

A psalm of David.

¹Do not be irritated because of evildoers;

do not be envious of those who act unrighteously.

²For they will soon dry up as the grass

and wither as the green plants.

³Trust in Yahweh and do what is good;

settle in the land and graze in faithfulness.

⁴Then delight yourself in Yahweh,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵Give your ways to Yahweh;

trust in him, and he will act on your behalf.

⁶He will display your justice like the daylight

and your innocence like the day at noon.

⁷Be still before Yahweh

and wait patiently for him.

Do not be angry if someone succeeds in what he does,

or when he makes evil plots.

⁸Do not be angry and frustrated.

Do not worry. This only makes trouble.

⁹Evildoers will be cut off,

but those who wait for Yahweh will inherit the land.

¹⁰In a little while the evil man will disappear;

you will look at his place, but he will be gone.

¹¹But the meek will inherit the land

and will delight in great prosperity.

¹²The wicked man plots against the righteous

and he grinds his teeth in rage against him.

¹³The Lord laughs at him,

for he sees that his day is coming.

¹⁴The wicked have drawn out their swords

and have bent their bows

to cast down the oppressed and needy,

to kill those who are upright.

¹⁵Their swords will pierce their own hearts,

and their bows will be broken.

¹⁶Better is the little that the righteous has

than the abundance of many wicked people.

¹⁷For the arms of the wicked people will be broken,

but Yahweh supports the righteous people.

¹⁸Yahweh watches over the blameless day by day,

and their heritage will be forever.

¹⁹They will not be ashamed when times are bad.

When famine comes, they will have enough to eat.

²⁰But evil men will perish.

Yahweh's enemies will be like the splendor of the pastures;

they will be consumed and disappear in the smoke.

²¹The wicked person borrows but does not repay,

but the righteous person is generous and gives.

²²Those who are blessed by God will inherit the land;

those who are cursed by him will be cut off.

²³It is by Yahweh that a man's steps are established,

the man whose way is commendable in God's sight.

²⁴Though he stumbles, he will not fall down,

for Yahweh is holding him with his hand.

²⁵I was young and now am old;

I have never seen the righteous person abandoned

or his children begging for bread.

²⁶All the day long he is gracious and lends,

and his children become a blessing.

²⁷Turn away from evil and do what is right;

then you will be safe forever.

²⁸For Yahweh loves justice

and does not abandon his faithful ones.

They are preserved forever,

but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.

²⁹The righteous will inherit the land

and live there forever.

³⁰The mouth of the righteous person speaks wisdom

and increases justice.

³¹The law of his God is in his heart;

his feet will not slip.

³²The wicked person spies on the righteous person

and seeks to kill him.

³³Yahweh will not abandon him into the evil person's hand

or condemn him when he is judged.

³⁴Wait for Yahweh and keep his way,

and he will raise you up to possess the land.

You will see when the wicked are cut off.

³⁵I have seen the wicked and terrifying person

spread out like a green tree in its native soil.

³⁶But when I passed by again, he was not there.

I looked for him, but he could not be found.

³⁷Observe the man of integrity, and mark the upright;

there is a good future for a man of peace.

³⁸Rebels will be totally destroyed;

the future for the wicked man is cut off.

³⁹Salvation of the righteous comes from Yahweh;

he is their place of safety in the times of trouble.

⁴⁰Yahweh helps them and rescues them.

He rescues them from evil men and saves them

because they have taken refuge in him.

A psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.

¹Yahweh, do not rebuke me in your anger;

do not punish me in your wrath.

²For your arrows pierce me,

and your hand presses me down.

³There is no soundness in my body because of your anger;

there is no health in my bones because of my sin.

⁴For my iniquities overwhelm me;

they are a burden too heavy for me.

⁵My wounds are infected and smell

because of my foolish sins.

⁶I am stooped over and humiliated every day;

I go about mourning all day long.

⁷For within me, I am filled with burning;

there is no health in my flesh.

⁸I am numb and utterly crushed;

I groan because of the anguish of my heart.

⁹Lord, you understand my heart's deepest yearnings,

and my groanings are not hidden from you.

¹⁰My heart pounds, my strength fades,

and the light of my eyes, even that is not with me.

¹¹My friends and companions shun me because of my condition;

my neighbors stand far off.

¹²Those who seek my life lay snares for me.

They who seek my harm speak destructive words

and say deceitful words all day long.

¹³But I, I am like a deaf man and hear nothing;

I am like a mute man who says nothing.

¹⁴I am like a man who does not hear

and who has no reply.

¹⁵Surely I wait for you, Yahweh;

you will answer, Lord my God.

¹⁶I say this so that my enemies will not rejoice over me.

If my foot slips, they will do terrible things to me.

¹⁷For I am about to stumble,

and I am in constant pain.

¹⁸I confess my guilt;

I am anxious about my sin.

¹⁹But my enemies are numerous;

those who hate me wrongfully are many.

²⁰They repay me evil for good;

they hurl accusations at me

although I have pursued what is good.

²¹Do not abandon me, Yahweh;

my God, do not stay far away from me.

²²Come quickly to help me,

Lord, my salvation.

For the chief musician, for Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

¹I decided, "I will watch what I say

so that I do not sin with my tongue.

I will muzzle my mouth

while in the presence of an evil man."

²I kept silent;

I kept back my words even from saying anything good,

and my pain grew worse.

³My heart became hot;

when I thought about these things,

it burned like a fire.

Then finally I spoke.

⁴"Yahweh, make me know when will be the end of my life

and the extent of my days.

Show me how transient I am.

⁵See, you have made my days only the width of my hand,

and my lifetime is like nothing before you.

Surely every man is a single breath.

Selah

⁶Surely every man walks about like a shadow.

Surely everyone hurries about

to accumulate riches although they do not know who will receive them.

⁷Now, Lord, for what am I waiting?

You are my only hope.

⁸Rescue me from my sins;

do not make me the scorn of fools.

⁹I am silent and cannot open my mouth,

because it is you who has done it.

¹⁰Stop wounding me;

I am overwhelmed by the blow of your hand.

¹¹When you discipline people for iniquity,

you consume the things they desire like a moth;

surely all people are nothing but vapor.

Selah

¹²Hear my prayer, Yahweh,

and give ear to my cry for help;

do not be deaf to my tears!

for I am like a foreigner with you,

a sojourner like all my ancestors were.

¹³Turn your gaze from me so that I may smile again

before I die."

For the chief musician. A psalm of David.

¹I waited patiently for Yahweh;

he listened to me and heard my cry.

²He brought me up out of a horrible pit,

out of the miry clay,

and he set my feet on a rock

and made my steps secure.

³He has put a new song in my mouth,

praise to our God.

Many will see it and honor him

and will trust in Yahweh.

⁴Blessed is the man

who makes Yahweh his trust

and does not honor the proud

or those who turn away from him to lies.

⁵Many, Yahweh my God,

are the wonderful deeds that you have done,

and your thoughts which are about us cannot be numbered;

if I declared and spoke of them,

they would be more than could be counted.

⁶You have no delight in sacrifice or offering,

but you have opened my ears;

you have not required burnt offerings or sin offerings.

⁷Then said I, "See, I have come;

it is written about me in the scroll of the document.

⁸I delight to do your will, my God;

your laws are in my heart."

⁹I have proclaimed good news of your righteousness in the great assembly;

Yahweh, you know that my lips have not kept back from doing this.

¹⁰I have not concealed your righteousness in my heart;

I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation;

I have not concealed your covenant faithfulness

or your trustworthiness from the great assembly.

¹¹Do not keep back your acts of mercy from me, Yahweh;

let your covenant faithfulness and your trustworthiness always preserve me.

¹²Troubles that cannot be numbered surround me;

my iniquities have caught up with me so that I am no longer able to see anything;

they are more than the hairs on my head,

and my heart has failed me.

¹³Be pleased, Yahweh, to rescue me;

hurry to help me, Yahweh.

¹⁴Let them be ashamed and completely disappointed

who pursue my life to sweep it away.

Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor,

those who delight in hurting me.

¹⁵Let them be appalled because of their shame,

those who say to me, "Aha, aha!"

¹⁶But may all those who seek you rejoice

and be glad in you;

let everyone who loves your salvation say continually,

"May Yahweh be praised."

¹⁷I am poor and needy;

yet the Lord thinks about me.

You are my help and you come to my rescue;

do not delay, my God.

For the chief musician. A psalm of David.

¹Blessed is he who is concerned for the weak;

in the day of trouble, Yahweh will rescue him.

²Yahweh will preserve him and keep him alive,

and he will be blessed on the earth;

Yahweh will not turn him over to the will of his enemies.

³Yahweh will support him on the bed of suffering;

you will make his bed of sickness into a bed of healing.

⁴I said, "Yahweh, have mercy on me!

Heal me, for I have sinned against you."

⁵My enemies speak evil against me, saying,

'When will he die and his name perish?'

⁶If my enemy comes to see me,

he says worthless things;

his heart gathers up wickedness for itself;

when he goes away from me, he tells others about it.

⁷All who hate me whisper together against me;

against me they hope for my hurt.

⁸They say, "An evil disease holds on tightly to him;

now that he is lying down, he will rise up no more."

⁹Indeed, even my own close friend, in whom I trusted,

who ate my bread,

has lifted up his heel against me.

¹⁰But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me and raise me up

so that I may pay them back.

¹¹By this I know that you delight in me,

for my enemy does not triumph over me.

¹²As for me, you support me in my integrity

and will keep me before your face forever.

¹³May Yahweh, the God of Israel be praised

from everlasting to everlasting.

Amen and Amen.

Book Two

(Psalms 42-72)

For the chief musician. A maschil of the sons of Korah.

¹As the deer pants after streams of water,

so I thirst for you, God.

²I thirst for God, for the living God,

when will I come and appear before God?

³My tears have been my food

day and night,

while my enemies are always saying to me,

"Where is your God?"

⁴These things I call to mind

as I pour out my soul:

how I went with the throng

and led them to the house of God

with the voice of joy and praise,

a multitude celebrating a festival.

⁵Why are you bowed down, my soul?

Why are you upset within me?

Hope in God,

for again I will praise him who is my salvation.

⁶My God, my soul is bowed down within me,

therefore I call you to mind from the land of the Jordan,

from the three peaks of Mount Hermon, and from the hill of Mizar.

⁷Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls;

all your waves and your billows have gone over me.

⁸Yet Yahweh will command his covenant faithfulness in the daytime;

in the night his song will be with me,

a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I will say to God, my rock,

"Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?"

¹⁰As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries rebuke me,

while they always say to me, "Where is your God?"

¹¹Why are you bowed down, my soul?

Why are you upset within me?

Hope in God,

for again I will praise him who is my salvation and my God.

¹Bring me justice, God,

and plead my case against a nation that is not faithful.

Deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

²For you are the God of my strength.

Why have you rejected me?

Why do I go about in mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?

³Oh, send out your light and your truth,

let them lead me.

Let them bring me to your holy hill

and to your dwelling.

⁴Then I will go to the altar of God,

to God my exceeding joy.

I will praise you with the harp,

God, my God.

⁵Why are you bowed down, my soul?

Why are you upset within me?

Hope in God,

for again I will praise him who is my salvation and my God.

For the chief musician. A psalm of the sons of Korah. A maschil.

¹We have heard with our ears, God,

our fathers have told us

what work you did in their days,

in the days of old.

²You drove out the nations with your hand,

but you planted our people;

you afflicted the peoples,

but you spread our people out in the land.

³For they did not obtain the land for their possession by their own sword,

neither did their own arm save them;

but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face,

because you were favorable to them.

⁴God, You are my King;

command victory for Jacob.

⁵Through you we will push down our adversaries;

through your name we will tread them under,

those who rise up against us.

⁶For I will not trust in my bow,

neither will my sword save me.

⁷But you have saved us from our adversaries,

and have put to shame those who hate us.

⁸In God we have made our boast all the day long,

and we will give thanks to your name forever.

Selah

⁹But now you have rejected us and brought us dishonor,

and you do not go out with our armies.

¹⁰You make us turn back from the adversary;

and those who hate us take spoil for themselves.

¹¹You have made us like sheep to be slaughtered

and have scattered us among the nations.

¹²You sell your people for nothing;

you have not increased your wealth by doing so.

¹³You make us a rebuke to our neighbors,

scoffed and mocked by those around us.

¹⁴You make us an insult among the nations,

a shaking of the head among the peoples.

¹⁵All the day long my dishonor is before me,

and the shame of my face has covered me

¹⁶because of the voice of him who rebukes and insults,

because of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷All this has come on us; yet we have not forgotten you

or dealt falsely with your covenant.

¹⁸Our heart has not turned back;

our steps have not gone from your way.

¹⁹Yet you have severely broken us in the place of jackals

and covered us with the shadow of death.

²⁰If we have forgotten the name of our God

or spread out our hands to a strange god,

²¹would not God search this out?

For he knows the secrets of the heart.

²²Indeed, for your sake we are being killed all day long;

we are considered to be sheep for the slaughter.

²³Awake, why do you sleep, Lord?

Arise, do not reject us forever.

²⁴Why do you hide your face

and forget our affliction and our oppression?

²⁵For we have sunk down into the dust;

our bodies cling to the earth.

²⁶Rise up for our help

and redeem us for the sake of your covenant faithfulness.

For the chief musician; set to Shoshannim. A psalm of the sons of Korah. A maschil. A song of loves.

¹My heart overflows on a good subject;

I will read aloud the words I have composed about the king;

my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

²You are fairer than the children of mankind;

grace is poured onto your lips;

therefore we know that God has blessed you forever.

³Gird your sword to your side, mighty one,

in your glory and your majesty.

⁴In your majesty ride on triumphantly

because of trustworthiness, meekness, and righteousness;

your right hand will teach you fearful things.

⁵Your arrows are sharp;

the peoples fall under you;

your arrows are in the hearts of the king's enemies.

⁶Your throne, God, is forever and ever;

a scepter of justice is the scepter of your kingdom.

⁷You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;

therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness more than your companions.

⁸All your garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia;

out of ivory palaces

stringed instruments have made you glad.

⁹Kings' daughters are among your honorable women;

at your right hand stands the queen clothed in gold of Ophir.

¹⁰Listen, daughter, consider and incline your ear;

forget your own people and your father's house.

¹¹In this way the king will desire your beauty;

he is your master; revere him.

¹²The daughter of Tyre will be there with a gift;

the rich among the people will beg for your favor.

¹³The royal daughter in the palace is all glorious;

her clothing is worked with gold.

¹⁴She will be led to the king in embroidered dress;

the virgins, her companions who follow her,

will be brought to you.

¹⁵They will be led by gladness and rejoicing;

they will enter into the king's palace.

¹⁶In the place of your fathers will be your children,

whom you will make princes in all the earth.

¹⁷I will make your name to be remembered in all generations;

therefore the peoples will give you thanks forever and ever.

For the chief musician. A psalm of the sons of Korah; set to Alamoth. A song.

¹God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

²Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,

though the mountains should be shaken into the heart of the seas,

³though its waters roar and rage, and

though the mountains tremble with their swelling.

Selah

⁴There is a river whose streams make the city of God happy,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

⁵God is in the middle of her; she will not be moved;

God will help her, and he will do so at the dawn of morning.

⁶The nations raged and the kingdoms were shaken;

he lifted up his voice, and the earth melted.

⁷Yahweh of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah

⁸Come, behold the deeds of Yahweh,

who has set up objects of horror on earth.

⁹He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;

he breaks the bow and cuts the spear into pieces;

he burns up the shields.

¹⁰Be quiet and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations;

I will be exalted on the earth.

¹¹Yahweh of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah

For the chief musician. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

¹Clap your hands, all you peoples;

shout to God with the sound of celebration.

²For Yahweh Most High is terrifying;

he is a great King over all the earth.

³He subdues peoples under us

and nations under our feet.

⁴He chooses our inheritance for us,

the pride of Jacob whom he loved.

Selah

⁵God has gone up with a shout,

Yahweh with the sound of a ram's horn.

⁶Sing praises to God, sing praises;

sing praises to our King, sing praises.

⁷For God is the King over all the earth;

sing praises with understanding.

⁸God reigns over the nations;

God sits on his holy throne.

⁹The princes of the peoples have gathered together

to the people of the God of Abraham;

for the shields of the earth belong to God;

he is greatly exalted.

A song; a psalm of the sons of Korah.

¹Great is Yahweh and greatly to be praised,

in the city of our God on his holy mountain.

²Beautiful in elevation,

the joy of the whole earth,

is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north,

the city of the great King.

³God has made himself known in her palaces as a refuge.

⁴For, see, the kings assembled themselves;

they passed by together.

⁵They saw it, then they were amazed;

they were dismayed, and they hurried away.

⁶Trembling took hold of them there,

pain as when a woman is in labor.

⁷With the east wind

you break the ships of Tarshish.

⁸As we have heard,

so have we seen

in the city of Yahweh of hosts,

in the city of our God;

God will establish it

forever.

Selah

⁹We have thought about your covenant faithfulness, God,

in the middle of your temple.

¹⁰As your name is, God,

so is your praise to the ends of the earth;

your right hand is full of righteousness.

¹¹Let Mount Zion be glad,

let the daughters of Judah rejoice

because of your righteous decrees.

¹²Walk around Mount Zion, go round about her;

count her towers,

¹³notice well her walls,

and look at her palaces

so that you may tell it to the next generation.

¹⁴For this God is our God forever and ever;

he will be our guide to death.

For the chief musician. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

¹Hear this, all you peoples;

give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,

²both low and high,

rich and poor together.

³My mouth will speak wisdom

and the meditation of my heart will be of understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear to a parable;

I will begin my parable with the harp.

⁵Why should I fear the days of evil,

when iniquity surrounds me at my heels?

⁶Why should I fear those who trust in their wealth

and boast about the amount of their riches?

⁷It is certain that no one can redeem his brother

or give God a ransom for him,

⁸For the redemption of one's life is costly,

and no one can pay what we owe.

⁹No one can live forever

so that he would not see the pit.

¹⁰For he will see decay. Wise men die;

the fool and the brute alike perish

and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their inner thought is that their families will continue forever,

and the places where they live, to all generations;

they call their lands after their own names.

¹²But man, having wealth, does not remain alive;

he is like the wild animals that perish.

¹³This, their way, is their folly;

yet after them, men approve of their sayings.

Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol,

and death will be their shepherd.

The upright will rule over them in the morning,

and their bodies will be consumed in Sheol,

with no place for them to live.

¹⁵But God will redeem my life from the power of Sheol;

he will receive me.

Selah

¹⁶Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,

and the glory of his house increases.

¹⁷For when he dies he will take nothing away;

his glory will not go down after him.

¹⁸He blessed his soul while he lived—

and men praise you when you live for yourself—

¹⁹he will go to the generation of his fathers

and they will never see the light again.

²⁰One who has wealth but no understanding

is like the animals that perish.

A psalm of Asaph.

¹The Mighty One, God, Yahweh,

has spoken and called the earth

from the rising of the sun to its setting.

²Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God has shone.

³Our God comes

and does not stay silent;

a fire devours before him,

and it is very stormy around him.

⁴He calls to the heavens above

and to the earth so that he may judge his people:

⁵"Gather my faithful ones together to me,

those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

⁶The heavens will declare his righteousness,

for God himself is judge.

Selah

⁷"Hear, my people, and I will speak, Israel,

and I will testify against you.

I am God, your God.

⁸I will not reprove you for your sacrifices;

your burnt offerings are always before me.

⁹I will take no bull out of your house,

or male goats out of your folds.

¹⁰For every animal of the forest is mine,

and the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹I know all the birds of the mountains,

and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

¹²If I were hungry, I would not tell you;

for the world is mine, and everything in it.

¹³Will I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and pay your vows to the Most High.

¹⁵Call on me in the day of trouble;

I will rescue you, and you will glorify me."

¹⁶But to the wicked God says,

"What have you to do with declaring my statutes,

that you have taken my covenant in your mouth,

¹⁷since you hate instruction

and throw my words away?

¹⁸When you see a thief, you agree with him;

you participate with those who commit adultery.

¹⁹You give your mouth to evil,

and your tongue expresses deceit.

²⁰You sit and speak against your brother;

you slander your own mother's son.

²¹You have done these things, but I have kept silent,

so you thought that I was someone just like yourself.

But I will reprove you

and bring up, right before your eyes, all the things you have done.

²²Give this careful consideration, you who forget God,

otherwise I will tear you to pieces,

and there will be no one to come to help you!

²³The one who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving praises me,

and to anyone who plans his path in the right way

I will show God's salvation."

For the chief musician. A psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone into Bathsheba.

¹Have mercy on me, God,

because of your covenant faithfulness;

for the sake of the multitude of your merciful actions,

blot out my transgressions.

²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin.

³For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is always before me.

⁴Against you, you only, I have sinned

and done what is evil in your sight;

you are justified when you speak;

you are blameless when you judge.

⁵See, I was born in iniquity;

as soon as my mother conceived me, I was in sin.

⁶See, you desire trustworthiness in my inner self;

and you teach me wisdom in the secret place within.

⁷Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

⁸Make me hear joy and gladness

so that the bones that you have broken may rejoice.

⁹Hide your face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

¹¹Do not drive me away from your presence,

and do not take your holy Spirit from me.

¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and sustain me with a willing spirit.

¹³Then will I teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will be converted to you.

¹⁴Forgive me for shedding blood,

God of my salvation,

and I will shout for the joy of your righteousness.

¹⁵Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will express your praise.

¹⁶For you do not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you have no pleasure in burnt offerings.

¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.

You, God, will not despise a broken and a contrite heart.

¹⁸Do good in your good pleasure to Zion;

rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹Then will you delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then our people will offer bulls on your altar.

For the chief musician. A maschil of David; when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said to him, "David has come to the house of Ahimelek."

¹Why are you proud of making trouble, you mighty man?

The covenant faithfulness of God comes every day.

²Your tongue plans destruction

like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

³You love evil more than good

and lying rather than speaking righteousness.

Selah

⁴You love all words that devour others,

you deceitful tongue.

⁵God will surely destroy you forever;

he will take you up and pluck you out of your tent

and root you out of the land of the living.

Selah

⁶The righteous will also see it and fear;

they will laugh at him and say,

⁷"See, this is a man who did not make God his refuge,

but he trusted in the abundance of his wealth,

and he was strong when he destroyed others."

⁸But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;

I will trust in the covenant faithfulness of God forever and ever.

⁹I will give you thanks forever for what you have done.

I will wait for your name, because it is good,

in the presence of your faithful ones.

For the chief musician; set to Mahalath. A maschil of David.

¹A fool says in his heart,

"There is no God."

They are corrupt and have done abominable iniquity;

there is no one who does good.

²God looks down from heaven

on the children of mankind

to see if there are any who understand,

who seek after him.

³They have all turned away. Together they have become corrupt.

There is not one who does good,

not even one.

⁴Do those who behave wickedly have no understanding—

those who devour my people as if they were eating bread

and they do not call on God?

⁵There they are, in great fear,

where there was nothing to cause them to be afraid;

for God will scatter the bones of those who encamp against you;

you put them to shame,

for God has rejected them.

⁶Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion!

When God brings back his people from the captivity,

then Jacob will rejoice and Israel will be glad!

For the chief musician; on stringed instruments. A maschil of David; when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, "Does David not hide himself with us?"

¹Save me, God, by your name,

and judge me in your might.

²Hear my prayer, God;

give ear to the words of my mouth.

³For strangers have risen up against me,

and ruthless men have sought after my life;

they have not set God before them.

Selah

⁴See, God is my helper;

the Lord is the one who upholds me.

⁵He will repay my enemies with evil;

in your faithfulness, destroy them!

⁶I will sacrifice to you with a freewill offering;

I will give thanks to your name, Yahweh, for it is good.

⁷For he has rescued me from every trouble;

my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

For the chief musician; on stringed instruments. A maschil of David.

¹Give ear to my prayer, God;

and do not hide yourself from my plea.

²Pay attention to me and answer me;

I am restless in my troubles

³because of the voice of my enemies,

because of the oppression of the wicked;

for they bring trouble on me,

they are hostile to me with wickedness and anger.

⁴My heart trembles within me,

and the terrors of death have fallen on me.

⁵Fear and trembling have come on me,

and horror has overwhelmed me.

⁶I said, "Oh, if only I had wings like a dove!

Then would I fly away and be at rest.

⁷See, then I would wander far away;

I would stay in the wilderness.

Selah

⁸I would hurry to a shelter

from the stormy wind and tempest."

⁹Destroy, Lord, and divide their tongue;

for I see violence and strife in the city.

¹⁰Day and night they go about on its walls;

wickedness and trouble are in the middle of it.

¹¹Wickedness is in the middle of it;

oppression and deceit do not leave its streets.

¹²For it was not an enemy who rebuked me,

then I could have borne it;

neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me,

then I would have hidden myself from him.

¹³But it was you, a man equal to myself,

my companion and my close friend.

¹⁴We had sweet fellowship together;

we walked in the house of God with the throng.

¹⁵Let death come deceitfully on them;

let them go down alive to Sheol,

for wickedness is where they live, right among them.

¹⁶As for me, I will call on God,

and Yahweh will save me.

¹⁷In the evening, morning, and at noonday I complain and moan;

he will hear my voice.

¹⁸He will safely rescue my life from the battle that was against me,

for those who fought against me were many.

¹⁹God, the one who rules from eternity,

will hear them and humiliate them.

Selah

They never change,

and they do not fear God.

²⁰My friend has raised his hands against those who were at peace with him;

he has not respected the covenant that he had.

²¹His mouth was smooth as butter,

but his heart was hostile;

his words were softer than oil,

yet they were actually drawn swords.

²²Place your burdens on Yahweh,

and he will sustain you;

he will never allow a righteous person to totter.

²³But you, God, will bring the wicked down into the pit of destruction;

men of bloodshed and deceit will not live even half as long as others,

but I will trust in you.

For the chief musician; set to Jonath elem rehokim. A psalm of David. A michtam; when the Philistines took him in Gath.

¹Be merciful to me, God,

for men are attacking me!

All the day long those who fight me oppress me.

²My enemies trample me all day long;

for there are many who arrogantly fight against me.

³When I am afraid,

I will put my trust in you.

⁴In God, whose word I praise—

in God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid;

what can mere man do to me?

⁵All the day long they twist my words;

all their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They gather themselves together, they hide themselves,

and they mark my steps,

just as they have waited for my life.

⁷Do not let them escape doing iniquity.

Bring down the peoples in your anger, God.

⁸You number my wanderings

and put my tears into your bottle;

are they not in your book?

⁹Then my enemies will turn back on the day that I call to you;

this I know, that God is for me.

¹⁰In God—whose word I praise,

in Yahweh—whose word I praise,

¹¹in God I trust,

I will not be afraid.

What can anyone do to me?

¹²The duty to fulfill my vows to you is on me, God;

I will give thank offerings to you.

¹³For you have rescued my life from death;

you have kept my feet from stumbling,

so that I may walk before God

in the light of the living.

For the chief musician; set to Al Tashheth. A psalm of David. A michtam; when he fled from Saul, in the cave.

¹Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me,

for I take refuge in you until these troubles are over.

I stay under your wings for protection

until this destruction is over.

²I will cry to God Most High,

to God, who does all things for me.

³He will send help from heaven and save me,

he rebukes those who hotly pursue me.

Selah

God will send me his steadfast love and his faithfulness.

⁴My life is among lions;

I am among those who are ready to devour me.

I am among people whose teeth are spears and arrows,

and whose tongues are sharp swords.

⁵Be exalted, God, above the heavens;

let your glory be above all the earth.

⁶They spread out a net for my feet;

I was bowed down.

They dug a pit in front of me.

They themselves have fallen into the middle of it!

Selah

⁷My heart is fixed, God, my heart is fixed;

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises.

⁸Wake up, my glory!

Wake up, lute and harp!

I will wake up the dawn!

⁹I will give thanks to you, Lord, among the peoples;

I will sing praises to you among the nations.

¹⁰For great is your unfailing love, reaching to the heavens;

and your faithfulness to the clouds.

¹¹Be exalted, God, above the heavens;

may your glory be exalted over all the earth.

For the chief musician; set to Al Tashheth. A psalm of David. A michtam.

¹Do you rulers speak righteousness?

Do you judge uprightly, you people?

²No, you commit wickedness in your heart;

you distribute violence throughout the land with your hands.

³The wicked go astray even when they are in the womb;

they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

⁴Their poison is like a snake's poison;

they are like a deaf asp that stops up its ears,

⁵that pays no attention to the voice of charmers,

no matter how skillful they are.

⁶Shatter their teeth in their mouths, God;

break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh.

⁷Let them melt away as water that runs off;

when they shoot their arrows, let them be as though they had no points.

⁸Let them be like a snail that melts and passes away,

like the untimely born child of a woman that never sees the sunlight.

⁹Before your pots can feel the thorn's burning heat,

he will take them away with a whirlwind,

the green thorns and the burning thorns alike.

¹⁰The righteous will rejoice when he sees God's vengeance;

he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,

¹¹so that men will say,

"Truly, there is a reward for the righteous person;

truly there is a God who judges the earth."

For the chief musician; set to Al Tashheth. A psalm of David. A michtam; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.

¹Rescue me from my enemies, my God;

set me on high away from those who rise up against me.

²Keep me safe from those who behave wickedly,

and save me from men of bloodshed.

³For, see, they wait in ambush to take my life.

The powerful men gather themselves together against me,

but not because of my transgression or my sin, Yahweh.

⁴For no guilt of mine they prepare to run at me;

awake and help me and see.

⁵You, Yahweh God of hosts,

the God of Israel,

arise and punish all the nations;

do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors.

Selah

⁶They return at evening, they howl like dogs

and go around the city.

⁷See, they belch out with their mouths;

swords are in their lips,

for they say, "Who hears us?"

⁸But you, Yahweh, laugh at them;

you mock at all the nations.

⁹God, my strength, I will pay attention to you;

you are my high tower.

¹⁰My God will meet me with his covenant faithfulness;

God will let me see my desire on my enemies.

¹¹Do not kill them,

or my people will forget.

Scatter them by your power and make them fall,

Lord our shield.

¹²For the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips,

let them be captured in their pride,

and for the curses and lies that they express.

¹³Consume them in wrath,

consume them so that they will be no more;

let them know that God rules in Jacob

and to the ends of the earth.

Selah

¹⁴At evening they return,

howling like dogs going around the city.

¹⁵They wander about looking for food

and they growl like a dog if they are not satisfied.

¹⁶But I will sing about your strength,

and in the morning I will praise your steadfast love!

For you have been my high tower

and a refuge in the day of my distress.

¹⁷To you, my strength, I will sing praises;

for God is my high tower, the God of covenant faithfulness.

For the chief musician; set to Shushan Eduth. A michtam of David, for teaching; when he fought with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah, and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

¹God, you have rejected us; you have broken through our defenses;

you have been angry; restore us again.

²You have made the land tremble; you have torn it apart;

heal its cracks, for it is shaking.

³You have made your people see difficult things;

you have made us drink the wine of staggering.

⁴For those who honor you,

you have set up a banner

to be displayed against those who carry the bow.

Selah

⁵So that those you love may be rescued,

rescue us with your right hand and answer me.

⁶God has spoken in his holiness, "I will rejoice;

I will divide Shechem

and apportion out the Valley of Sukkoth.

⁷Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;

Ephraim also is my helmet;

Judah is my scepter.

⁸Moab is my washbasin;

over Edom I will throw my sandal;

I will shout in triumph because of Philistia."

⁹Who will bring me into the strong city?

Who will lead me to Edom?

¹⁰But you, God, have you not rejected us?

You do not go into battle with our army.

¹¹Give us help against the enemy,

for man's help is futile.

¹²We will triumph with God's help;

he will trample down our enemies.

For the chief musician; on a stringed instrument. A psalm of David.

¹Hear my cry, God;

attend to my prayer.

²From the ends of the earth will I call to you when my heart is faint;

lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

³For you have been a refuge for me,

a strong tower from the enemy.

⁴Let me live in your tabernacle forever!

Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings.

Selah

⁵For you, God, have heard my vows,

you have given me the inheritance of those who honor your name.

⁶You will prolong the king's life;

his years will be like many generations.

⁷He will reign before God forever;

appoint your steadfast love and faithfulness to protect him.

⁸I will sing praise to your name forever

so that I may perform my vows every day.2

For the chief musician; after the manner of Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

¹I wait in silence for God alone;

my salvation comes from him.

²He alone is my rock and my salvation;

he is my high tower;

I will not be greatly moved.

³How long, all of you, will you attack a man,

that you may murder him,

like a leaning wall or a shaky fence?

⁴They consult with him

only to bring him down from his honorable position;

they love to tell lies;

they bless him with their mouths,

but in their hearts they curse him.

Selah

⁵I wait in silence for God alone;

for my hope is set on him.

⁶He alone is my rock and my salvation;

he is my high tower; I will not be moved.

⁷With God is my salvation and my glory;

the rock of my strength and my refuge are in God.

⁸Trust in him at all times, you people;

pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us.

Selah

⁹Surely men of low standing are vanity,

and men of high standing are a lie;

they will weigh lightly in the scales;

weighed together, they are lighter than nothing.

¹⁰Do not trust in oppression or robbery;

and do not hope uselessly in riches,

for they will bear no fruit;

do not fix your heart on them.

¹¹God has spoken once,

twice have I heard this:

power belongs to God.

¹²Also to you, Lord, belongs covenant faithfulness,

for you pay back every person for what he has done.

A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

¹God, you are my God!

I earnestly search for you,

my soul thirsts for you,

and my flesh longs for you,

in a dry and weary land

where there is no water.

²So I have looked on you in the sanctuary,

to see your power and your glory.

³Because your covenant faithfulness is better than life,

my lips will praise you.

⁴So I will bless you while I live;

I will lift up my hands in your name.

⁵It will be as if I ate a meal of marrow and fatness;

with joyful lips my mouth will praise you,

⁶when I think about you on my bed

and meditate on you in the night watches.

⁷For you have been my help,

and in the shadow of your wings I rejoice.

⁸I cling to you;

your right hand supports me.

⁹But those who seek to destroy my life

will go down into the lowest parts of the earth;

¹⁰they will be given over to those whose hands use the sword,

and they will become food for the jackals.

¹¹But the king will rejoice in God;

everyone who swears by him will be proud of him,

but the mouth of those who speak lies will be stopped up.

For the chief musician. A psalm of David.

¹Hear my voice, God, listen to my complaint;

preserve my life from fear of my enemies.

²Hide me from the secret plotting of evildoers,

from the commotion of those who behave wickedly.

³They have sharpened their tongues like swords;

they have aimed their arrows, bitter words,

⁴so that they may shoot from secret places at someone who is innocent;

suddenly they shoot at him and fear nothing.

⁵They encourage themselves in an evil plan;

they consult privately together in order to set traps;

they say, "Who will see us?"

⁶They invent injustices;

"We have finished," they say, "a careful plan."

The inner thoughts and hearts of man are deep.

⁷But God will shoot them;

suddenly they will be wounded with his arrows.

⁸They will be made to stumble, since their own tongues are against them;

all who see them will wag their heads.

⁹All people will fear

and will declare God's deeds.

They will wisely think about what he has done.

¹⁰The righteous will be glad about Yahweh and will take refuge in him;

all the upright in heart will take pride in him.

For the chief musician. A psalm. A song of David.

¹For you, God in Zion, our praise waits;

our vows will be carried out to you.

²You who hear prayer,

to you all flesh will come.

³Iniquities prevail against us;

as for our transgressions, you will forgive them.

⁴Blessed is the man whom you choose to bring near to you

so that he may live in your courts.

We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,

your holy temple.

⁵In righteousness you will answer us by doing awesome deeds,

God of our salvation;

you who are hope of all the ends of the earth

and of those who are far across the sea.

⁶For it is you who made the mountains firm,

you who are girded with strength.

⁷It is you who quiet the roaring of the seas,

the roaring of their waves,

and the commotion of the peoples.

⁸Those who live in the uttermost parts of the earth

are afraid of the evidence of your deeds;

you make the east and the west rejoice.

⁹You come to help the earth; you water it;

you greatly enrich it;

the river of God is full of water;

you provide mankind grain when you have prepared the earth.

¹⁰You water its furrows abundantly;

you settle down the furrows' ridges;

you make them soft with rain showers;

you bless the sprouts between them.

¹¹You crown the year with your goodness,

and your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

¹²The pastures in the wilderness drip with dew,

and the hills are girded with joy.

¹³The pastures are clothed with flocks;

the valleys also are covered over with grain;

they shout for joy, and they sing.

For the chief musician. A song, a psalm.

¹Shout out loud to God, all the earth;

²Sing out the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious.

³Say to God, "How terrifying are your deeds!

By the greatness of your power

your enemies will submit to you.

⁴All the earth will worship you

and will sing to you;

they will sing praises to your name."

Selah

⁵Come and see the works of God;

he is fearsome in his deeds toward the sons of mankind.

⁶He turned the sea into dry land;

they went through the river on foot;

there we rejoiced in him.

⁷He rules forever by his might;

his eyes observe the nations;

let not the rebellious exalt themselves.

Selah

⁸Give blessing to God, you people,

let the sound of his praise be heard.

⁹He keeps us among the living,

and he does not permit our feet to slip.

¹⁰For you, God, have tested us;

you have tested us as silver is tested.

¹¹You brought us into a net;

you laid a heavy burden on our backs.

¹²You made people ride over our heads;

we went through fire and water,

but you brought us out into a spacious place.

¹³I will come into your house with burnt offerings;

I will pay you my vows

¹⁴which my lips promised

and my mouth spoke when I was in distress.

¹⁵I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals

with the sweet aroma of rams;

I will offer bulls and goats.

Selah

¹⁶Come and listen, all you who fear God,

and I will declare what he has done for my soul.

¹⁷I cried to him with my mouth,

and he was praised with my tongue.

¹⁸If I had seen wickedness within my heart,

the Lord would not have listened to me.

¹⁹But God has truly heard;

he has paid attention to the voice of my prayer.

²⁰Blessed be God,

who has not turned away my prayer

or his covenant faithfulness from me.

For the chief musician; on stringed instruments. A psalm, a song.

¹May God be merciful to us and bless us

and cause his face to shine on us

Selah

²so that your ways may be known on earth,

your salvation among all nations.

³Let the peoples praise you, God;

let all the peoples praise you.

⁴Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you will judge the peoples with justice

and govern the nations on earth.

Selah

⁵Let the peoples praise you, God;

let all the peoples praise you.

⁶The earth has yielded its produce

and God, our God, has blessed us.

⁷God has blessed us,

and all the ends of the earth honor him.

For the chief musician; A psalm of David, a song.

¹Let God arise; let his enemies be scattered;

let those also who hate him flee before him.

²As smoke is driven away, so drive them away;

as wax melts before the fire,

so let the wicked perish in the presence of God.

³But let the righteous be glad;

let them rejoice before God;

may they rejoice with gladness.

⁴Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!

Praise the one who rides through the plains of the Jordan River valley!

Yah is his name! Rejoice before him!¹

⁵A Father of the fatherless, a judge of the widows,

is God in the holy place where he lives.

⁶God puts the lonely into families;

he brings out the prisoners with singing;

but the rebellious live in a parched land.

⁷God, when you went out before your people,

when you marched through the wilderness,

Selah

⁸the earth trembled;

the heavens also dropped rain in God's presence,

in the presence of God when he came to Sinai, in the presence of God, the God of Israel.

⁹You, God, sent a plentiful rain;

you strengthened your inheritance when it was weary.

¹⁰Your people lived in it;

You, God, gave from your goodness to the poor.

¹¹The Lord gave the word,

and those who announced them were a great army.

¹²Kings of armies flee, they flee,

and the women waiting at home divide the plunder:

¹³the wings of a dove are covered with silver,

its feathers with shining gold.

Yet some of you people lie down among the sheepfolds.

¹⁴The Almighty scattered kings there,

it was as when it snowed on Mount Zalmon.

¹⁵A mighty mountain is the hill country of Bashan;

a high mountain is the hill country of Bashan.

¹⁶Why do you look in envy, you high hill country,

at the mountain which God desires for the place he will live?

Indeed, Yahweh will live in it forever.

¹⁷The chariots of God are twenty thousand,

thousands upon thousands;

the Lord is among them in the holy place, as at Sinai.

¹⁸You have ascended on high;

you have led away captives;

you have received gifts from among men,

even from the rebellious,

so that Yah, God, might live there.²

¹⁹Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens,

the God who is our salvation.

Selah

²⁰Our God is a God who saves;

Yahweh the Lord is the one who is able to rescue us from death.

²¹But God will strike through the heads of his enemies,

through the hairy scalps of those who walk in offenses against him.

²²The Lord said, "I will bring my enemies back from Bashan;

I will bring them back from the depths of the sea

²³so that you may crush your enemies, dipping your foot in blood,

and so that the tongues of your dogs may have their share from your enemies."

²⁴They have seen your processions, God,

the processions of my God, my King, into the holy place.

²⁵The singers went first, the minstrels followed after,

and in the middle were the unmarried girls playing tambourines.

²⁶Bless God in the assemblies;

praise Yahweh, you who are from the fountain³ of Israel.

²⁷There is Benjamin, the smallest tribe, ruling them,

then the leaders of Judah and their multitudes,

the leaders of Zebulun and the leaders of Naphtali.

²⁸Your God, Israel, has decreed your strength;

reveal to us your power, God, as you have revealed it in times past.

²⁹Reveal your power to us from your temple at Jerusalem,

where kings bring tribute to you.

³⁰Rebuke the wild beasts in the reeds,

against the peoples, that multitude of bulls and calves.

Humiliate them and make them bring you silver;

scatter the peoples who love to wage war.

³¹Princes will come out of Egypt;

Cush will hurry to reach out with her hands to God.

³²Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth.

Selah

Sing praises to the Lord,

³³to him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which exist from ancient times;

see, he lifts up his voice with power.

³⁴Ascribe strength to God;

his majesty is over Israel,

and his strength is in the skies.

³⁵God, you are fearsome in your holy place;

the God of Israel—he gives strength and power to his people.

Blessed be God.

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

²Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

³The copies of the ancient Hebrew text can be read either as from the fountain or from the assembly.

For the chief musician; set to Shoshannim. A psalm of David.

¹Save me, God;

for the waters have put my life in danger.

²I sink in deep mire, where there is no place to stand;

I have come into deep waters, where the floods flow over me.

³I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry;

my eyes fail while I wait for my God.

⁴Those who hate me without a cause

are more than the hairs on my head;

those who would cut me off,

being my enemies for wrong reasons, are mighty;

what I did not steal,

I have to give back.

⁵God, you know my foolishness,

and my sins are not hidden from you.

⁶Let not those who hope in you be put to shame because of me,

Lord Yahweh of hosts;

let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor because of me,

God of Israel.

⁷For your sake I have borne rebuke;

shame has covered my face.

⁸I have become a stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother's children.

⁹For the zeal of your house has eaten me up,

and the rebukes of those who rebuke you have fallen on me.

¹⁰When I weep and fast,

I must endure scorn.

¹¹When I put on sackcloth,

I became a byword to them.

¹²Those who sit in the city gate talk about me;

I am a song of drunkards.

¹³But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh,

at a time that you will accept;

answer me in the trustworthiness of your salvation.

¹⁴Pull me out of the mire,

and do not let me sink;

let me be taken away from those who hate me

and rescued out of the deep waters.

¹⁵Do not let the floods of water overwhelm me,

neither let the deep swallow me up.

Do not let the pit shut its mouth on me.

¹⁶Answer me, Yahweh, for your covenant faithfulness is good;

because your mercies for me are many, turn to me.

¹⁷Do not hide your face from your servant,

for I am in distress; answer me quickly.

¹⁸Come to me and redeem me.

Because of my enemies, ransom me.

¹⁹You know my rebuke, my shame, and my dishonor;

my adversaries are all before you.

²⁰Rebuke has broken my heart;

I am full of heaviness;

I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none;

I looked for comforters, but I found none.

²¹They gave me poison for my food;

in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

²²Let their table before them become a snare;

when they think they are in safety, let it become a trap.

²³Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see;

and always make their loins shake.

²⁴Pour out your indignation on them,

and let your raging anger overtake them.

²⁵Let their encampment be a desolation;

let no one live in their tents.

²⁶For they persecuted the one you struck down.

They repeated the account of the pain of those you have wounded.

²⁷Accuse them of having committed iniquity after iniquity;

do not let them come into your righteous victory.

²⁸Let them be blotted out of the Book of Life

and not be written down along with the righteous.

²⁹But I am poor and in pain;

let your salvation, God, set me up on high.

³⁰I will praise the name of God with a song

and will exalt him with thanksgiving.

³¹That will please Yahweh better than an ox

or a bull that has horns and hooves.

³²The meek have seen it and are glad;

you who seek after God, let your hearts live.

³³For Yahweh hears the needy

and does not despise his prisoners.

³⁴Let heaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

³⁵For God will save Zion and will rebuild the cities of Judah;

the people will live there and have it as a possession.

³⁶His servants' descendants will inherit it;

and those who love his name will live there.

For the chief musician. A psalm of David; to bring to remembrance.

¹Save me, God!

Yahweh, come quickly and help me.

²Let those who try to take my life

be ashamed and humiliated;

let them be turned back and brought to dishonor,

those who take pleasure in my pain.

³Let them be turned back because of their shame,

those who say, "Aha, aha."

⁴Let all those who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you;

let those who love your salvation always say,

"May God be praised."

⁵But I am poor and needy;

hurry to me, God;

you are my help and you rescue me.

Yahweh, do not delay.

¹In you, Yahweh, I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame.

²Rescue me and make me safe in your righteousness;

turn your ear to me and save me.

³Be to me a rock for refuge

where I may always go;

you have given a command to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴Rescue me, my God, out of the hand of the wicked,

out of the hand of the unrighteous and ruthless.

⁵For you are my hope, Lord Yahweh.

I have trusted in you ever since I was a child.

⁶By you I have been supported from the womb;

you are he who took me out of my mother's belly;

my praise will be always about you.

⁷I am a marvel to many people;

you are my strong refuge.

⁸My mouth will be filled with your praise,

all the day with your honor.

⁹Do not throw me away in my time of old age;

do not abandon me when my strength fails.

¹⁰For my enemies are talking about me;

those who watch for my life are plotting together.

¹¹They say, "God has abandoned him;

pursue and take him,

for there is no one to save him."

¹²God, do not be far from me;

my God, hurry to help me.

¹³Let them be put to shame and destroyed,

those who are hostile to my life;

let them be covered with rebuke and dishonor,

those who seek my hurt.

¹⁴But I will always hope in you

and will praise you more and more.

¹⁵My mouth will tell about your righteousness

and your salvation all the day,

although I cannot understand it.

¹⁶I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord Yahweh;

I will make mention of your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷God, you have taught me from my youth;

even now I declare your wonderful deeds.

¹⁸Indeed, even when I am old and gray-headed, God,

do not abandon me,

as I have been declaring your strength to the next generation,

your power to everyone who is to come.

¹⁹Your righteousness also, God, is very high;

you who have done great things,

God, who is like you?

²⁰You who made me see many troubles

will revive us again

and will bring us up again

from the depths of the earth.

²¹May you increase my honor;

turn again and comfort me.

²²I will also give thanks to you with the harp

for your trustworthiness, my God;

to you I will sing praises with the harp,

Holy One of Israel.

²³My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you—

even my soul, which you have redeemed.

²⁴My tongue will also talk about your righteousness

all day long;

for they have been put to shame and are confused,

those who sought my hurt.

A psalm of Solomon.

¹Give the king your righteous decrees, God,

your righteousness to the king's son.

²May he judge your people with righteousness

and your poor with justice.

³May the mountains produce peace for the people;

may the hills produce righteousness.

⁴May he judge the poor of the people;

may he save the children of the needy

and break in pieces the oppressor.

⁵May they honor you while the sun endures,

and as long as the moon lasts throughout all generations.

⁶May he come down like rain on the mown grass,

like showers that water the earth.

⁷May the righteous flourish in his days,

and may there be an abundance of peace till the moon is no more.

⁸May he have dominion from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

⁹May those who live in the wilderness bow down before him;

may his enemies lick the dust.

¹⁰May the kings of Tarshish and of the islands render tribute;

may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.

¹¹Indeed, may all kings fall down before him;

may all nations serve him.

¹²For he helps the needy person who cries out

and the poor person who has no other helper.

¹³He has pity on the poor and needy,

and he saves the lives of needy people.

¹⁴He redeems their lives from oppression and violence,

and their blood is precious in his sight.

¹⁵May he live!

May the gold of Sheba be given to him.

May people always pray for him;

may God bless him all day long.

¹⁶May there be abundance of grain in the land;

on the mountaintops may their crops wave.

May the fruit of it be like Lebanon;

may the people flourish in the cities like the grass of the field.

¹⁷May his name endure forever;

may his name continue as long as the sun;

may people be blessed in him;

may all nations call him blessed.

¹⁸May Yahweh God, the God of Israel, be blessed,

who alone does wonderful things.

¹⁹May his glorious name be blessed forever,

and may the whole earth be filled with his glory.

Amen and Amen.

²⁰The prayers of David son of Jesse are finished.

Book Three

(Psalms 73-89)

A psalm of Asaph.

¹Surely God is good to Israel,

to those with a pure heart.

²But as for me, my feet almost slipped;

my feet almost slipped out from under me

³because I was envious of the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pain until their death,

but they are strong and well fed.

⁵They are not in trouble like other men;

they are not afflicted like other men.

⁶Pride adorns them like a necklace around their neck;

violence clothes them like a robe.

⁷Out of such blindness comes sin;

evil thoughts pass through their hearts.

⁸They mock and speak wickedly;

in their arrogance they threaten oppression.

⁹They set their mouth against the heavens,

and their tongues march through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people turn to them

and abundant waters are drained out.

¹¹They say, "How does God know?

Is there knowledge with the Most High?"

¹²Take notice: these people are wicked;

they are always at ease, becoming richer and richer.

¹³Surely it is in vain that I have guarded my heart

and washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴For all the day long I have been afflicted

and disciplined every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, "I will say these things,"

then I would have betrayed this generation of your children.

¹⁶Though I tried to understand these things,

it was too difficult for me.

¹⁷Then I went into God's sanctuary

and came to understand their fate.

¹⁸Surely you put them in slippery places;

you bring them down to ruin.

¹⁹How they become a wilderness in a moment!

They come to an end and are finished in awful terrors.

²⁰They are like a dream after one wakes up;

Lord, when you arise,

you will despise their image.

²¹For my heart was embittered,

and I was deeply wounded.

²²I was ignorant and lacked insight;

I was like a senseless animal before you.

²³Yet I am always with you;

you hold my right hand.

²⁴You will guide me with your advice

and afterward receive me to glory.

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but you?

There is no one on earth that I desire but you.

²⁶My flesh and my heart grow weak,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

²⁷Those who are far from you will perish;

you will destroy all those who are unfaithful to you.

²⁸But as for me, all I need to do is to approach God.

I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge.

I will declare all your deeds.

A maschil of Asaph.

¹God, why have you rejected us forever?

Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture?

²Call to mind your people, whom you purchased in ancient times,

the tribe whom you have redeemed to be your own heritage,

and Mount Zion, where you live.

³Come look at the everlasting ruins,

all the damage that the enemy has done in the holy place.

⁴Your adversaries roared in the middle of your appointed place;

they set up their battle flags.

⁵They hacked away with axes

as in a thick forest.

⁶They smashed and broke down all the engravings;

they broke them with axes and hammers.

⁷They set your sanctuary on fire, knocking it to the ground;

they desecrated the dwelling place of your name.

⁸They said in their hearts, "We will destroy them all."

They burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹We do not see any more signs;

there is no prophet any more,

and no one among us knows how long this will last.

¹⁰How long, God, will the enemy throw insults at you?

Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

¹¹Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?

Take your right hand from your garment and destroy them.

¹²Yet God has been my king from ancient times,

bringing salvation on the earth.

¹³You divided the sea by your strength;

you smashed the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

¹⁴You crushed the heads of leviathan;

you fed him to those living in the wilderness.

¹⁵You broke open springs and streams;

you dried up flowing rivers.

¹⁶The day is yours, and the night is yours also;

you set the light and the sun in place.

¹⁷You have set all the borders of the earth;

you have made summer and winter.

¹⁸Call to mind how the enemy hurled insults at you, Yahweh,

and that a foolish people has blasphemed your name.

¹⁹Do not give the life of your dove to a wild animal.

Do not forget forever the life of your oppressed people.

²⁰Remember your covenant,

for the dark regions of the land are full of places of violence.

²¹Do not let the oppressed be turned back in shame;

let the poor and oppressed praise your name.

²²Arise, God; plead your own cause;

call to mind how fools mock you all day long.

²³Do not forget the voice of your adversaries

or the uproar of those who continually defy you.

For the chief musician; set to Al Tashheth. A psalm of Asaph, a song.

¹We give thanks to you, God;

we give thanks, for your name is near;

people tell of your wondrous works.

²At the appointed time

I will judge fairly.

³Though the earth and all the inhabitants shake in fear,

I make steady the earth's pillars.

Selah

⁴I said to the arrogant, "Do not be arrogant,"

and to the wicked, "Do not lift up the horn.

⁵Do not lift up your horn to the heights;

do not speak with an arrogant neck."

⁶It is not from the east or from the west,

and it is not from the wilderness that lifting up comes.

⁷But God is the judge;

he brings down and he lifts up.

⁸For Yahweh holds in his hand a cup of foaming wine,

which is mixed with spices, and pours it out.

Surely all the wicked of the earth

will drink it to the last drop.

⁹But I will continually tell what you have done;

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰He says, "I will cut off all the horns of the wicked,

but the horns of the righteous will be raised up."

For the chief musician, on stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph, a song.

¹God has made himself known in Judah;

his name is great in Israel.

²His tent is in Salem;

his dwelling place is in Zion.

³There he broke the arrows of the bow,

the shield, the sword, and the other weapons of war.

Selah

⁴You shine brightly and are majestic

as you descend from the mountains, where you killed your victims.

⁵The brave of heart were plundered;

they fell asleep.

All the warriors were helpless.

⁶At your rebuke, God of Jacob,

both charioteer and horse fell asleep.

⁷You, yes you, are to be feared;

who can stand in your sight when you are angry?

⁸From heaven you made your judgment heard;

the earth was afraid and silent

⁹when you, God, arose to execute judgment

and to save all the oppressed of the earth.

Selah

¹⁰Surely your angry judgment against humanity will bring you praise;

you gird yourself with the remnant of your anger.

¹¹Make vows to Yahweh your God and keep them.

May all who surround him bring tribute to him who is to be feared.

¹²He cuts off the spirit of the princes;

he is feared by the kings of the earth.

For the chief musician; after the manner of Jeduthun. A psalm of Asaph.

¹I will call with my voice to God;

I will call out with my voice to God,

and my God will give ear to me.

²In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;

at night I stretched my hands out, and they would not become tired.

My soul refused to be comforted.

³I thought of God as I groaned;

I thought about him as I grew faint.

Selah

⁴You held my eyes open;

I was too troubled to speak.

⁵I thought about the days of old,

about years long past.

⁶During the night I called to mind the song I once sang.

I thought carefully

and tried to understand what had happened.

⁷Will the Lord reject me forever?

Will he never again show me favor?

⁸Was his covenant faithfulness gone forever?

Had his promise failed forever?

⁹Had God forgotten to be gracious?

Had his anger shut off his compassion?

Selah

¹⁰I said, "This is my sorrow:

the changing of the right hand of the Most High toward us."

¹¹But I will remember the deeds of Yah;¹

I will remember your miracles of long ago.

¹²I will ponder all your deeds

and will reflect on them.

¹³Your way, God, is holy;

what god compares to our great God?

¹⁴You are the God who does wonders;

you have revealed your strength among the peoples.

¹⁵You gave your people victory by your great power—

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

Selah

¹⁶The waters saw you, God;

the waters saw you, and they were afraid;

the depths trembled.

¹⁷The clouds poured down water;

the cloudy skies gave voice;

your arrows flew about.

¹⁸Your thunderous voice was heard in the wind;

the lightning lit up the world;

the earth trembled and shook.

¹⁹Your path went through the sea

and your way through the surging waters,

but your footprints were not seen.

²⁰You led your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

A maschil of Asaph.

¹Hear my teaching, my people,

listen to the words of my mouth.

²I will open my mouth in parables;

I will sing about hidden things about the past.

³These are things that we have heard and learned,

things that our ancestors have told us.

⁴We will not keep them from their descendants.

We will tell the next generation

about the praiseworthy deeds of Yahweh,

his strength, and the wonders that he has done.

⁵For he established covenant decrees in Jacob

and appointed a law in Israel.

He commanded our ancestors

that they were to teach them to their children.

⁶He commanded this so that the generation to come might know his decrees,

the children not yet born,

who should tell them in turn to their own children.

⁷Then they would place their hope in God

and not forget his deeds

but keep his commandments.

⁸Then they would not be like their ancestors,

who were a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation whose hearts were not right,

and whose spirits were not committed and faithful to God.

⁹The Ephraimites were armed with bows,

but they turned back on the day of battle.

¹⁰They did not keep the covenant with God,

and they refused to obey his law.

¹¹They forgot his deeds,

the wonderful things that he had shown them.

¹²They forgot the marvelous things he did in the sight of their ancestors

in the land of Egypt, in the land of Zoan.

¹³He divided the sea and led them across it;

he made the waters to stand like walls.

¹⁴In the daytime he led them with a cloud

and all the night with the light of fire.

¹⁵He split the rocks in the wilderness,

and he gave them water abundantly,

enough to fill the depths of the sea.

¹⁶He made streams flow out of the rock

and made the water flow like rivers.

¹⁷Yet they continued to sin against him,

rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.

¹⁸They challenged God in their hearts

by asking for food to satisfy their appetites.

¹⁹They spoke against God;

they said, "Can God really lay out a table for us in the wilderness?

²⁰See, when he struck the rock,

waters gushed out

and streams overflowed.

But can he give bread also?

Will he provide meat for his people?"

²¹When Yahweh heard this, he was angry;

so his fire burned against Jacob,

and his anger attacked Israel,

²²because they did not believe in God

and did not trust in his salvation.

²³Yet he commanded the skies above

and opened the doors of the sky.

²⁴He rained down manna for them to eat,

and gave them the grain from heaven.

²⁵People ate the bread of angels.

He sent them food in abundance.

²⁶He caused the east wind to blow in the sky,

and by his power he guided the south wind.

²⁷He rained down meat on them like dust,

birds as numerous as the sands of the sea.

²⁸They fell in the middle of their camp,

all around their tents.

²⁹So they ate and were full.

He gave them what they craved.

³⁰But they had not yet filled up;

their food was still in their mouths.

³¹Then God's anger attacked them

and killed the strongest of them.

He brought down the young men of Israel.

³²Despite this, they continued to sin

and did not believe his wonderful deeds.

³³Therefore God cut short their days;

their years were filled with terror.

³⁴Whenever God killed them, they would start to seek him,

and they would return and look earnestly for him.

³⁵They would call to mind that God was their rock

and that the Most High God was their rescuer.

³⁶But they would flatter him with their mouth

and lie to him with their words.

³⁷For their hearts were not firmly fixed on him,

and they were not faithful to his covenant.

³⁸Yet he, being merciful,

forgave their iniquity

and did not destroy them.

Yes, many times he held back his anger

and did not stir up all his wrath.

³⁹He called to mind that they were made of flesh,

a wind that passes away and does not return.

⁴⁰How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness

and grieved him in the barren regions!

⁴¹Again and again they challenged God

and offended the Holy One of Israel.

⁴²They did not think about his power,

how he had rescued them from the enemy

⁴³when he performed his terrifying signs in Egypt

and his wonders in the region of Zoan.

⁴⁴He turned the Egyptians' rivers to blood

so that they could not drink from their streams.

⁴⁵He sent swarms of flies that devoured them

and frogs that destroyed them.

⁴⁶He gave their crops to the grasshopper

and their labor to the locust.

⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail

and their sycamore trees with more hail.

⁴⁸He rained hail on their cattle

and hurled lightning bolts at their livestock.

⁴⁹The fierceness of his anger lashed out against them.

He sent wrath, fury, and trouble

like angels who bring disaster.

⁵⁰He leveled a path for his anger;

he did not spare them from death

but gave them over to the plague.

⁵¹He killed all the firstborn in Egypt,

the firstborn of their strength in the tents of Ham.

⁵²He led his own people out like sheep

and guided them through the wilderness like a flock.

⁵³He led them secure and unafraid,

but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

⁵⁴Then he brought them to the border of his holy land,

to this mountain that his right hand acquired.

⁵⁵He drove out the nations from before them

and assigned them their inheritance.

He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶Yet they challenged and rebelled

against the Most High God

and did not keep his solemn commands.

⁵⁷They were unfaithful

and acted treacherously like their fathers;

they were as undependable as a faulty bow.

⁵⁸For they made him angry with their high places

and provoked him to jealous anger with their idols.

⁵⁹When God heard this, he was angry

and completely rejected Israel.

⁶⁰He abandoned the sanctuary of Shiloh,

the tent where he had lived among people.

⁶¹He allowed his strength to be captured

and gave his glory into the enemy's hand.

⁶²He handed his people over to the sword,

and he was angry with his heritage.

⁶³Fire devoured their young men,

and their virgins had no wedding songs.

⁶⁴Their priests fell by the sword,

and their widows could not weep.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awakened as one from sleep,

like a warrior who shouts because of wine.

⁶⁶He drove his adversaries back;

he put them to everlasting shame.

⁶⁷He rejected the tent of Joseph,

and he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

⁶⁸He chose the tribe of Judah

and Mount Zion that he loved.

⁶⁹He built his sanctuary like the heavens,

like the earth that he has established forever.

⁷⁰He chose David, his servant,

and took him from the sheepfolds.

⁷¹He took him from following the ewes with their young,

and he brought him to be shepherd of Jacob,

his people, and of Israel, his heritage.

⁷²David shepherded them with the integrity of his heart,

and he guided them with the skill of his hands.

A psalm of Asaph.

¹God, foreign nations have come into your inheritance;

they have defiled your holy temple;

they have turned Jerusalem into a heap of ruins.

²They have given the dead bodies of your servants

as food to the birds of the skies,

the bodies of your faithful ones to the beasts of the earth.

³They have shed their blood like water around Jerusalem,

and there was none to bury them.

⁴We are objects of contempt to our neighbors,

mocking and derision to those who are around us.

⁵How long, Yahweh? Will you stay angry forever?

How long will your jealous anger burn like fire?

⁶Pour out your wrath on the nations

that do not know you

and on the kingdoms

that do not call upon your name.

⁷For they have devoured Jacob

and laid waste his villages.

⁸Do not hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us;

may your merciful actions come to us,

for we are very low.

⁹Help us, God of our salvation,

for the sake of the glory of your name;

save us and forgive our sins

for your name's sake.

¹⁰Why should the nations say,

"Where is their God?"

May the blood of your servants that was shed

be avenged on the nations before our eyes.

¹¹May the groans of the prisoners come before you;

with the greatness of your power keep the children of death alive.

¹²Pay back into the laps of our neighboring countries seven times as much

as the contempt with which they have taunted you, Lord.

¹³So we your people and sheep of your pasture

will give you thanks forever.

We will tell your praises

to all generations.

For the chief musician, set to the Shoshannim Eduth style. A psalm of Asaph.

¹Give ear, Shepherd of Israel,

you who lead Joseph like a flock;

you who sit above the cherubim,

shine on us!

²In the sight of Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,

stir up your power;

come and save us.

³God, restore us;

make your face shine on us,

and we will be saved.

⁴Yahweh God of hosts,

how long will you be angry at your people when they pray?

⁵You have fed them with the bread of tears

and given them tears to drink in great quantities.

⁶You make us an object of strife for our neighbors,

and our enemies laugh in mockery about us among themselves.

⁷God of hosts, restore us;

make your face shine on us,

and we will be saved.

⁸You brought a vine out of Egypt;

you drove out nations and transplanted it.

⁹You cleared the land for it;

it took root and filled the land.

¹⁰The mountains were covered with its shade,

the cedars of God by its branches.

¹¹It sent out its branches as far as the sea

and its shoots to the Euphrates River.

¹²Why have you broken down its walls

so that all who pass by along the road pluck its fruit?

¹³The boars out of the forest ruin it,

and the beasts of the field feed on it.

¹⁴Turn back, God of hosts;

look down from heaven and take notice

and take care of this vine.

¹⁵This is the root that your right hand planted,

the son that you have strengthened for yourself.

¹⁶It has been burned and cut down;

they perish because of your rebuke.

¹⁷May your hand be on the man of your right hand,

on the son of man whom you strengthened for yourself.

¹⁸Then we will not turn away from you;

revive us, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹Yahweh God of hosts, restore us;

make your face shine on us, and we will be saved.

For the chief musician; set to the Gittith style. A psalm of Asaph.

¹Shout joyfullly to God our strength;

shout out for joy to the God of Jacob.

²Sing a song and play the tambourine,

the pleasant harp with the lute.

³Blow the ram's horn on the day of the new moon,

on the day of the full moon, when our feast day begins.

⁴For it is a statute for Israel,

a decree given by the God of Jacob.

⁵He issued it as a regulation in Joseph

when he went against the land of Egypt,

where I heard a voice that I did not recognize:

⁶"I removed the burden from his shoulder;

his hands were freed from holding the basket.

⁷In your distress you called out, and I helped you;

I answered you from a dark thundercloud.

I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

Selah

⁸Listen, my people, for I will warn you,

Israel, if you would only listen to me!

⁹There must be no foreign god among you;

you must not worship any foreign god.

¹⁰I am Yahweh your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹But my people did not listen to my words;

Israel did not obey me.

¹²So I gave them over to their own stubborn way

so that they might follow their own devices.

¹³Oh, that my people would listen to me;

oh, that my people would walk in my paths.

¹⁴Then I would quickly subdue their enemies

and turn my hand against their oppressors.

¹⁵May those who hate Yahweh cringe in fear before him!

May they be humiliated forever.

¹⁶I would feed Israel with the finest wheat;

I would satisfy you with honey out of the rock."

A psalm of Asaph.

¹God stands in the divine assembly;

in the midst of the gods he renders judgment.

²How long will you judge unjustly

and show favoritism to the wicked?

Selah

³Give justice to the poor and fatherless;

maintain the rights of the afflicted and destitute.

⁴Rescue the poor and needy;

take them out of the hand of the wicked.

⁵They neither know nor understand;

they wander around in the darkness;

all the foundations of the earth crumble.

⁶I said, "You are gods,

and all of you are sons of the Most High.

⁷Nevertheless you will die like men

and fall like one of the princes."

⁸Arise, God, judge the earth,

for you have an inheritance in all the nations.

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

¹God, do not be silent!

Do not ignore us and remain unmoved, God.

²Look, your enemies are making a commotion,

and those who hate you have raised their heads.

³They make shrewd plans against your people

and plan together against your protected ones.

⁴They have said, "Come, and let us destroy them as a nation.

Then the name of Israel will no longer be remembered."

⁵They schemed together with one strategy;

they made an alliance against you—

⁶the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

of Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷Byblos,¹ Ammon, Amalek;

and also Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre.

⁸Assyria also has joined with them;

they have become an arm for the descendants of Lot.

Selah

⁹Do to them as you did to Midian,

as you did to Sisera and to Jabin at the Kishon River.

¹⁰They perished at Endor

and became like manure for the earth.

¹¹Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

and all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna.

¹²They said, "Let us take for ourselves

the pastures of God."

¹³My God, make them like the whirling dust,

like chaff before the wind,

¹⁴like the fire that burns the forest,

and like the flame that sets the mountains on fire.

¹⁵Chase them with your strong wind,

and terrify them with your windstorm.

¹⁶Fill their faces with shame

so that they might seek your name, Yahweh.

¹⁷May they be put to shame and be terrified forever;

may they perish in disgrace.

¹⁸Then they will know that you alone,

whose name is Yahweh,

are the Most High over all the earth.

¹Some modern English translations read, Gebal.

For the chief musician; set to the Gittith style. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

¹How lovely is the place where you live,

Yahweh of hosts!

²I long for the courts of Yahweh;

my desire for it has made me exhausted.

My heart and all of my being

shout for joy to the living God.

³Even the sparrow has found herself a house

and the swallow a nest for herself

where she may lay her young

near your altars, Yahweh of hosts,

my King, and my God.

⁴Blessed are they who live in your house;

they praise you continually.

Selah

⁵Blessed is the man whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways up to Zion.

⁶As they go through the Valley of Tears

they make it a place of springs.

The early rains cover it with blessings.¹

⁷They go from strength to strength;

every one of them appears before God in Zion.

⁸Yahweh God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, God of Jacob!

Selah

⁹God, watch over our shield;

show concern for your anointed.

¹⁰For one day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,

than to live within the tents of the wicked.

¹¹For Yahweh God is our sun and shield;

Yahweh will give grace and glory;

he does not withhold any good thing

from those who walk in integrity.

¹²Yahweh of hosts,

blessed is the man who trusts in you.

¹Some scholars translate the Hebrew as cover it with pools of water.

For the chief musician. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

¹Yahweh, you have shown favor to your land;

you have restored the well-being of Jacob.

²You have forgiven the iniquity of your people;

you have covered all their sin.

Selah

³You have withdrawn all your wrath;

you have turned back from your hot anger.

⁴Restore us, God of our salvation,

and let go of your displeasure with us.

⁵Will you be angry with us forever?

Will you remain angry throughout future generations?

⁶Will you not revive us again?

Then your people will rejoice in you.

⁷Show us your covenant faithfulness, Yahweh;

grant us your salvation.

⁸I will listen to what Yahweh God says,

for he will make peace with his people, his faithful ones.

Yet they must not turn again to foolish ways.

⁹Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him;

then glory will remain in our land.

¹⁰Steadfast love and faithfulness have met together;

righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

¹¹Trustworthiness springs up from the ground,

and righteousness looks down from the sky.

¹²Yes, Yahweh will give his good blessings,

and our land will yield its crops.

¹³Righteousness will go before him

and make a way for his footsteps.

A prayer of David.

¹Listen, Yahweh, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

²Protect me, for I am faithful;

my God, save your servant who trusts in you.

³Be merciful to me, Lord,

for I cry out to you all day long.

⁴Make your servant glad,

for to you, Lord, I lift up my soul.

⁵You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,

abounding in steadfast love to all those who cry out to you.

⁶Give ear, Yahweh, to my prayer;

hear the sound of my pleas.

⁷In the day of my trouble I call on you,

for you will answer me.

⁸There is no one who compares to you among the gods, Lord.

There are no deeds like your deeds.

⁹All the nations that you have made

will come and bow before you, Lord.

They will honor your name.

¹⁰For you are great and do wonderful things;

you only are God.

¹¹Teach me your ways, Yahweh.

Then I will walk in your truth.

Unite my heart

to reverence your name.

¹²Lord my God, I will praise you with my whole heart;

I will glorify your name forever.

¹³For great is your covenant faithfulness toward me;

you have rescued my life from the depths of Sheol.

¹⁴God, the arrogant have risen up against me.

A company of violent men seek my life.

They have no regard for you.

¹⁵But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

¹⁶Turn toward me and have mercy on me;

give your strength to your servant;

save the son of your servant woman.

¹⁷Show me a sign of your favor.

Then those who hate me will see it and be put to shame

because you, Yahweh, have helped me and comforted me.

A psalm of the sons of Korah; a song.

¹On the holy mount stands the city he founded;

²Yahweh loves the gates of Zion

more than all the tents of Jacob.

³Glorious things are said of you,

city of God.

Selah

⁴"I mention Rahab and Babylon to my followers.

See, there are Philistia, and Tyre, along with Cush—

and will say, 'This one was born there.'"

⁵Of Zion it will be said,

"Each of these was born in her;

and the Most High himself will establish her."

⁶Yahweh writes in the census book of the nations,

"This one was born there."

Selah

⁷So also the singers and the dancers say together,

"All my fountains are in you."

A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah; for the chief musician; set to the Mahalath Leannoth style. A maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.

¹Yahweh, God of my salvation,

I cry out day and night before you.

²Listen to my prayer;

pay attention to my cry.

³For I am filled with troubles,

and my life has reached Sheol.

⁴People treat me like those who go down into the pit;

I am a man with no strength.

⁵I am free among the dead;

I am like the dead who lie in the grave,

about whom you care no more

because they are cut off from your power.

⁶You place me in the lowest part of the pit,

in the dark and deep places.

⁷Your wrath lies heavy on me,

and all your waves crash over me.

Selah

⁸Because of you, my acquaintances avoid me.

You have made me an abomination to them.

I am hemmed in and I cannot escape.

⁹My eyes grow weary from trouble;

All day long I call out to you, Yahweh;

I spread out my hands to you.

¹⁰Will you do wonders for the dead?

Will those who have died rise and praise you?

Selah

¹¹Will your covenant faithfulness be proclaimed in the grave,

your faithfulness in the place of the dead?

¹²Will your wonderful deeds be known in the darkness,

or your righteousness in the place of forgetfulness?

¹³But I cry to you, Yahweh;

in the morning my prayer comes before you.

¹⁴Yahweh, why do you reject me?

Why do you hide your face from me?

¹⁵I have always been afflicted and on the verge of death since my youth.

I have suffered from your terrors;

I am in despair.

¹⁶Your burning anger has passed over me,

and your terrifying deeds have annihilated me.

¹⁷They surround me like water all the day long;

they have all encircled me.

¹⁸You have removed every friend and acquaintance from me.

My only acquaintance is the darkness.

A maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

¹I will sing of Yahweh's acts of covenant faithfulness forever.

I will proclaim your truthfulness to future generations.

²For I have said, “Covenant faithfulness has been established forever;

your truthfulness you have established in the heavens.”

³You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,

I have made an oath to David my servant:

⁴‘I will establish your descendants forever,

and I will establish your throne through all generations.‘”

Selah

⁵The heavens praise your wonders, Yahweh;

your truthfulness is praised in the assembly of the holy ones.

⁶For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?

Who among the sons of the gods is like Yahweh?

⁷He is a God who is greatly honored in the council of the holy ones

and is awesome among all who surround him.

⁸Yahweh God of hosts,

who is strong like Yah?¹

Your truthfulness surrounds you.

⁹You rule the raging sea;

when the waves surge, you calm them.

¹⁰You crushed Rahab as one who is killed.

You scattered your enemies with your strong arm.

¹¹The heavens belong to you, and the earth also.

You established the world and all it contains.

¹²You created the north and the south.

Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.

¹³You have a mighty arm

and a strong hand, and your right hand is high.

¹⁴Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.

Steadfast love and faithfulness come before you.

¹⁵Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!

Yahweh, they walk in the light of your face.

¹⁶They rejoice in your name all day long,

and in your righteousness they exalt you.

¹⁷You are their glorious strength,

and by your favor our horn is exalted.

¹⁸For our shield belongs to Yahweh;

our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹Long ago you spoke in a vision

to your faithful ones;²

you said, "I have set a crown on a mighty one."³

I have raised up one chosen from among the people.

²⁰I have chosen David my servant;

with my holy oil have I anointed him.

²¹My hand will support him;

my arm will strengthen him.

²²No enemy will deceive him;

no son of wickedness will oppress him.

²³I will crush his enemies before him;

I will kill those who hate him.

²⁴My truth and my covenant faithfulness will be with him;

by my name his horn will be exalted.

²⁵I will place his hand over the sea

and his right hand over the rivers.

²⁶He will call out to me, 'You are my Father,

my God, and the rock of my salvation.'

²⁷I also will place him as my firstborn son,

the most exalted of the kings of the earth.

²⁸I will extend my covenant faithfulness to him forever;

and my covenant with him will be secure.

²⁹I will make his descendants endure forever

and his throne as enduring as the skies above.

³⁰If his children abandon my law

and do not walk in my regulations,

³¹if they break my rules

and do not keep my commands,

³²then will I punish their rebellion with a rod

and their iniquity with blows.

³³But I will not remove my steadfast love from him

or be unfaithful to my promise.

³⁴I will not break my covenant

or change the words of my lips.

³⁵Once and for all I have sworn by my holiness—

I will not lie to David:

³⁶his descendants will continue forever

and his throne as long as the sun before me.

³⁷It will be established forever like the moon,

the faithful witness in the sky."

Selah

³⁸But you have refused and rejected;

you have been angry with your anointed king.

³⁹You have renounced the covenant of your servant.

You have desecrated his crown on the ground.

⁴⁰You have broken down all his walls.

You have ruined his strongholds.

⁴¹All who pass by have robbed him.

He has become the scorn of his neighbors.

⁴²You have raised the right hand of his enemies;

you have made all his enemies rejoice.

⁴³You turn back the edge of his sword

and have not made him stand when in battle.

⁴⁴You have brought his splendor to an end;

you have brought down his throne to the ground.

⁴⁵You have shortened the days of his youth.

You have covered him with shame.

Selah

⁴⁶How long, Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever?

How long will your anger burn like fire?

⁴⁷Oh, think about how short my time is,

and for what vanity you have created all the children of mankind!

⁴⁸Who can live and not die,

or rescue his own life from the hand of Sheol?

Selah

⁴⁹Lord, where are your former acts of covenant faithfulness

that you swore to David in your truthfulness?

⁵⁰Call to mind, Lord, the mocking directed against your servants

and how I bear in my heart so many insults from the nations.

⁵¹Your enemies hurl insults, Yahweh;

they mock the footsteps of your anointed one.

⁵²Blessed be Yahweh forever.

Amen and Amen.

Book Four

(Psalms 90-106)

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

²Many ancient copies of the Hebrew text have the singular faithful one instead of faithful ones.

³The ancient copies of the Hebrew text have I will place help upon a warrior. Some scholars translate the word for help as crown and that is how the ULB editors have translated the word here.

A prayer of Moses the man of God.

¹Lord, you have been our refuge

throughout all generations.

²Before the mountains were formed,

or you formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

³You return man to dust,

and you say, "Return, you descendants of mankind."

⁴For a thousand years in your sight

are as yesterday when it is past,

and as a watch in the night.

⁵You sweep them away as with a flood and they sleep;

in the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up.

⁶In the morning it blooms and grows up;

in the evening it withers and dries up.

⁷Truly, we are consumed in your anger,

and in your wrath we are terrified.

⁸You have set our iniquities before you,

our hidden sins in the light of your presence.

⁹Our life passes away under your wrath;

our years quickly pass like a sigh.

¹⁰Our years are seventy,

or even eighty if we are healthy;

but even our best years are marked by trouble and sorrow.

Yes, they pass quickly, and we fly away.

¹¹Who knows the power of your anger,

and your wrath that is equal to the fear of you?

¹²So teach us to consider our life

so that we might gain a heart of wisdom.

¹³Turn back, Yahweh! How long will it be?

Have pity on your servants.

¹⁴Satisfy us in the morning with your covenant faithfulness

so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

¹⁵Make us glad in proportion to the days you afflicted us

and to the years we have experienced trouble.

¹⁶Let your servants see your work,

and let our children see your majesty.

¹⁷May the favor of the Lord our God be ours;

prosper the work of our hands;

indeed, prosper the work of our hands.

¹He who lives in the shelter of the Most High

will stay in the shadow of the Almighty.

²I will say of Yahweh, "He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust."

³For he will rescue you

from the snare of the hunter

and from the destructive plague.

⁴He will cover you with his wings,

and under his wings you will find refuge.

His faithfulness is a shield and protection.

⁵You will not be afraid of terror in the night,

or of the arrow that flies by day,

⁶or of the plague that stalks in the darkness,

or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side

and ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not reach you.

⁸You will only observe

and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹For Yahweh is my refuge!

Make the Most High your refuge also.

¹⁰No evil will overtake you;

no affliction will come near your tent.

¹¹For he will put his angels in charge over you,

to guard you in all your ways.

¹²They will lift you up with their hand

so that you will not hit your foot on a stone.

¹³You will crush lions and asps under your feet;

you will trample on young lions and serpents.

¹⁴Because he delights in me, I will rescue him.

I will protect him because he acknowledges my name.

¹⁵When he calls to me, I will answer him.

I will be with him in trouble;

I will give him victory and will honor him.

¹⁶I will satisfy him with the length of his days,

and show him my salvation.

A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day.

¹It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh

and to sing praises to your name, Most High,

²to proclaim your covenant faithfulness in the morning

and your truthfulness every night,

³with a lute of ten strings

and the resounding music of the harp.

⁴For you, Yahweh, have made me glad through your deeds.

I will sing for joy because of the deeds of your hands.

⁵How great are your deeds, Yahweh!

Your thoughts are very deep.

⁶A brutish person does not know,

nor does a fool understand this:

⁷When the wicked sprout like the grass,

and even when all those who behave wickedly thrive,

still they are doomed to eternal destruction.

⁸But you, Yahweh, will reign forever.

⁹Indeed, look at your enemies, Yahweh!

Indeed, look at your enemies. They will perish!

All those who behave wickedly will be scattered.

¹⁰You have lifted up my horn like the horn of the wild ox;

I am anointed with fresh oil.

¹¹My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;

my ears have heard of the doom of my evil foes.

¹²The righteous will flourish like the palm tree;

they will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

¹³They are planted in the house of Yahweh;

they flourish in the courts of our God.

¹⁴They bear fruit even when they are old;

they stay fresh and green,

¹⁵to proclaim that Yahweh is just.

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

¹Yahweh reigns; he is robed in majesty;

Yahweh has clothed and girded himself with strength.

The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

²Your throne is established from ancient times;

you are from everlasting.

³The oceans rise, Yahweh;

they have lifted up their voice;

the oceans' waves crash and roar.

⁴Above the crashing of many waves,

the mighty breakers of the sea,

Yahweh on high is mighty.

⁵Your solemn commands are very trustworthy;

holiness adorns your house,

Yahweh, for the length of your days.

¹Yahweh, God who avenges,

God who avenges, shine over us.

²Rise up, judge of the earth,

give recompense to the proud.

³How long will the wicked, Yahweh,

how long will the wicked rejoice?

⁴They pour out their arrogant words;

all those who behave wickedly boast.

⁵They crush your people, Yahweh;

they afflict your heritage.

⁶They kill the widow and foreigner who lives in their country,

and they murder the fatherless.

⁷They say, "Yah does not see;

the God of Jacob does not take notice of it."¹

⁸Pay attention, you stupid people!

You fools, when will you gain understanding?

⁹He who made the ear, does he not hear?

He who formed the eye, does he not see?

¹⁰He who disciplines the nations, does he not correct?

He is the one who gives knowledge to man.

¹¹Yahweh knows the thoughts of men,

that they are vapor.

¹²Blessed is the one whom Yah instructs,

the one whom you teach from your law.²

¹³You give him rest in times of trouble

until a pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴For Yahweh will not abandon his people

or abandon his inheritance.

¹⁵For judgment will again be righteous;

and all the upright in heart will follow it.

¹⁶Who will rise up to defend me against the evildoers?

Who will stand up for me against those who behave wickedly?

¹⁷Unless Yahweh had been my help,

I would soon be lying down in the place of silence.

¹⁸When I said, "My foot is slipping,"

Your covenant faithfulness, Yahweh, held me up.

¹⁹When cares within me are many,

your consolations delight my soul.

²⁰Can a throne of destruction be allied with you,

one that creates trouble by statute?

²¹They conspire together to take the life of the righteous

and they declare guilty the blood of the innocent.

²²But Yahweh has been my high tower,

and my God has been the rock of my refuge.

²³He will bring on them their own iniquity

and will cut them off in their own wickedness.

Yahweh our God will cut them off.

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

²Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

¹Oh come, let us sing to Yahweh;

let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

²Let us enter his presence with thanksgiving;

let us shout joyfully to him with psalms of praise.

³For Yahweh is a great God

and a great King superior to all gods.

⁴In his hand are the depths of the earth;

the heights of the mountains are his.

⁵The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before Yahweh, our Creator:

⁷For he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

Today—oh, that you would hear his voice!

⁸"Do not harden your heart, as at Meribah,

or as on the day of Massah in the wilderness,

⁹where your forefathers tested me;

they put me to the test, though they had seen my deeds.

¹⁰For forty years I was angry with that generation

and said, 'This is a people whose hearts wander astray;

they have not known my ways.'

¹¹Therefore I swore in my anger

that they would never enter into my resting place."

¹Oh, sing to Yahweh a new song;

sing to Yahweh, all the earth.

²Sing to Yahweh, bless his name;

announce his salvation day after day.

³Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous deeds among all the nations.

⁴For Yahweh is great and is to be praised greatly.

He is to be feared above all other gods.

⁵For all the gods of the nations are idols,

but it is Yahweh who made the heavens.

⁶Splendor and majesty are in his presence.

Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

⁷Ascribe to Yahweh, you clans of peoples,

ascribe praise to Yahweh for his glory and strength.

⁸Give to Yahweh the glory that his name deserves.

Bring an offering and come into his courts.

⁹Bow down to Yahweh in the splendor of holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth.

¹⁰Say among the nations, "Yahweh reigns."

The world also is established; it cannot be shaken.

He judges the peoples fairly.

¹¹Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

let the sea roar and that which fills it shout with joy.

¹²Let the fields rejoice and all that is in them.

Then let all the trees in the forest shout for joy

¹³before Yahweh, for he is coming.

He is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness

and the peoples with his faithfulness.

¹Yahweh reigns; let the earth rejoice;

let the many coastlands be glad.

²Clouds and darkness surround him.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

³Fire goes before him

and consumes his adversaries on every side.

⁴His lightning lights up the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

⁵The mountains melt like wax before Yahweh,

the Lord of the whole earth.

⁶The skies declare his justice,

and all the nations see his glory.

⁷All those who worship carved figures will be shamed,

those who boast in worthless idols—

bow down to him, all you gods!

⁸Zion heard and was glad,

and the towns of Judah rejoiced

because of your righteous decrees, Yahweh.

⁹For you, Yahweh, are most high above all the earth.

You are exalted far above all gods.

¹⁰You who love Yahweh, hate evil!

He protects the lives of his faithful ones,

and he takes them out of the hand of the wicked.

¹¹Light is sown for the righteous

and gladness for those with honest hearts.

¹²Be glad in Yahweh, you righteous;

and give thanks when you remember his holiness.

A psalm.

¹Oh, sing to Yahweh a new song,

for he has done marvelous things;

his right hand and his holy arm

have given him victory.

²Yahweh has made known his salvation;

he has openly showed his justice to all the nations.

³He calls to mind his steadfast love

and faithfulness for the house of Israel;

all the ends of the earth will see

the victory of our God.

⁴Shout for joy to Yahweh, all the earth;

burst into song, sing for joy, and sing praises.

⁵Sing praises to Yahweh with the harp,

with the harp and melodious song.

⁶With trumpets and the sound of the horn,

shout joyfully before the King, Yahweh.

⁷Let the sea shout and everything in it,

the world and those who live in it!

⁸Let the rivers clap their hands,

and let the mountains shout for joy.

⁹Yahweh is coming to judge the earth;

he will judge the world with righteousness

and the nations with fairness.

¹Yahweh reigns;

let the nations tremble.

He sits enthroned above the cherubim;

the earth quakes.

²Yahweh is great in Zion;

he is exalted above all the nations.

³Let them praise your great and awesome name;

he is holy.

⁴The king is strong, and he loves justice.

You have established fairness;

you have done righteousness

and justice in Jacob.

⁵Praise Yahweh our God

and worship at his footstool.

He is holy.

⁶Moses and Aaron were among his priests,

and Samuel was among those who called on his name.

They called to Yahweh,

and he answered them.

⁷He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud.

They kept his solemn commands

and the statutes that he gave them.

⁸You answered them,

Yahweh our God.

A forgiving God you were to them,

but also an avenger of their sinful deeds.

⁹Praise Yahweh our God,

and worship at his holy hill,

for Yahweh our God is holy.

100

A psalm of thanksgiving.

¹Shout joyfully to Yahweh, all the earth.

²Serve Yahweh with gladness;

come before his presence with joyful singing.

³Know that Yahweh is God;

he made us, and we are his.

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴Enter into his gates with thanksgiving

and into his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and bless his name.

⁵For Yahweh is good; his covenant faithfulness endures forever

and his truthfulness through all generations.

101

A psalm of David.

¹I will sing of covenant faithfulness and justice;

to you, Yahweh, I will sing praises.

²I will pay attention to the way of integrity.

Oh, when will you come to me?

I will walk with integrity of heart within my house.

³I will not put wrongdoing before my eyes;

I hate worthless evil;

it will not cling to me.

⁴A perverse heart will leave me;

I am not loyal to evil.

⁵I will destroy whoever secretly slanders his neighbor.

I will not tolerate the haughty of eye and arrogant of heart.

⁶I will look to the faithful of the land to sit at my side.

Those who walk in the way of integrity may serve me.

⁷Deceitful people will not remain within my house;

liars will not be welcome before my eyes.

⁸Morning by morning

I will destroy all the wicked from the land;

I will remove all who behave wickedly

from the city of Yahweh.

102

A prayer of the afflicted when he is faint and pours out his lament before Yahweh.

¹Hear my prayer, Yahweh;

hear my cry to you.

²Do not hide your face from me in my time of trouble.

Listen to me.

When I call out to you,

answer me quickly.

³For my days pass away like smoke,

and my bones burn like fire.

⁴My heart is crushed, and I am like grass that has withered.

I forget to eat any food.

⁵With my continual groaning,

I have become very thin.

⁶I am like a pelican of the wilderness;

I have become like an owl in the ruins.

⁷I lie awake like a solitary bird,

alone on the housetop.

⁸My enemies taunt me all day long;

those who mock me use my name in curses.

⁹I eat ashes like bread

and mix my drink with tears.

¹⁰Because of your raging anger,

you have lifted me up to throw me down.

¹¹My days are like a shadow that fades,

and I have withered like grass.

¹²But you, Yahweh, live forever,

and your fame is for all generations.

¹³You will rise up and have mercy on Zion.

Now is the time to have mercy upon her;

the appointed time has come.

¹⁴For your servants hold her stones dear

and feel compassion for the dust of her ruins.

¹⁵The nations will respect your name, Yahweh,

and all the kings of the earth will honor your glory.

¹⁶Yahweh will rebuild Zion

and will appear in his glory.

¹⁷At that time, he will respond to the prayer of the destitute;

he will not reject their prayer.

¹⁸This will be written for future generations,

and a people not yet created will praise Yah.¹

¹⁹For he has looked down from the holy heights;

from heaven Yahweh has viewed the earth,

²⁰to hear the groaning of the prisoners,

to release those who were condemned to death.

²¹Then men will proclaim the name of Yahweh in Zion

and his praise in Jerusalem

²²when the peoples and kingdoms gather together

to serve Yahweh.

²³He has taken away my strength in the middle of life.

He has shortened my days.

²⁴I said, "My God, do not take me away in the middle of life;

you are here throughout all generations.

²⁵In ancient times you established the earth;

the heavens are the work of your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but you will remain;

they will all grow old like a garment;

like clothing, you will remove them,

and they will disappear.

²⁷But you are the same,

and your years will have no end.

²⁸The children of your servants will live on,

and their descendants will live in your presence."

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

103

A psalm of David.

¹I give praise to Yahweh with all my life,

and with all that is within me,

I give praise to his holy name.

²I give praise to Yahweh with all my life,

and I remember all of his good deeds.

³He forgives all your iniquities;

he heals all your diseases.

⁴He redeems your life from the pit;

he crowns you with covenant faithfulness and acts of tender mercy.

⁵He satisfies your life with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

⁶Yahweh does what is fair

and does acts of justice for all who are oppressed.

⁷He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the descendants of Israel.

⁸Yahweh is merciful and gracious;

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

⁹He will not discipline forever;

he will not be angry to eternity.

¹⁰He does not deal with us as our sins deserve

or repay us for what our iniquities demand.

¹¹For as the skies are high above the earth,

so great is his covenant faithfulness toward those who honor him.

¹²As far as the east is from the west,

this is how far he has removed the guilt of our sins from us.

¹³As a father has compassion on his children,

so Yahweh has compassion on those who honor him.

¹⁴For he knows how we are formed;

he knows that we are dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are like grass;

he flourishes like a flower in a field.

¹⁶The wind blows over it, and it disappears,

and no one can even tell where it once grew.

¹⁷But the covenant faithfulness of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting

on those who honor him.

His righteousness extends to their descendants.

¹⁸They keep his covenant

and remember to obey his instructions.

¹⁹Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens,

and his kingdom rules over everyone.

²⁰Give praise to Yahweh, you his angels,

you mighty ones who are strong and do his word,

and obey the sound of his word.

²¹Give praise to Yahweh, all his hosts,

his servants who do his will.

²²Give praise to Yahweh, all his creatures,

in all the places where he reigns.

I will give praise to Yahweh with all my life.

104

¹I give praise to Yahweh with all my life,

Yahweh my God, you are very magnificent;

you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

²You cover yourself with light as with a garment;

you spread out the heavens like a tent curtain.

³You lay the beams of your chambers on the clouds;

you make the clouds your chariot;

you walk on the wings of the wind.

⁴He makes the winds his messengers,

flames of fire his servants.

⁵He laid the foundations of the earth,

so that it will not totter forever and ever.

⁶You covered the earth with water like a garment;

the water covered the mountains.

⁷At your rebuke the waters retreated;

at the sound of your thunder they hurried away.

⁸The mountains rose and the valleys went down

to the places that you had appointed for them.

⁹You have set a boundary for them that they will not cross;

they will not cover the earth again.

¹⁰He made springs flow into the valleys;

the streams flow between the mountains.

¹¹They supply water for all the animals of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹²By the riverbanks the birds build their nests;

they sing among the branches.

¹³He waters the mountains from his water chambers in the sky.

The earth is filled with the fruit of his labor.

¹⁴He makes the grass grow for the cattle

and plants for man to cultivate,

so that man may produce food from the earth.

¹⁵He makes wine to make man happy,

oil to make his face shine,

and food to sustain his life.

¹⁶The trees of Yahweh get plenty of rain;

the cedars of Lebanon which he planted.

¹⁷There the birds make their nests.

The stork makes the cypress tree her home.

¹⁸The wild goats live on the high mountains;

the mountain heights are a refuge for the hyraxes.

¹⁹He appointed the moon to mark the seasons;

the sun knows its time for setting.

²⁰You make the darkness of the night

when all the beasts of the forest come out.

²¹The young lions roar for their prey

and seek their food from God.

²²When the sun rises, they retreat

and sleep in their dens.

²³Meanwhile, people go out to their work

and labor away until the evening.

²⁴Yahweh, how many and varied are your works!

With wisdom you made them all;

the earth overflows with your works.

²⁵Over there is the sea, deep and wide,

teeming with innumerable creatures,

both small and great.

²⁶The ships travel there,

and Leviathan is also there, which you formed to play in the sea.

²⁷All these look to you in hope

that you will give them their food on time.

²⁸When you give to them, they gather;

when you open your hand, they are satisfied.

²⁹When you hide your face, they are troubled;

if you take away their breath, they die

and return to dust.

³⁰When you send out your Spirit,

they are created,

and you renew the surface of the ground.

³¹May the glory of Yahweh last forever;

may Yahweh enjoy his creation.

³²He looks down on the earth, and it shakes;

he touches the mountains, and they smoke.

³³I will sing to Yahweh all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

³⁴May my thoughts be sweet to him;

I will rejoice in Yahweh.

³⁵May sinners vanish from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more.

I give praise to Yahweh with all my life.

Give praise to Yah.¹

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

105

¹Give thanks to Yahweh, call on his name;

make known his deeds among the nations.

²Sing to him, sing praises to him;

speak of all his marvelous deeds.

³Boast in his holy name;

let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice.

⁴Seek Yahweh and his strength;

seek his presence continually.

⁵Recall the marvelous things he has done,

his miracles and the decrees from his mouth,

⁶you descendants of Abraham his servant,

you people of Jacob, his chosen ones.

⁷He is Yahweh, our God.

His decrees are on all the earth.

⁸He keeps in mind his covenant forever,

the word that he commanded for a thousand generations.

⁹He calls to mind the covenant that he made with Abraham

and his oath to Isaac.

¹⁰This is what he confirmed to Jacob as a statute

and to Israel as an everlasting covenant.

¹¹He said, "I will give you the land of Canaan

as your share of your inheritance."

¹²He said this when they were only few in number,

so very few, and were strangers in the land.

¹³They went from nation to nation

and from one kingdom to another.

¹⁴He did not allow anyone to oppress them;

he rebuked kings for their sakes.

¹⁵He said, "Do not touch my anointed ones,

and do not harm my prophets."

¹⁶He called for a famine on the land;

he cut off the whole staff of bread.

¹⁷He sent a man ahead of them;

Joseph was sold as a servant.

¹⁸His feet were bound by shackles;

on his neck was put an iron collar,

¹⁹until what he had said came to pass.

The word of Yahweh tested him.

²⁰The king sent servants to release him;

the ruler of the people set him free.

²¹He put him in charge of his house

as ruler of all his possessions

²²to instruct his princes as he wished

and to teach his elders wisdom.

²³Then Israel came into Egypt,

and Jacob lived for a time in the land of Ham.

²⁴Yahweh made his people fruitful,

and made them stronger than their enemies.

²⁵He caused their enemies to hate his people,

to mistreat his servants.

²⁶He sent Moses, his servant,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

²⁷They performed his signs among the Egyptians,

his wonders in the land of Ham.

²⁸He sent darkness and made that land dark,

and they did not rebel against his commands.

²⁹He turned their water into blood

and killed their fish.

³⁰Their land swarmed with frogs,

even in the rooms of their rulers.

³¹He spoke, and swarms of flies and gnats came

throughout their country.

³²He turned their rain into hail,

with fire flaming on their land.

³³He destroyed their vines and fig trees;

he broke the trees of their country.

³⁴He spoke, and the locusts came,

so many locusts.

³⁵The locusts ate up all of the vegetation in their land;

They ate up all the crops of the ground.

³⁶He killed every firstborn in their land,

the firstfruits of all their strength.

³⁷He brought the Israelites out with silver and gold;

none of his tribes stumbled on the way.

³⁸Egypt was glad when they went away,

for the Egyptians were afraid of them.

³⁹He spread a cloud for a covering

and made a fire to light up the night.

⁴⁰The Israelites asked for food, and he brought quail

and satisfied them with bread from heaven.

⁴¹He split the rock, and waters gushed from it;

they flowed in the wilderness like a river.

⁴²For he called to mind his holy promise

that he made to Abraham his servant.

⁴³He led his people out with joy,

his chosen with shouts of triumph.

⁴⁴He gave them the lands of the nations;

they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' labors

⁴⁵so that they might keep his statutes

and obey his laws.

Give praise to Yah.¹

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

106

¹Give praise to Yah.¹

Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good,

for his covenant faithfulness endures forever.

²Who can recount the mighty acts of Yahweh

or proclaim in full all his praiseworthy deeds?

³Blessed are those who do what is right,

and whose deeds are always just.

⁴Call me to mind, Yahweh, when you show favor to your people;

help me when you save them.

⁵Then I will see the prosperity of your chosen,

rejoice in the gladness of your nation,

and glory with your inheritance.

⁶We have sinned like our ancestors;

we have done wrong, and we have done evil.

⁷Our fathers did not pay attention to your marvelous deeds in Egypt;

they ignored your many acts of covenant faithfulness;

they were rebellious at the sea, the Sea of Reeds.

⁸Nevertheless, he saved them for his name's sake

so that he might reveal his power.

⁹He rebuked the Sea of Reeds, and it dried up.

Then he led them through the depths, as through a wilderness.

¹⁰He saved them from the hand of those who hated them,

and he rescued them from the hand of the enemy.

¹¹But the waters covered their adversaries;

not one of them survived.

¹²Then they believed his words,

and they sang his praise.

¹³But they quickly forgot his deeds;

they did not wait for his instructions.

¹⁴They had insatiable cravings in the wilderness,

and they challenged God in the desert.

¹⁵So he gave them what they requested,

but he sent a horrible disease upon them.

¹⁶In the camp they became jealous of Moses

and Aaron, the holy priest of Yahweh.

¹⁷The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan

and covered the company of Abiram.

¹⁸Fire broke out in their company;

the fire consumed the wicked.

¹⁹They made a calf at Horeb

and worshiped a cast metal figure.

²⁰They traded the glory of God

for the image of a bull that eats grass.

²¹They forgot God their Savior,

who had done great deeds in Egypt.

²²He had done wonderful things in the land of Ham

and awesome deeds at the Sea of Reeds.

²³So he said he would destroy them—

had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him,

to turn away his anger from destroying them.

²⁴Then they despised the delightful land;

they did not believe his promise,

²⁵but grumbled in their tents,

and did not obey Yahweh.

²⁶Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them

that he would let them die in the desert,

²⁷scatter their descendants among the nations,

and scatter them in foreign lands.

²⁸They worshiped the Baal of Peor

and ate the sacrifices offered to the dead.

²⁹They provoked him to anger with their actions,

and a plague broke out among them.

³⁰Then Phinehas stood up and mediated,

and the plague subsided.

³¹It was counted to him as a righteous deed

to all generations forever.

³²They also angered Yahweh at the waters of Meribah,

and Moses suffered because of them.

³³They made his spirit bitter,

and he spoke thoughtlessly with his lips.

³⁴They did not destroy the nations

as Yahweh had commanded them,

³⁵but they mingled with the nations,

learned their practices,

³⁶and worshiped their idols,

which became a snare to them.

³⁷They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.

³⁸They shed innocent blood,

the blood of their sons and of their daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,

desecrating the land with blood.

³⁹They were defiled by their deeds;

in their actions they were like prostitutes.

⁴⁰So Yahweh was angry with his people,

and he abhorred his inheritance.

⁴¹He gave them into the hand of the nations,

and those who hated them ruled over them.

⁴²Their enemies oppressed them,

and they were brought into subjection to their authority.

⁴³Many times he came to help them,

but they were rebellious in their purposes

and were brought low by their own iniquity.

⁴⁴Nevertheless, he paid attention to their distress

when he heard their cry for help.

⁴⁵He called to mind his covenant with them

and relented because of his steadfast love.

⁴⁶He caused all their captors

to have pity on them.

⁴⁷Save us, Yahweh, our God.

Gather us from among the nations

so that we may give thanks to your holy name

and glory in your praises.

⁴⁸May Yahweh, the God of Israel, be praised

from everlasting to everlasting.

All the people said, "Amen."

Give praise to Yah.²

Book Five

(Psalms 107-150)

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

²Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

107

¹Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good,

and his covenant faithfulness endures forever.

²Let the redeemed of Yahweh speak out,

those he has rescued from the hand of the enemy.

³He has gathered them out of foreign lands,

from the east and from the west,

from the north and from the south.

⁴They wandered in the wilderness on a desert road

and found no city in which to live.

⁵Because they were hungry and thirsty,

they fainted from exhaustion.

⁶Then they called out to Yahweh in their trouble,

and he rescued them out of their distress.

⁷He led them by a direct path

so that they would go to a city to live in.

⁸Oh that people would praise Yahweh for his covenant faithfulness

and for the amazing things he has done for humanity!

⁹For he satisfies the longings of those who are thirsty,

and the desires of those who are hungry he fills up with good things.

¹⁰Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,

prisoners in affliction and chains.

¹¹This was because they had rebelled against God's word

and rejected the instruction of the Most High.

¹²He humbled their hearts through hardship;

they stumbled and there was no one to help them up.

¹³Then they called out to Yahweh in their trouble,

and he saved them out of their distress.

¹⁴He brought them out of darkness and gloom

and broke their bonds.

¹⁵Oh that people would praise Yahweh for his covenant faithfulness

and for the amazing things he has done for humanity!

¹⁶For he has broken the gates of bronze

and cut through the bars of iron.

¹⁷They were foolish in their rebellious ways

and afflicted because of their iniquities.

¹⁸Their soul abhorred all food,

and they came close to the gates of death.

¹⁹Then they called out to Yahweh in their trouble,

and he saved them out of their distress.

²⁰He sent his word and healed them,

and he rescued them from the pits in which they were trapped.

²¹Oh that people would praise Yahweh for his covenant faithfulness

and for the amazing things he has done for humanity!

²²Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving

and proclaim his deeds with shouts of joy.

²³Some travel on the sea in ships

and do business overseas.

²⁴These saw the deeds of Yahweh

and his wonders on the seas.

²⁵For he commanded and aroused the windstorm

that stirs up the seas.

²⁶They reached up to the sky; they went down to the depths.

Their lives melted away in distress.

²⁷They swayed and staggered like drunkards

and were at their wits' end.

²⁸Then they called out to Yahweh in their trouble,

and he brought them out of their distress.

²⁹He calmed the storm,

and the waves were stilled.

³⁰Then they rejoiced because the sea was calm,

and he brought them to their desired harbor.

³¹Oh that people would praise Yahweh for his covenant faithfulness

and for the amazing things he has done for humanity!

³²Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people

and praise him in the council of the elders.

³³He turns rivers into a wilderness,

springs of water into dry land,

³⁴and a fruitful land into a barren place

because of the wickedness of its people.

³⁵He turns the wilderness into a pool of water

and dry land into springs of water.

³⁶He settles the hungry there,

and they build a city to live in.

³⁷They sowed fields and planted vineyards

that yielded a fruitful harvest.

³⁸He blesses them so they are very numerous.

He does not let their livestock decrease in number.

³⁹They were diminished and brought low

by oppression, distress, and suffering.

⁴⁰He pours contempt on the leaders

and causes them to wander in the wilderness, where there are no roads.

⁴¹But he protects the needy from affliction

and cares for his families like a flock.

⁴²The upright will see this and rejoice,

and all wickedness shuts its mouth.

⁴³Whoever is wise should take note of these things

and meditate on Yahweh's acts of covenant faithfulness.

108

A song, a psalm of David.

¹My heart is fixed, God!

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises with all my glory.

²Wake up, lute and harp;

I will wake up the dawn.

³I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the peoples;

I will sing praises to you among the nations.

⁴For your covenant faithfulness is great above the heavens;

and your trustworthiness reaches to the skies.

⁵Be exalted, God, above the heavens,

and may your glory be exalted over all the earth.

⁶So that those you love may be rescued,

rescue us with your right hand and answer me.

⁷God has spoken in his holiness; "I will rejoice;

I will divide Shechem

and apportion out the Valley of Sukkoth.

⁸Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;

Ephraim also is my helmet;

Judah is my scepter.

⁹Moab is my washbasin;

over Edom I will throw my sandal;

I will shout in triumph because of Philistia.

¹⁰Who will bring me into the fortified city?

Who will lead me to Edom?"

¹¹God, have you not rejected us?

You do not go into battle with our army.

¹²Give us help against the enemy,

for man's help is futile.

¹³We will triumph with God's help;

he will trample down our enemies.

109

For the chief musician. A psalm of David.

¹God whom I praise,

do not be silent.

²For the wicked and deceitful attack me;

they speak lies against me.

³They surround me and say hateful things,

and they attack me without cause.

⁴In return for my love they accuse me,

but I pray for them.

⁵They repay me evil for good,

and hatred for my love.

⁶Appoint a wicked man over such an enemy as these people;

appoint an accuser to stand at his right hand.

⁷When he is judged, may he be found guilty;

may his prayer be considered sinful.

⁸May his days be few;

may another take his office.

⁹May his children be fatherless,

and may his wife be a widow.

¹⁰May his children wander about and beg,

seeking food far from their ruined home.

¹¹May the creditor seize all he owns;

may strangers plunder the product of his labor.

¹²May no one extend any kindness to him;

may no one have pity on his fatherless children.

¹³May his descendants be cut off;

may their name be blotted out in the next generation.

¹⁴May his ancestors' iniquity be remembered before Yahweh;

and may the sin of his mother not be forgotten.

¹⁵May their sins always be before Yahweh;

may he cut off their memory from the earth.

¹⁶May Yahweh do this, for that man never bothered to show any covenant faithfulness,

but harassed the oppressed, the needy,

and the brokenhearted to death.

¹⁷He loved cursing;

may it come back upon him.

He hated blessing;

may it be far from him.

¹⁸He clothed himself with cursing as his garment,

and his curse came into his body like water,

like oil into his bones.

¹⁹May his curses be to him like the clothes he wears to cover himself,

like the belt he always wears.

²⁰May this be the reward of my accusers from Yahweh,

of those who say evil things about me.

²¹Yahweh my Lord, deal kindly with me for your name's sake.

Because your covenant faithfulness is good, save me.

²²For I am oppressed and needy,

and my heart is wounded within me.

²³I am fading away like the shadow of the evening;

I am shaken off like a locust.

²⁴My knees are weak from fasting;

my body has become thin and has no fat.

²⁵I have become an object of scorn to my accusers;

when they see me, they shake their heads.

²⁶Help me, Yahweh my God;

save me by your covenant faithfulness.

²⁷Let them know that this is your hand,

that you, Yahweh, have done this.

²⁸They curse, but you bless;

when they attack, may they be put to shame,

but may your servant rejoice.

²⁹May my adversaries be clothed with shame;

may they wear their shame like a robe.

³⁰With my mouth I give great thanks to Yahweh;

I will praise him in the midst of a crowd.

³¹For he will stand at the right hand of the one who is needy,

to save him from those who condemn him.

110

A psalm of David.

¹The declaration of Yahweh to my lord:

"Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies your footstool."

²Yahweh will hold out the scepter of your strength from Zion;

rule among your enemies.

³Your people will follow you in holy garments

of their own free will on the day of your power;

from the womb of the dawn your youth will be to you like the dew.

⁴Yahweh has sworn and will not change his mind:

"You are a priest forever,

after the manner of Melchizedek."

⁵The Lord is at your right hand.

He will kill kings on the day of his anger.

⁶He will judge the nations;

he will fill the battlegrounds with dead bodies;

he will kill the leaders in many countries.

⁷He will drink of the brook along the road,

and then he will lift his head up high after victory.

111

¹Give praise to Yah.¹

I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart

in the assembly of the upright, in their gathering.

²The works of Yahweh are great,

eagerly awaited by all those who desire them.

³His work is majestic and glorious,

and his righteousness endures forever.

⁴He does wonderful things that will be remembered;

Yahweh is gracious and merciful.

⁵He gives food to his faithful followers.

He will always call to mind his covenant.

⁶He showed his powerful works to his people

in giving them the inheritance of the nations.

⁷The works of his hands are trustworthy and just;

all his instructions are reliable.

⁸They are established forever,

to be observed faithfully and properly.

⁹He sent redemption to his people;

he ordained his covenant forever;

holy and awesome is his name.

¹⁰To honor Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom;

those who carry out his instructions have good understanding.

His praise endures forever.

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

112

¹Give praise to Yah.¹

Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh,

who greatly delights in his commandments.

²His descendants will be powerful on earth;

the descendants of the godly man will be blessed.

³Wealth and riches are in his house;

his righteousness will endure forever.

⁴Light shines in the darkness for the godly person;

he is gracious, merciful, and just.

⁵It goes well for the man who deals graciously and lends money,

who conducts his affairs with honesty.

⁶For he will never be moved;

the righteous person will be remembered forever.

⁷He does not fear bad news;

he is confident, trusting in Yahweh.

⁸His heart is tranquil, without fear,

until he looks in triumph over his adversaries.

⁹He gives freely to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever;

his horn will be exalted with honor.

¹⁰The wicked person will see this and be angry;

he will grind his teeth in rage and he will melt away;

the desire of the wicked people will perish.

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

113

¹Give praise to Yah.¹

Praise him, you servants of Yahweh;

praise the name of Yahweh.

²Blessed be the name of Yahweh,

both now and forevermore.

³From the rising of the sun to its setting,

Yahweh's name should be praised.

⁴Yahweh is exalted above all nations,

and his glory reaches above the skies.

⁵Who is like Yahweh our God,

who has his seat on high,

⁶who humbles himself to look down

at the sky and at the earth?

⁷He raises up the poor out of the dirt

and lifts up the needy from the ash heap,

⁸so that he may seat him with princes,

with the princes of his people.

⁹He gives a home to the barren woman of the house;

he makes her a joyful mother of children.

Give praise to Yah!²

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

²Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

114

¹When Israel left Egypt,

the house of Jacob from a people who spoke a foreign language,

²Judah became his holy place,

Israel his kingdom.

³The sea looked and fled;

the Jordan turned back.

⁴The mountains skipped like rams,

the hills skipped like lambs.

⁵Why did you flee, sea?

Jordan, why did you turn back?

⁶Mountains, why did you skip like rams?

You little hills, why did you skip like lambs?

⁷Tremble, earth, before the Lord,

at the presence of the God of Jacob.

⁸He turned the rock into a pool of water,

the hard rock into a spring of water.

115

¹Not to us, Yahweh, not to us,

but to your name bring honor,

for your covenant faithfulness

and for your trustworthiness.

²Why should the nations say,

"Where is their God?"

³Our God is in heaven;

he does whatever he pleases.

⁴The nations' idols are silver and gold,

the work of men's hands.

⁵Those idols have mouths, but they do not speak;

they have eyes, but they do not see;

⁶they have ears, but they do not hear;

they have noses, but they do not smell.

⁷Those idols have hands, but do not feel;

they have feet, but they cannot walk;

nor do they speak from their mouths.

⁸Those who make them are like them,

as is everyone who trusts in them.

⁹Israel, trust in Yahweh;

he is your help and shield.

¹⁰House of Aaron, trust in Yahweh;

he is your help and shield.

¹¹You who honor Yahweh, trust in him;

he is your help and shield.

¹²Yahweh takes notice of us and will bless us;

he will bless the family of Israel;

he will bless the family of Aaron.

¹³He will bless those who honor him,

both young and old.

¹⁴May Yahweh increase your numbers more and more,

yours and your descendants'.

¹⁵May you be blessed by Yahweh,

who made heaven and earth.

¹⁶The heavens belong to Yahweh;

but the earth he has given to mankind.

¹⁷The dead do not give praise to Yah,¹

nor do any who go down into silence;

¹⁸But we will give praise to Yah,

now and forevermore.

Give praise to Yah!²

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

²Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

116

¹I love Yahweh because he hears

my voice and my pleas for mercy.

²Because he listened to me,

I will call on him as long as I live.

³The cords of death surrounded me,

and the snares of Sheol confronted me;

I felt anguish and sorrow.

⁴Then I called on the name of Yahweh:

"I beg you, Yahweh, rescue my life."

⁵Yahweh is gracious and just;

our God is compassionate.

⁶Yahweh protects the naive;

I was brought low, and he saved me.

⁷My soul can return to its resting place,

for Yahweh has been good to me.

⁸For you rescued my life from death,

my eyes from tears,

and my feet from stumbling.

⁹I will serve Yahweh

in the land of the living.

¹⁰I believed in him, even when I said,

"I am greatly afflicted."

¹¹In my alarm I said,

"All men are liars."

¹²How can I repay Yahweh

for all his kindnesses to me?

¹³I will raise the cup of salvation,

and call on the name of Yahweh.

¹⁴I will fulfill my vows to Yahweh

in the presence of all his people.

¹⁵Precious in the sight of Yahweh

is the death of his faithful ones.

¹⁶Yahweh, indeed, I am your servant;

I am your servant, the son of your servant woman;

you have taken away my bonds.

¹⁷I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving

and will call on the name of Yahweh.

¹⁸I will fulfill my vows to Yahweh

in the presence of all his people,

¹⁹in the courts of the house of Yahweh,

in your midst, Jerusalem.

Give praise to Yah!¹

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

117

¹Praise Yahweh, all you nations;

exalt him, all you peoples.

²For his covenant faithfulness is great toward us,

and the trustworthiness of Yahweh endures forever.

Give praise to Yah!¹

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

118

¹Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good,

his covenant faithfulness endures forever.

²Let Israel say,

"His covenant faithfulness endures forever."

³Let the house of Aaron say,

"His covenant faithfulness endures forever."

⁴Let the loyal followers of Yahweh say,

"His covenant faithfulness endures forever."

⁵In my distress I called out to Yah;

Yah answered me and set me in a spacious place.¹

⁶Yahweh is with me; I will not be afraid;

what can man do to me?

⁷Yahweh is on my side as my helper;

I will look in triumph on those who hate me.

⁸It is better to take shelter in Yahweh

than to put confidence in man.

⁹It is better to take refuge in Yahweh

than to put one's trust in princes.

¹⁰All the nations surrounded me;

in Yahweh's name I cut them off.

¹¹They surrounded me; yes, they surrounded me;

in Yahweh's name I cut them off.

¹²They surrounded me like bees;

they disappeared as quickly as fire among thorns;

in Yahweh's name I cut them off.

¹³"You attacked me to knock me down,

but Yahweh helped me.

¹⁴Yah is my strength and joy,

and he is the one who rescues me."²

¹⁵The joyful shout of victory is heard in the tents of the righteous;

the right hand of Yahweh conquers.

¹⁶The right hand of Yahweh is exalted;

the right hand of Yahweh conquers.

¹⁷I will not die, but live

and declare what Yah has done.³

¹⁸Yah has punished me harshly,

but he has not handed me over to death.⁴

¹⁹Open to me the gates of righteousness;

I will enter them and I will give thanks to Yah.⁵

²⁰This is the gate of Yahweh;

the righteous enter through it.

²¹I will give thanks to you, for you answered me,

and you have become my salvation.

²²The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

²³This is Yahweh's doing;

it is marvelous in our eyes.

²⁴This is the day on which Yahweh has acted;

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

²⁵We beg you, Yahweh, please give us victory!

We beg you, Yahweh, please give us success!

²⁶Blessed is he who comes in the name of Yahweh;

we bless you from the house of Yahweh.

²⁷Yahweh is God, and he has given us light;

bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

²⁸You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;

you are my God; I will exalt you.

²⁹Oh, give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good,

for his covenant faithfulness endures forever.

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

²Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

³Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

⁴Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

⁵Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

119

ALEPH

¹Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,

who walk in the law of Yahweh.

²Blessed are they who keep his solemn commands,

who seek him with all their heart.

³They do no wrong;

they walk in his ways.

⁴You have commanded us to keep your instructions

so that we should carefully observe them.

⁵Oh, that I would be firmly established

in the observance of your statutes!

⁶Then I would not be put to shame

when I think of all your commandments.

⁷I will give thanks to you with an upright heart

when I learn your righteous decrees.

⁸I will observe your statutes;

do not leave me alone.

BETH

⁹How can a young person keep his path pure?

By obeying your word.

¹⁰With my whole heart I seek you;

Do not let me stray from your commandments.

¹¹I have stored up your word in my heart

so that I might not sin against you.

¹²Blessed you are, Yahweh;

teach me your statutes.

¹³With my mouth I have declared

all the righteous decrees that you have revealed.

¹⁴I rejoice in the way of your covenant decrees

more than in all riches.

¹⁵I will meditate on your instructions

and pay attention to your ways.

¹⁶I delight in your statutes;

I will not forget your word.

GIMEL

¹⁷Be kind to your servant so that I may live

and keep your word.

¹⁸Open my eyes so that I may see

marvelous things in your law.

¹⁹I am a foreigner in the land;

do not hide your commandments from me.

²⁰My desires are crushed by the longing to know

your righteous decrees at all times.

²¹You rebuke the proud, who are cursed,

who wander from your commandments.

²²Spare me from disgrace and contempt,

for I have obeyed your solemn commands.

²³Though rulers plot and slander me,

your servant meditates on your statutes.

²⁴Your solemn commands are my delight,

and they are my counselors.

DALETH

²⁵My life clings to the dust!

Give me life by your word.

²⁶I told you my ways, and you answered me;

teach me your statutes.

²⁷Make me understand the ways of your instructions,

so that I can meditate on your wondrous teachings.

²⁸I am overwhelmed with grief!

Strengthen me by your word.

²⁹Turn from me the path of deceit;

graciously teach me your law.

³⁰I have chosen the way of faithfulness;

I have always kept your righteous decrees before me.

³¹I cling to your covenant decrees;

Yahweh, do not let me be shamed.

³²I will run in the path of your commandments,

for you enlarge my heart to do so.

³³Teach me, Yahweh, the way of your statutes,

and I will keep them to the end.

³⁴Give me understanding, and I will keep your law;

I will observe it with all my heart.

³⁵Guide me in the path of your commandments,

for I delight to walk in it.

³⁶Direct my heart toward your covenant decrees

and away from unrighteous gain.

³⁷Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;

revive me in your ways.

³⁸Carry out for your servant the word

that you gave to those who revere you.

³⁹Take away the disgrace I dread,

for your judgments are good.

⁴⁰See, I have longed for your instructions;

revive me in your righteousness.

VAV

⁴¹Yahweh, give me your unfailing love—

your salvation, according to your word;

⁴²then I will have a reply for the one who mocks me,

for I trust in your word.

⁴³Do not take the word of truth from my mouth,

for my hope is in your righteous decrees.

⁴⁴I will observe your law continually,

forever and ever.

⁴⁵I will walk securely,

for I seek your instructions.

⁴⁶I will speak of your solemn commands before kings

and will not be ashamed.

⁴⁷I delight in your commandments,

which I love dearly.

⁴⁸I will lift up my hands to your commandments, which I love;

I will meditate on your statutes.

ZAYIN

⁴⁹Call to mind your word to your servant

because you have given me hope.

⁵⁰This is my comfort in my affliction:

that your word has kept me alive.

⁵¹The proud have scoffed at me,

yet I have not turned away from your law.

⁵²I have thought about your righteous decrees from ancient times, Yahweh,

and I comfort myself.

⁵³Hot anger has taken hold of me

because of the wicked who reject your law.

⁵⁴Your statutes have been my songs

in the house of my sojourn.

⁵⁵I think about your name during the night, Yahweh,

and I keep your law.

⁵⁶This has been my practice

because I have observed your instructions.

HETH

⁵⁷Yahweh is my portion;

I have determined to observe your words.

⁵⁸I earnestly request your favor with my whole heart;

be merciful to me according to your word.

⁵⁹I examined my ways

and turned my feet to your solemn commands.

⁶⁰I hurry and do not delay

to keep your commandments.

⁶¹The cords of the wicked have ensnared me;

I have not forgotten your law.

⁶²At midnight I rise to give thanks to you

because of your righteous decrees.

⁶³I am a companion of all who honor you,

to all who observe your instructions.

⁶⁴The earth, Yahweh, is full of your covenant faithfulness;

teach me your statutes.

TETH

⁶⁵You have done good to your servant,

Yahweh, by means of your word.

⁶⁶Teach me proper discernment and understanding,

for I have believed in your commandments.

⁶⁷Before I was afflicted I went astray,

but now I observe your word.

⁶⁸You are good, and you are one who does good;

teach me your statutes.

⁶⁹The arrogant have smeared me with lies,

but I keep your instructions with my whole heart.

⁷⁰Their hearts are hardened,

but I delight in your law.

⁷¹It is good for me that I have suffered

so that I would learn your statutes.

⁷²Instruction from your mouth is more precious to me

than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.

YOD

⁷³Your hands have made and fashioned me;

give me understanding so that I may learn your commandments.

⁷⁴Those who honor you will be glad when they see me

because I find hope in your word.

⁷⁵I know, Yahweh, that your decrees are just,

and that in faithfulness you afflicted me.

⁷⁶Let your covenant faithfulness comfort me,

according to your word to your servant.

⁷⁷Show me compassion so that I may live,

for your law is my delight.

⁷⁸Let the proud be put to shame,

for they have slandered me;

but I will meditate on your instructions.

⁷⁹May those who honor you turn to me,

those who know your solemn commands.

⁸⁰May my heart be blameless with respect to your statutes

so that I may not be put to shame.

KAPH

⁸¹I faint with longing that you might rescue me!

I hope in your word.

⁸²My eyes long for your word;

when will you comfort me?

⁸³For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke;

I do not forget your statutes.

⁸⁴How long must your servant endure this;

when will you judge those who persecute me?

⁸⁵The proud have dug pits for me,

defying your law.

⁸⁶All your commandments are reliable;

those people persecute me wrongfully; help me.

⁸⁷They have almost made an end to me on earth,

but I do not reject your instructions.

⁸⁸By your steadfast love, keep me alive,

so that I may obey the solemn commands that come from your mouth.

LAMEDH

⁸⁹Yahweh, your word stands forever;

your word is established firmly in heaven.

⁹⁰Your faithfulness lasts for all generations;

you have established the earth, and it remains.

⁹¹All things continue to this day, just as you said in your righteous decrees,

for all things are your servants.

⁹²If your law had not been my delight,

I would have perished in my affliction.

⁹³I will never forget your instructions,

for through them you have kept me alive.

⁹⁴I am yours; save me,

for I seek your instructions.

⁹⁵The wicked prepare to destroy me,

but I will seek to understand your solemn commands.

⁹⁶All perfection I have seen has an end;

but your command is exceedingly broad.

MEM

⁹⁷Oh how I love your law!

It is my meditation all day long.

⁹⁸Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,

for your commandments are always with me.

⁹⁹I have more understanding than all my teachers,

for I meditate on your covenant decrees.

¹⁰⁰I understand more than those older than I am;

this is because I have kept your instructions.

¹⁰¹I have kept my feet back from every evil path

so that I might observe your word.

¹⁰²I have not turned aside from your righteous decrees,

for you have instructed me.

¹⁰³How sweet are your words to my taste,

yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

¹⁰⁴Through your instructions I gain discernment;

therefore I hate every false way.

NUN

¹⁰⁵Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light for my path.

¹⁰⁶I have sworn and have confirmed it,

that I will observe your righteous decrees.

¹⁰⁷I am very afflicted;

keep me alive, Yahweh, as you have promised in your word.

¹⁰⁸Yahweh, please accept the freewill offerings of my mouth,

and teach me your righteous decrees.

¹⁰⁹My life is always in my hand,

yet I do not forget your law.

¹¹⁰The wicked have set a snare for me,

but I have not strayed from your instructions.

¹¹¹I claim your covenant decrees as my heritage forever,

for they are the joy of my heart.

¹¹²My heart is set on obeying your statutes

forever to the very end.

SAMEKH

¹¹³I hate those who have a double mind,

but I love your law.

¹¹⁴You are my hiding place and my shield;

I hope in your word.

¹¹⁵Get away from me, you evildoers,

so that I may observe the commandments of my God.

¹¹⁶Sustain me by your word so that I may live

and not be ashamed of my hope.

¹¹⁷Support me, and I will be safe;

I will always meditate on your statutes.

¹¹⁸You reject all those who stray from your statutes,

for their deceit is vain.

¹¹⁹You remove all the wicked of the earth like slag;

therefore I love your solemn commands.

¹²⁰My body trembles in fear of you,

and I am afraid of your righteous decrees.

AYIN

¹²¹I do what is just and right;

do not abandon me to my oppressors.

¹²²Guarantee the welfare of your servant;

do not let the proud oppress me.

¹²³My eyes grow tired as I wait for your salvation

and for your righteous word.

¹²⁴Show your servant your covenant faithfulness,

and teach me your statutes.

¹²⁵I am your servant; give me understanding

so that I may know your solemn commands.

¹²⁶It is time for Yahweh to act,

for people have broken your law.

¹²⁷Truly I love your commandments

more than gold, more than fine gold.

¹²⁸Therefore I carefully follow all your instructions,

and I hate every path of falsehood.

¹²⁹Your rules are wonderful,

that is why I obey them.

¹³⁰The unfolding of your words gives light;

it gives understanding to the untrained.

¹³¹I open my mouth and pant,

for I long for your commandments.

¹³²Turn to me and have mercy on me,

as you always do for those who love your name.

¹³³Direct my footsteps by your word;

do not let any wickedness rule me.

¹³⁴Redeem me from human oppression

so that I may observe your instructions.

¹³⁵Let your face shine on your servant,

and teach me your statutes.

¹³⁶Streams of tears run down from my eyes

because people do not observe your law.

TSADHE

¹³⁷You are righteous, Yahweh,

and your decrees are fair.

¹³⁸You have given your solemn commands righteously

and faithfully.

¹³⁹Zeal has destroyed me

because my adversaries forget your words.

¹⁴⁰Your word has been tested very much,

and your servant loves it.

¹⁴¹I am insignificant and despised,

yet I do not forget your instructions.

¹⁴²Your justice is forever justice,

and your law is trustworthy.

¹⁴³Though distress and anguish have found me,

your commandments are still my delight.

¹⁴⁴Your covenant decrees are righteous forever;

give me understanding that I may live.

QOPH

¹⁴⁵I cried out with my whole heart, "Answer me, Yahweh,

I will keep your statutes.

¹⁴⁶I call to you; save me,

and I will observe your solemn commands."

¹⁴⁷I rise before the dawn of the morning and cry for help.

I hope in your words.

¹⁴⁸My eyes are open before the night watches change

so that I might meditate on your word.

¹⁴⁹Hear my voice in your covenant faithfulness;

keep me alive, Yahweh, as you have promised in your righteous decrees.

¹⁵⁰Those who are persecuting me are coming closer to me,

but they are far from your law.

¹⁵¹You are near, Yahweh,

and all your commandments are trustworthy.

¹⁵²Long ago I learned from your solemn commands

that you had set them in place forever.

RESH

¹⁵³Look on my affliction and help me,

for I do not forget your law.

¹⁵⁴Plead my cause and redeem me;

keep me alive according to your word.

¹⁵⁵Salvation is far from the wicked,

for they do not love your statutes.

¹⁵⁶Great are your merciful actions, Yahweh;

keep me alive, as you always do.

¹⁵⁷My persecutors and my foes are many,

yet I have not turned from your covenant decrees.

¹⁵⁸I view the treacherous with disgust

because they do not keep your word.

¹⁵⁹See how I love your instructions;

keep me alive, Yahweh, as you have promised by your covenant faithfulness.

¹⁶⁰The essence of your word is truth;

every one of your righteous decrees lasts forever.

SHIN

¹⁶¹Princes persecute me without cause,

but my heart stands in awe of your word.

¹⁶²I rejoice at your word

like one who finds great plunder.

¹⁶³I hate and abhor falsehood,

but I love your law.

¹⁶⁴Seven times a day I praise you

because of your righteous decrees.

¹⁶⁵Great peace they have, those who love your law;

nothing makes them stumble.

¹⁶⁶I hope for your salvation, Yahweh,

and I obey your commandments.

¹⁶⁷I observe your solemn commands,

and I love them greatly.

¹⁶⁸I keep your instructions and your solemn commands,

for you are aware of everything I do.

TAV

¹⁶⁹Listen to my cry for help, Yahweh;

give me understanding into your word.

¹⁷⁰May my plea come before you;

help me according to your word.

¹⁷¹May my lips pour out praise,

for you teach me your statutes.

¹⁷²Let my tongue sing about your word,

for all your commandments are right.

¹⁷³May your hand help me,

for I have chosen your instructions.

¹⁷⁴I long for your rescue, Yahweh,

and your law is my delight.

¹⁷⁵May I live and praise you,

and may your righteous decrees help me.

¹⁷⁶I have wandered off like a lost sheep;

seek your servant,

for I have not forgotten your commandments.

120

A song of ascents.

¹In my distress I called out to Yahweh,

and he answered me.

²Rescue my life, Yahweh,

from those who lie with their lips

and deceive with their tongues.

³How will he punish you,

and what more will he do to you,

you who have a lying tongue?

⁴He will punish you with the arrows of a warrior

sharpened over burning coals of the broom tree.

⁵Woe is me because I temporarily live in Meshech;

I lived previously among the tents of Kedar.

⁶For too long I have lived

with those who hate peace.

⁷I am for peace,

but when I speak, they are for war.

121

A song of ascents.

¹I will lift up my eyes to the mountains.

From where will my help come?

²My help comes from Yahweh,

who made heaven and earth.

³He will not allow your foot to slip;

he who protects you will not slumber.

⁴See, the guardian of Israel

never slumbers or sleeps.

⁵Yahweh is your guardian;

Yahweh is the shade at your right hand.

⁶The sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

⁷Yahweh will protect you from all harm,

and he will protect your life.

⁸Yahweh will protect you in all you do

now and forevermore.

122

A song of ascents, of David.

¹I was glad when they said to me,

"Let us go to the house of Yahweh."

²Jerusalem, our feet are standing

within your gates!

³Jerusalem, built

as a city carefully planned!

⁴The tribes go up to Jerusalem—the tribes of Yah—¹

as a testimony for Israel,

to give thanks to the name of Yahweh.

⁵There thrones of judgment were set,

thrones of the house of David.

⁶Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

"May those who love you be at ease.

⁷May there be peace within the walls that defend you,

and may they have peace within your fortresses."

⁸For the sake of my brothers and my friends

I will say, "May there be peace within you."

⁹For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God,

I will seek good for you.

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

123

A song of ascents.

¹To you I lift up my eyes,

you who are enthroned in the heavens.

²See, as the eyes of servants look to their master's hand,

as the eyes of a servant girl look to the hand of her mistress,

so our eyes look to Yahweh our God

until he has mercy on us.

³Have mercy on us, Yahweh, have mercy on us,

for we are filled with humiliation.

⁴We are more than full

of the scoffing of the insolent

and with the contempt of the proud.

124

A song of ascents. Of David.

¹"If Yahweh had not been on our side,"

let Israel say now,

²"if it had not been Yahweh who was on our side

when men rose up against us,

³then they would have swallowed us up alive

when their anger raged against us.

⁴The water would have swept us away;

the torrent would have overwhelmed us.

⁵Then the raging waters would have drowned us."

⁶Blessed be Yahweh,

who has not allowed us to be torn by their teeth.

⁷We have escaped like a bird

out of the snare of the fowlers;

the snare has been broken,

and we have escaped.

⁸Our help is in the name of Yahweh,

who made heaven and earth.

125

A song of ascents.

¹Those who trust in Yahweh

are like Mount Zion, unshakable, forever enduring.

²As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so Yahweh surrounds his people

now and forever.

³The scepter of wickedness must not rule

in the assigned portion of the righteous.

Otherwise the righteous might do what is wrong.

⁴Do good, Yahweh, to those who are good

and to those who are upright in their hearts.

⁵But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways,

Yahweh will lead them away with the those who behave wickedly.

May peace be on Israel.

126

A song of ascents.

¹When Yahweh reversed the captivity of Zion,

we were like those who dream.

²Then our mouths were filled with laughter

and our tongues with joyful shouting.

Then they said among the nations,

"Yahweh has done great things for them."

³Yahweh did great things for us;

how glad we were!

⁴Reverse our captivity, Yahweh,

like the streams in the Negev.

⁵Those who sow in tears

will reap with shouts of joy.

⁶He who goes out weeping,

carrying seed for sowing,

will return again with shouts of joy,

bringing his bundles of grain with him.

127

A song of ascents, of Solomon.

¹Unless Yahweh builds the house,

they work uselessly, those who build it.

Unless Yahweh guards the city,

the watchman stands guard uselessly.

²It is useless for you to rise up early,

to come home late,

or to eat the bread of hard work,

for Yahweh provides for his beloved as they sleep.

³See, children are a heritage from Yahweh,

and the fruit of the womb is a reward from him.

⁴Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

so are the children of one's youth.

⁵How blessed is the man

that has his quiver full of them.

He will not be put to shame

when he confronts his enemies in the gate.

128

A song of ascents.

¹Blessed is everyone who honors Yahweh,

who walks in his ways.

²The labor of your hands you will enjoy;

you will be blessed and prosper.

³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine

in your house;

your children will be like olive plants

as they sit around your table.

⁴Yes, indeed, the man will be blessed

who honors Yahweh.

⁵May Yahweh bless you from Zion;

may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem

all the days of your life.

⁶May you live to see your children's children.

May peace be on Israel.

129

A song of ascents.

¹"Often since my youth they have attacked me,"

let Israel say.

²"Often since my youth they have attacked me,

yet they have not defeated me.

³The plowers plowed on my back;

they made their furrows long.

⁴Yahweh is righteous;

he has cut off the ropes of the wicked."

⁵May they all be put to shame and turned back,

those who hate Zion.

⁶May they be like the grass on the housetops

that withers before it grows up,

⁷that cannot fill the reaper's hand

or the chest of the one who binds bundles of grain together.

⁸May those who pass by not say,

"May the blessing of Yahweh be on you;

we bless you in the name of Yahweh."

130

A song of ascents.

¹Out of the depths I cry to you, Yahweh.

²Lord, hear my voice;

let your ears be attentive

to my pleas for mercy.

³If you, Yah, would mark iniquities,

Lord, who could stand?¹

⁴But there is forgiveness with you,

that you may be revered.

⁵I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits,

and in his word I hope.

⁶My soul waits for the Lord

more than watchmen wait for the morning.

⁷Israel, hope in Yahweh.

Yahweh is merciful,

and with him is great redemption.

⁸It is he who will redeem Israel

from all his iniquities.

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

131

A song of ascents; of David.

¹Yahweh, my heart is not proud

or my eyes haughty.

I do not have great hopes for myself

or concern myself with things that are beyond me.

²Indeed I have stilled and quieted my soul;

like a weaned child with his mother,

my soul within me is like a weaned child.

³Israel, hope in Yahweh

now and forever.

132

A song of ascents.

¹Yahweh, for David's sake call to mind

all his afflictions.

²Call to mind how he swore to Yahweh,

how he vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob.

³He said, "I will not enter the tent of my house

or get on the couch of my bed,

⁴I will not give sleep to my eyes

or rest to my eyelids

⁵until I find a place for Yahweh,

a tabernacle for the Mighty One of Jacob."

⁶See, we heard about it in Ephrathah;

we found it in the fields of Jaar.

⁷We will go into God's tabernacle;

we will worship at his footstool.

⁸Arise, Yahweh, to your resting place,

you and the ark of your strength!

⁹May your priests be clothed with integrity;

may your faithful ones shout for joy.

¹⁰For your servant David's sake,

do not turn away from your anointed king.

¹¹Yahweh swore a sure oath to David,

a sure oath that he will not revoke:

"I will place one of your descendants on your throne.

¹²If your sons keep my covenant

and the solemn commands that I will teach them,

their children also will sit on your throne forevermore."

¹³Certainly Yahweh has chosen Zion,

he has desired her for his seat.

¹⁴"This is my resting place forever.

I will live here, for I desire her.

¹⁵I will abundantly bless her with provisions.

I will satisfy her poor with bread.

¹⁶I will clothe her priests with salvation,

her faithful ones will shout aloud for joy.

¹⁷There I will make a horn to sprout for David

and set up a lamp for my anointed one.

¹⁸I will clothe his enemies with shame,

but on him his crown will shine."

133

A song of ascents. Of David.

¹Behold, how good and how pleasant it is

for brothers to live together!

²It is like fine oil on the head

pouring down on the beard—

Aaron's beard,

and then it pours down on the collar of his robes.

³It is like the dew of Hermon

which falls on the mountains of Zion.

For there Yahweh commanded the blessing—

life forevermore.

134

A song of ascents.

¹Come, bless Yahweh, all you servants of Yahweh,

you who serve during the night in the house of Yahweh.

²Lift up your hands to the holy place

and bless Yahweh.

³May Yahweh bless you from Zion,

he who made heaven and earth.

135

¹Give praise to Yah!¹

Praise the name of Yahweh.

Praise him, you servants of Yahweh,

²you who stand in the house of Yahweh,

in the courtyards of the house of our God.

³Give praise to Yah, for he is good;²

sing praises to his name, for it is pleasant to do so.

⁴For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself,³

Israel as his own possession.

⁵I know that Yahweh is great,

that our Lord is above all gods.

⁶Whatever Yahweh desires, he does

in heaven, on earth,

in the seas and all the ocean depths.

⁷He brings the clouds from far away,

making lightning bolts accompany the rain

and bringing the wind out of his storehouse.

⁸He killed the firstborn of Egypt,

both of man and animals.

⁹He sent signs and wonders into your midst, Egypt,

against Pharaoh and all his servants.

¹⁰He attacked many nations

and killed mighty kings,

¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites

and Og king of Bashan

and all the kingdoms of Canaan.

¹²He gave us their land as an inheritance,

an inheritance to Israel his people.

¹³Your name, Yahweh, endures forever;

your renown, Yahweh, endures throughout all generations.

¹⁴For Yahweh defends his people

and has compassion on his servants.

¹⁵The nations' idols are silver and gold,

the work of men's hands.

¹⁶Those idols have mouths, but they do not speak;

they have eyes, but they do not see;

¹⁷they have ears, but they do not give ear,

nor is there breath in their mouths.

¹⁸Those who make them are like them,

as is everyone who trusts in them.

¹⁹Descendants of Israel, bless Yahweh;

descendants of Aaron, bless Yahweh.

²⁰Descendants of Levi, bless Yahweh;

you who honor Yahweh, bless Yahweh.

²¹Blessed be Yahweh in Zion,

he who lives in Jerusalem.

Give praise to Yah.⁴

¹Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

²Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

³Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

⁴Yah is a short form of the name Yahweh.

136

¹Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good.