A prayer of David.

¹Hear me, Lord, my plea is just;

listen to my cry.

Hear my prayer –

it does not rise from deceitful lips.

²Let my vindication come from you;

may your eyes see what is right.

³Though you probe my heart,

though you examine me at night and test me,

you will find that I have planned no evil;

my mouth has not transgressed.

⁴Though people tried to bribe me,

I have kept myself from the ways of the violent

through what your lips have commanded.

⁵My steps have held to your paths;

my feet have not stumbled.

⁶I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;

turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.

⁷Show me the wonders of your great love,

you who save by your right hand

those who take refuge in you from their foes.

⁸Keep me as the apple of your eye;

hide me in the shadow of your wings

⁹from the wicked who are out to destroy me,

from my mortal enemies who surround me.

¹⁰They close up their callous hearts,

and their mouths speak with arrogance.

¹¹They have tracked me down, they now surround me,

with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground.

¹²They are like a lion hungry for prey,

like a fierce lion crouching in cover.

¹³Rise up, Lord, confront them, bring them down;

with your sword rescue me from the wicked.

¹⁴By your hand save me from such people, Lord,

from those of this world whose reward is in this life.

May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies;

may their children gorge themselves on it,

and may there be leftovers for their little ones.

¹⁵As for me, I shall be vindicated and shall see your face;

when I awake, I shall be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

¹Keep me safe, my God,

for in you I take refuge.

²I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord;

apart from you I have no good thing.’

³I say of the holy people who are in the land,

‘They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.’

⁴Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.

I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods

or take up their names on my lips.

⁵ Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;

you make my lot secure.

⁶The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

surely I have a delightful inheritance.

⁷I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;

even at night my heart instructs me.

⁸I keep my eyes always on the Lord.

With him at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest secure,

¹⁰because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

¹¹You make known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

¹The fool says in his heart,

‘There is no God.’

They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;

there is no-one who does good.

²The Lord looks down from heaven

on all mankind

to see if there are any who understand,

any who seek God.

³All have turned away, all have become corrupt;

there is no-one who does good,

not even one.

⁴Do all these evildoers know nothing?

They devour my people as though eating bread;

they never call on the Lord.

⁵But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,

for God is present in the company of the righteous.

⁶You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,

but the Lord is their refuge.

⁷Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

When the Lord restores his people,

let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

¹In the Lord I take refuge.

How then can you say to me:

‘Flee like a bird to your mountain.

²For look, the wicked bend their bows;

they set their arrows against the strings

to shoot from the shadows

at the upright in heart.

³When the foundations are being destroyed,

what can the righteous do?’

⁴The Lord is in his holy temple;

the Lord is on his heavenly throne.

He observes everyone on earth;

his eyes examine them.

⁵The Lord examines the righteous,

but the wicked, those who love violence,

he hates with a passion.

⁶On the wicked he will rain

fiery coals and burning sulphur;

a scorching wind will be their lot.

⁷For the Lord is righteous,

he loves justice;

the upright will see his face.

¹I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

²I will be glad and rejoice in you;

I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

³My enemies turn back;

they stumble and perish before you.

⁴For you have upheld my right and my cause,

sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.

⁵You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;

you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.

⁶Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,

you have uprooted their cities;

even the memory of them has perished.

⁷The Lord reigns for ever;

he has established his throne for judgment.

⁸He rules the world in righteousness

and judges the peoples with equity.

⁹The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know your name trust in you,

for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion;

proclaim among the nations what he has done.

¹²For he who avenges blood remembers;

he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.

¹³ Lord, see how my enemies persecute me!

Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴that I may declare your praises

in the gates of Daughter Zion,

and there rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;

their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

¹⁶The Lord is known by his acts of justice;

the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.

¹⁷The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,

all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸But God will never forget the needy;

the hope of the afflicted will never perish.

¹⁹Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph;

let the nations be judged in your presence.

²⁰Strike them with terror, Lord;

let the nations know they are only mortal.

A shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.

¹ Lord my God, I take refuge in you;

save and deliver me from all who pursue me,

²or they will tear me apart like a lion

and rip me to pieces with no-one to rescue me.

³ Lord my God, if I have done this

and there is guilt on my hands –

⁴if I have repaid my ally with evil

or without cause have robbed my foe –

⁵then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;

let him trample my life to the ground

and make me sleep in the dust.

⁶Arise, Lord, in your anger;

rise up against the rage of my enemies.

Awake, my God; decree justice.

⁷Let the assembled peoples gather round you,

while you sit enthroned over them on high.

⁸Let the Lord judge the peoples.

Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness,

according to my integrity, O Most High.

⁹Bring to an end the violence of the wicked

and make the righteous secure –

you, the righteous God

who probes minds and hearts.

¹⁰My shield is God Most High,

who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹God is a righteous judge,

a God who displays his wrath every day.

¹²If he does not relent,

he will sharpen his sword;

he will bend and string his bow.

¹³He has prepared his deadly weapons;

he makes ready his flaming arrows.

¹⁴Whoever is pregnant with evil

conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.

¹⁵Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out

falls into the pit they have made.

¹⁶The trouble they cause recoils on them;

their violence comes down on their own heads.

¹⁷I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness;

I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.

¹Why do the nations conspire

and the peoples plot in vain?

²The kings of the earth rise up

and the rulers band together

against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,

³‘Let us break their chains

and throw off their shackles.’

⁴The One enthroned in heaven laughs;

the Lord scoffs at them.

⁵He rebukes them in his anger

and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,

⁶‘I have installed my king

on Zion, my holy mountain.’

⁷I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:

He said to me, ‘You are my son;

today I have become your father.

⁸Ask me,

and I will make the nations your inheritance,

the ends of the earth your possession.

⁹You will break them with a rod of iron;

you will dash them to pieces like pottery.’

¹⁰Therefore, you kings, be wise;

be warned, you rulers of the earth.

¹¹Serve the Lord with fear

and celebrate his rule with trembling.

¹²Kiss his son, or he will be angry

and your way will lead to your destruction,

for his wrath can flare up in a moment.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

¹An unfriendly person pursues selfish ends

and against all sound judgment starts quarrels.

²Fools find no pleasure in understanding

but delight in airing their own opinions.

³When wickedness comes, so does contempt,

and with shame comes reproach.

⁴The words of the mouth are deep waters,

but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream.

⁵It is not good to be partial to the wicked

and so deprive the innocent of justice.

⁶The lips of fools bring them strife,

and their mouths invite a beating.

⁷The mouths of fools are their undoing,

and their lips are a snare to their very lives.

⁸The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;

they go down to the inmost parts.

⁹One who is slack in his work

is brother to one who destroys.

¹⁰The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;

the righteous run to it and are safe.

¹¹The wealth of the rich is their fortified city;

they imagine it a wall too high to scale.

¹²Before a downfall the heart is haughty,

but humility comes before honour.

¹³To answer before listening –

that is folly and shame.

¹⁴The human spirit can endure in times of illness,

but a crushed spirit who can bear?

¹⁵The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge,

for the ears of the wise seek it out.

¹⁶A gift opens the way

and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.

¹⁷In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right,

until someone comes forward and cross-examines.

¹⁸Casting the lot settles disputes

and keeps strong opponents apart.

¹⁹A brother wronged is more unyielding than a fortified city;

disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel.

²⁰From the fruit of their mouth a person’s stomach is filled;

with the harvest of their lips they are satisfied.

²¹The tongue has the power of life and death,

and those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²He who finds a wife finds what is good

and receives favour from the Lord.

²³The poor plead for mercy,

but the rich answer harshly.

²⁴One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,

but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.