¹ O Lord, oppose those who oppose me.
    Fight those who fight against me.
² Put on your armor, and take up your shield.
    Prepare for battle, and come to my aid.
³ Lift up your spear and javelin
    against those who pursue me.
Let me hear you say,
    “I will give you victory!”
⁴ Bring shame and disgrace on those trying to kill me;
    turn them back and humiliate those who want to harm me.
⁵ Blow them away like chaff in the wind—
    a wind sent by the angel of the Lord.
⁶ Make their path dark and slippery,
    with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
⁷ I did them no wrong, but they laid a trap for me.
    I did them no wrong, but they dug a pit to catch me.
⁸ So let sudden ruin come upon them!
    Let them be caught in the trap they set for me!
    Let them be destroyed in the pit they dug for me.

⁹ Then I will rejoice in the Lord.
    I will be glad because he rescues me.
¹⁰ With every bone in my body I will praise him:
    “Lord, who can compare with you?
Who else rescues the helpless from the strong?
    Who else protects the helpless and poor from those who rob them?”

¹¹ Malicious witnesses testify against me.
    They accuse me of crimes I know nothing about.
¹² They repay me evil for good.
    I am sick with despair.
¹³ Yet when they were ill, I grieved for them.
    I denied myself by fasting for them,
    but my prayers returned unanswered.
¹⁴ I was sad, as though they were my friends or family,
    as if I were grieving for my own mother.
¹⁵ But they are glad now that I am in trouble;
    they gleefully join together against me.
I am attacked by people I don’t even know;
    they slander me constantly.
¹⁶ They mock me and call me names;
    they snarl at me.

¹⁷ How long, O Lord, will you look on and do nothing?
    Rescue me from their fierce attacks.
    Protect my life from these lions!
¹⁸ Then I will thank you in front of the great assembly.
    I will praise you before all the people.
¹⁹ Don’t let my treacherous enemies rejoice over my defeat.
    Don’t let those who hate me without cause gloat over my sorrow.
²⁰ They don’t talk of peace;
    they plot against innocent people who mind their own business.
²¹ They shout, “Aha! Aha!
    With our own eyes we saw him do it!”

²² O Lord, you know all about this.
    Do not stay silent.
    Do not abandon me now, O Lord.
²³ Wake up! Rise to my defense!
    Take up my case, my God and my Lord.
²⁴ Declare me not guilty, O Lord my God, for you give justice.
    Don’t let my enemies laugh about me in my troubles.
²⁵ Don’t let them say, “Look, we got what we wanted!
    Now we will eat him alive!”

²⁶ May those who rejoice at my troubles
    be humiliated and disgraced.
May those who triumph over me
    be covered with shame and dishonor.
²⁷ But give great joy to those who came to my defense.
    Let them continually say, “Great is the Lord,
    who delights in blessing his servant with peace!”
²⁸ Then I will proclaim your justice,
    and I will praise you all day long.

¹ Come, everyone! Clap your hands!
    Shout to God with joyful praise!
² For the Lord Most High is awesome.
    He is the great King of all the earth.
³ He subdues the nations before us,
    putting our enemies beneath our feet.
⁴ He chose the Promised Land as our inheritance,
    the proud possession of Jacob’s descendants, whom he loves. Interlude

⁵ God has ascended with a mighty shout.
    The Lord has ascended with trumpets blaring.
⁶ Sing praises to God, sing praises;
    sing praises to our King, sing praises!
⁷ For God is the King over all the earth.
    Praise him with a psalm.^[a]
8 God reigns above the nations,
    sitting on his holy throne.
⁹ The rulers of the world have gathered together
    with the people of the God of Abraham.
For all the kings of the earth belong to God.
    He is highly honored everywhere.

¹ O God, do not be silent!
    Do not be deaf.
    Do not be quiet, O God.
² Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies?
    Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up?
³ They devise crafty schemes against your people;
    they conspire against your precious ones.
⁴ “Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation.
    We will destroy the very memory of its existence.”
⁵ Yes, this was their unanimous decision.
    They signed a treaty as allies against you—
⁶ these Edomites and Ishmaelites;
    Moabites and Hagrites;
⁷ Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites;
    and people from Philistia and Tyre.
⁸ Assyria has joined them, too,
    and is allied with the descendants of Lot. Interlude

⁹ Do to them as you did to the Midianites
    and as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
¹⁰ They were destroyed at Endor,
    and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil.
¹¹ Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did.
    Let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna,
¹² for they said, “Let us seize for our own use
    these pasturelands of God!”
¹³ O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed,
    like chaff before the wind!
¹⁴ As a fire burns a forest
    and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
¹⁵ chase them with your fierce storm;
    terrify them with your tempest.
¹⁶ Utterly disgrace them
    until they submit to your name, O Lord.
¹⁷ Let them be ashamed and terrified forever.
    Let them die in disgrace.
¹⁸ Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord,
    that you alone are the Most High,
    supreme over all the earth.

¹⁵ The Lord cares deeply
    when his loved ones die.
¹⁶ O Lord, I am your servant;
    yes, I am your servant, born into your household;
    you have freed me from my chains.
¹⁷ I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
    and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
    in the presence of all his people—
¹⁹ in the house of the Lord
    in the heart of Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

¹ What if the Lord had not been on our side?
    Let all Israel repeat:
² What if the Lord had not been on our side
    when people attacked us?
³ They would have swallowed us alive
    in their burning anger.
⁴ The waters would have engulfed us;
    a torrent would have overwhelmed us.
⁵ Yes, the raging waters of their fury
    would have overwhelmed our very lives.

⁶ Praise the Lord,
    who did not let their teeth tear us apart!
⁷ We escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap.
    The trap is broken, and we are free!
⁸ Our help is from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.