Psalm 6-8

Good News Translation

⁴ Come and save me, Lord;
    in your mercy rescue me from death.
⁵ In the world of the dead you are not remembered;
    no one can praise you there.

⁶ I am worn out with grief;
    every night my bed is damp from my weeping;
    my pillow is soaked with tears.
⁷ I can hardly see;
    my eyes are so swollen
    from the weeping caused by my enemies.

^8 (B)Keep away from me, you evil people!
The Lord hears my weeping;
⁹     he listens to my cry for help
    and will answer my prayer.
¹⁰ My enemies will know the bitter shame of defeat;
    in sudden confusion they will be driven away.

^3-4 O Lord, my God, if I have wronged anyone,
    if I have betrayed a friend
    or without cause done violence to my enemy^[c]—
    if I have done any of these things—
⁵ then let my enemies pursue me and catch me,
    let them cut me down and kill me
    and leave me lifeless on the ground!

⁶ Rise in your anger, O Lord!
    Stand up against the fury of my enemies;
    rouse yourself and help me!
Justice is what you demand,
⁷     so bring together all the peoples around you,
    and rule over them from above.^[d]
8 You are the judge of all people.
    Judge in my favor, O Lord;
    you know that I am innocent.
^9 (C)You are a righteous God
    and judge our thoughts and desires.
Stop the wickedness of evildoers
    and reward those who are good.

¹⁰ God is my protector;
    he saves those who obey him.
¹¹ God is a righteous judge
    and always condemns the wicked.
¹² If they do not change their ways,
    God will sharpen his sword.
He bends his bow and makes it ready;
¹³     he takes up his deadly weapons
    and aims his burning arrows.

¹⁴ See how wicked people think up evil;
    they plan trouble and practice deception.
¹⁵ But in the traps they set for others,
    they themselves get caught.
¹⁶ So they are punished by their own evil
    and are hurt by their own violence.

¹⁷ I thank the Lord for his justice;
    I sing praises to the Lord, the Most High.

³ When I look at the sky, which you have made,
    at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places—
^4 (E)what are human beings, that you think of them;
    mere mortals, that you care for them?

^5 (F)Yet you made them inferior only to yourself;^[f]
    you crowned them with glory and honor.
^6 (G)You appointed them rulers over everything you made;
    you placed them over all creation:
⁷     sheep and cattle, and the wild animals too;
⁸     the birds and the fish
    and the creatures in the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord,
    your greatness is seen in all the world!