Psalm 1-9
English Standard Version
Book One
The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked
1 Blessed is the man[a]
who (A)walks not in (B)the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in (C)the way of sinners,
nor (D)sits in (E)the seat of (F)scoffers;
2 but his (G)delight is in the law[b] of the Lord,
and on his (H)law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like (I)a tree
planted by (J)streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its (K)leaf does not wither.
(L)In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like (M)chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked (N)will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in (O)the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord (P)knows (Q)the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
The Reign of the Lord's Anointed
2 (R)Why do (S)the nations rage[c]
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his (T)Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us (U)burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who (V)sits in the heavens (W)laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his (X)wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have (Y)set my King
on (Z)Zion, my (AA)holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, (AB)“You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and (AC)the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall (AD)break[d] them with (AE)a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like (AF)a potter's vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 (AG)Serve the Lord with (AH)fear,
and (AI)rejoice with (AJ)trembling.
12 (AK)Kiss (AL)the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his (AM)wrath is quickly kindled.
(AN)Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Save Me, O My God
A Psalm of David, (AO)when he fled from Absalom his son.
3 O Lord, (AP)how many are my foes!
Many are (AQ)rising against me;
2 many are saying of my soul,
(AR)“There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah[e]
3 But you, O Lord, are (AS)a shield (AT)about me,
my glory, and (AU)the lifter of my head.
4 I (AV)cried aloud to the Lord,
and he (AW)answered me from his (AX)holy hill. Selah
5 I (AY)lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
6 I (AZ)will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have (BA)set themselves against me all around.
7 (BB)Arise, O Lord!
Save me, O my God!
For you (BC)strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you (BD)break the teeth of the wicked.
8 (BE)Salvation belongs to the Lord;
your blessing be on your people! Selah
Answer Me When I Call
To the (BF)choirmaster: with (BG)stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
4 Answer me when I call, O God of my (BH)righteousness!
You have (BI)given me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
2 O men,[f] how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after (BJ)lies? Selah
3 But know that the Lord has (BK)set apart (BL)the godly for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
4 (BM)Be angry,[g] and do not sin;
(BN)ponder in your own hearts (BO)on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer (BP)right sacrifices,
and put your (BQ)trust in the Lord.
6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
(BR)Lift up (BS)the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
7 You have put (BT)more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.
Lead Me in Your Righteousness
To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.
5 Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my (BW)groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my (BX)King and my God,
for (BY)to you do I pray.
3 O Lord, in (BZ)the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you[h] and (CA)watch.
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
5 The (CB)boastful shall not (CC)stand before your eyes;
you (CD)hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak (CE)lies;
the Lord abhors (CF)the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will (CG)bow down (CH)toward your (CI)holy temple
in the fear of you.
8 (CJ)Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
(CK)make your way straight before me.
9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is (CL)destruction;
(CM)their throat is (CN)an open grave;
they (CO)flatter with their tongue.
10 (CP)Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them (CQ)fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who (CR)take refuge in you (CS)rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may (CT)exult in you.
12 For you (CU)bless the righteous, O Lord;
you (CV)cover him with favor as with (CW)a shield.
O Lord, Deliver My Life
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to (CX)The Sheminith.[i] A Psalm of David.
6 O Lord, (CY)rebuke me not in your anger,
nor (CZ)discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
(DA)heal me, O Lord, (DB)for my bones are troubled.
3 My (DC)soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord—(DD)how long?
4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5 For in (DE)death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?
6 I am (DF)weary with my (DG)moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
7 My (DH)eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.
8 (DI)Depart from me, all you (DJ)workers of evil,
for the Lord (DK)has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my (DL)plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall (DM)turn back and be put to shame in a moment.
In You Do I Take Refuge
A (DN)Shiggaion[j] of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.
7 O Lord my God, in you do I (DO)take refuge;
(DP)save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
2 lest like (DQ)a lion they tear my soul apart,
rending it in pieces, with (DR)none to deliver.
3 O Lord my God, (DS)if I have done this,
if there is (DT)wrong in my hands,
4 if I have repaid (DU)my friend[k] with evil
or (DV)plundered my enemy without cause,
5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
and let him (DW)trample my life to the ground
and lay my glory in the dust. Selah
6 (DX)Arise, O Lord, in your anger;
(DY)lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
(DZ)awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
over it return on high.
8 The Lord (EA)judges the peoples;
(EB)judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who (EC)test (ED)the minds and hearts,[l]
O righteous God!
10 My shield is (EE)with God,
who saves (EF)the upright in heart.
11 God is (EG)a righteous judge,
and a God who feels (EH)indignation every day.
12 If a man[m] does not repent, God[n] will (EI)whet his sword;
he has (EJ)bent and (EK)readied his bow;
13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
making his (EL)arrows (EM)fiery shafts.
14 Behold, the wicked man (EN)conceives evil
and is (EO)pregnant with mischief
and gives birth to lies.
15 He makes (EP)a pit, digging it out,
and falls into the hole that he has made.
16 His (EQ)mischief returns upon his own head,
and on his own skull his violence descends.
17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and I will (ER)sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
How Majestic Is Your Name
To the choirmaster: according to The (ES)Gittith.[o] A Psalm of David.
8 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your (ET)name in all the earth!
You have set your (EU)glory above the heavens.
2 (EV)Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established (EW)strength because of your foes,
to still (EX)the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I (EY)look at your heavens, the work of your (EZ)fingers,
the moon and the stars, (FA)which you have set in place,
4 (FB)what is man that you are (FC)mindful of him,
and (FD)the son of man that you (FE)care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than (FF)the heavenly beings[p]
and crowned him with (FG)glory and honor.
6 You have given him (FH)dominion over the works of your hands;
(FI)you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
I Will Recount Your Wonderful Deeds
[q] To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben.[r] A Psalm of David.
9 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your (FJ)wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and (FK)exult in you;
I will (FL)sing praise to your name, (FM)O Most High.
3 When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish before[s] your presence.
4 For you have (FN)maintained my just cause;
you have (FO)sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.
5 You have (FP)rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
you have (FQ)blotted out their name forever and ever.
6 The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
their cities you rooted out;
the very memory of them has perished.
7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for justice,
8 and he (FR)judges the world with righteousness;
he (FS)judges the peoples with uprightness.
9 The Lord is (FT)a stronghold for (FU)the oppressed,
a stronghold in (FV)times of trouble.
10 And those who (FW)know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
11 Sing praises to the Lord, who (FX)sits enthroned in Zion!
Tell among the peoples his (FY)deeds!
12 For he who (FZ)avenges blood is mindful of them;
he (GA)does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
13 (GB)Be gracious to me, O Lord!
See my affliction from those who hate me,
O you who lift me up from (GC)the gates of death,
14 that I may recount all your praises,
that in the gates of (GD)the daughter of Zion
I may (GE)rejoice in your salvation.
15 The nations have sunk in (GF)the pit that they made;
in (GG)the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
16 The Lord has made himself (GH)known; he has executed judgment;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion.[t] Selah
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
and (GK)the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
19 (GL)Arise, O Lord! Let not (GM)man prevail;
let the nations be judged before you!
20 Put them in fear, O Lord!
Let the nations know that they are but (GN)men! Selah
Footnotes
- Psalm 1:1 The singular Hebrew word for man (ish) is used here to portray a representative example of a godly person; see Preface
- Psalm 1:2 Or instruction
- Psalm 2:1 Or nations noisily assemble
- Psalm 2:9 Revocalization yields (compare Septuagint) You shall rule
- Psalm 3:2 The meaning of the Hebrew word Selah, used frequently in the Psalms, is uncertain. It may be a musical or liturgical direction
- Psalm 4:2 Or O men of rank
- Psalm 4:4 Or Be agitated
- Psalm 5:3 Or I direct my prayer to you
- Psalm 6:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
- Psalm 7:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
- Psalm 7:4 Hebrew the one at peace with me
- Psalm 7:9 Hebrew the hearts and kidneys
- Psalm 7:12 Hebrew he
- Psalm 7:12 Hebrew he
- Psalm 8:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
- Psalm 8:5 Or than God; Septuagint than the angels
- Psalm 9:1 Psalms 9 and 10 together follow an acrostic pattern, each stanza beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they form one psalm
- Psalm 9:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
- Psalm 9:3 Or because of
- Psalm 9:16 Probably a musical or liturgical term
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.