¹ How happy is the one whose wrongs are forgiven,
    whose sin is hidden from sight.
² How happy is the person whose sin the Eternal will not take into account.^[b]
    How happy are those who no longer lie, to themselves or others.

³ When I refused to admit my wrongs, I was miserable,
    moaning and complaining all day long
    so that even my bones felt brittle.
⁴ Day and night, Your hand kept pressing on me.
    My strength dried up like water in the summer heat;
    You wore me down.

[pause]^[c]

⁵ When I finally saw my own lies,
    I owned up to my sins before You,
    and I did not try to hide my evil deeds from You.
I said to myself, “I’ll admit all my sins to the Eternal,”
    and You lifted and carried away the guilt of my sin.

[pause]

⁶ So let all who are devoted to You
    speak honestly to You now, while You are still listening.
For then when the floods come, surely the rushing water
    will not even reach them.
⁷ You are my hiding place.
    You will keep me out of trouble
    and envelop me with songs that remind me I am free.

[pause]

⁸ I will teach you and tell you the way to go and how to get there;
    I will give you good counsel, and I will watch over you.
⁹ But don’t be stubborn and stupid like horses and mules
    who, if not reined by leather and metal,
    will run wild, ignoring their masters.

¹⁰ Tormented and empty are wicked and destructive people,
    but the one who trusts in the Eternal is wrapped tightly in His gracious love.
¹¹ Express your joy; be happy in Him, you who are good and true.
    Go ahead, shout and rejoice aloud, you whose hearts are honest and straightforward.

    The Eternal roars from on high;
        from His holy place above, His voice thunders.
    Like a lion, He will roar against His land
        and shout, like those who tread the grapes,
        against those living on the earth.
³¹     The uproar will echo to ends of the earth
        because the Eternal brings His charge against the nations.
    He will judge all humanity and punish the wicked in battle.

Eternal One: Look what is happening!
        Disaster is spreading across the earth,
    From nation to nation;
        a mighty storm is gathering from the ends of the earth!

³⁴     Cry out, you shepherds, and weep;
        wallow in the dust—roll in ashes, you leaders of the flock.
    For the time has come for you to be slaughtered and scattered abroad.
        You will fall and shatter like a treasured vessel.
³⁵     As for the shepherds, they will have nowhere to hide;
        as for the leaders, they will not escape My punishment.
³⁶     Listen to the sound—the cry of the shepherds,
        the wailing of the leaders of the flock!
    The Eternal is ruining their pleasant pastures.
³⁷     Their peaceful meadows are now deathly silent,
        for the fierce anger of the Eternal has blown through.
³⁸     Like a lion leaving his lair, so He has left His,
        for their land has become a horror—
    Kindled by the enemy’s hot anger
        and the burning fury of the Eternal.