40 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

² He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

³ And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

⁴ Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

⁵ Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

⁶ Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

⁷ Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,

⁸ I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

⁹ I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.

¹⁰ I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

¹¹ Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

¹² For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

¹³ Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.

¹⁴ Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

¹⁵ Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.

¹⁶ Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.

¹⁷ But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

49 Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:

² Both low and high, rich and poor, together.

³ My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

⁴ I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

⁵ Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?

⁶ They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

⁷ None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:

⁸ (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)

⁹ That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.

¹⁰ For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹ Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.

¹² Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.

¹⁴ Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.

¹⁵ But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.

¹⁶ Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

¹⁷ For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.

¹⁸ Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.

¹⁹ He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.

²⁰ Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

50 The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

³ Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

⁴ He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

⁵ Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

⁶ And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.

⁷ Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

⁸ I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

⁹ I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.

¹⁰ For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

¹¹ I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

¹² If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

¹³ Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴ Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

¹⁵ And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

¹⁶ But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

¹⁷ Seeing thou hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee.

¹⁸ When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

¹⁹ Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

²⁰ Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son.

²¹ These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

²² Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

²³ Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

73 Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

² But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.

³ For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.

⁵ They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

⁶ Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.

⁷ Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

⁸ They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.

⁹ They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

¹⁰ Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.

¹¹ And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?

¹² Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

¹³ Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.

¹⁴ For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

¹⁵ If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.

¹⁶ When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;

¹⁷ Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.

¹⁸ Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

¹⁹ How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

²⁰ As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

²¹ Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.

²² So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

²³ Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.

²⁴ Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

²⁶ My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

²⁷ For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.

²⁸ But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.