^4 (F)Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
^5 (G)Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
^(H)And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.

^6 (I)Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
⁷ Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
^8 (J)I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is ^(K)within my heart.”

^9 (L)I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, ^(M)I do not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You Yourself know.
^10 (N)I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly.

¹¹ Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord;
^(O)Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
¹² For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
^(P)My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
Therefore my heart fails me.

^13 (Q)Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
O Lord, make haste to help me!
^14 (R)Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who seek to destroy my ^[a]life;
Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
Who wish me evil.
¹⁵ Let them be ^(S)confounded because of their shame,
Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

^16 (T)Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let such as love Your salvation ^(U)say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
^17 (V)But I am poor and needy;
^(W)Yet the Lord thinks upon me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.

⁵ Why should I fear in the days of evil,
When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
⁶ Those who ^(A)trust in their wealth
And boast in the multitude of their riches,
⁷ None of them can by any means redeem his brother,
Nor ^(B)give to God a ransom for him—
⁸ For ^(C)the redemption of their souls is costly,
And it shall cease forever—
⁹ That he should continue to live eternally,
And ^(D)not ^[b]see the Pit.

¹⁰ For he sees wise men die;
Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish,
And leave their wealth to others.
^11 [c]Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever,
Their dwelling places to all generations;
They ^(E)call their lands after their own names.
¹² Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not ^[d]remain;
He is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This is the way of those who are ^(F)foolish,
And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah
¹⁴ Like sheep they are laid in the grave;
Death shall feed on them;
^(G)The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;
^(H)And their beauty shall be consumed in ^[e]the grave, far from their dwelling.
¹⁵ But God ^(I)will redeem my soul from the power of ^[f]the grave,
For He shall ^(J)receive me. Selah

¹⁶ Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,
When the glory of his house is increased;
¹⁷ For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;
His glory shall not descend after him.
¹⁸ Though while he lives ^(K)he blesses himself
(For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),
¹⁹ He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never see ^(L)light.^[g]
20 A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,
^(M)Is like the beasts that perish.

^4 (D)He shall call to the heavens from above,
And to the earth, that He may judge His people:
⁵ “Gather ^(E)My saints together to Me,
^(F)Those who have ^[a]made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
⁶ Let the ^(G)heavens declare His righteousness,
For ^(H)God Himself is Judge. Selah

⁷ “Hear, O My people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
^(I)I am God, your God!
^8 (J)I will not ^[b]rebuke you ^(K)for your sacrifices
Or your burnt offerings,
Which are continually before Me.
^9 (L)I will not take a bull from your house,
Nor goats out of your folds.
¹⁰ For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹ I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.

¹² “If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
^(M)For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
^13 (N)Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
Or drink the blood of goats?
^14 (O)Offer to God thanksgiving,
And ^(P)pay your vows to the Most High.
^15 (Q)Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

¹⁶ But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to declare My statutes,
Or take My covenant in your mouth,
^17 (R)Seeing you hate instruction
And cast My words behind you?
¹⁸ When you saw a thief, you ^(S)consented^[c] with him,
And have been a ^(T)partaker with adulterers.
¹⁹ You give your mouth to evil,
And ^(U)your tongue frames deceit.
²⁰ You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
²¹ These things you have done, and I kept silent;
^(V)You thought that I was altogether like you;
But I will rebuke you,
And ^(W)set them in order before your eyes.

²² “Now consider this, you who ^(X)forget God,
Lest I tear you in pieces,
And there be none to deliver:
²³ Whoever offers praise glorifies Me;
And ^(Y)to him who orders his conduct aright
I will show the salvation of God.”

⁴ For there are no ^[a]pangs in their death,
But their strength is firm.
^5 (E)They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like other men.
⁶ Therefore pride serves as their necklace;
Violence covers them ^(F)like a garment.
^7 (G)Their ^[b]eyes bulge with abundance;
They have more than heart could wish.
^8 (H)They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression;
They ^(I)speak ^[c]loftily.
⁹ They set their mouth ^(J)against the heavens,
And their tongue walks through the earth.

¹⁰ Therefore his people return here,
^(K)And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
¹¹ And they say, ^(L)“How does God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High?”
¹² Behold, these are the ungodly,
Who are always at ease;
They increase in riches.
¹³ Surely I have ^[d]cleansed my heart in ^(M)vain,
And washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴ For all day long I have been plagued,
And chastened every morning.

¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children.
¹⁶ When I thought how to understand this,
It was ^[e]too painful for me—
¹⁷ Until I went into the sanctuary of God;
Then I understood their ^(N)end.

¹⁸ Surely ^(O)You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.
¹⁹ Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors.
²⁰ As a dream when one awakes,
So, Lord, when You awake,
You shall despise their image.

²¹ Thus my heart was grieved,
And I was ^[f]vexed in my mind.
^22 (P)I was so foolish and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
²³ Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
^24 (Q)You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory.

^25 (R)Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
^26 (S)My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the ^[g]strength of my heart and my ^(T)portion forever.

²⁷ For indeed, ^(U)those who are far from You shall perish;
You have destroyed all those who ^[h]desert You for harlotry.
²⁸ But it is good for me to ^(V)draw near to God;
I have put my trust in the Lord God,
That I may ^(W)declare all Your works.