¹ May the True God rise up and show Himself;
    may those who are united against Him be dispersed,
    while the people who hate Him run away at the sight of Him.
² As smoke disappears when it is blown by the wind,
    may You blow away Your enemies forever.
As wax melts in the presence of fire,
    may the wicked heart melt away in God’s presence.
³ But may those who are righteous rejoice
    in the presence of the True God—so may they be glad and rejoice.
    Yes, let them celebrate with joy!

⁴ Sing songs of praise to the name that belongs to the True God!
    Let your voices ring out in songs of praise to Him, the One who rides through the deserted places.
His name is the Eternal;
    celebrate in His glorious presence.

⁵ The True God who inhabits sacred space
    is a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows.
⁶ He makes a home for those who are alone.
    He frees the prisoners and leads them to prosper.
Yet those who rebel against Him live in the barren land without His blessings and prosperity.

⁷ O True God, when You led Your enslaved people from Egypt,
    when You journeyed with us through the wilderness,

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⁸ The whole world trembled! The sky poured down rain
    at the power of Your presence; even Mount Sinai trembled in Your presence,
    the presence of the True God, the God of Israel.
⁹ You sent a heavy downpour to soak the ground, O True God.
    You refreshed the land—the land Your people would inherit—when it was parched and dry.
¹⁰ Your covenant people made their homes in the land,
    and because You are so good, You provided for those crushed by poverty, O True God.

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²⁰ We know our God is the God who delivers us,
    and the Eternal, the Lord, is the One who saves us from the grip of death.

¹³     They were among those who rebel against the light.
        They don’t want to know what makes it shine,
        nor do they live their lives in its paths.
¹⁴     It is not the poor and the victim who rebel.
        It is the murderer who rises before first light
    And kills the poor and the needy.
        And in the dark of night, he becomes the thief.
¹⁵     And the eye of the adulterer waits for the onset of dusk;
        he thinks, “No one will see me,” because he disguises his face.
¹⁶     And others break into homes in the dark.
        However, by day they shut themselves up inside
        because they do not know the light.
¹⁷     For all of these criminals,
        the morning arrives arm in arm with the threat of being found out.
    It is as the shadow of death to them,
        for they are at ease with the terrors of the night.

¹⁸ Job: The wicked may sit lightly on the surface of the waters,
        but their bit of land, the parcel on which they live, is accursed;
    In fact, they don’t even turn down the road to their vineyards
        because they don’t produce.
¹⁹     Just as summer’s heat and drought melt and carry off the winter snow,
        the land of the dead digests and carries away sinners.
²⁰     The very wombs whence they came forget them;
        the worms will feast on them until no one remembers they existed;
        the skeletons of wickedness dry up and snap like twigs.

²¹     They deliberately prey on women with no children to protect them
        and don’t care to lend a hand to widows!
²²     By His power, God drags off the high and mighty with the ropes of a hunter,
        and though they may rise to the top, they have no assurance of true life.
²³     God may provide for them, and they may feel secure,
        but His eyes are always on their ways.
²⁴     They may make their mark—to be sure—in a brief moment of glory,
        but then just as quickly the wicked are gone, like the rest of humanity,
        like heads of grain cut off and dried up.
²⁵     Now, if this is not the truth, then call me a liar
        and count all this talk for nothing.