Psalm 9-11

Good News Translation

³ My enemies turn back when you appear;
    they fall down and die.
⁴ You are fair and honest in your judgments,
    and you have judged in my favor.

⁵ You have condemned the heathen
    and destroyed the wicked;
    they will be remembered no more.
⁶ Our enemies are finished forever;
    you have destroyed their cities,
    and they are completely forgotten.

⁷ But the Lord is king forever;
    he has set up his throne for judgment.
⁸ He rules the world with righteousness;
    he judges the nations with justice.

⁹ The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
    a place of safety in times of trouble.
¹⁰ Those who know you, Lord, will trust you;
    you do not abandon anyone who comes to you.

¹¹ Sing praise to the Lord, who rules in Zion!
    Tell every nation what he has done!
¹² God remembers those who suffer;
    he does not forget their cry,
    and he punishes those who wrong them.

^13 (A)Be merciful to me, O Lord!
    See the sufferings my enemies cause me!
Rescue me from death, O Lord,
¹⁴     that I may stand before the people of Jerusalem
    and tell them all the things for which I praise you.
I will rejoice because you saved me.

¹⁵ The heathen have dug a pit and fallen in;
    they have been caught in their own trap.
¹⁶ The Lord has revealed himself by his righteous judgments,
    and the wicked are trapped by their own deeds.

¹⁷ Death is the destiny of all the wicked,
    of all those who reject God.
¹⁸ The needy will not always be neglected;
    the hope of the poor will not be crushed forever.

¹⁹ Come, Lord! Do not let anyone defy you!
    Bring the heathen before you
    and pronounce judgment on them.
²⁰ Make them afraid, O Lord;
    make them know that they are only mortal beings.

³ The wicked are proud of their evil desires;
    the greedy curse and reject the Lord.
⁴ The wicked do not care about the Lord;
    in their pride they think that God doesn't matter.

⁵ The wicked succeed in everything.
    They cannot understand God's judgments;
    they sneer at their enemies.
⁶ They say to themselves, “We will never fail;
    we will never be in trouble.”
^7 (B)Their speech is filled with curses, lies, and threats;
    they are quick to speak hateful, evil words.

⁸ They hide themselves in the villages,
    waiting to murder innocent people.
They spy on their helpless victims;
⁹     they wait in their hiding place like lions.
They lie in wait for the poor;
    they catch them in their traps and drag them away.

¹⁰ The helpless victims lie crushed;
    brute strength has defeated them.
¹¹ The wicked say to themselves, “God doesn't care!
    He has closed his eyes and will never see me!”

¹² O Lord, punish those wicked people!
    Remember those who are suffering!
¹³ How can the wicked despise God
    and say to themselves, “He will not punish me”?

¹⁴ But you do see; you take notice of trouble and suffering
    and are always ready to help.
The helpless commit themselves to you;
    you have always helped the needy.

¹⁵ Break the power of wicked and evil people;
    punish them for the wrong they have done
    until they do it no more.

¹⁶ The Lord is king forever and ever.
    Those who worship other gods
    will vanish from his land.

¹⁷ You will listen, O Lord, to the prayers of the lowly;
    you will give them courage.
¹⁸ You will hear the cries of the oppressed and the orphans;
    you will judge in their favor,
    so that mortal men may cause terror no more.

⁴ The Lord is in his holy temple;
    he has his throne in heaven.
He watches people everywhere
    and knows what they are doing.
⁵ He examines the good and the wicked alike;
    the lawless he hates with all his heart.

⁶ He sends down flaming coals^[d] and burning sulfur on the wicked;
    he punishes them with scorching winds.
⁷ The Lord is righteous and loves good deeds;
    those who do them will live in his presence.