⁴⁹ Remember your word to your servant,
    in which you have made me hope.
⁵⁰ This is my comfort in my distress,
    that your promise gives me life.^(A)
51 The arrogant utterly deride me,
    but I do not turn away from your law.^(B)
52 When I think of your ordinances from of old,
    I take comfort, O Lord.^(C)
53 Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,
    those who forsake your law.^(D)
54 Your statutes have been my songs
    wherever I make my home.
⁵⁵ I remember your name in the night, O Lord,
    and keep your law.^(E)
56 This blessing has fallen to me,
    for I have kept your precepts.

⁵⁷ The Lord is my portion;
    I promise to keep your words.^(F)
58 I implore your favor with all my heart;
    be gracious to me according to your promise.^(G)
59 When I think of your ways,
    I turn my feet to your decrees;^(H)
60 I hurry and do not delay
    to keep your commandments.
⁶¹ Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,
    I do not forget your law.^(I)
62 At midnight I rise to praise you,
    because of your righteous ordinances.^(J)
63 I am a companion of all who fear you,
    of those who keep your precepts.^(K)
64 The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love;
    teach me your statutes.^(L)

⁶⁵ You have dealt well with your servant,
    O Lord, according to your word.
⁶⁶ Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
    for I believe in your commandments.
⁶⁷ Before I was humbled I went astray,
    but now I keep your word.^(M)
68 You are good and do good;
    teach me your statutes.^(N)
69 The arrogant smear me with lies,
    but with my whole heart I keep your precepts.^(O)
70 Their hearts are thick like fat,^[a]
    but I delight in your law.^(P)
71 It is good for me that I was humbled,
    so that I might learn your statutes.
⁷² The law of your mouth is better to me
    than thousands of gold and silver pieces.^(Q)

30 “But now they make sport of me,
    those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to set with the dogs of my flock.^(A)
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands?
    All their vigor is gone.
³ Through want and hard hunger
    they gnaw the dry and desolate ground;
⁴ they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes
    and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
⁵ They are driven out from society;
    people shout after them as after a thief.
⁶ In the gullies of wadis they must live,
    in holes in the ground and in the rocks.
⁷ Among the bushes they bray;
    under the nettles they huddle together.
⁸ A senseless, disreputable brood,
    they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹ “And now they mock me in song;
    I am a byword to them.^(B)
10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
    they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.^(C)
11 Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,
    they have cast off restraint in my presence.^(D)
12 On my right hand the rabble rise up;
    they send me sprawling
    and build roads for my ruin.^(E)
13 They break up my path;
    they promote my calamity;
    no one restrains^[a] them.
¹⁴ As through a wide breach they come;
    amid the crash they roll on.
¹⁵ Terrors are turned upon me;
    my honor is pursued as by the wind,
    and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.^(F)

¹⁶ “And now my soul is poured out within me;
    days of affliction have taken hold of me.^(G)
17 The night racks my bones,
    and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
¹⁸ With violence he seizes my garment;^[b]
    he grasps me by^[c] the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹ He has cast me into the mire,
    and I have become like dust and ashes.^(H)
20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me;
    I stand, and you merely look at me.^(I)
21 You have turned cruel to me;
    with the might of your hand you persecute me.^(J)
22 You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
    and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.^(K)
23 I know that you will bring me to death,
    to the house appointed for all living.^(L)

²⁴ “Surely one does not turn against the needy,^[d]
    when in disaster they cry for help.^[e](M)
25 Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
    Was not my soul grieved for the poor?^(N)
26 But when I looked for good, evil came,
    and when I waited for light, darkness came.^(O)
27 My inward parts are in turmoil and are never still;
    days of affliction come to meet me.
²⁸ I go about in sunless gloom;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.^(P)
29 I am a brother of jackals
    and a companion of ostriches.^(Q)
30 My skin turns black and falls from me,
    and my bones burn with heat.^(R)
31 My lyre is turned to mourning
    and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.^(S)