¹ Sing praises to God, our strength.
    Sing to the God of Jacob.
² Sing! Beat the tambourine.
    Play the sweet lyre and the harp.
³ Blow the ram’s horn at new moon,
    and again at full moon to call a festival!
⁴ For this is required by the decrees of Israel;
    it is a regulation of the God of Jacob.
⁵ He made it a law for Israel^[b]
    when he attacked Egypt to set us free.

I heard an unknown voice say,
⁶ “Now I will take the load from your shoulders;
    I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.
⁷ You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you;
    I answered out of the thundercloud
    and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah. Interlude

⁸ “Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings.
    O Israel, if you would only listen to me!
⁹ You must never have a foreign god;
    you must not bow down before a false god.
¹⁰ For it was I, the Lord your God,
    who rescued you from the land of Egypt.
    Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.

¹¹ “But no, my people wouldn’t listen.
    Israel did not want me around.
¹² So I let them follow their own stubborn desires,
    living according to their own ideas.
¹³ Oh, that my people would listen to me!
    Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths!
¹⁴ How quickly I would then subdue their enemies!
    How soon my hands would be upon their foes!
¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him;
    they would be doomed forever.
¹⁶ But I would feed you with the finest wheat.
    I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”

¹ O Lord, God of my salvation,
    I cry out to you by day.
    I come to you at night.
² Now hear my prayer;
    listen to my cry.
³ For my life is full of troubles,
    and death^[b] draws near.
⁴ I am as good as dead,
    like a strong man with no strength left.
⁵ They have left me among the dead,
    and I lie like a corpse in a grave.
I am forgotten,
    cut off from your care.
⁶ You have thrown me into the lowest pit,
    into the darkest depths.
⁷ Your anger weighs me down;
    with wave after wave you have engulfed me. Interlude

⁸ You have driven my friends away
    by making me repulsive to them.
I am in a trap with no way of escape.
⁹     My eyes are blinded by my tears.
Each day I beg for your help, O Lord;
    I lift my hands to you for mercy.
¹⁰ Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead?
    Do the dead rise up and praise you? Interlude

¹¹ Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love?
    Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction?^[c]
12 Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds?
    Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?
¹³ O Lord, I cry out to you.
    I will keep on pleading day by day.
¹⁴ O Lord, why do you reject me?
    Why do you turn your face from me?

¹⁵ I have been sick and close to death since my youth.
    I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors.
¹⁶ Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.
    Your terrors have paralyzed me.
¹⁷ They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long.
    They have engulfed me completely.
¹⁸ You have taken away my companions and loved ones.
    Darkness is my closest friend.

¹ It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
    to sing praises to the Most High.
² It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning,
    your faithfulness in the evening,
³ accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, a harp,
    and the melody of a lyre.

⁴ You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me!
    I sing for joy because of what you have done.
⁵ O Lord, what great works you do!
    And how deep are your thoughts.
⁶ Only a simpleton would not know,
    and only a fool would not understand this:
⁷ Though the wicked sprout like weeds
    and evildoers flourish,
    they will be destroyed forever.

⁸ But you, O Lord, will be exalted forever.
⁹ Your enemies, Lord, will surely perish;
    all evildoers will be scattered.
¹⁰ But you have made me as strong as a wild ox.
    You have anointed me with the finest oil.
¹¹ My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
    my ears have heard the defeat of my wicked opponents.
¹² But the godly will flourish like palm trees
    and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.
¹³ For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house.
    They flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ Even in old age they will still produce fruit;
    they will remain vital and green.
¹⁵ They will declare, “The Lord is just!
    He is my rock!
    There is no evil in him!”

² Your throne, O Lord, has stood from time immemorial.
    You yourself are from the everlasting past.
³ The floods have risen up, O Lord.
    The floods have roared like thunder;
    the floods have lifted their pounding waves.
⁴ But mightier than the violent raging of the seas,
    mightier than the breakers on the shore—
    the Lord above is mightier than these!
⁵ Your royal laws cannot be changed.
    Your reign, O Lord, is holy forever and ever.