⁶ Come, let’s worship and bow down!
    Let’s kneel before the Lord, our maker!
⁷ He is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the sheep in his hands.

If only you would listen to his voice right now!
⁸     “Don’t harden your hearts
    like you did at Meribah,
    like you did when you were at Massah,
        in the wilderness,
⁹     when your ancestors tested me
        and scrutinized me,
    even though they had already seen my acts.
¹⁰ For forty years I despised that generation;
    I said, ‘These people have twisted hearts.
    They don’t know my ways.’
¹¹ So in anger I swore:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest!’”

⁹ Have mercy on me, Lord, because I’m depressed.
    My vision fails because of my grief,
    as do my spirit and my body.
¹⁰ My life is consumed with sadness;
    my years are consumed with groaning.
Strength fails me because of my suffering;^[a]
    my bones dry up.
¹¹ I’m a joke to all my enemies,
    still worse to my neighbors.
    I scare my friends,
    and whoever sees me in the street runs away!
¹² I am forgotten, like I’m dead,
    completely out of mind;
    I am like a piece of pottery, destroyed.
¹³ Yes, I’ve heard all the gossiping,
    terror all around;
    so many gang up together against me,
        they plan to take my life!

¹⁴ But me? I trust you, Lord!
    I affirm, “You are my God.”
¹⁵ My future is in your hands.
    Don’t hand me over to my enemies,
    to all who are out to get me!
¹⁶ Shine your face on your servant;
    save me by your faithful love!
¹⁷ Lord, don’t let me be put to shame
    because I have cried out to you.
Let the wicked be put to shame;
    let them be silenced in death’s domain!^[b]
18 Let their lying lips be shut up
    whenever they speak arrogantly
    against the righteous with pride and contempt!
¹⁹ How great is the goodness
    that you’ve reserved for those who honor you,
    that you commit to those who take refuge in you—
        in the sight of everyone!
²⁰ You hide them in the shelter of your wings,^[c]
    safe from human scheming.
    You conceal them in a shelter,
    safe from accusing tongues.

²¹ Bless the Lord,
    because he has wondrously revealed
    his faithful love to me
    when I was like a city under siege!
²² When I was panicked, I said,
    “I’m cut off from your eyes!”
But you heard my request for mercy
    when I cried out to you for help.

²³ All you who are faithful, love the Lord!
    The Lord protects those who are loyal,
        but he pays the proud back to the fullest degree.
²⁴ All you who wait for the Lord,
be strong and let your heart take courage.