⁵ You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
    abounding in love to all who call to you.
⁶ Hear my prayer, Lord;
    listen to my cry for mercy.
⁷ When I am in distress, I call to you,
    because you answer me.

⁸ Among the gods there is none like you, Lord;
    no deeds can compare with yours.
⁹ All the nations you have made
    will come and worship before you, Lord;
    they will bring glory to your name.
¹⁰ For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
    you alone are God.

¹¹ Teach me your way, Lord,
    that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
    that I may fear your name.
¹² I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
    I will glorify your name forever.
¹³ For great is your love toward me;
    you have delivered me from the depths,
    from the realm of the dead.

¹⁴ Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God;
    ruthless people are trying to kill me—
    they have no regard for you.
¹⁵ But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
    slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
¹⁶ Turn to me and have mercy on me;
    show your strength in behalf of your servant;
save me, because I serve you
    just as my mother did.
¹⁷ Give me a sign of your goodness,
    that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
    for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

³ Glorious things are said of you,
    city of God:^[a]
4 “I will record Rahab^[b] and Babylon
    among those who acknowledge me—
Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush^[c]—
    and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”^[d]
5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
    “This one and that one were born in her,
    and the Most High himself will establish her.”
⁶ The Lord will write in the register of the peoples:
    “This one was born in Zion.”

⁷ As they make music they will sing,
    “All my fountains are in you.”

³ I am overwhelmed with troubles
    and my life draws near to death.
⁴ I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
    I am like one without strength.
⁵ I am set apart with the dead,
    like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
    who are cut off from your care.

⁶ You have put me in the lowest pit,
    in the darkest depths.
⁷ Your wrath lies heavily on me;
    you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.^[h]
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
    and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
⁹     my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, Lord, every day;
    I spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰ Do you show your wonders to the dead?
    Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
¹¹ Is your love declared in the grave,
    your faithfulness in Destruction^[i]?
¹² Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
    or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

¹³ But I cry to you for help, Lord;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ Why, Lord, do you reject me
    and hide your face from me?

¹⁵ From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
    I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me;
    your terrors have destroyed me.
¹⁷ All day long they surround me like a flood;
    they have completely engulfed me.
¹⁸ You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
    darkness is my closest friend.

⁵ The heavens praise your wonders, Lord,
    your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.
⁶ For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord?
    Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings?
⁷ In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared;
    he is more awesome than all who surround him.
⁸ Who is like you, Lord God Almighty?
    You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

⁹ You rule over the surging sea;
    when its waves mount up, you still them.
¹⁰ You crushed Rahab like one of the slain;
    with your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
¹¹ The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth;
    you founded the world and all that is in it.
¹² You created the north and the south;
    Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.
¹³ Your arm is endowed with power;
    your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.

¹⁴ Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
    love and faithfulness go before you.
¹⁵ Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
    who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
¹⁶ They rejoice in your name all day long;
    they celebrate your righteousness.
¹⁷ For you are their glory and strength,
    and by your favor you exalt our horn.^[m]
18 Indeed, our shield^[n] belongs to the Lord,
    our king to the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹ Once you spoke in a vision,
    to your faithful people you said:
“I have bestowed strength on a warrior;
    I have raised up a young man from among the people.
²⁰ I have found David my servant;
    with my sacred oil I have anointed him.
²¹ My hand will sustain him;
    surely my arm will strengthen him.
²² The enemy will not get the better of him;
    the wicked will not oppress him.
²³ I will crush his foes before him
    and strike down his adversaries.
²⁴ My faithful love will be with him,
    and through my name his horn^[o] will be exalted.
²⁵ I will set his hand over the sea,
    his right hand over the rivers.
²⁶ He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,
    my God, the Rock my Savior.’
²⁷ And I will appoint him to be my firstborn,
    the most exalted of the kings of the earth.
²⁸ I will maintain my love to him forever,
    and my covenant with him will never fail.
²⁹ I will establish his line forever,
    his throne as long as the heavens endure.

³⁰ “If his sons forsake my law
    and do not follow my statutes,
³¹ if they violate my decrees
    and fail to keep my commands,
³² I will punish their sin with the rod,
    their iniquity with flogging;
³³ but I will not take my love from him,
    nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
³⁴ I will not violate my covenant
    or alter what my lips have uttered.
³⁵ Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—
    and I will not lie to David—
³⁶ that his line will continue forever
    and his throne endure before me like the sun;
³⁷ it will be established forever like the moon,
    the faithful witness in the sky.”

³⁸ But you have rejected, you have spurned,
    you have been very angry with your anointed one.
³⁹ You have renounced the covenant with your servant
    and have defiled his crown in the dust.
⁴⁰ You have broken through all his walls
    and reduced his strongholds to ruins.
⁴¹ All who pass by have plundered him;
    he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
⁴² You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
    you have made all his enemies rejoice.
⁴³ Indeed, you have turned back the edge of his sword
    and have not supported him in battle.
⁴⁴ You have put an end to his splendor
    and cast his throne to the ground.
⁴⁵ You have cut short the days of his youth;
    you have covered him with a mantle of shame.

⁴⁶ How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
    How long will your wrath burn like fire?
⁴⁷ Remember how fleeting is my life.
    For what futility you have created all humanity!
⁴⁸ Who can live and not see death,
    or who can escape the power of the grave?
⁴⁹ Lord, where is your former great love,
    which in your faithfulness you swore to David?
⁵⁰ Remember, Lord, how your servant has^[p] been mocked,
    how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations,
⁵¹ the taunts with which your enemies, Lord, have mocked,
    with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one.

⁵² Praise be to the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.

³ You turn people back to dust,
    saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
⁴ A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.
⁵ Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
    they are like the new grass of the morning:
⁶ In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.

⁷ We are consumed by your anger
    and terrified by your indignation.
⁸ You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
⁹ All our days pass away under your wrath;
    we finish our years with a moan.
¹⁰ Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
¹¹ If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
¹² Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

¹³ Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
    Have compassion on your servants.
¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
    that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    for as many years as we have seen trouble.
¹⁶ May your deeds be shown to your servants,
    your splendor to their children.

¹⁷ May the favor^[q] of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us—
    yes, establish the work of our hands.