Book of Common Prayer

⁹ Completely confuse their language, O Adonay,
    because I see violence and conflict in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they go around on top of the city walls.
    Trouble and misery are everywhere.
¹¹ Destruction is everywhere.
    Oppression and fraud never leave the streets.^[a]

¹² If an enemy had insulted me,
    then I could bear it.
    If someone who hated me had attacked me,
    then I could hide from him.
¹³ But it is you, my equal,
    my best friend,
        one I knew so well!
¹⁴ We used to talk to each other in complete confidence
    and walk into Elohim’s house with the festival crowds.

¹⁵ Let death suddenly take wicked people!
    Let them go into the grave while they are still alive,
    because evil lives in their homes as well as in their hearts.
¹⁶ But I call on Elohim,
    and Yahweh saves me.
¹⁷ Morning, noon, and night I complain and groan,
    and he listens to my voice.
¹⁸ With his peace, he will rescue my soul
    from the war waged against me,
        because there are many soldiers fighting against me.
¹⁹ El will listen.
    The one who has sat enthroned from the beginning
        will deal with them. Selah
            They never change. They never fear Elohim.
²⁰ My best friend has betrayed his friends.
    He has broken his solemn promise.
²¹ His speech is smoother than butter,
    but there is war in his heart.
    His words are more soothing than oil,
        but they are like swords ready to attack.
²² Turn your burdens over to Yahweh,
    and he will take care of you.
        He will never let the righteous person stumble.
²³ But you, O Elohim, will throw wicked people into the deepest pit.
    Bloodthirsty and deceitful people will not live out half their days.
        But I will trust you.

² Remember your congregation.
    Long ago you made it your own.
    You bought this tribe to be your possession.
        This tribe is Mount Zion, where you have made your home.
³ Turn your steps toward^[b] these pathetic ruins.
    The enemy has destroyed everything in the holy temple.

⁴ Your opponents have roared inside your meeting place.
    They have set up their own emblems as symbols.
⁵         Starting from its entrance, they hacked away
            like a woodcutter in a forest.^[c]
6 They smashed all its carved paneling with axes and hatchets.
⁷ They burned your holy place to the ground.
    They dishonored the place where you live among us.
⁸ They said to themselves, “We will crush them.”
    They burned every meeting place of El in the land.

⁹ We no longer see miraculous signs.
    There are no prophets anymore.
        No one knows how long this will last.
¹⁰ How long, O Elohim, will the enemy insult us?
    Will the enemy despise you forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, especially your right hand?
    Take your hands out of your pockets.
        Destroy your enemies!^[d]

¹² And yet, from long ago Elohim has been my Melek,
    the one who has been victorious throughout the earth.
¹³ You stirred up the sea with your own strength.
    You smashed the heads of sea monsters in the water.
¹⁴ You crushed the heads of Leviathan^[e]
    and gave them to the creatures of the desert for food.
¹⁵ You opened the springs and brooks.
    You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
¹⁶ The day and the night are yours.
    You set the moon and the sun in their places.
¹⁷ You determined all the boundaries of the earth.
    You created summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember how the enemy insulted you, O Yahweh.
    Remember how an entire nation of godless fools despised your name.
¹⁹ Do not hand over the soul of your dove to wild animals.
    Do not forget the life of your oppressed people forever.
²⁰ Consider your promise^[f]
    because every dark corner of the land is filled with violence.
²¹ Do not let oppressed people come back in disgrace.
    Let weak and needy people praise your name.
²² Arise, O Elohim!
    Fight for your own cause!
    Remember how godless fools insult you all day long.
²³ Do not forget the shouting of your opponents.
    Do not forget the uproar made by those who attack you.

Cursed is the person who trusts humans,
    who makes flesh and blood his strength
        and whose heart turns away from Yahweh.
⁶ He will be like a bush in the wilderness.
    He will not see when something good comes.
    He will live in the dry places in the desert,
    in a salty land where no one can live.
⁷ Blessed is the person who trusts Yahweh.
    Yahweh will be his confidence.
⁸ He will be like a tree that is planted by water.
    It will send its roots down to a stream.
    It will not be afraid in the heat of summer.
        Its leaves will turn green.
    It will not be anxious during droughts.
        It will not stop producing fruit.

⁹ “The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable.
    No one can understand how deceitful it is.
¹⁰ I, Yahweh, search minds and test hearts.
    I will reward each person for what he has done.
    I will reward him for the results of his actions.

¹⁴ Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed.
    Rescue me, and I will be rescued.
        You are the one I praise.
¹⁵ People keep asking me,
    “Where is the word of Yahweh?
        Let it come.”
¹⁶ I have not run away from being your shepherd,
    and I have not longed for the day of destruction.
        You know what came out of my mouth.
¹⁷ Do not terrorize me.
    You are my refuge on the day of disaster.