Beginning

¹ Hurry, God! Rescue me!
Lord, hurry to help me!
² May those who seek my life be put to shame and disgrace.
May all who desire to harm me be turned back and disgraced.
³ May those who say, “Aha! We got you!” be dismayed,
because they have been put to shame.
⁴ But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.
May those who love your salvation always say, “Let God be exalted!”
⁵ Yet I am oppressed and poor.
God, hurry to me. You are my help and my deliverer.
O Lord, do not delay.

¹ In you, Lord, I have taken refuge.
May I not be put to shame forever.
² In your righteousness rescue me and deliver me.
Turn your ear to me and save me.
³ Be my rock and my refuge to which I can always go.
You give the command to save me,
because you are my high ridge and my stronghold.
⁴ My God, deliver me from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and the ruthless.

⁵ For you have been my hope, Lord God,
my confidence since my youth.
⁶ I have depended on^[a] you since I was in the womb.
You separated me from my mother’s body.
My praise to you is continuous.

⁷ I am like an evil omen to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
⁸ My mouth is filled with praise for you
and with your splendor all day long.

⁹ Do not throw me away in old age.
As my strength fails, do not forsake me.
¹⁰ For my enemies speak against me,
and those who seek my life conspire together.
¹¹ They say, “God has forsaken him.
Pursue him and seize him,
because there is no one to rescue him.”
¹² God, do not be far from me.
My God, hurry to help me.
¹³ Let them be ashamed.
Let my murderous accusers be consumed.
Let those who seek to harm me be covered
    with shame and disgrace.

¹⁴ But as for me, I will always keep hoping.
I will keep adding to my praise for you.
¹⁵ My mouth will tell about your righteousness,
about your salvation all day long,
although I do not know how to tell all about it.
¹⁶ I will come and tell about your mighty deeds, Lord God.
I will commemorate^[b] your righteousness, yours alone.
¹⁷ God, you have taught me since my youth,
and even now I still declare your marvelous deeds.
¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
till I declare the strength of your arm to the next generation,
your power to all who are to come.

¹⁹ Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heights.
You have done great things.
God, who is like you,
²⁰ you who have made us see many troubles and disasters?
You will give us life again.
From the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
²¹ You will increase my greatness and comfort me once again.

²² Yes, I will praise you, my God, for your faithfulness.
I will praise you with an instrument, with the harp.
I will make music to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
²³ My lips will shout with joy when I make music to you.
Even my soul, which you have redeemed, will shout.
²⁴ Indeed, my tongue will tell of your righteousness all day long.
How ashamed, how disgraced they are—
    those who are trying to harm me.

¹ God, give your authority to judge to the King.
Give your righteousness to the Son of the King.
² He will judge your people with righteousness.
He will judge your afflicted ones with justice.
³ The mountains will deliver peace to the people.
The hills will produce righteousness.
⁴ He will obtain justice for the afflicted among the people.
He will save the children of the poor,
but he will crush the oppressor.

⁵ They will fear you^[c] as long as the sun remains,
and as long as the moon endures, through all generations.
⁶ He will come down like rain on a mown field,
like showers, like a downpour on the earth.
⁷ In his days the righteous will flourish,
and peace will be plentiful till the moon is no more.

⁸ He will rule^[d] from sea to sea
and from the River^[e] to the ends of the earth.
⁹ Those who dwell in the desert will bow before him,
and his enemies will lick the dust.
¹⁰ The kings of Tarshish and of the sea coasts will bring tribute.
The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer him gifts.
¹¹ All kings will bow down to him.
All nations will serve him.

¹² He will certainly deliver the poor person who cries out,
as well as the afflicted, and the one who has no helper.
¹³ He will take pity on the weak and the poor.
He will save the lives of the poor.
¹⁴ From oppression and violence he will redeem their lives,
because their blood is precious in his sight.

¹⁵ May the King live!^[f]
May gold from Sheba be offered to him.
May people always pray for him.
May they bless him all day long.
¹⁶ Let there be an abundance of grain in the land.
Let it wave on the top of the mountains.
Let its fruit trees be like the cedars of Lebanon.^[g]
Let people from the city flourish like the grass of the land.
¹⁷ May his name endure forever.
May his name flourish as long as the sun.
They will be blessed through him.
All nations will call him blessed.

¹⁸ Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
    who alone does marvelous deeds.
¹⁹ Blessed be his glorious name forever.
May the whole earth be filled with his glory.

¹ Surely God is good to Israel, to the pure in heart.
² But as for me, my feet almost slipped out from under me.
I almost lost my footing.^[i]
3 I even envied the arrogant when I observed the peace of the wicked.

⁴ For there are no struggles at their death.
Their bodies are sturdy.
⁵ They do not have the trouble common to people.
They are not plagued along with the rest of mankind.
⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace.
They wear violence like clothing.
⁷ Their eyes bulge out of their fat.^[j]
The schemes of their hearts step over boundaries.
⁸ They mock. They speak maliciously.
From a high perch they threaten oppression.
⁹ They set their mouths against the heavens.
Their tongues strut around on earth.
¹⁰ Therefore God’s people turn to them,
and they drink it all in.^[k]
11 They say, “How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?”
¹² See, this is what the wicked are like—
secure forever, they increase in strength.

¹³ Have I really kept my heart pure for nothing?
Have I kept my hands clean in vain?
¹⁴ I have been plagued all day.
My punishment comes every morning.
¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak like this,”
I would certainly have betrayed the circle of your children.
¹⁶ When I tried to understand this, it was very troubling to me,
¹⁷ until I went to the sanctuary of God.
Then I understood their end.

¹⁸ Surely you place them on slippery places.
You cause them to fall into destruction.
¹⁹ How quickly they come to ruin,
completely destroyed by terrors!
²⁰ They are like a dream when someone wakes up.
So when you arise, O Lord,
you will despise them like an illusion.
²¹ Yes, my heart was bitter,
and I was torn up inside.
²² I was unthinking and ignorant.
I was a dumb animal before you.
²³ Yet I am always with you.
You hold me by my right hand.
²⁴ With your guidance you lead me,
and afterward, you will take me to glory.
²⁵ Who else is there for me in heaven?
And besides you, I desire no one else on earth.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart fail,
but God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.
²⁷ No doubt about it!
Those who are far from you will perish.
You destroy all who commit adultery against you.
²⁸ As for me, God’s nearness is good for me.
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
so that I can tell about all your works.