Bible in 90 Days

²² May the table set before them become a snare.
May it be a trap to them and their allies.^[a]
23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see.
Make their legs always tremble.
²⁴ Pour out your wrath on them.
Let the heat of your anger catch up with them.
²⁵ May their camp be desolate.
May there be no one dwelling in their tents.
²⁶ For they pursue those you have disciplined, O God,
and they talk about the pain of those you wound.
²⁷ Add guilt to their guilt.
Do not let them enter into your righteousness.
²⁸ May they be erased from the book of life.
May they not be listed among the righteous.

²⁹ But I am afflicted and in pain.
O God, may salvation from you set me on high.
³⁰ I will praise God’s name in song.
I will proclaim his greatness with thanksgiving.
³¹ For the Lord this is better than an ox,
than a bull that has horns and hoofs.
³² The poor will see and be glad.
You who seek God, may your hearts live!
³³ For the Lord listens to the needy,
and he does not despise the captives who belong to him.
³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,
³⁵ for God will save Zion,
and he will build the cities of Judah.
Then people will settle there and possess it.
³⁶ Then the descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell in it.

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^[b] 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^[c] 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^[d] 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^[e] from sea to sea
and from the River^[f] 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!^[g]
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.^[h]
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.^[j]
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.^[k]
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.^[l]
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.

¹ Why do you stay angry to the end, O God?
Why does your anger smoke against the flock in your pasture?
² Remember your community that you purchased long ago,
the tribe that you redeemed to be your possession.
Remember Mount Zion where you dwell.
³ March toward the perpetual ruins.
March against all the evil done by the enemy in the sanctuary.

⁴ Your foes roared in the middle of your appointed place.
They set up their battle standards as signs.
⁵ They looked like men swinging axes in a thicket of trees.
⁶ Yes, they even chopped up all the carved paneling
    with their hatchets and hammers.
⁷ They delivered your sanctuary to the fire.
They defiled the dwelling place for your Name
    by throwing it to the ground.
⁸ They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!”
They burned all the appointed places of God in the land.

⁹ We do not see any signs to guide us.
There is no longer a prophet,
and none of us knows how long this will go on.
¹⁰ How long will the foe scoff, O God?
Will the enemy insult your name forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, even your right hand?
Take it out of your pocket^[n] and finish them off!

¹² But you, O God, are my king from long ago,
the one who works salvation right here on earth.
¹³ It was you who shattered the sea by your power.
You broke the heads of the great sea monsters.
¹⁴ It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan.^[o]
You gave him as food to the people who live in the desert.
¹⁵ It was you who opened up a spring and a seasonal stream.
You dried up the rivers that flow year-round.
¹⁶ The day belongs to you, and the night is also yours.
You set the moon and sun in place.
¹⁷ It was you who laid out all the boundaries of the earth.
Summer and winter—you shaped them.

¹⁸ Remember this—the enemy scoffs, Lord,
and a foolish people has insulted your name.
¹⁹ Do not surrender the life of your turtledove to a wild animal.
Do not forget the life of your afflicted ones forever.
²⁰ Pay attention to the covenant,
because dens of violence fill the dark places in the land.
²¹ Do not let the oppressed turn back in disgrace.
Let the poor and needy praise your name.
²² Rise up, O God, and prosecute your case.
Remember how the fools mocked you all day long.
²³ Do not forget the sound of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually.

¹ We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks.
Your wonderful deeds reveal that your name is near.

² Yes, I choose the appointed time.
I am the one who judges rightly.
³ The earth and all its inhabitants are shaking.
I am the one who holds its pillars firm. Interlude
⁴ I say to the boasters, “Do not boast,”
and to the wicked, “Do not raise a horn.^[q]
5 Do not raise your horns to the heights.
Do not speak insolently with an outstretched neck.”

⁶ Indeed, power to promote someone does not come
    from the east or from the west or from the wilderness.
⁷ No, it is God who makes the decision.
He brings down one. He raises up another.
⁸ Indeed, a cup is in the hand of the Lord.
The wine foams. It is fully mixed.
He pours this out.
Yes, they drain its dregs.
All the wicked of the earth drink.

⁹ As for me, I will proclaim this forever.
I will make music for the God of Jacob.
¹⁰ I will cut off all the horns of the wicked.
The horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

¹ God is known in Judah. In Israel his name is great.
² His shelter is in Salem. His dwelling place is in Zion.

³ There he broke the flaming arrows, Interlude
the shield and the sword, and the weapons for battle.
⁴ You shine brightly as the Mighty One from the mountains full of prey.
⁵ The strong-hearted are plundered.
They have fallen into their final sleep.
Not one of the strong men can lift his hands.
⁶ At your rebuke,^[r] O God of Jacob, both chariot and horses sleep.
⁷ You are to be feared, yes, you.
Who can stand before you at the time of your wrath?
⁸ From heaven you announced judgment.
The earth feared and was quiet
⁹ when you rose up to judge, O God, Interlude
and to save all the afflicted of the earth.

¹⁰ Even the wrath of mankind^[s] will bring you praise.
You wear what remains of your wrath like a belt.
¹¹ Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them.
Let all who are around him bring tribute to the one who is fearsome.
¹² He restrains the spirit of nobles.
He is fearsome against the kings of the earth.

¹ With my voice to God—
with my voice I cried out to God,
and he listened to me.
² In the day when I was distressed I sought the Lord.
At night my hand was stretched out,
and it never grew tired,
but my soul refused to be comforted.
³ God, I remembered and I groaned. Interlude
I pondered, and my spirit became weak.
⁴ You propped my eyelids open.
I was troubled but did not speak.
⁵ I thought about the days of long ago, the years long past.
⁶ During the night I remembered my music.
With my heart I pondered, and my spirit asked,
⁷ “Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never again show favor?
⁸ Has his mercy vanished to the end?
Has what he said failed for all generations?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious? Interlude
Has he really shut up his compassion in anger?”

¹⁰ Then I said, “This is what hurts me:
the change of the right hand of the Most High.”^[u]
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord.^[v]
Yes, I will remember your wonderful work from long ago.
¹² I will meditate on all your work,
and I will ponder all your deeds.
¹³ O God, your way is carried out in holiness.
What god is as great as God?
¹⁴ You are the God who performs a wonderful deed.
You made known your power among the peoples.
¹⁵ With your arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Interlude
¹⁶ The waters saw you, O God.
The waters saw you and swirled.
Even the depths were turbulent.
¹⁷ The clouds poured down water.
The skies echoed with thunder.
Indeed, your arrows shot back and forth.
¹⁸ The sound of your thunder was heard in the tornado.
Lightning lit up the world.
The earth trembled and quaked.
¹⁹ Your route led through the sea.
Your trail went through the mighty waters,
but your footprints were not detected.
²⁰ You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

¹ Give ear, O my people, to my instruction.
Turn your ear to the words of my mouth.
² I will open my mouth to share a lesson.
I will speak about puzzling problems from long ago,
³ things we have heard and known,
things our fathers have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their descendants.
We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders that he has done.
⁵ He set up testimony for Jacob.
In Israel he established the law.
He commanded our fathers to make it known to their children.
⁶ Then the next generation would know it,
even the children not yet born.
They would rise up and tell their children.
⁷ Then they would put their confidence in God,
and they would not forget the deeds of God,
but they would keep his commands.
⁸ Then they would not be like their fathers,
a stubborn, rebellious generation,
a generation that did not keep their hearts steadfast,
whose spirits were not faithful to God.

⁹ The tribe of Ephraim, equipped and armed with bows,
    deserted on the day of battle.
¹⁰ They did not keep God’s covenant, and they refused to walk in his law.
¹¹ They forgot his deeds, the wonders he had shown to them.

¹² In the presence of their fathers he had performed a wonder,
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
¹³ He split the sea and let them cross through it.
He made the water stand like a wall.
¹⁴ He led them with the cloud by day
and all through the night with light from the fire.
¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness,
and he let them drink water as plentiful as the deep sea.
¹⁶ He brought streams out of the rocky cliff.
He made water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷ But they continued to sin against him even more,
    by rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸ They tested God in their hearts by demanding food for their cravings.
¹⁹ Then they spoke against God.
They said, “Is God able to set a table in the wilderness?
²⁰ Sure, he struck the rock and water flowed out,
and stream beds overflowed,
but can he really give us bread?
Can he really supply meat for his people?”

²¹ Then the Lord heard, and he showed his anger.
Fire broke out against Jacob,
and his anger rose against Israel,
²² because they did not believe in God,
and they did not trust in his salvation.

²³ Nevertheless, he gave a command to the skies above,
and he opened the doors of the heavens.
²⁴ He rained down manna for them to eat,
and he gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵ Each of them ate the bread of the mighty ones.
He sent them all the food they could eat.
²⁶ He sent out the east wind from the heavens,
and he led out the south wind by his power.
²⁷ Then he rained meat down on them like dust,
and flying birds like sand on the seashore.
²⁸ He made the birds fall down inside their camp,
    all around their dwellings.
²⁹ Then they ate until they had more than enough,
for he had brought them what they craved.
³⁰ They had not yet turned away from what they craved.
Their food was still in their mouths.
³¹ Then God’s anger rose up against them.
He killed the strongest among them.
He cut down the best young men of Israel.
³² In spite of all this, they kept sinning,
and they did not believe in his wonders.
³³ So he ended their days in frustration^[w]
and their years in terror.
³⁴ Whenever he struck them down, they would seek him.
Then they turned and sought God.
³⁵ Then they remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.
³⁶ But then they would deceive him with their mouths,
and with their tongues they would lie to him.
³⁷ Their hearts were not committed to him,
and they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he was compassionate.
He atoned for their guilt and did not destroy them.
Many times he restrained his anger,
and he did not stir up his full wrath.
³⁹ He still remembered that they were only flesh,
like a wind that goes by and does not return.
⁴⁰ How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness!
How often they grieved him in the wasteland!
⁴¹ They repeatedly put God to the test.
They provoked^[x] the Holy One of Israel.

⁴² They did not remember the power of his hand—
the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
⁴³ when he displayed his signs in Egypt
and his wonders in the region of Zoan,
⁴⁴ when he turned their rivers to blood,
so they could not drink from their streams.
⁴⁵ He sent against them a swarm of flies that bit them.
Then he sent frogs that destroyed them.
⁴⁶ Then he gave their crops to the grasshopper.
He gave what they worked for to the locust.
⁴⁷ He killed their grapevines with hail,
and their sycamore fig trees with sleet.
⁴⁸ Then he turned over their cattle to hail,
and their livestock to lightning bolts.
⁴⁹ He sent against them his burning anger,
his wrath and indignation and distress
    by sending destroying angels.^[y]
50 He prepared a path for his anger.
He did not spare their lives from death,
but he delivered their lives to the plague.
⁵¹ Then he struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruit of their virility in the tents of Ham.
⁵² But he led his people out like sheep.
He led them like a flock through the wilderness.
⁵³ Then he guided them safely, so they were not afraid,
but the sea covered their enemies.

⁵⁴ Then he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to this mountain which his right hand had taken.
⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them.
He marked the boundaries of their inheritance,
and he settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶ But they tested him.
They rebelled against God Most High,
and they did not keep his testimonies.
⁵⁷ Yes, they turned aside and were treacherous like their fathers.
They were as undependable as a crooked bow.
⁵⁸ Then they angered him with their high places,
and they made him jealous with their idols.

⁵⁹ God heard, and he showed his anger.
He completely rejected Israel.
⁶⁰ So he abandoned his dwelling in Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelled among people.
⁶¹ So he sent the symbol of his strength^[z] away into captivity.
He gave his splendor into the hand of the foe.
⁶² He also handed over his people to the sword,
and he showed his anger against his possession.
⁶³ Fire consumed their best young men,
so their virgins were not praised in wedding songs.
⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows did not weep.

⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke like someone who has been sleeping,
like a warrior overcome by wine.
⁶⁶ Then he drove back his foes.
He gave them everlasting shame.
⁶⁷ Then he rejected the tent of Joseph,
and he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
⁶⁸ But he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loved.
⁶⁹ Then he built up his sanctuary like the heights,
like the world that he established for all time.
⁷⁰ Then he chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens.
⁷¹ He brought him from following the mother sheep
    to shepherd his people Jacob
    and his possession Israel.
⁷² So he shepherded them with a sincere heart,
and with skillful hands he led them.

¹ God, the nations have invaded your possession.
They have profaned your holy temple.
They have reduced Jerusalem to a heap of ruins.
² They have left the corpses of your servants
    as food for the birds of the sky.
They have given the flesh of your favored ones to the wild animals.
³ They have poured out their blood like water all over Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury them.
⁴ We are subjected to contempt by our neighbors,
to mockery and ridicule by those around us.

⁵ How long, O Lord? Will you stay angry forever?
How long will your jealous anger burn like fire?
⁶ Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms that do not call on your name,
⁷ because they have devoured Jacob,
and they have destroyed his pastureland.^[aa]
8 Do not charge the guilt of our fathers against us.
Hurry, let your compassion come to meet us,
for we are very weak.
⁹ God, who saves us, help us for the glory of your name.
Deliver us and make atonement for our sins for your name’s sake.
¹⁰ Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Before our very eyes, display to the nations
    vengeance for the poured-out blood of your servants.
¹¹ May the groaning of the prisoner come before you.
According to the great strength of your arm
    preserve those doomed to death.
¹² Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times as much scorn
    as the scorn that they directed at you, Lord.
¹³ Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will praise you forever.
From generation to generation we will recount your praise.

¹ O Shepherd of Israel, give ear,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are seated above the cherubim, shine forth.
² Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might.
Come with salvation for us.

³ God, restore us, and make your face shine,
    so we will be saved.

⁴ Lord God of Armies, how long will your anger smoke
    against the prayer of your people?
⁵ You make them eat bread with tears,
and you make them drink tears by the quart.^[ad]
6 You create strife between us and our neighbors,
so our enemies join together in mocking us.

⁷ God of Armies, restore us, and make your face shine,
    so we will be saved.

⁸ You brought a vine out from Egypt.
You drove out the nations, and you planted it.
⁹ You cleared a place for it,
and it took root and filled the land.
¹⁰ The mountains were covered by its shade,
the cedars of God with its branches.
¹¹ It sent out its boughs to the Sea,^[ae]
its shoots as far as the River.^[af]

¹² Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its fruit?
¹³ A wild boar from the forest tears it up,
and the wild animals^[ag] feed on it.

¹⁴ God of Armies, return now!
Look down from heaven and see,
and take care of this vine,
¹⁵ the shoot that your right hand has planted,
the son that you made strong for yourself.
¹⁶ It is burned with fire like garbage.^[ah]
Because of the rebuke from your face they perish.
¹⁷ Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
on the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself.^[ai]
18 Then we will not turn away from you.
Cause us to live, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹ Lord God of Armies, restore us, and make your face shine,
    so we will be saved.

¹ Sing a loud song to God, our strength.
Shout to the God of Jacob!
² Begin the music, and play the hand drum.
Play the sweet-sounding lyre along with the harp.
³ Sound the ram’s horn at the new moon
and at the full moon for our festival day.
⁴ Yes, this is an order for Israel,
a regulation from the God of Jacob.
⁵ God established it as a testimony for Joseph
when he went out against the land of Egypt.
There I heard a language I did not know.^[ak]

⁶ The Lord says:
I relieved Israel’s shoulders from the burden.
His hands were set free from carrying buckets.
⁷ In distress you called and I rescued you.
I answered you from the hiding place of thunder. Interlude
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
⁸ Listen, my people, and I will warn you.
If only you would listen to me, Israel!
⁹ There shall be no foreign god among you!
You shall not bow down to a strange god.
¹⁰ I am the Lord your God,
    who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
¹¹ But my people would not listen to my voice,
and Israel was not willing to obey me.
¹² So I sent them off in the stubbornness of their hearts.
They walked according to their own plans.

¹ God is standing in the assembly of God.
In the midst of the gods^[al] he renders judgment.

² How long will you judge unjustly Interlude
and show favoritism to the wicked?
³ Judge in favor of the weak and the fatherless.
Acquit the oppressed and the poor.
⁴ Rescue the weak and the needy.
Deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
⁵ They do not know. They do not understand.
They walk around in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
⁶ I myself said, “You are ‘gods,’
and you are all ‘sons of the Most High.’
⁷ But you will die like men.
You will fall like any other ruler.”

⁸ Rise up, O God. Judge the earth,
for you will take possession of all the nations.

¹ God, do not keep silent.
Do not be deaf. Do not be quiet, God.

² Look! Your enemies are in an uproar,
and those who hate you have raised their head.
³ Against your people they devise deceptive schemes,
and they plot together against the people you treasure.
⁴ They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation,
so the name of Israel will not be remembered anymore.”
⁵ Indeed, with one mind they plot together.
They form an alliance against you—
⁶ the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
⁷ Gebal^[am] and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
⁸ Even Ashshur has joined with them. Interlude
They have become the arm of the sons of Lot.^[an]

⁹ Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the stream Kishon.
¹⁰ They perished at Endor.
They became like manure for the ground.
¹¹ Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
¹² who said, “Let us take possession of God’s pastures for ourselves.”
¹³ My God, make them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind.
¹⁴ As fire burns the forest,
or as a flame sets the mountains on fire,
¹⁵ so pursue them with your violent wind,
and terrify them with your storm.
¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame
so that they will seek your name, O Lord.
¹⁷ May they be ashamed and terrified forever.
May they be disgraced and perish.
¹⁸ Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord,
you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

¹ How I love your dwelling place, O Lord of Armies.
² My soul grows weak and even wastes away,
as I long for the courtyards of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
³ Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow has found a nest for herself,
where she may place her young near your altars,
O Lord of Armies, my King and my God.

⁴ How blessed are those who live in your house. Interlude
They are always praising you.
⁵ How blessed is everyone whose strength is found in you.
The highways to Jerusalem^[aq] are in their hearts.
⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baca,^[ar]
    it becomes full of springs.^[as]
The autumn rain also covers it with pools.^[at]
7 They go from strength to strength.
Each one will appear before God in Zion.

⁸ O Lord, God of Armies, hear my prayer. Interlude
Give ear, O God of Jacob.
⁹ Look upon our Shield, O God.
Look with favor on the face of your Anointed One.^[au]

¹⁰ Yes, one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather wait at the doorway of the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
¹¹ For the Lord is a sun and shield.
God gives grace and glory.
The Lord does not withhold any good thing
    from those who walk with integrity.
¹² O Lord of Armies, how blessed is everyone who trusts in you.

¹ You showed favor to your land, O Lord.
You restored Jacob.
² You removed the guilt of your people. Interlude
You covered all their sin.
³ You put away all your wrath.
You turned from your burning anger.

⁴ Restore us, O God who saves us.
Put an end to your indignation with us.
⁵ Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you extend your anger through all generations?
⁶ Will you not turn and revive us,
so that your people may rejoice in you?

⁷ Show us your mercy, O Lord,
and give us your salvation.
⁸ I will hear what the true God, the Lord, will say.
He indeed speaks peace to his people, to his favored ones,
but do not let them turn to foolish ways.
⁹ Surely his salvation is near for those who fear him,
so that glory may dwell in our land.
¹⁰ Mercy and truth meet together.
Righteousness and peace kiss each other.
¹¹ Truth springs up from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
¹² The Lord will indeed give good things,
and our land will yield its harvest.
¹³ Righteousness walks in front of him.
It prepares the way for his footsteps.

¹ Turn your ear, O Lord.
Answer me, for I am poor and needy.
² Guard my life, for I am favored by you.^[av]
You are my God.
Save your servant, who trusts in you.
³ Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
⁴ Bring joy to the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

⁵ Indeed, you, Lord, are good and forgiving
and abounding in mercy to all who call to you.
⁶ Give ear to my prayer, O Lord.
Pay attention to the sound of my cries for mercy.

⁷ In the day of my distress I will call to you,
    because you will answer me.
⁸ There is no one like you among the gods, O Lord.
There are no deeds like your deeds.
⁹ All the nations you have made will come.
They will bow before you, O Lord,
and they will give glory to your name,
¹⁰ because you are great and do marvelous deeds.
You alone are God.

¹¹ Teach me your way, O Lord.
I will walk in your truth.
Give me wholehearted commitment to fear your name.
¹² I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
¹³ For great is your mercy toward me,
and you have delivered my soul from “the lowest hell.”^[aw]

¹⁴ God, the arrogant rise against me.
A mob of ruthless men seeks my life.
They pay no attention to you.
¹⁵ But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy and faithfulness.
¹⁶ Turn to me and have mercy on me.
Give your strength to your servant.
Save the son of your maidservant.
¹⁷ Give a sign of your goodness for me.
Then those who hate me will see it and be put to shame,
because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

¹ The city he founded is on the holy mountains.
² The Lord loves the gates of Zion
    more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. Interlude
³ Glorious things are spoken about you, O City of God.

⁴ I will register Rahab^[ax] and Babylon among those who know me.
Look! Philistia and Tyre are there, along with Cush!
Of them I say, “This one was born there in Zion.”^[ay]
5 And about Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.”
⁶ When he registers the peoples,
the Lord will write: Interlude
“This one was born there.”
⁷ Then the singers, as they dance, will sing,
“All my springs are in you.”

¹ O Lord, the God who saves me, by day I cry out.
At night I cry before you.
² May my prayer come before you.
Turn your ear to my cry.

³ Indeed, my soul has had its fill of troubles,
and my life has arrived at the grave.
⁴ I am treated like those who go down to the pit.
I am like someone without strength.
⁵ I am turned loose with the dead.
I am like the slain who lie in the grave,
like the ones you do not remember anymore,
like those who are cut off from your hand.
⁶ You have put me in the lowest pit,
in dark places, in the depths.
⁷ Your wrath presses against me. Interlude
You have battered me with all your breakers.
⁸ You have distanced my acquaintances from me.
You have made me repulsive to them.
I am shut in and I cannot get out.
⁹ My eyesight grows dim from affliction.

¹⁰ Is it for the dead that you do a miracle? Interlude
Do the spirits of the dead rise up and praise you?
¹¹ Is your mercy declared in the tomb,
your faithfulness in decay?
¹² Is your wonderful work known in the darkness?
Is your righteousness known in the land of forgetfulness?
¹³ But I cry to you, O Lord,
and in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ Why, O Lord, do you reject my soul?
Why do you hide your face from me?
¹⁵ I have been afflicted
and I have been close to death since my youth.
I have endured your terrors.
I am in despair.
¹⁶ Your rage has swept over me.
Your terrors have destroyed me.
¹⁷ All day long they surround me like water.
They have battered me completely.
¹⁸ You have distanced my loved one and friend from me.
My only friend is darkness.

¹ I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.
With my mouth I will make your faithfulness known
    through all generations.
² Yes, I have said, “Your mercy is built to last forever.
In the heavens you establish your faithfulness.”

³ The Lord said,^[bb]
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one.
I have sworn to David my servant.
⁴ I will establish your seed^[bc] forever, Interlude
and I will build your throne through all generations.”

⁵ The heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
also your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
⁶ For who in the skies can compare with the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the sons of God?
⁷ God is revered in the council of the holy ones.
He is to be feared more than all who surround him.
⁸ O Lord God of Armies, who is like you?
You are mighty, O Lord,^[bd]
and your faithfulness surrounds you.
⁹ You rule over the majestic sea.
When its waves rise up, you quiet them.
¹⁰ You crushed Rahab^[be] like one of the slain.
With your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
¹¹ The heavens are yours, and yours also is the earth.
You founded the world and everything that fills it.
¹² You created the north and the south.
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at your name.
¹³ Your arm works for you with power.
Your hand is strong. Your right hand is raised high.