Chronological

¹ I look up toward the mountains.
    Where can I find help?
² My help comes from Yahweh,
    the maker of heaven and earth.
³ He will not let you fall.
    Your guardian will not fall asleep.
⁴ Indeed, the Guardian of Israel never rests or sleeps.
⁵ Yahweh is your guardian.
    Yahweh is the shade over your right hand.
⁶ The sun will not beat down on you during the day,
    nor will the moon at night.
⁷ Yahweh guards you from every evil.
    He guards your life.
⁸ Yahweh guards you as you come and go,
    now and forever.

¹ I look up to you,
    to the one who sits enthroned in heaven.
² As servants depend on their masters,
    as a maid depends on her mistress,
    so we depend on Yahweh our Elohim
        until he has pity on us.
³ Have pity on us, O Yahweh.
    Have pity on us
    because we have suffered more than our share of contempt.
⁴ We have suffered more than our share of ridicule
    from those who are carefree.
    We have suffered more than our share of contempt
    from those who are arrogant.

¹ “If Yahweh had not been on our side . . .”
    (Israel should repeat this.)
² “If Yahweh had not been on our side when people attacked us,
³ then they would have swallowed us alive
    when their anger exploded against us.
⁴ Then the floodwaters would have swept us away.
    An overflowing stream would have washed us away.
⁵ Then raging water would have washed us away.”

¹ Those who trust Yahweh are like Mount Zion,
    which can never be shaken.
        It remains firm forever.
² As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
    so Yahweh surrounds his people now and forever.

¹ Blessed are all who fear Yahweh
    and live his way.

¹ “From the time I was young, people have attacked me . . .”
    (Israel should repeat this.)
² “From the time I was young, people have attacked me,
    but they have never overpowered me.
³         They have plowed my back like farmers plow fields.
        They made long slashes like furrows.”
⁴ Yahweh is righteous.
    He has cut me loose
        from the ropes that wicked people tied around me.
⁵ Put to shame all those who hate Zion.
    Force them to retreat.
⁶ Make them be like grass on a roof,
    like grass that dries up before it produces a stalk.
⁷         It will never fill the barns of those who harvest
            or the arms of those who gather bundles.
⁸ Those who pass by will never say to them,
    “May you be blessed by Yahweh”
    or “We bless you in the name of Yahweh.”

¹ O Yahweh, out of the depths I call to you.
² O Adonay, hear my voice.
    Let your ears be open to my pleas for mercy.
³ O Yahweh, who would be able to stand
    if you kept a record of sins?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness
    so that you can be feared.
⁵ I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits,
    and with hope I wait for his word.
⁶ My soul waits for Adonay
    more than those who watch for the morning,
    more than those who watch for the morning.
⁷ O Israel, put your hope in Yahweh,
    because with Yahweh there is mercy
        and with him there is unlimited forgiveness.
⁸             He will rescue Israel from all its sins.