Chronological

^2 (1) Adonai, how many enemies I have!
How countless are those attacking me;
^3 (2) how countless those who say of me,
“There is no salvation for him in God.” (Selah)

^4 (3) But you, Adonai, are a shield for me;
you are my glory, you lift my head high.
^5 (4) With my voice I call out to Adonai,
and he answers me from his holy hill. (Selah)

^6 (5) I lie down and sleep, then wake up again,
because Adonai sustains me.
^7 (6) I am not afraid of the tens of thousands
set against me on every side.
^8 (7) Rise up, Adonai!
Save me, my God!
For you slap all my enemies in the face,
you smash the teeth of the wicked.
^9 (8) Victory comes from Adonai;
may your blessing rest on your people. (Selah)

4 ⁽⁰⁾ For the leader. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David:

^2 (1) O God, my vindicator!
Answer me when I call!
When I was distressed, you set me free;
now have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

^3 (2) Men of rank, how long will you shame my honor,
love what is vain, chase after lies? (Selah)
^4 (3) Understand that Adonai sets apart
the godly person for himself;
Adonai will hear when I call to him.
^5 (4) You can be angry, but do not sin!
Think about this as you lie in bed,
and calm down. (Selah)
^6 (5) Offer sacrifices rightly,
and put your trust in Adonai.

^7 (6) Many ask, “Who can show us some good?”
Adonai, lift the light of your face over us!
^8 (7) You have filled my heart with more joy
than all their grain and new wine.
^9 (8) I will lie down and sleep in peace;
for, Adonai, you alone make me live securely.

12 ⁽⁰⁾ For the leader. On sh’minit [low-pitched musical instruments?]. A psalm of David:

^2 (1) Help, Adonai! For no one godly is left;
the faithful have vanished from humankind.
^3 (2) They all tell lies to each other,
flattering with their lips, but speaking from divided hearts.

^4 (3) May Adonai cut off all flattering lips
and the tongue that speaks so proudly,
^5 (4) those who say, “By our tongues, we will prevail;
our lips are with us. Who can master us?”
^6 (5) “Because the poor are oppressed,
because the needy are groaning,
I will now rise up,” says Adonai,
“and grant security to those whom they scorn.”
^7 (6) The words of Adonai are pure words,
silver in a melting-pot set in the earth,
refined and purified seven times over.

^8 (7) You, Adonai, protect us;
guard us forever from this generation —
^9 (8) the wicked strut about everywhere
when vileness is held in general esteem.

13 ⁽⁰⁾ For the leader. A psalm of David:

^2 (1) How long, Adonai?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
^3 (2) How long must I keep asking myself what to do,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long must my enemy dominate me?

^4 (3) Look, and answer me, Adonai my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death.
^5 (4) Then my enemy would say, “I was able to beat him”;
and my adversaries would rejoice at my downfall.

^6 (5) But I trust in your grace,
my heart rejoices as you bring me to safety.
⁽⁶⁾ I will sing to Adonai, because he gives me
even more than I need.

⁽¹⁾ Adonai, I am calling to you;
my Rock, don’t be deaf to my cry.
For if you answer me with silence,
I will be like those who fall in a pit.
² Hear the sound of my prayers
when I cry to you,
when I lift my hands
toward your holy sanctuary.

³ Don’t drag me off with the wicked,
with those whose deeds are evil;
they speak words of peace to their fellowmen,
but evil is in their hearts.
⁴ Pay them back for their deeds,
as befits their evil acts;
repay them for what they have done,
give them what they deserve.
⁵ For they don’t understand the deeds of Adonai
or what he has done.
He will break them down;
he will not build them up.

⁶ Blessed be Adonai,
for he heard my voice as I prayed for mercy.
⁷ Adonai is my strength and shield;
in him my heart trusted, and I have been helped.
Therefore my heart is filled with joy,
and I will sing praises to him.

⁸ Adonai is strength for [his people],
a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.
⁹ Save your people! Bless your heritage!
Shepherd them, and carry them forever!

^2 (1) Listen, God, to my prayer!
Don’t hide yourself from my plea!
^3 (2) Pay attention to me, and answer me!

I am panic-stricken as I make my complaint,
I shudder ^4 (3) at how the enemy shouts,
at how the wicked oppress;
for they keep heaping trouble on me
and angrily tormenting me.
^5 (4) My heart within me is pounding in anguish,
the terrors of death press down on me,
^6 (5) fear and trembling overwhelm me,
horror covers me.

^7 (6) I said, “I wish I had wings like a dove!
Then I could fly away and be at rest.
^8 (7) Yes, I would flee to a place far off,
I would stay in the desert. (Selah)
^9 (8) I would quickly find me a shelter
from the raging wind and storm.”

^10 (9) Confuse, Adonai, confound their speech!
For I see violence and fighting in the city.
^11 (10) Day and night they go about its walls;
within are malice and mischief.
^12 (11) Ruin is rife within it,
oppression and fraud never leave its streets.

^13 (12) For it was not an enemy who insulted me;
if it had been, I could have borne it.
It was not my adversary who treated me with scorn;
if it had been, I could have hidden myself.
^14 (13) But it was you, a man of my own kind,
my companion, whom I knew well.

^15 (14) We used to share our hearts with each other;
in the house of God we walked with the crowd.

^16 (15) May he put death on them;
let them go down alive to Sh’ol;
for evil is in their homes
and also in their hearts.

^17 (16) But I will call on God,
and Adonai will save me.
^18 (17) Evening, morning and noon I complain
and moan; but he hears my voice.
^19 (18) He redeems me and gives me peace,
so that no one can come near me.
For there were many who fought me.
^20 (19) God will hear and will humble them,
yes, he who has sat on his throne from the start. (Selah)
For they never change,
and they don’t fear God.

^21 (20) [My companion] attacked those
who were at peace with him;
he broke his solemn word.
^22 (21) What he said sounded smoother than butter,
but his heart was at war.
His words seemed more soothing than oil,
but in fact they were sharp swords.

^23 (22) Unload your burden on Adonai,
and he will sustain you.
He will never permit
the righteous to be moved.

^24 (23) But you will bring them down, God,
into the deepest pit.
Those men, so bloodthirsty and treacherous,
will not live out half their days.

But for my part, [Adonai,]
I put my trust in you.