Remember your word to your servant,
  in which you have made me hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction,
  that your promise gives me life.
The insolent utterly deride me,
  but I do not turn away from your law.
When I think of your rules from of old,
  I take comfort, O LORD.
Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,
  who forsake your law.
Your statutes have been my songs
  in the house of my sojourning.
I remember your name in the night, O LORD,
  and keep your law.
This blessing has fallen to me,
  that I have kept your precepts.

The LORD is my portion;
  I promise to keep your words.
I entreat your favor with all my heart;
  be gracious to me according to your promise.
When I think on my ways,
  I turn my feet to your testimonies;
I hasten and do not delay
  to keep your commandments.
Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,
  I do not forget your law.
At midnight I rise to praise you,
  because of your righteous rules.
I am a companion of all who fear you,
  of those who keep your precepts.
The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love;
  teach me your statutes!

You have dealt well with your servant,
  O LORD, according to your word.
Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
  for I believe in your commandments.
Before I was afflicted I went astray,
  but now I keep your word.
You are good and do good;
  teach me your statutes.
The insolent smear me with lies,
  but with my whole heart I keep your precepts;
their heart is unfeeling like fat,
  but I delight in your law.
It is good for me that I was afflicted,
  that I might learn your statutes.
The law of your mouth is better to me
  than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

49:1 Hear this, all peoples!
  Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
both low and high,
  rich and poor together!
My mouth shall speak wisdom;
  the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
I will incline my ear to a proverb;
  I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.

Why should I fear in times of trouble,
  when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
those who trust in their wealth
  and boast of the abundance of their riches?
Truly no man can ransom another,
  or give to God the price of his life,
for the ransom of their life is costly
  and can never suffice,
that he should live on forever
  and never see the pit.

For he sees that even the wise die;
  the fool and the stupid alike must perish
  and leave their wealth to others.
Their graves are their homes forever,
  their dwelling places to all generations,
  though they called lands by their own names.
Man in his pomp will not remain;
  he is like the beasts that perish.

This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;
  yet after them people approve of their boasts.     Selah
Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
  death shall be their shepherd,
and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
  Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
  for he will receive me.     Selah

Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,
  when the glory of his house increases.
For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
  his glory will not go down after him.
For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed
  —and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,
  who will never again see light.
Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

53:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
  They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
  there is none who does good.

God looks down from heaven
  on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
  who seek after God.

They have all fallen away;
  together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
  not even one.

Have those who work evil no knowledge,
  who eat up my people as they eat bread,
  and do not call upon God?

There they are, in great terror,
  where there is no terror!
For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
  you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
  When God restores the fortunes of his people,
  let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

30:1 “But now they laugh at me,
  men who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
  to set with the dogs of my flock.
What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
  men whose vigor is gone?

“And now my soul is poured out within me;
  days of affliction have taken hold of me.
The night racks my bones,
  and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
With great force my garment is disfigured;
  it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
God has cast me into the mire,
  and I have become like dust and ashes.
I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
  I stand, and you only look at me.
You have turned cruel to me;
  with the might of your hand you persecute me.
You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
  and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
For I know that you will bring me to death
  and to the house appointed for all living.

“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
  and in his disaster cry for help?
Did not I weep for him whose day was hard?
  Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
But when I hoped for good, evil came,
  and when I waited for light, darkness came.
My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
  days of affliction come to meet me.
I go about darkened, but not by the sun;
  I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
I am a brother of jackals
  and a companion of ostriches.
My skin turns black and falls from me,
  and my bones burn with heat.
My lyre is turned to mourning,
  and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

45:1 My heart overflows with a pleasing theme;
  I address my verses to the king;
  my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

You are the most handsome of the sons of men;
  grace is poured upon your lips;
  therefore God has blessed you forever.
Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
  in your splendor and majesty!

In your majesty ride out victoriously
  for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;
  let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!
Your arrows are sharp
  in the heart of the king's enemies;
  the peoples fall under you.

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
  The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
  you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
  with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
  your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;
  daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
  at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:
  forget your people and your father's house,
  and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him.
  The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,
  the richest of the people.

All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.
  In many-colored robes she is led to the king,
  with her virgin companions following behind her.
With joy and gladness they are led along
  as they enter the palace of the king.

In place of your fathers shall be your sons;
  you will make them princes in all the earth.
I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
  therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.

47:1 Clap your hands, all peoples!
  Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
  a great king over all the earth.
He subdued peoples under us,
  and nations under our feet.
He chose our heritage for us,
  the pride of Jacob whom he loves.     Selah

God has gone up with a shout,
  the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises!
  Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
For God is the King of all the earth;
  sing praises with a psalm!

God reigns over the nations;
  God sits on his holy throne.
The princes of the peoples gather
  as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
  he is highly exalted!

48:1 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised
  in the city of our God!
His holy mountain, 2 beautiful in elevation,
  is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
  the city of the great King.
Within her citadels God
  has made himself known as a fortress.

For behold, the kings assembled;
  they came on together.
As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
  they were in panic; they took to flight.
Trembling took hold of them there,
  anguish as of a woman in labor.
By the east wind you shattered
  the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard, so have we seen
  in the city of the LORD of hosts,
in the city of our God,
  which God will establish forever.     Selah

We have thought on your steadfast love, O God,
  in the midst of your temple.
As your name, O God,
  so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
  Let Mount Zion be glad!
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice
  because of your judgments!

Walk about Zion, go around her,
  number her towers,
consider well her ramparts,
  go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
  that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
  He will guide us forever.

“Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
  as in the days when God watched over me,
when his lamp shone upon my head,
  and by his light I walked through darkness,
as I was in my prime,
  when the friendship of God was upon my tent,
when the Almighty was yet with me,
  when my children were all around me,
when my steps were washed with butter,
  and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
When I went out to the gate of the city,
  when I prepared my seat in the square,
the young men saw me and withdrew,
  and the aged rose and stood;
the princes refrained from talking
  and laid their hand on their mouth;
the voice of the nobles was hushed,
  and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
  and when the eye saw, it approved,
because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
  and the fatherless who had none to help him.
The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
  and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
  my justice was like a robe and a turban.
I was eyes to the blind
  and feet to the lame.
I was a father to the needy,
  and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
  and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
  and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
my roots spread out to the waters,
  with the dew all night on my branches,
my glory fresh with me,
  and my bow ever new in my hand.’

41:1 Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
  In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him;
the LORD protects him and keeps him alive;
  he is called blessed in the land;
  you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
The LORD sustains him on his sickbed;
  in his illness you restore him to full health.

As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me;
  heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
My enemies say of me in malice,
  “When will he die, and his name perish?”
And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,
  while his heart gathers iniquity;
  when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
All who hate me whisper together about me;
  they imagine the worst for me.

They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him;
  he will not rise again from where he lies.”
Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
  who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
But you, O LORD, be gracious to me,
  and raise me up, that I may repay them!

By this I know that you delight in me:
  my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
  and set me in your presence forever.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
  from everlasting to everlasting!
     Amen and Amen.

52:1 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
  The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
Your tongue plots destruction,
  like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
You love evil more than good,
  and lying more than speaking what is right.     Selah
You love all words that devour,
  O deceitful tongue.

But God will break you down forever;
  he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
  he will uproot you from the land of the living.     Selah
The righteous shall see and fear,
  and shall laugh at him, saying,
“See the man who would not make
  God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
  and sought refuge in his own destruction!”

But I am like a green olive tree
  in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
  forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
  because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
  in the presence of the godly.

44:1 O God, we have heard with our ears,
  our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
  in the days of old:
you with your own hand drove out the nations,
  but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
  but them you set free;
for not by their own sword did they win the land,
  nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
  and the light of your face,
  for you delighted in them.

You are my King, O God;
  ordain salvation for Jacob!
Through you we push down our foes;
  through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.
For not in my bow do I trust,
  nor can my sword save me.
But you have saved us from our foes
  and have put to shame those who hate us.
In God we have boasted continually,
  and we will give thanks to your name forever.     Selah

But you have rejected us and disgraced us
  and have not gone out with our armies.
You have made us turn back from the foe,
  and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
You have made us like sheep for slaughter
  and have scattered us among the nations.
You have sold your people for a trifle,
  demanding no high price for them.
You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
  the derision and scorn of those around us.
You have made us a byword among the nations,
  a laughingstock among the peoples.
All day long my disgrace is before me,
  and shame has covered my face
at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
  at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.

All this has come upon us,
  though we have not forgotten you,
  and we have not been false to your covenant.
Our heart has not turned back,
  nor have our steps departed from your way;
yet you have broken us in the place of jackals
  and covered us with the shadow of death.
If we had forgotten the name of our God
  or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
would not God discover this?
  For he knows the secrets of the heart.
Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
  we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
  Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
Why do you hide your face?
  Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
  our belly clings to the ground.
Rise up; come to our help!
  Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

“I am young in years,
  and you are aged;
therefore I was timid and afraid
  to declare my opinion to you.
I said, ‘Let days speak,
  and many years teach wisdom.’
But it is the spirit in man,
  the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.
It is not the old who are wise,
  nor the aged who understand what is right.
Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;
  let me also declare my opinion.’

Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent;
  like new wineskins ready to burst.
I must speak, that I may find relief;
  I must open my lips and answer.
I will not show partiality to any man
  or use flattery toward any person.
For I do not know how to flatter,
  else my Maker would soon take me away.

33:1 “But now, hear my speech, O Job,
  and listen to all my words.

“Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed
  and with continual strife in his bones,
so that his life loathes bread,
  and his appetite the choicest food.
His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen,
  and his bones that were not seen stick out.
His soul draws near the pit,
  and his life to those who bring death.
If there be for him an angel,
  a mediator, one of the thousand,
  to declare to man what is right for him,
and he is merciful to him, and says,
  ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit;
  I have found a ransom;
let his flesh become fresh with youth;
  let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;
then man prays to God, and he accepts him;
  he sees his face with a shout of joy,
and he restores to man his righteousness.
  He sings before men and says:
‘I sinned and perverted what was right,
  and it was not repaid to me.
He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit,
  and my life shall look upon the light.’

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
  that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

63:1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
  my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
  as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
  beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
  my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
  in your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
  and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
when I remember you upon my bed,
  and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
  and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
  your right hand upholds me.

But those who seek to destroy my life
  shall go down into the depths of the earth;
they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
  they shall be a portion for jackals.
But the king shall rejoice in God;
  all who swear by him shall exult,
  for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

103:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
  and all that is within me,
  bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
  and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
  who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
  who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
  so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The LORD works righteousness
  and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
  his acts to the people of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
  slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
  nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
  nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
  so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
  so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
  so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
  he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass;
  he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
  and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
  and his righteousness to children's children,
to those who keep his covenant
  and remember to do his commandments.
The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,
  and his kingdom rules over all.

Bless the LORD, O you his angels,
  you mighty ones who do his word,
  obeying the voice of his word!
Bless the LORD, all his hosts,
  his ministers, who do his will!
Bless the LORD, all his works,
  in all places of his dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!

“Dominion and fear are with God;
  he makes peace in his high heaven.
Is there any number to his armies?
  Upon whom does his light not arise?
How then can man be in the right before God?
  How can he who is born of woman be pure?
Behold, even the moon is not bright,
  and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
how much less man, who is a maggot,
  and the son of man, who is a worm!”

“As God lives, who has taken away my right,
  and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
as long as my breath is in me,
  and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
my lips will not speak falsehood,
  and my tongue will not utter deceit.
Far be it from me to say that you are right;
  till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;
  my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

30:1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up
  and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
  and you have healed me.
O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
  you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
  and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment,
  and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
  but joy comes with the morning.

As for me, I said in my prosperity,
  “I shall never be moved.”
By your favor, O LORD,
  you made my mountain stand strong;
you hid your face;
  I was dismayed.

To you, O LORD, I cry,
  and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
“What profit is there in my death,
  if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
  Will it tell of your faithfulness?
Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me!
  O LORD, be my helper!”

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
  you have loosed my sackcloth
  and clothed me with gladness,
that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
  O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

32:1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
  whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,
  and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
  through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
  my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.     Selah

I acknowledged my sin to you,
  and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
  and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.     Selah

Therefore let everyone who is godly
  offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
  they shall not reach him.
You are a hiding place for me;
  you preserve me from trouble;
  you surround me with shouts of deliverance.     Selah

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
  I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
  which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
  or it will not stay near you.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
  but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,
  and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

42:1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
  so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
  for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
  day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
  “Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
  as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
  and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
  a multitude keeping festival.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
  and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
  my salvation 6 and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
  therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
  from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
  at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
  have gone over me.
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
  and at night his song is with me,
  a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my rock:
  “Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
  because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As with a deadly wound in my bones,
  my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
  “Where is your God?”

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
  and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
  my salvation and my God.

43:1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
  against an ungodly people,
from the deceitful and unjust man
  deliver me!
For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
  why have you rejected me?
Why do I go about mourning
  because of the oppression of the enemy?

Send out your light and your truth;
  let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
  and to your dwelling!
Then I will go to the altar of God,
  to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
  O God, my God.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
  and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
  my salvation and my God.

“Can a man be profitable to God?
  Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,
  or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
  and enters into judgment with you?

“Agree with God, and be at peace;
  thereby good will come to you.
Receive instruction from his mouth,
  and lay up his words in your heart.
If you return to the Almighty you will be built up;
  if you remove injustice far from your tents,
if you lay gold in the dust,
  and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
then the Almighty will be your gold
  and your precious silver.
For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
  and lift up your face to God.
You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
  and you will pay your vows.
You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
  and light will shine on your ways.
For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;
  but he saves the lowly.
He delivers even the one who is not innocent,
  who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

“Today also my complaint is bitter;
  my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.
Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
  that I might come even to his seat!
I would lay my case before him
  and fill my mouth with arguments.
I would know what he would answer me
  and understand what he would say to me.
Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
  No; he would pay attention to me.
There an upright man could argue with him,
  and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

“‘You are my Son,
  today I have begotten you.’

“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

“‘Look, you scoffers,
  be astounded and perish;
for I am doing a work in your days,
  a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

31:1 In you, O LORD, do I take refuge;
  let me never be put to shame;
  in your righteousness deliver me!
Incline your ear to me;
  rescue me speedily!
Be a rock of refuge for me,
  a strong fortress to save me!

For you are my rock and my fortress;
  and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;
you take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
  for you are my refuge.
Into your hand I commit my spirit;
  you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
  but I trust in the LORD.
I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
  because you have seen my affliction;
  you have known the distress of my soul,
and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
  you have set my feet in a broad place.

Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;
  my eye is wasted from grief;
  my soul and my body also.
For my life is spent with sorrow,
  and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
  and my bones waste away.

Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,
  especially to my neighbors,
and an object of dread to my acquaintances;
  those who see me in the street flee from me.
I have been forgotten like one who is dead;
  I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many—
  terror on every side!—
as they scheme together against me,
  as they plot to take my life.

But I trust in you, O LORD;
  I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand;
  rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
Make your face shine on your servant;
  save me in your steadfast love!
O LORD, let me not be put to shame,
  for I call upon you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
  let them go silently to Sheol.
Let the lying lips be mute,
  which speak insolently against the righteous
  in pride and contempt.

Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
  which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
  in the sight of the children of mankind!
In the cover of your presence you hide them
  from the plots of men;
you store them in your shelter
  from the strife of tongues.

Blessed be the LORD,
  for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
  when I was in a besieged city.
I had said in my alarm,
  “I am cut off from your sight.”
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
  when I cried to you for help.

Love the LORD, all you his saints!
  The LORD preserves the faithful
  but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
  all you who wait for the LORD!

35:1 Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
  fight against those who fight against me!
Take hold of shield and buckler
  and rise for my help!
Draw the spear and javelin
  against my pursuers!
Say to my soul,
  “I am your salvation!”

Let them be put to shame and dishonor
  who seek after my life!
Let them be turned back and disappointed
  who devise evil against me!
Let them be like chaff before the wind,
  with the angel of the LORD driving them away!
Let their way be dark and slippery,
  with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!

For without cause they hid their net for me;
  without cause they dug a pit for my life.
Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
  let him fall into it—to his destruction!

Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD,
  exulting in his salvation.
All my bones shall say,
  “O LORD, who is like you,
delivering the poor
  from him who is too strong for him,
  the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

Malicious witnesses rise up;
  they ask me of things that I do not know.
They repay me evil for good;
  my soul is bereft.
But I, when they were sick—
  I wore sackcloth;
  I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
  I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
  I bowed down in mourning.

But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
  they gathered together against me;
wretches whom I did not know
  tore at me without ceasing;
like profane mockers at a feast,
  they gnash at me with their teeth.

How long, O Lord, will you look on?
  Rescue me from their destruction,
  my precious life from the lions!
I will thank you in the great congregation;
  in the mighty throng I will praise you.

Let not those rejoice over me
  who are wrongfully my foes,
and let not those wink the eye
  who hate me without cause.
For they do not speak peace,
  but against those who are quiet in the land
  they devise words of deceit.
They open wide their mouths against me;
  they say, “Aha, Aha!
  Our eyes have seen it!”

You have seen, O LORD; be not silent!
  O Lord, be not far from me!
Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication,
  for my cause, my God and my Lord!
Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,
  according to your righteousness,
  and let them not rejoice over me!
Let them not say in their hearts,
  “Aha, our heart's desire!”
Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”

Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether
  who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
  who magnify themselves against me!

Let those who delight in my righteousness
  shout for joy and be glad
  and say evermore,
“Great is the LORD,
  who delights in the welfare of his servant!”
Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
  and of your praise all the day long.

“How long will you torment me
  and break me in pieces with words?
These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
  are you not ashamed to wrong me?
And even if it be true that I have erred,
  my error remains with myself.
If indeed you magnify yourselves against me
  and make my disgrace an argument against me,
know then that God has put me in the wrong
  and closed his net about me.
Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
  I call for help, but there is no justice.

My relatives have failed me,
  my close friends have forgotten me.
The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
  I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
  I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
My breath is strange to my wife,
  and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
Even young children despise me;
  when I rise they talk against me.
All my intimate friends abhor me,
  and those whom I loved have turned against me.
My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
  and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
  for the hand of God has touched me!
Why do you, like God, pursue me?
  Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

“Oh that my words were written!
  Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
Oh that with an iron pen and lead
  they were engraved in the rock forever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
  and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
  yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
  and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
  My heart faints within me!

37:1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
  be not envious of wrongdoers!
For they will soon fade like the grass
  and wither like the green herb.

Trust in the LORD, and do good;
  dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD,
  and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD;
  trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
  and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
  fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
  over the man who carries out evil devices!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
  Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
  but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
  though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
  and delight themselves in abundant peace.

The wicked plots against the righteous
  and gnashes his teeth at him,
but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
  for he sees that his day is coming.

The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows
  to bring down the poor and needy,
  to slay those whose way is upright;
their sword shall enter their own heart,
  and their bows shall be broken.

Better is the little that the righteous has
  than the abundance of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
  but the LORD upholds the righteous.

The LORD knows the days of the blameless,
  and their heritage will remain forever;

they are not put to shame in evil times;
  in the days of famine they have abundance.

But the wicked will perish;
  the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures;
  they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
  but the righteous is generous and gives;
for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land,
  but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

The steps of a man are established by the LORD,
  when he delights in his way;
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
  for the LORD upholds his hand.

I have been young, and now am old,
  yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
  or his children begging for bread.
He is ever lending generously,
  and his children become a blessing.

Turn away from evil and do good;
  so shall you dwell forever.
For the LORD loves justice;
  he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
  but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land
  and dwell upon it forever.

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
  and his tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in his heart;
  his steps do not slip.

The wicked watches for the righteous
  and seeks to put him to death.
The LORD will not abandon him to his power
  or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.

Wait for the LORD and keep his way,
  and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
  you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
  spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
But he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
  though I sought him, he could not be found.

Mark the blameless and behold the upright,
  for there is a future for the man of peace.
But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
  the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;
  he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
The LORD helps them and delivers them;
  he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
  because they take refuge in him.

My face is red with weeping,
  and on my eyelids is deep darkness,
although there is no violence in my hands,
  and my prayer is pure.

“O earth, cover not my blood,
  and let my cry find no resting place.
Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
  and he who testifies for me is on high.
My friends scorn me;
  my eye pours out tears to God,
that he would argue the case of a man with God,
  as a son of man does with his neighbor.
For when a few years have come
  I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

17:1 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct;
  the graveyard is ready for me.

If I hope for Sheol as my house,
  if I make my bed in darkness,
if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
  and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
where then is my hope?
  Who will see my hope?
Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
  Shall we descend together into the dust?”