The Holy Bible

[52:1] Why do you boast, great one, of your evil? God's faithfulness is eternal.

[52:2] You make plans to ruin others; your tongue is like a sharp razor. You are always inventing lies.

[52:3] You love evil more than good and falsehood more than truth.

[52:4] You love to hurt people with your words, you liar!

[52:5] So God will ruin you forever; he will take hold of you and snatch you from your home; he will remove you from the world of the living.

[52:6] Righteous people will see this and be afraid; then they will laugh at you and say,

[52:7] “Look, here is someone who did not depend on God for safety, but trusted instead in great wealth and looked for security in being wicked.”

[52:8] But I am like an olive tree growing in the house of God; I trust in his constant love forever and ever.

[52:9] I will always thank you, God, for what you have done; in the presence of your people I will proclaim that you are good.

[53:1] Fools say to themselves, “There is no God.” They are all corrupt, and they have done terrible things; there is no one who does what is right.

[53:2] God looks down from heaven at people to see if there are any who are wise, any who worship him.

[53:3] But they have all turned away; they are all equally bad. Not one of them does what is right, not a single one.

[53:4] “Don't they know?” God asks. “Are these evildoers ignorant? They live by robbing my people, and they never pray to me.”

[53:5] But then they will become terrified, as they have never been before, for God will scatter the bones of the enemies of his people. God has rejected them, and so Israel will totally defeat them.

[53:6] How I pray that victory will come to Israel from Zion. How happy the people of Israel will be when God makes them prosperous again!

[54:1] Save me by your power, O God; set me free by your might!

[54:2] Hear my prayer, O God; listen to my words!

[54:3] Proud people are coming to attack me; cruel people are trying to kill me— those who do not care about God.

[54:4] But God is my helper. The Lord is my defender.

[54:5] May God use their own evil to punish my enemies. He will destroy them because he is faithful.

[54:6] I will gladly offer you a sacrifice, O Lord; I will give you thanks because you are good.

[54:7] You have rescued me from all my troubles, and I have seen my enemies defeated.

[55:1] Hear my prayer, O God; don't turn away from my plea!

[55:2] Listen to me and answer me; I am worn out by my worries.

[55:3] I am terrified by the threats of my enemies, crushed by the oppression of the wicked. They bring trouble on me; they are angry with me and hate me.

[55:4] I am terrified, and the terrors of death crush me.

[55:5] I am gripped by fear and trembling; I am overcome with horror.

[55:6] I wish I had wings like a dove. I would fly away and find rest.

[55:7] I would fly far away and make my home in the desert.

[55:8] I would hurry and find myself a shelter from the raging wind and the storm.

[55:9] Confuse the speech of my enemies, O Lord! I see violence and riots in the city,

[55:10] surrounding it day and night, filling it with crime and trouble.

[55:11] There is destruction everywhere; the streets are full of oppression and fraud.

[55:12] If it were an enemy making fun of me, I could endure it; if it were an opponent boasting over me, I could hide myself from him.

[55:13] But it is you, my companion, my colleague and close friend.

[55:14] We had intimate talks with each other and worshiped together in the Temple.

[55:15] May my enemies die before their time; may they go down alive into the world of the dead! Evil is in their homes and in their hearts.

[55:16] But I call to the Lord God for help, and he will save me.

[55:17] Morning, noon, and night my complaints and groans go up to him, and he will hear my voice.

[55:18] He will bring me safely back from the battles that I fight against so many enemies.

[55:19] God, who has ruled from eternity, will hear me and defeat them; for they refuse to change, and they do not fear him.

[55:20] My former companion attacked his friends; he broke his promises.

[55:21] His words were smoother than cream, but there was hatred in his heart; his words were as soothing as oil, but they cut like sharp swords.

[55:22] Leave your troubles with the Lord, and he will defend you; he never lets honest people be defeated.

[55:23] But you, O God, will bring those murderers and liars to their graves before half their life is over. As for me, I will trust in you.

[56:1] Be merciful to me, O God, because I am under attack; my enemies persecute me all the time.

[56:2] All day long my opponents attack me. There are so many who fight against me.

[56:3] When I am afraid, O Lord Almighty, I put my trust in you.

[56:4] I trust in God and am not afraid; I praise him for what he has promised. What can a mere human being do to me?

[56:5] My enemies make trouble for me all day long; they are always thinking up some way to hurt me!

[56:6] They gather in hiding places and watch everything I do, hoping to kill me.

[56:7] Punish them, O God, for their evil; defeat those people in your anger!

[56:8] You know how troubled I am; you have kept a record of my tears. Aren't they listed in your book?

[56:9] The day I call to you, my enemies will be turned back. I know this: God is on my side—

[56:10] the Lord, whose promises I praise.

[56:11] In him I trust, and I will not be afraid. What can a mere human being do to me?

[56:12] O God, I will offer you what I have promised; I will give you my offering of thanksgiving,

[56:13] because you have rescued me from death and kept me from defeat. And so I walk in the presence of God, in the light that shines on the living.

[57:1] Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful, because I come to you for safety. In the shadow of your wings I find protection until the raging storms are over.

[57:2] I call to God, the Most High, to God, who supplies my every need.

[57:3] He will answer from heaven and save me; he will defeat my oppressors. God will show me his constant love and faithfulness.

[57:4] I am surrounded by enemies, who are like lions hungry for human flesh. Their teeth are like spears and arrows; their tongues are like sharp swords.

[57:5] Show your greatness in the sky, O God, and your glory over all the earth.

[57:6] My enemies have spread a net to catch me; I am overcome with distress. They dug a pit in my path, but fell into it themselves.

[57:7] I have complete confidence, O God; I will sing and praise you!

[57:8] Wake up, my soul! Wake up, my harp and lyre! I will wake up the sun.

[57:9] I will thank you, O Lord, among the nations. I will praise you among the peoples.

[57:10] Your constant love reaches the heavens; your faithfulness touches the skies.

[57:11] Show your greatness in the sky, O God, and your glory over all the earth.

[58:1] Do you rulers ever give a just decision? Do you judge everyone fairly?

[58:2] No! You think only of the evil you can do, and commit crimes of violence in the land.

[58:3] Evildoers go wrong all their lives; they tell lies from the day they are born.

[58:4] They are full of poison like snakes; they stop up their ears like a deaf cobra,

[58:5] which does not hear the voice of the snake charmer, or the chant of the clever magician.

[58:6] Break the teeth of these fierce lions, O God.

[58:7] May they disappear like water draining away; may they be crushed like weeds on a path.

[58:8] May they be like snails that dissolve into slime; may they be like a baby born dead that never sees the light.

[58:9] Before they know it, they are cut down like weeds; in his fierce anger God will blow them away while they are still living.

[58:10] The righteous will be glad when they see sinners punished; they will wade through the blood of the wicked.

[58:11] People will say, “The righteous are indeed rewarded; there is indeed a God who judges the world.”

[59:1] Save me from my enemies, my God; protect me from those who attack me!

[59:2] Save me from those evil people; rescue me from those murderers!

[59:3] Look! They are waiting to kill me; cruel people are gathering against me. It is not because of any sin or wrong I have done,

[59:4] nor because of any fault of mine, O Lord, that they hurry to their places.

[59:5] Rise, Lord God Almighty, and come to my aid; see for yourself, God of Israel! Wake up and punish the heathen; show no mercy to evil traitors!

[59:6] They come back in the evening, snarling like dogs as they go about the city.

[59:7] Listen to their insults and threats. Their tongues are like swords in their mouths, yet they think that no one hears them.

[59:8] But you laugh at them, Lord; you mock all the heathen.

[59:9] I have confidence in your strength; you are my refuge, O God.

[59:10] My God loves me and will come to me; he will let me see my enemies defeated.

[59:11] Do not kill them, O God, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your strength and defeat them, O Lord, our protector.

[59:12] Sin is on their lips; all their words are sinful; may they be caught in their pride! Because they curse and lie,

[59:13] destroy them in your anger; destroy them completely. Then everyone will know that God rules in Israel, that his rule extends over all the earth.

[59:14] My enemies come back in the evening, snarling like dogs as they go about the city,

[59:15] like dogs roaming about for food and growling if they do not find enough.

[59:16] But I will sing about your strength; every morning I will sing aloud of your constant love. You have been a refuge for me, a shelter in my time of trouble.

[59:17] I will praise you, my defender. My refuge is God, the God who loves me.

[60:1] You have rejected us, God, and defeated us; you have been angry with us—but now turn back to us.

[60:2] You have made the land tremble, and you have cut it open; now heal its wounds, because it is falling apart.

[60:3] You have made your people suffer greatly; we stagger around as though we were drunk.

[60:4] You have warned those who have reverence for you, so that they might escape destruction.

[60:5] Save us by your might; answer our prayer, so that the people you love may be rescued.

[60:6] From his sanctuary God has said, “In triumph I will divide Shechem and distribute Sukkoth Valley to my people.

[60:7] Gilead is mine, and Manasseh too; Ephraim is my helmet and Judah my royal scepter.

[60:8] But I will use Moab as my washbowl, and I will throw my sandals on Edom, as a sign that I own it. Did the Philistines think they would shout in triumph over me?”

[60:9] Who, O God, will take me into the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

[60:10] Have you really rejected us? Aren't you going to march out with our armies?

[60:11] Help us against the enemy; human help is worthless.

[60:12] With God on our side we will win; he will defeat our enemies.

[61:1] Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer!

[61:2] In despair and far from home I call to you! Take me to a safe refuge,

[61:3] for you are my protector, my strong defense against my enemies.

[61:4] Let me live in your sanctuary all my life; let me find safety under your wings.

[61:5] You have heard my promises, O God, and you have given me what belongs to those who honor you.

[61:6] Add many years to the king's life; let him live on and on!

[61:7] May he rule forever in your presence, O God; protect him with your constant love and faithfulness.

[61:8] So I will always sing praises to you, as I offer you daily what I have promised.