The Holy Bible

[5:1] Listen to my words, O Lord, and hear my sighs.

[5:2] Listen to my cry for help, my God and king! I pray to you, O Lord;

[5:3] you hear my voice in the morning; at sunrise I offer my prayer and wait for your answer.

[5:4] You are not a God who is pleased with wrongdoing; you allow no evil in your presence.

[5:5] You cannot stand the sight of the proud; you hate all wicked people.

[5:6] You destroy all liars and despise violent, deceitful people.

[5:7] But because of your great love I can come into your house; I can worship in your holy Temple and bow down to you in reverence.

[5:8] Lord, I have so many enemies! Lead me to do your will; make your way plain for me to follow.

[5:9] What my enemies say can never be trusted; they only want to destroy. Their words are flattering and smooth, but full of deadly deceit.

[5:10] Condemn and punish them, O God; may their own plots cause their ruin. Drive them out of your presence because of their many sins and their rebellion against you.

[5:11] But all who find safety in you will rejoice; they can always sing for joy. Protect those who love you; because of you they are truly happy.

[5:12] You bless those who obey you, Lord; your love protects them like a shield.

[6:1] Lord, don't be angry and rebuke me! Don't punish me in your anger!

[6:2] I am worn out, O Lord; have pity on me! Give me strength; I am completely exhausted

[6:3] and my whole being is deeply troubled. How long, O Lord, will you wait to help me?

[6:4] Come and save me, Lord; in your mercy rescue me from death.

[6:5] In the world of the dead you are not remembered; no one can praise you there.

[6:6] I am worn out with grief; every night my bed is damp from my weeping; my pillow is soaked with tears.

[6:7] I can hardly see; my eyes are so swollen from the weeping caused by my enemies.

[6:8] Keep away from me, you evil people! The Lord hears my weeping;

[6:9] he listens to my cry for help and will answer my prayer.

[6:10] My enemies will know the bitter shame of defeat; in sudden confusion they will be driven away.

[7:1] O Lord, my God, I come to you for protection; rescue me and save me from all who pursue me,

[7:2] or else like a lion they will carry me off where no one can save me, and there they will tear me to pieces. if I have betrayed a friend or without cause done violence to my enemy — if I have done any of these things—

[7:5] then let my enemies pursue me and catch me, let them cut me down and kill me and leave me lifeless on the ground!

[7:6] Rise in your anger, O Lord! Stand up against the fury of my enemies; rouse yourself and help me! Justice is what you demand,

[7:7] so bring together all the peoples around you, and rule over them from above.

[7:8] You are the judge of all people. Judge in my favor, O Lord; you know that I am innocent.

[7:9] You are a righteous God and judge our thoughts and desires. Stop the wickedness of evildoers and reward those who are good.

[7:10] God is my protector; he saves those who obey him.

[7:11] God is a righteous judge and always condemns the wicked.

[7:12] If they do not change their ways, God will sharpen his sword. He bends his bow and makes it ready;

[7:13] he takes up his deadly weapons and aims his burning arrows.

[7:14] See how wicked people think up evil; they plan trouble and practice deception.

[7:15] But in the traps they set for others, they themselves get caught.

[7:16] So they are punished by their own evil and are hurt by their own violence.

[7:17] I thank the Lord for his justice; I sing praises to the Lord, the Most High.

[8:1] O Lord, our Lord, your greatness is seen in all the world! Your praise reaches up to the heavens;

[8:2] it is sung by children and babies. You are safe and secure from all your enemies; you stop anyone who opposes you.

[8:3] When I look at the sky, which you have made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places—

[8:4] what are human beings, that you think of them; mere mortals, that you care for them?

[8:5] Yet you made them inferior only to yourself; you crowned them with glory and honor.

[8:6] You appointed them rulers over everything you made; you placed them over all creation:

[8:7] sheep and cattle, and the wild animals too;

[8:8] the birds and the fish and the creatures in the seas.

[8:9] O Lord, our Lord, your greatness is seen in all the world!

[9:1] I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the wonderful things you have done.

[9:2] I will sing with joy because of you. I will sing praise to you, Almighty God.

[9:3] My enemies turn back when you appear; they fall down and die.

[9:4] You are fair and honest in your judgments, and you have judged in my favor.

[9:5] You have condemned the heathen and destroyed the wicked; they will be remembered no more.

[9:6] Our enemies are finished forever; you have destroyed their cities, and they are completely forgotten.

[9:7] But the Lord is king forever; he has set up his throne for judgment.

[9:8] He rules the world with righteousness; he judges the nations with justice.

[9:9] The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a place of safety in times of trouble.

[9:10] Those who know you, Lord, will trust you; you do not abandon anyone who comes to you.

[9:11] Sing praise to the Lord, who rules in Zion! Tell every nation what he has done!

[9:12] God remembers those who suffer; he does not forget their cry, and he punishes those who wrong them.

[9:13] Be merciful to me, O Lord! See the sufferings my enemies cause me! Rescue me from death, O Lord,

[9:14] that I may stand before the people of Jerusalem and tell them all the things for which I praise you. I will rejoice because you saved me.

[9:15] The heathen have dug a pit and fallen in; they have been caught in their own trap.

[9:16] The Lord has revealed himself by his righteous judgments, and the wicked are trapped by their own deeds.

[9:17] Death is the destiny of all the wicked, of all those who reject God.

[9:18] The needy will not always be neglected; the hope of the poor will not be crushed forever.

[9:19] Come, Lord! Do not let anyone defy you! Bring the heathen before you and pronounce judgment on them.

[9:20] Make them afraid, O Lord; make them know that they are only mortal beings.

[10:1] Why are you so far away, O Lord? Why do you hide yourself when we are in trouble?

[10:2] The wicked are proud and persecute the poor; catch them in the traps they have made.

[10:3] The wicked are proud of their evil desires; the greedy curse and reject the Lord.

[10:4] The wicked do not care about the Lord; in their pride they think that God doesn't matter.

[10:5] The wicked succeed in everything. They cannot understand God's judgments; they sneer at their enemies.

[10:6] They say to themselves, “We will never fail; we will never be in trouble.”

[10:7] Their speech is filled with curses, lies, and threats; they are quick to speak hateful, evil words.

[10:8] They hide themselves in the villages, waiting to murder innocent people. They spy on their helpless victims;

[10:9] they wait in their hiding place like lions. They lie in wait for the poor; they catch them in their traps and drag them away.

[10:10] The helpless victims lie crushed; brute strength has defeated them.

[10:11] The wicked say to themselves, “God doesn't care! He has closed his eyes and will never see me!”

[10:12] O Lord, punish those wicked people! Remember those who are suffering!

[10:13] How can the wicked despise God and say to themselves, “He will not punish me”?

[10:14] But you do see; you take notice of trouble and suffering and are always ready to help. The helpless commit themselves to you; you have always helped the needy.

[10:15] Break the power of wicked and evil people; punish them for the wrong they have done until they do it no more.

[10:16] The Lord is king forever and ever. Those who worship other gods will vanish from his land.

[10:17] You will listen, O Lord, to the prayers of the lowly; you will give them courage.

[10:18] You will hear the cries of the oppressed and the orphans; you will judge in their favor, so that mortal men may cause terror no more.

[11:1] I trust in the Lord for safety. How foolish of you to say to me, “Fly away like a bird to the mountains,

[11:2] because the wicked have drawn their bows and aimed their arrows to shoot from the shadows at good people.

[11:3] There is nothing a good person can do when everything falls apart.”

[11:4] The Lord is in his holy temple; he has his throne in heaven. He watches people everywhere and knows what they are doing.

[11:5] He examines the good and the wicked alike; the lawless he hates with all his heart.

[11:6] He sends down flaming coals and burning sulfur on the wicked; he punishes them with scorching winds.

[11:7] The Lord is righteous and loves good deeds; those who do them will live in his presence.

[12:1] Help us, Lord! There is not a good person left; honest people can no longer be found.

[12:2] All of them lie to one another; they deceive each other with flattery.

[12:3] Silence those flattering tongues, O Lord! Close those boastful mouths that say,

[12:4] “With our words we get what we want. We will say what we wish, and no one can stop us.”

[12:5] “But now I will come,” says the Lord, “because the needy are oppressed and the persecuted groan in pain. I will give them the security they long for.”

[12:6] The promises of the Lord can be trusted; they are as genuine as silver refined seven times in the furnace. and everyone praises what is evil. Keep us always safe, O Lord, and preserve us from such people.

[13:1] How much longer will you forget me, Lord? Forever? How much longer will you hide yourself from me?

[13:2] How long must I endure trouble? How long will sorrow fill my heart day and night? How long will my enemies triumph over me?

[13:3] Look at me, O Lord my God, and answer me. Restore my strength; don't let me die.

[13:4] Don't let my enemies say, “We have defeated him.” Don't let them gloat over my downfall.

[13:5] I rely on your constant love; I will be glad, because you will rescue me.

[13:6] I will sing to you, O Lord, because you have been good to me.

[14:1] 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.

[14:2] The Lord looks down from heaven at us humans to see if there are any who are wise, any who worship him.

[14:3] But they have all gone wrong; they are all equally bad. Not one of them does what is right, not a single one.

[14:4] “Don't they know?” asks the Lord. “Are all these evildoers ignorant? They live by robbing my people, and they never pray to me.”

[14:5] But then they will be terrified, for God is with those who obey him.

[14:6] Evildoers frustrate the plans of the humble, but the Lord is their protection.

[14:7] How I pray that victory will come to Israel from Zion. How happy the people of Israel will be when the Lord makes them prosperous again!