Psalm 13–19

Psalm 13

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou forget me for ever?

How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

²How long shall I take counsel in my soul,

Having sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

³Consider and answer me, O Jehovah my God:

Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

⁴Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him;

Lest mine adversaries rejoice when I am moved.

⁵But I have trusted in thy lovingkindness;

My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

⁶I will sing unto Jehovah,

Because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

Psalm 14

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

They are corrupt, they have done abominable works;

There is none that doeth good.

²Jehovah looked down from heaven upon the children of men,

To see if there were any that did understand,

That did seek after God.

³They are all gone aside; they are together become filthy;

There is none that doeth good, no, not one.

⁴Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge,

Who eat up my people as they eat bread,

And call not upon Jehovah?

⁵There were they in great fear;

For God is in the generation of the righteous.

⁶Ye put to shame the counsel of the poor,

Because Jehovah is his refuge.

⁷Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!

When Jehovah bringeth back the captivity of his people,

Then shall Jacob rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Psalm 15

A Psalm of David.

¹Jehovah, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle?

Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

²He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness,

And speaketh truth in his heart;

³He that slandereth not with his tongue,

Nor doeth evil to his friend,

Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor;

⁴In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,

But who honoreth them that fear Jehovah;

He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not;

⁵He that putteth not out his money to interest,

Nor taketh reward against the innocent.

He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

Psalm 16

Michtam of David.

¹Preserve me, O God; for in thee do I take refuge.

²O my soul, thou hast said unto Jehovah, Thou art my Lord:

I have no good beyond thee.

³As for the saints that are in the earth,

They are the excellent in whom is all my delight.

⁴Their sorrows shall be multiplied that give gifts for another god:

Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer,

Nor take their names upon my lips.

⁵Jehovah is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup:

Thou maintainest my lot.

⁶The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places;

Yea, I have a goodly heritage.

⁷I will bless Jehovah, who hath given me counsel;

Yea, my heart instructeth me in the night seasons.

⁸I have set Jehovah always before me:

Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth;

My flesh also shall dwell in safety.

¹⁰For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol;

Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption.

¹¹Thou wilt show me the path of life:

In thy presence is fulness of joy;

In thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psalm 17

A Prayer of David.

¹Hear the right, O Jehovah, attend unto my cry;

Give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.

²Let my sentence come forth from thy presence;

Let thine eyes look upon equity.

³Thou hast proved my heart; thou hast visited me in the night;

Thou hast tried me, and findest nothing;

I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

⁴As for the works of men, by the word of thy lips

I have kept me from the ways of the violent.

⁵My steps have held fast to thy paths,

My feet have not slipped.

⁶I have called upon thee, for thou wilt answer me, O God:

Incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.

⁷Show thy marvellous lovingkindness,

O thou that savest by thy right hand them that take refuge in thee

From those that rise up against them.

⁸Keep me as the apple of the eye;

Hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

⁹From the wicked that oppress me,

My deadly enemies, that compass me about.

¹⁰They are inclosed in their own fat:

With their mouth they speak proudly.

¹¹They have now compassed us in our steps;

They set their eyes to cast us down to the earth.

¹²He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey,

And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

¹³Arise, O Jehovah,

Confront him, cast him down:

Deliver my soul from the wicked by thy sword;

¹⁴From men by thy hand, O Jehovah,

From men of the world, whose portion is in this life,

And whose belly thou fillest with thy treasure:

They are satisfied with children,

And leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

¹⁵As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness;

I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with beholding thy form.

Psalm 18

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of Jehovah, who spake unto Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: and he said,

¹I love thee, O Jehovah, my strength.

²Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

My God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge;

My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

³I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised:

So shall I be saved from mine enemies.

⁴The cords of death compassed me,

And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

⁵The cords of Sheol were round about me;

The snares of death came upon me.

⁶In my distress I called upon Jehovah,

And cried unto my God:

He heard my voice out of his temple,

And my cry before him came into his ears.

⁷Then the earth shook and trembled;

The foundations also of the mountains quaked

And were shaken, because he was wroth.

⁸There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,

And fire out of his mouth devoured:

Coals were kindled by it.

⁹He bowed the heavens also, and came down;

And thick darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly;

Yea, he soared upon the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness his hiding-place, his pavilion round about him,

Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

¹²At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³Jehovah also thundered in the heavens,

And the Most High uttered his voice,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;

Yea, lightnings manifold, and discomfited them.

¹⁵Then the channels of waters appeared,

And the foundations of the world were laid bare,

At thy rebuke, O Jehovah,

At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

¹⁶He sent from on high, he took me;

He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy,

And from them that hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁸They came upon me in the day of my calamity;

But Jehovah was my stay.

¹⁹He brought me forth also into a large place;

He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²⁰Jehovah hath rewarded me according to my righteousness;

According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

²¹For I have kept the ways of Jehovah,

And have not wickedly departed from my God.

²²For all his ordinances were before me,

And I put not away his statutes from me.

²³I was also perfect with him,

And I kept myself from mine iniquity.

²⁴Therefore hath Jehovah recompensed me according to my righteousness,

According to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

²⁵With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful;

With the perfect man thou wilt show thyself perfect;

²⁶With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure;

And with the perverse thou wilt show thyself froward.

²⁷For thou wilt save the afflicted people;

But the haughty eyes thou wilt bring down.

²⁸For thou wilt light my lamp:

Jehovah my God will lighten my darkness.

²⁹For by thee I run upon a troop;

And by my God do I leap over a wall.

³⁰As for God, his way is perfect:

The word of Jehovah is tried;

He is a shield unto all them that take refuge in him.

³¹For who is God, save Jehovah?

And who is a rock, besides our God,

³²The God that girdeth me with strength,

And maketh my way perfect?

³³He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet:

And setteth me upon my high places.

³⁴He teacheth my hands to war;

So that mine arms do bend a bow of brass.

³⁵Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation;

And thy right hand hath holden me up,

And thy gentleness hath made me great.

³⁶Thou hast enlarged my steps under me,

And my feet have not slipped.

³⁷I will pursue mine enemies, and overtake them;

Neither will I turn again till they are consumed.

³⁸I will smite them through, so that they shall not be able to rise:

They shall fall under my feet.

³⁹For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle:

Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

⁴⁰Thou hast also made mine enemies turn their backs unto me,

That I might cut off them that hate me.

⁴¹They cried, but there was none to save;

Even unto Jehovah, but he answered them not.

⁴²Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind;

I did cast them out as the mire of the streets.

⁴³Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people;

Thou hast made me the head of the nations:

A people whom I have not known shall serve me.

⁴⁴As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me;

The foreigners shall submit themselves unto me.

⁴⁵The foreigners shall fade away,

And shall come trembling out of their close places.

⁴⁶Jehovah liveth; and blessed be my rock;

And exalted be the God of my salvation,

⁴⁷Even the God that executeth vengeance for me,

And subdueth peoples under me.

⁴⁸He rescueth me from mine enemies;

Yea, thou liftest me up above them that rise up against me;

Thou deliverest me from the violent man.

⁴⁹Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah, among the nations,

And will sing praises unto thy name.

⁵⁰Great deliverance giveth he to his king,

And showeth lovingkindness to his anointed,

To David and to his seed, for evermore.

Psalm 19

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹The heavens declare the glory of God;

And the firmament showeth his handiwork.

²Day…