Psalm 12–18

Psalm 12

Unto the end, a psalm for David. How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me unto the end? how long dost thou turn away thy face from me?

²How long shall I take counsels in my soul, sorrow in my heart all the day?

³How long shall my enemy be exalted over Me?

⁴Consider, and hear me, O Lord, my God. Enlighten my eyes, that I never sleep in death:

⁵Lest at any time my enemy say: I have prevailed against him. They that trouble me, will rejoice when I am moved:

⁶But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation: I will sing to the Lord, who giveth me good things: yea, I will sing to the name of the Lord, the most high.

Psalm 13

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David.

The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God. They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one.

²The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God.

³They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good: no not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they acted deceitfully: the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.

⁴Shall not all they know that work iniquity, who devour my people as they eat bread?

⁵They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear.

⁶For the Lord is in the just generation: you have confounded the counsel of the poor man; but the Lord is his hope.

⁷Who shall give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when the Lord shall have turned away the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Psalm 14

¹A psalm for David.

Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle? or who shall rest in thy holy hill?

²He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice:

³He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours.

⁴In his sight the malignant is brought to nothing: but he glorifieth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his neighbour, and deceiveth not;

⁵He that hath not put out his money to usury, nor taken bribes against the innocent: He that doth these things, shall not be moved for ever.

Psalm 15

¹The inscription of a title to David himself.

Preserve me, O Lord, for I have put my trust in thee.

²I have said to the Lord, thou art my God, for thou hast no need of my goods.

³To the saints, who are in his land, he hath made wonderful all my desires in them.

⁴Their infirmities were multiplied: afterwards they made haste. I will not gather together their meetings for blood offerings: nor will I be mindful of their names by my lips.

⁵The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me.

⁶The lines are fallen unto me in goodly places: for my inheritance is goodly to me.

⁷I will bless the Lord, who hath given me understanding: moreover, my reins also have corrected me even till night.

⁸I set the Lord always in my sight: for he is at my right hand, that I be not moved.

⁹Therefore my heart hath been glad, and my tongue hath rejoiced: moreover, my flesh also shall rest in hope.

¹⁰Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption.

¹¹Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand are delights even to the end.

Psalm 16

¹The prayer of David.

Hear, O Lord, my justice: attend to my supplication. Give ear unto my prayer, which proceedeth not from deceitful lips.

²Let my judgment come forth from thy countenance: let thy eyes behold the things that are equitable.

³Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, thou hast tried me by fire: and iniquity hath not been found in me.

⁴That my mouth may not speak the works of men: for the sake of the words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways.

⁵Perfect thou my goings in thy paths: that my footsteps be not moved.

⁶I have cried to thee, for thou, O God, hast heard me: O incline thy ear unto me, and hear my words.

⁷Shew forth thy wonderful mercies; thou who savest them that trust in thee.

⁸From them that resist thy right hand keep me, as the apple of thy eye. Protect me under the shadow of thy wings.

⁹From the face of the wicked who have afflicted me. My enemies have surrounded my soul:

¹⁰They have shut up their fat: their mouth hath spoken proudly.

¹¹They have cast me forth, and now they have surrounded me: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth.

¹²They have taken me, as a lion prepared for the prey; and as a young lion dwelling in secret places.

¹³Arise, O Lord, disappoint him and supplant him; deliver my soul from the wicked one; thy sword

¹⁴From the enemies of thy hand. O Lord, divide them from the few of the earth in their life: their belly is filled from thy hidden stores. They are full of children: and they have left to their little ones the rest of their substance.

¹⁵But as for me, I will appear before thy sight in justice: I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.

Psalm 17

¹Unto the end, for David, the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: and he said:

²I will love thee, O Lord, my strength:

³The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer. My God is my helper, and in him will I put my trust. My protector, and the horn of my salvation, and my support.

⁴Praising, I will call upon the Lord: and I shall be saved from my enemies.

⁵The sorrows of death surrounded me: and the torrents of iniquity troubled me.

⁶The sorrows of hell encompassed me: and the snares of death prevented me.

⁷In my affliction I called upon the Lord, and I cried to my God: And he heard my voice from his holy temple: and my cry before him came into his ears.

⁸The earth shook and trembled: the foundations of the mountains were troubled and were moved, because he was angry with them.

⁹There went up a smoke in his wrath: and a fire flamed from his face: coals were kindled by it.

¹⁰He bowed the heavens, and came down, and darkness was under his feet.

¹¹And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew; he flew upon the wings of the winds.

¹²And he made darkness his covert, his pavilion round about him: dark waters in the clouds of the air.

¹³At the brightness that was before him the clouds passed, hail and coals of fire.

¹⁴And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Highest gave his voice: hail and coals of fire.

¹⁵And he sent forth his arrows, and he scattered them: he multiplied lightnings, and troubled them.

¹⁶Then the fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were discovered: At thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the spirit of thy wrath.

¹⁷He sent from on high, and took me: and received me out of many waters.

¹⁸He delivered me from my strongest enemies, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

¹⁹They prevented me in the day of my affliction: and the Lord became my protector.

²⁰And he brought me forth into a large place: he saved me, because he was well pleased with me.

²¹And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and will repay me according to the cleanness of my hands:

²²Because I have kept the ways of the Lord; and have not done wickedly against my God.

²³For all his judgments are in my sight: and his justices I have not put away from me.

²⁴And I shall be spotless with him: and shall keep myself from my iniquity.

²⁵And the Lord will reward me according to my justice: and according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.

²⁶With the holy thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man thou wilt be innocent:

²⁷And withe the elect thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted.

²⁸For thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down the eyes of the proud.

²⁹For thou lightest my lamp, O Lord: O my God, enlighten my darkness.

³⁰For by thee I shall be delivered from temptation; and through my God I shall go over a wall.

³¹As for my God, his way is undefiled: the words of the Lord are fire-tried: he is the protector of all that trust in him.

³²For who is God but the Lord? or who is God but our God?

³³God, who hath girt me with strength; and made my way blameless.

³⁴Who hath made my feet like the feet of harts: and who setteth me upon high places.

³⁵Who teacheth my hands to war: and thou hast made my arms like a brazen bow.

³⁶And thou hast given me the protection of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath held me up: And thy discipline hath corrected me unto the end: and thy discipline, the same shall teach me.

³⁷Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; and my feet are not weakened.

³⁸I will pursue after my enemies, and overtake them: and I will not turn again till they are consumed.

³⁹I will break them, and they shall not be able to stand: they shall fall under my feet.

⁴⁰And thou hast girded me with strength unto battle; and hast subdued under me them that rose up against me.

⁴¹And thou hast made my enemies turn their back upon me, and hast destroyed them that hated me.

⁴²They cried, but there was none to save them, to the Lord: but he heard them not.

⁴³And I shall beat them as small as the dust before the wind; I shall bring them to nought, like the dirt in the streets.

⁴⁴Thou wilt deliver me from the contradictions of the people; thou wilt make me head of the Gentiles.

⁴⁵A people which I knew not, hath served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me.

⁴⁶The children that are strangers have lied to me, strange children have faded away, and have halted from their paths.

⁴⁷The Lord liveth, and…