The Lord Is in His Holy Temple

11 To the choirmaster. Of David.

1  In the Lord I take refuge;

how can you say to my soul,

z“Flee like a bird to your mountain,

2  for behold, the wicked abend the bow;

bthey have fitted their arrow to the string

to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;

3  if cthe foundations are destroyed,

what can the righteous do?”1

4  dThe Lord is in his holy temple;

the Lord’s ethrone is in heaven;

his eyes see, his eyelids ftest the children of man.

5  The Lord gtests the righteous,

but hhis soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

6  Let him rain coals on the wicked;

ifire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be jthe portion of their cup.

7  For the Lord is righteous;

he kloves righteous deeds;

lthe upright shall behold his face.

The Faithful Have Vanished

12 To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith.1 A Psalm of David.

1  Save, O Lord, for mthe godly one is gone;

for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.

2  Everyone nutters lies to his neighbor;

with oflattering lips and pa double heart they speak.

3  May the Lord cut off all oflattering lips,

the tongue that makes qgreat boasts,

4  those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,

our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

5  “Because rthe poor are plundered, because the needy groan,

sI will now arise,” says the Lord;

“I will place him in the tsafety for which he longs.”

6  uThe words of the Lord are pure words,

like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,

purified seven times.

7  You, O Lord, will keep them;

you will guard us2 from this generation forever.

8  On every side the wicked prowl,

as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

How Long, O Lord?

13 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1  vHow long, O Lord? Will you wforget me forever?

How long will you xhide your face from me?

2  How long must I take ycounsel in my soul

and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3  zConsider and answer me, O Lord my God;

alight up my eyes, lest bI sleep the sleep of death,

4  clest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”

lest my foes rejoice because I am dshaken.

5  But I have etrusted in your steadfast love;

my heart shall frejoice in your salvation.

6  I will sing to the Lord,

because he has dealt bountifully with me.

The Fool Says, There Is No God

14 To the choirmaster. Of David.

1  gThe hfool says in his heart, i“There is no God.”

They are jcorrupt, they do abominable deeds;

kthere is none who does good.

2  The Lord llooks down from heaven on the children of man,

to see if there are any who understand,1

who mseek after God.

3  They have all turned aside; together they have become ncorrupt;

there is none who does good,

not even one.

4  Have they no oknowledge, all the evildoers

who peat up my people as they eat bread

and qdo not call upon the Lord?

5  There they are in great terror,

for God is with rthe generation of the righteous.

6  You would shame the plans of the poor,

but2 the Lord is his srefuge.

7  Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

When the Lord trestores the fortunes of his people,

let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

Who Shall Dwell on Your Holy Hill?

15 A Psalm of David.

1  O Lord, uwho shall sojourn in your vtent?

Who shall dwell on your wholy hill?

2  He who xwalks blamelessly and ydoes what is right

and zspeaks truth in his heart;

3  who adoes not slander with his tongue

and does no evil to his neighbor,

nor btakes up a reproach against his friend;

4  cin whose eyes a vile person is despised,

but who honors those who fear the Lord;

who dswears to his own hurt and does not change;

5  who edoes not put out his money at interest

and fdoes not take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be gmoved.

You Will Not Abandon My Soul

16 A hMiktam1 of David.

1  Preserve me, O God, for in you I itake refuge.

2  I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;

jI have no good apart from you.”

3  As for kthe saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,

in whom is all my delight.2

4  The sorrows of those who run after3 another god shall multiply;

their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out

or ltake their names on my lips.

5  The Lord is mmy chosen portion and my ncup;

you hold my olot.

6  pThe lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

7  I bless the Lord who qgives me counsel;

in rthe night also my sheart instructs me.4

8  tI have uset the Lord always before me;

because he is at my vright hand, I shall not be wshaken.

9  Therefore my heart is glad, and my xwhole being5 rejoices;

my flesh also dwells secure.

10  For you will not abandon my soul to ySheol,

zor let your aholy one see bcorruption.6

11  You make known to me cthe path of life;

in your presence there is dfullness of joy;

at your right hand are epleasures forevermore.

In the Shadow of Your Wings

17 A fPrayer of David.

1  Hear a just cause, O Lord; gattend to my cry!

Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

2  From your presence hlet my vindication come!

Let your eyes behold the right!

3  You have itried my heart, you have jvisited me by knight,

you have ltested me, and you will find nothing;

I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.

4  With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips

I have avoided the ways of the violent.

5  My steps have mheld fast to your paths;

my feet have not slipped.

6  I ncall upon you, for you will answer me, O God;

oincline your ear to me; hear my words.

7  pWondrously show1 your steadfast love,

O Savior of those who seek refuge

from qtheir adversaries at your right hand.

8  Keep me as rthe apple of your eye;

hide me in sthe shadow of your wings,

9  from the wicked who do me violence,

my deadly enemies who tsurround me.

10  uThey close their hearts to pity;

with their mouths they vspeak arrogantly.

11  They have now surrounded our wsteps;

they set their eyes to xcast us to the ground.

12  He is like a lion eager to tear,

as a young lion ylurking in ambush.

13  Arise, O Lord! Confront him, subdue him!

Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,

14  from men by your hand, O Lord,

from zmen of the world whose aportion is in this life.2

You fill their womb with treasure;3

they are satisfied with bchildren,

and they leave their abundance to their infants.

15  As for me, I shall cbehold your face in righteousness;

when I dawake, I shall be esatisfied with your likeness.

The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress

18 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, fthe servant of the Lord, gwho addressed the words of this hsong to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:

1  I love you, O Lord, my strength.

2  The Lord is my irock and my jfortress and my deliverer,

my God, my irock, in kwhom I take refuge,

my lshield, and mthe horn of my salvation, my nstronghold.

3  I call upon the Lord, who is oworthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies.

4  pThe cords of death encompassed me;

qthe torrents of destruction assailed me;1

5  pthe cords of Sheol entangled me;

the snares of death confronted me.

6  rIn my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I cried for help.

From his stemple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

7  Then the earth treeled and rocked;

the foundations also of the mountains trembled

and quaked, because he was angry.

8  Smoke went up from his nostrils,2

and devouring ufire from his mouth;

glowing coals flamed forth from him.

9  He vbowed the heavens and wcame down;

xthick darkness was under his feet.

10  He rode on a cherub and flew;

he came swiftly on zthe wings of the wind.

11  He made darkness his covering, his acanopy around him,

thick clouds bdark with water.

12  Out of the brightness before him

chailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

13  The Lord also dthundered in the heavens,

and the Most High uttered his evoice,

hailstones and coals of fire.

14  And he sent out his farrows and scattered them;

he flashed forth lightnings and grouted them.

15  Then hthe channels of the sea were seen,

and the foundations of the world were laid bare

at your irebuke, O Lord,

at the blast of jthe breath of your nostrils.

16  He ksent from on high, he took me;

he ldrew me out of mmany waters.

17  He rescued me from my strong enemy

and from those who hated me,

for they were ntoo mighty for me.

18  They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

but the Lord was my support.

19  He brought me out into oa broad place;

he rescued me, because he pdelighted in me.

20  The Lord dealt with me qaccording to my righteousness;

according to rthe cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.

21  For I have skept the ways of the Lord,

and have not wickedly departed from my God.

22  For tall his rules3 were before me,

and his statutes I did not put away from me.

23  I was ublameless before him,

and I kept myself from my guilt.

24  So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

25  With vthe merciful you show yourself merciful;

with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;

26  with the purified you show yourself pure;

and with wthe crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.

27  For you save xa humble people,

but ythe haughty eyes you bring down.

28  For it is you who light my zlamp;

the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

29  For by you I can run against a troop,

and by my God I can aleap over ba wall.

30  This God—his way is cperfect;4

the word of the Lord dproves true;

he is ea shield for all those who ftake refuge in him.

31  For gwho is God, but the Lord?

And who is ha rock, except our God?—

32  the God who iequipped me with strength

and made my way jblameless.

33  He made my feet like the feet of a kdeer

and set me secure on lthe heights.

34  He mtrains my hands for war,

so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35  You have given me the shield of your salvation,

and your right hand nsupported me,

and your ogentleness made me great.

36  You pgave a wide place for my steps under me,

and my feet did not slip.

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