Psalm 4:title–9:20

Evening Prayer for Help^e

4 Answer me when I pray,

O God, my defender!

When I was in trouble, you helped me.

Be kind to me now and hear my prayer.

²How long will you people insult me?

How long will you love what is worthless

and go after what is false?

³Remember that the Lord has chosen the righteous for his own,

and he hears me when I call to him.

^4*Tremble with fear and stop sinning;

think deeply about this,

when you lie in silence on your beds.

⁵Offer the right sacrifices to the Lord,

and put your trust in him.

⁶There are many who pray:

“Give us more blessings, O Lord.

Look on us with kindness!”

⁷But the joy that you have given me

is more than they will ever have

with all their corn and wine.

⁸When I lie down, I go to sleep in peace;

you alone, O Lord, keep me perfectly safe.

A Prayer for Protection^f

5 Listen to my words, O Lord,

and hear my sighs.

²Listen to my cry for help,

my God and king!

I pray to you, O Lord;

³you hear my voice in the morning;

at sunrise I offer my prayer^g

and wait for your answer.

⁴You are not a God who is pleased with wrongdoing;

you allow no evil in your presence.

⁵You cannot stand the sight of the proud;

you hate all wicked people.

⁶You destroy all liars

and despise violent, deceitful people.

⁷But 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.

⁸Lord, I have so many enemies!

Lead me to do your will;

make your way plain for me to follow.

^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.

¹⁰Condemn 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.

¹¹But 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.

¹²You bless those who obey you, Lord;

your love protects them like a shield.

A Prayer for Help in Time of Trouble^h

6^* Lord, don’t be angry and rebuke me!

Don’t punish me in your anger!

²I am worn out, O Lord; have pity on me!

Give me strength; I am completely exhausted

³and my whole being is deeply troubled.

How long, O Lord, will you wait to help me?

⁴Come and save me, Lord;

in your mercy rescue me from death.

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

⁶I am worn out with grief;

every night my bed is damp from my weeping;

my pillow is soaked with tears.

⁷I can hardly see;

my eyes are so swollen

from the weeping caused by my enemies.

^8*Keep away from me, you evil people!

The Lord hears my weeping;

⁹he listens to my cry for help

and will answer my prayer.

¹⁰My enemies will know the bitter shame of defeat;

in sudden confusion they will be driven away.

A Prayer for Justiceⁱ

7 O Lord, my God, I come to you for protection;

rescue me and save me from all who pursue me,

²or else like a lion they will carry me off

where no one can save me,

and there they will tear me to pieces.

^3–4O Lord, my God,

if I have wronged anyone, if I have betrayed a friend

or without cause done violence to my enemy—^j

if I have done any of these things-

⁵then let my enemies pursue me and catch me,

let them cut me down and kill me

and leave me lifeless on the ground!

⁶Rise in your anger, O Lord!

Stand up against the fury of my enemies;

rouse yourself and help me!

Justice is what you demand,

⁷so bring together all the peoples round you,

and rule over them from above.^k

⁸You are the judge of the whole human race.

Judge in my favour, O Lord;

you know that I am innocent.

^9*You are a righteous God

and judge our thoughts and desires.

Stop the wickedness of evildoers

and reward those who are good.

¹⁰God is my protector;

he saves those who obey him.

¹¹God is a righteous judge

and always condemns the wicked.

¹²If they do not change their ways,

God will sharpen his sword.

He bends his bow and makes it ready;

¹³he takes up his deadly weapons

and aims his burning arrows.

¹⁴See how wicked people think up evil;

they plan trouble and practice deception.

¹⁵But in the traps they set for others,

they themselves get caught.

¹⁶So they are punished by their own evil

and are hurt by their own violence.

¹⁷I thank the Lord for his justice,

I sing praises to the Lord, the Most High.

God’s Glory and Man’s Dignity ^l

8 O Lord, our Lord,

your greatness is seen in all the world!

Your praise reaches up to the heavens;

^2*it is sung by children and babies.

You are safe and secure from all your enemies;

you stop anyone who opposes you.

³When I look at the sky, which you have made,

at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places-

^4*what are human beings, that you think of them;

mere mortals, that you care for them?

⁵Yet you made them inferior only to yourself;^m

you crowned them with glory and honour.

^6*You appointed them rulers over everything you made;

you placed them over all creation:

⁷sheep and cattle,

and the wild animals too;

⁸the birds and the fish and the creatures in the seas.

⁹O Lord, our Lord,

your greatness is seen in all the world!

Thanksgiving to God for His Justiceⁿ

9 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of all the wonderful things you have done.

²I will sing with joy because of you.

I will sing praise to you, Almighty God.

³My enemies turn back when you appear;

they fall down and die.

⁴You are fair and honest in your judgements,

and you have judged in my favour.

⁵You have condemned the heathen

and destroyed the wicked;

they will be remembered no more.

⁶Our enemies are finished for ever;

you have destroyed their cities,

and they are completely forgotten.

⁷But the Lord is king for ever;

he has set up his throne for judgement.

⁸He rules the world with righteousness;

he judges the nations with justice.

⁹The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,

a place of safety in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know you, Lord, will trust you;

you do not abandon anyone who comes to you.

¹¹Sing praise to the Lord, who rules in Zion!

Tell every nation what he has done!

¹²God remembers those who suffer;

he does not forget their cry,

and he punishes those who wrong them.

¹³Be merciful to me, O Lord!

See the sufferings my enemies cause me!

Rescue me from death, O Lord,

¹⁴that 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.

¹⁵The heathen have dug a pit and fallen in;

they have been caught in their own trap.

¹⁶The Lord has revealed himself by his righteous judgements,

and the wicked are trapped by their own deeds.

¹⁷Death is the destiny of all the wicked,

of all those who reject God.

¹⁸The needy will not always be neglected;

the hope of the poor will not be crushed for ever.

¹⁹Come, Lord! Do not let human beings defy you!

Bring the heathen before you

and pronounce judgement on them.

²⁰Make them afraid, O Lord;

make them know that they are only mortal beings.