Psalm 4:1–10:18

¹Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness. 

You have freed me from my troubles. 

Have pity on me, and hear my prayer! 

²You important people, 

how long are you going to insult my honor? 

How long are you going to love what is empty 

and seek what is a lie? 

Selah 

³Know that the Lord singles out godly people for himself. 

The Lord hears me when I call to him. 

⁴Tremble and do not sin. 

Think about this on your bed and remain quiet. 

Selah 

⁵Offer the sacrifices of righteousness 

by trusting the Lord. 

⁶Many are saying, “Who can show us anything good?” 

Let the light of your presence shine on us, O Lord. 

⁷You put more joy in my heart 

than when their grain and new wine increase. 

⁸I fall asleep in peace the moment I lie down 

because you alone, O Lord, enable me to live securely. 

Psalm 5

For the choir director; for flutes; a psalm by David. 

¹Open your ears to my words, O Lord. 

Consider my innermost thoughts. 

²Pay attention to my cry for help, my king and my God, 

because I pray only to you. 

³In the morning, O Lord, hear my voice. 

In the morning I lay my needs in front of you, 

and I wait. 

⁴You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness. 

Evil will never be your guest. 

⁵Those who brag cannot stand in your sight. 

You hate all troublemakers. 

⁶You destroy those who tell lies. 

The Lord is disgusted with bloodthirsty and deceitful people. 

⁷But I will enter your house because of your great mercy. 

Out of reverence for you, I will bow toward your holy temple. 

⁸O Lord, lead me in your righteousness because of those who spy on me. 

Make your way in front of me smooth. 

⁹Nothing in their mouths is truthful. 

Destruction comes from their hearts. 

Their throats are open graves. 

They flatter with their tongues. 

¹⁰Condemn them, O God. 

Let their own schemes be their downfall. 

Throw them out for their many crimes 

because they have rebelled against you. 

¹¹But let all who take refuge in you rejoice. 

Let them sing with joy forever. 

Protect them, and let those who love your name triumph in you. 

¹²You bless righteous people, O Lord. 

Like a large shield, you surround them with your favor. 

Psalm 6

For the choir director; with stringed instruments, on the sheminith;^aa psalm by David. 

¹O Lord, do not punish me in your anger 

or discipline me in your rage. 

²Have pity on me, O Lord, because I am weak. 

Heal me, O Lord, because my bones shake with terror. 

³My soul has been deeply shaken with terror. 

But you, O Lord, how long …? 

⁴Come back, O Lord. 

Rescue me. 

Save me because of your mercy! 

⁵In death, no one remembers you. 

In the grave, who praises you? 

⁶I am worn out from my groaning. 

My eyes flood my bed every night. 

I soak my couch with tears. 

⁷My eyes blur from grief. 

They fail because of my enemies. 

⁸Get away from me, all you troublemakers, 

because the Lord has heard the sound of my crying. 

⁹The Lord has heard my plea for mercy. 

The Lord accepts my prayer. 

¹⁰All my enemies will be put to shame and deeply shaken with terror. 

In a moment they will retreat and be put to shame. 

Psalm 7

A shiggaion^aby David; he sang it to the Lord about the ⸤slanderous⸥ words of Cush, a descendant of Benjamin. 

¹O Lord my God, I have taken refuge in you. 

Save me, and rescue me from all who are pursuing me. 

²Like a lion they will tear me to pieces 

and drag me off with no one to rescue me. 

³O Lord my God, 

if I have done this— 

if my hands are stained with injustice, 

⁴if I have paid back my friend with evil 

or rescued someone who has no reason to attack me— 

⁵then let the enemy chase me and catch me. 

Let him trample my life into the ground. 

Let him lay my honor in the dust. 

Selah 

⁶Arise in anger, O Lord. 

Stand up against the fury of my attackers. 

Wake up, my God.^c

You have already pronounced judgment. 

⁷Let an assembly of people gather around you. 

Take your seat high above them. 

⁸The Lord judges the people of the world. 

Judge me, O Lord, 

according to my righteousness, 

according to my integrity. 

⁹Let the evil within wicked people come to an end, 

but make the righteous person secure, 

O righteous God who examines thoughts and emotions. 

¹⁰My shield is God above, 

who saves those whose motives are decent. 

¹¹God is a fair judge, 

a God who is angered by injustice every day. 

¹²If a person does not change, God sharpens his sword. 

By bending his bow, he makes it ready ⸤to shoot⸥. 

¹³He prepares his deadly weapons 

and turns them into flaming arrows. 

¹⁴See how that person conceives evil, 

is pregnant with harm, 

and gives birth to lies. 

¹⁵He digs a pit and shovels it out. 

Then he falls into the hole that he made ⸤for others⸥. 

¹⁶His mischief lands back on his own head. 

His violence comes down on top of him. 

¹⁷I will give thanks to the Lord for his righteousness. 

I will make music to praise the name of the Lord Most High. 

Psalm 8

For the choir director; on the gittith;^aa psalm by David. 

¹O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth! 

Your glory is sung above the heavens. 

²From the mouths of little children and infants, 

you have built a fortress against your opponents 

to silence the enemy and the avenger. 

³When I look at your heavens, 

the creation of your fingers, 

the moon and the stars that you have set in place— 

⁴what is a mortal that you remember him 

or the Son of Man that you take care of him? 

⁵You have made him a little lower than yourself. 

You have crowned him with glory and honor. 

⁶You have made him rule what your hands created. 

You have put everything under his control: 

⁷all the sheep and cattle, the wild animals, 

⁸the birds, the fish, 

whatever swims in the currents of the seas. 

⁹O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth! 

Psalm 9

For the choir director; according to muth labben;^aa psalm by David.^b

¹I will give ⸤you⸥ thanks, O Lord, with all my heart. 

I will tell about all the miracles you have done. 

²I will find joy and be glad about you. 

I will make music to praise your name, O Most High. 

³When my enemies retreat, they will stumble and die in your presence. 

⁴You have defended my just cause: 

You sat down on your throne as a fair judge. 

⁵You condemned nations. 

You destroyed wicked people. 

You wiped out their names forever and ever. 

⁶The enemy is finished—in ruins forever. 

You have uprooted their cities. 

Even the memory of them has faded. 

⁷Yet, the Lord is enthroned forever. 

He has set up his throne for judgment. 

⁸He alone judges the world with righteousness. 

He judges ⸤its⸥ people fairly. 

⁹The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, 

a stronghold in times of trouble. 

¹⁰Those who know your name trust you, O Lord, 

because you have never deserted those who seek your help. 

¹¹Make music to praise the Lord, who is enthroned in Zion. 

Announce to the nations what he has done. 

¹²The one who avenges murder has remembered oppressed people. 

He has never forgotten their cries. 

¹³Have pity on me, O Lord. 

Look at what I suffer because of those who hate me. 

You take me away from the gates of death 

¹⁴so that I may recite your praises one by one 

in the gates of Zion 

and find joy in your salvation. 

¹⁵The nations have sunk into the pit they have made. 

Their feet are caught in the net they have hidden ⸤to trap others⸥. 

¹⁶The Lord is known by the judgment he has carried out. 

The wicked person is trapped 

by the work of his own hands. 

Higgaion Selah 

¹⁷Wicked people, all the nations who forget God, 

will return to the grave. 

¹⁸Needy people will not always be forgotten. 

Nor will the hope of oppressed people be lost forever. 

¹⁹Arise, O Lord. 

Do not let mortals gain any power. 

Let the nations be judged in your presence. 

²⁰Strike them with terror, O Lord. 

Let the nations know that they are ⸤only⸥ mortal. 

Selah 

Psalm 10

¹Why are you so distant, Lord? 

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 

²The wicked person arrogantly pursues oppressed people. 

He will be caught in the schemes that he planned. 

³The wicked person boasts about his selfish desires. 

He blesses robbers, but he curses the Lord. 

⁴He turns up his nose ⸤and says⸥, “God doesn’t care.” 

His every thought ⸤concludes⸥, “There is no God.” 

⁵He always seems to succeed. 

Your judgments are beyond his understanding. 

He spits at all his opponents. 

⁶He says to himself, “Nothing can shake me. 

I’ll never face any trouble.” 

⁷His mouth is full of cursing, deception, and oppression. 

Trouble and wrongdoing are on the tip of his tongue. 

⁸He waits in ambush in the villages. 

From his hiding places he kills innocent people. 

His eyes are on the lookout for victims. 

⁹He lies in his hiding place like a lion in his den. 

He hides there to catch oppressed people. 

He catches oppressed people when he draws them into his net. 

¹⁰⸤His⸥ victims are crushed. 

They collapse, 

and they fall under ⸤the weight of⸥ his power. 

¹¹He says to himself, 

“God has forgotten. 

He has hidden his face. 

He will never see it!” 

¹²Arise, O Lord! 

Lift your hand, O God. 

Do not forget oppressed people! 

¹³Why does the wicked person despise God? 

Why does he say to himself, “God doesn’t care”? 

¹⁴You have seen ⸤it⸥; yes, you have taken note of trouble and grief 

and placed them under your control. 

The victim entrusts himself to you. 

You alone have been the helper of orphans. 

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and evil person. 

Punish his wickedness until you find no more. 

¹⁶The Lord is king forever and ever. 

The nations have vanished from his land. 

¹⁷You have heard the desire of oppressed people, O Lord. 

You encourage them. 

You pay close attention to them 

¹⁸in order to provide justice for orphans and oppressed people 

so that no mere mortal will terrify them again.