Psalm 7–12

PSALM 7

The Lord Implored to Defend the Psalmist against the Wicked.

A ^†Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord ^•concerning Cush, a Benjamite.

¹O Lord my God, ^ain You I have taken refuge;

Save me from all those who pursue me, and ^bdeliver me,

²Or he will tear ¹my soul ^alike a lion,

²Dragging me away, while there is none to deliver.

³O Lord my God, if I have done this,

If there is ^ainjustice in my hands,

⁴If I have ^arewarded evil to ¹my friend,

Or have ^bplundered ²him who without cause was my adversary,

⁵Let the enemy pursue ¹my soul and overtake ²it;

And let him trample my life down to the ground

And lay my glory in the dust.

³Selah.

^6aArise, O Lord, in Your anger;

^bLift up Yourself against ^cthe rage of my adversaries,

And ^darouse Yourself ¹for me; You have appointed judgment.

⁷Let the assembly of the ^apeoples encompass You,

And over ¹them return on high.

⁸The Lord ^ajudges the peoples;

^1bVindicate me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me.

⁹O let ^athe evil of the wicked come to an end, but ^bestablish the righteous;

For the righteous God ^ctries the hearts and ¹minds.

¹⁰My ^ashield is ¹with God,

Who ^bsaves the upright in heart.

¹¹God is a ^arighteous judge,

And a God who has ^bindignation every day.

¹²If ¹a man ^adoes not repent, He will ^bsharpen His sword;

He has ^cbent His bow and ²made it ready.

¹³He has also prepared ¹for Himself deadly weapons;

He makes His ^aarrows fiery shafts.

¹⁴Behold, he travails with wickedness,

And he ^aconceives mischief and brings forth falsehood.

¹⁵He has dug a pit and hollowed it out,

And has ^afallen into the hole which he made.

¹⁶His ^amischief will return upon his own head,

And his ^bviolence will descend upon ¹his own pate.

¹⁷I will give thanks to the Lord ^aaccording to His righteousness

And will ^bsing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

PSALM 8

The Lord’s Glory and Man’s Dignity.

For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.

¹O Lord, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

Who have ^1adisplayed Your splendor above the heavens!

^2aFrom the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established ^1bstrength

Because of Your adversaries,

To make ^cthe enemy and the revengeful cease.

³When I ^1aconsider ^bYour heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The ^cmoon and the stars, which You have ²ordained;

^4aWhat is man that You ¹take thought of him,

And the son of man that You care for him?

⁵Yet You have made him a ^alittle lower than ¹God,

And ^bYou crown him with ^cglory and majesty!

⁶You make him to ^arule over the works of Your hands;

You have ^bput all things under his feet,

⁷All sheep and oxen,

And also the ¹beasts of the field,

⁸The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,

Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

^9aO Lord, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

PSALM 9

A Psalm of Thanksgiving for God’s Justice.

For the choir director; on ^†Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.

¹I will give thanks to the Lord with all ^amy heart;

I will ^btell of all Your ¹wonders.

²I will be glad and ^aexult in You;

I will ^bsing praise to Your name, O ^cMost High.

³When my enemies turn back,

They stumble and ^aperish before You.

⁴For You have ^amaintained ¹my just cause;

You have sat on the throne ^2bjudging righteously.

⁵You have ^arebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked;

You have ^bblotted out their name forever and ever.

⁶¹The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins,

And You have uprooted the cities;

The very ^amemory of them has perished.

⁷But the ^aLord ¹abides forever;

He has established His ^bthrone for judgment,

⁸And He will ^ajudge the world in righteousness;

He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.

⁹¹The Lord also will be a ^astronghold for the oppressed,

A stronghold in times of trouble;

¹⁰And ¹those who ^aknow Your name will put their trust in You,

For You, O Lord, have not ^bforsaken those who seek You.

¹¹Sing praises to the Lord, who ^adwells in Zion;

^bDeclare among the peoples His deeds.

¹²For ^aHe who ¹requires blood remembers them;

He does not forget ^bthe cry of the afflicted.

¹³Be gracious to me, O Lord;

See my affliction from those ^awho hate me,

You who ^blift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴That I may tell of ^aall Your praises,

That in the gates of the daughter of Zion

I may ^brejoice in Your ¹salvation.

¹⁵The nations have sunk down ^ain the pit which they have made;

In the ^bnet which they hid, their own foot has been caught.

¹⁶The Lord has ^amade Himself known;

He has ^bexecuted judgment.

In the work of his own hands the wicked is snared.

¹Higgaion ²Selah.

¹⁷The wicked will ^1areturn to ²Sheol,

Even all the nations who ^bforget God.

¹⁸For the ^aneedy will not always be forgotten,

Nor the ^bhope of the afflicted perish forever.

^19aArise, O Lord, do not let man prevail;

Let the nations be ^bjudged before You.

²⁰Put them ^ain fear, O Lord;

Let the nations know that they are ^bbut men.

Selah.

PSALM 10

A Prayer for the Overthrow of the Wicked.

¹Why ^ado You stand afar off, O Lord?

Why ^bdo You hide ¹Yourself in times of trouble?

²In ^apride the wicked ¹hotly pursue the afflicted;

²Let them be ^bcaught in the plots which they have devised.

³For the wicked ^aboasts of his ^bheart’s desire,

And ¹the greedy man curses and ^cspurns the Lord.

⁴The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, ^adoes not seek Him.

All his ¹thoughts are, “^bThere is no God.”

⁵His ways ^1aprosper at all times;

Your judgments are on high, ^bout of his sight;

As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them.

⁶He says to himself, “^aI will not be moved;

¹Throughout all generations ^bI will not be in adversity.”

⁷His ^amouth is full of curses and deceit and ^boppression;

^cUnder his tongue is mischief and wickedness.

⁸He sits in the ^alurking places of the villages;

In the hiding places he ^bkills the innocent;

His eyes ¹stealthily watch for the ^2cunfortunate.

⁹He lurks in a hiding place as ^aa lion in his ¹lair;

He ^blurks to catch ^cthe afflicted;

He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his ^dnet.

¹⁰He ¹crouches, he ²bows down,

And the ³unfortunate fall ⁴by his mighty ones.

¹¹He ^asays to himself, “God has forgotten;

He has hidden His face; He will never see it.”

¹²Arise, O Lord; O God, ^alift up Your hand.

^bDo not forget the afflicted.

¹³Why has the wicked ^aspurned God?

He has said to himself, “You will not require it.”

¹⁴You have seen it, for You have beheld ^amischief and vexation to ¹take it into Your hand.

The ^2bunfortunate commits himself to You;

You have been the ^chelper of the orphan.

^15aBreak the arm of the wicked and the evildoer,

^1bSeek out his wickedness until You find none.

¹⁶The Lord is ^aKing forever and ever;

^bNations have perished from His land.

¹⁷O Lord, You have heard the ^adesire of the ¹humble;

You will ^bstrengthen their heart, ^cYou will incline Your ear

¹⁸To ¹vindicate the ^aorphan and the ^boppressed,

So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause ^cterror.

PSALM 11

The Lord a Refuge and Defense.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

¹In the Lord I ^atake refuge;

How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your ^bmountain;

²For, behold, the wicked ^abend the bow,

They ^1bmake ready their arrow upon the string

To ^cshoot in darkness at the upright in heart.

³If the ^afoundations are destroyed,

What can the righteous do?”

⁴The Lord is in His ^aholy temple; the ¹Lord’s ^bthrone is in heaven;

His ^ceyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

⁵The Lord ^atests the righteous and ^bthe wicked,

And the one who loves violence His soul hates.

⁶Upon the wicked He will ^arain ¹snares;

^bFire and brimstone and ^cburning wind will be the portion of ^dtheir cup.

⁷For the Lord is ^arighteous, ^bHe loves ¹righteousness;

The upright will ^cbehold His face.

PSALM 12

God, a Helper against the Treacherous.

For the choir director; ^†upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.

¹Help, Lord, for ^athe godly man ceases to be,

For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

²They ^aspeak ¹falsehood to one another;

With ^bflattering ²lips and with a double heart they speak.

³May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,

The tongue that ^aspeaks great things;

⁴Who ^ahave said, “With our tongue we will prevail;

Our lips are ¹our own; who is lord over us?”

⁵“Because of the ^adevastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy,

Now ^bI will arise,” says the Lord; “I will ^cset him in the safety for which he longs.”

⁶The ^awords of the Lord are pure words;

As silver ^btried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.

⁷You, O Lord, will keep them;

You will ^apreserve him from this generation forever.

⁸The ^awicked strut about on every side

When ^1bvileness is exalted among the sons of men.