Psalm 8:title–9:20

The Lord’s Greatness

For the director of music. On the gittith. A psalm of David.

8Lord our Lord,

your name is the most wonderful name in all the earth!

It brings you praise in heaven above.

²You have taught children and babies

to sing praises to you

because of your enemies.

And so you silence your enemies

and destroy those who try to get even.

³I look at your heavens,

which you made with your fingers.

I see the moon and stars,

which you created.

⁴But why are people even important to you?

Why do you take care of human beings?

⁵You made them a little lower than the angels

and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶You put them in charge of everything you made.

You put all things under their control:

⁷all the sheep, the cattle,

and the wild animals,

⁸the birds in the sky,

the fish in the sea,

and everything that lives under water.

⁹Lord our Lord,

your name is the most wonderful name in all the earth!

Thanksgiving for Victory

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A psalm of David.

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

I will tell all the miracles you have done.

²I will be happy because of you;

God Most High, I will sing praises to your name.

³My enemies turn back;

they are overwhelmed and die because of you.

⁴You have heard my complaint;

you sat on your throne and judged by what was right.

⁵You spoke strongly against the foreign nations and destroyed the wicked;

you wiped out their names forever and ever.

⁶The enemy is gone forever.

You destroyed their cities;

no one even remembers them.

⁷But the Lord rules forever.

He sits on his throne to judge,

⁸and he will judge the world in fairness;

he will decide what is fair for the nations.

⁹The Lord defends those who suffer;

he defends them in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know the Lord trust him,

because he will not leave those who come to him.

¹¹Sing praises to the Lord who is king on Mount Zion.

Tell the nations what he has done.

¹²He remembers who the murderers are;

he will not forget the cries of those who suffer.

¹³Lord, have mercy on me.

See how my enemies hurt me.

Do not let me go through the gates of death.

¹⁴Then, at the gates of Jerusalem, I will praise you;

I will rejoice because you saved me.

¹⁵The nations have fallen into the pit they dug.

Their feet are caught in the nets they laid.

¹⁶The Lord has made himself known by his fair decisions;

the wicked get trapped by what they do.

Higgaion. Selah

¹⁷Wicked people will go to the grave,

and so will all those who forget God.

¹⁸But those who have troubles will not be forgotten.

The hopes of the poor will never die.

¹⁹Lord, rise up and judge the nations.

Don’t let people think they are strong.

²⁰Teach them to fear you, Lord.

The nations must learn that they are only human.

Selah