Psalm 7–12

Psalm 7

A Meditation Concerning the Words of Cush, a Benjamite.

¹O Lord my God, in You I put my trust; ^cSave me from all those who persecute me;

And deliver me,

^2dLest they tear me like a lion,

^eRending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

³O Lord my God, ^fif I have done this:

If there is ^giniquity in my hands,

⁴If I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me,

Or ^hhave plundered my enemy without cause,

⁵Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me;

Yes, let him trample my life to the earth,

And lay my honor in the dust.

Selah

⁶Arise, O Lord, in Your anger;

ⁱLift Yourself up because of the rage of my enemies;

^jRise up ²for me to the judgment You have commanded!

⁷So the congregation of the peoples shall surround You;

For their sakes, therefore, return on high.

⁸The Lord shall judge the peoples;

^kJudge me, O Lord, ^laccording to my righteousness,

And according to my integrity within me.

⁹Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,

But establish the just;

^mFor the righteous God tests the hearts and ³minds.

¹⁰⁴My defense is of God,

Who saves the ⁿupright in heart.

¹¹God is a just judge,

And God is angry with the wicked every day.

¹²If he does not turn back,

He will ^osharpen His sword;

He bends His bow and makes it ready.

¹³He also prepares for Himself instruments of death;

He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.

^14pBehold, the wicked brings forth iniquity;

Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.

¹⁵He made a pit and dug it out,

^qAnd has fallen into the ditch which he made.

^16rHis trouble shall return upon his own head,

And his violent dealing shall come down on ⁵his own crown.

¹⁷I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness,

And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

Psalm 8

To the Chief Musician. On the Instrument of Gath. A Psalm of David.

¹O Lord, our Lord,

How ^aexcellent is Your name in all the earth,

Who have ^bset Your glory above the heavens!

^2cOut of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have ²ordained strength,

Because of Your enemies,

That You may silence ^dthe enemy and the avenger.

³When I ^econsider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

^4fWhat is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You ^gvisit ³him?

⁵For You have made him a little lower than ⁴the angels,

And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

^6hYou have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

ⁱYou have put all things under his feet,

⁷All sheep and oxen—

Even the beasts of the field,

⁸The birds of the air,

And the fish of the sea

That pass through the paths of the seas.

^9jO Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Psalm 9

To the Chief Musician. To The Tune of “Death of the Son.” A Psalm of David.

¹I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;

I will tell of all Your marvelous works.

²I will be glad and ^arejoice in You;

I will sing praise to Your name, ^bO Most High.

³When my enemies turn back,

They shall fall and perish at Your presence.

⁴For You have maintained my right and my cause;

You sat on the throne judging in righteousness.

⁵You have rebuked the ²nations,

You have destroyed the wicked;

You have ^cblotted out their name forever and ever.

⁶O enemy, destructions are finished forever!

And you have destroyed cities;

Even their memory has ^dperished.

^7eBut the Lord shall endure forever;

He has prepared His throne for judgment.

^8fHe shall judge the world in righteousness,

And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.

⁹The Lord also will be a ^grefuge ³for the oppressed,

A refuge in times of trouble.

¹⁰And those who ^hknow Your name will put their trust in You;

For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

¹¹Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion!

ⁱDeclare His deeds among the people.

^12jWhen He avenges blood, He remembers them;

He does not forget the cry of the ⁴humble.

¹³Have mercy on me, O Lord!

Consider my trouble from those who hate me,

You who lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴That I may tell of all Your praise

In the gates of ⁵the daughter of Zion.

I will ^krejoice in Your salvation.

^15lThe ⁶nations have sunk down in the pit which they made;

In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught.

¹⁶The Lord is ^mknown by the judgment He executes;

The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.

ⁿMeditation. ⁷

Selah

¹⁷The wicked shall be turned into hell,

And all the ⁸nations ^othat forget God.

^18pFor the needy shall not always be forgotten;

^qThe expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.

¹⁹Arise, O Lord,

Do not let man prevail;

Let the ⁹nations be judged in Your sight.

²⁰Put them in fear, O Lord,

That the ¹nations may know themselves to be but men.

Selah

Psalm 10

¹Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide in times of trouble?

²The wicked in his pride ¹persecutes the poor;

^aLet them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

³For the wicked ^bboasts of his heart’s desire;

²He ^cblesses the greedy and renounces the Lord.

⁴The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God;

³God is in none of his ^dthoughts.

⁵His ways ⁴are always prospering;

Your judgments are far above, out of his sight;

As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.

^6eHe has said in his heart, “I shall not be moved;

^fI shall never be in adversity.”

^7gHis mouth is full of cursing and ^hdeceit and oppression;

Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.

⁸He sits in the lurking places of the villages;

In the secret places he murders the innocent;

His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.

⁹He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den;

He lies in wait to catch the poor;

He catches the poor when he draws him into his net.

¹⁰So ⁵he crouches, he lies low,

That the helpless may fall by his ⁶strength.

¹¹He has said in his heart,

“God has forgotten;

He hides His face;

He will never see.”

¹²Arise, O Lord!

O God, ⁱlift up Your hand!

Do not forget the ^jhumble.

¹³Why do the wicked renounce God?

He has said in his heart,

“You will not require an account.”

¹⁴But You have ^kseen, for You observe trouble and grief,

To repay it by Your hand.

The helpless ^lcommits ⁷himself to You;

^mYou are the helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man;

Seek out his wickedness until You find none.

¹⁶ⁿThe Lord is King forever and ever;

The nations have perished out of His land.

¹⁷Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;

You will prepare their heart;

You will cause Your ear to hear,

¹⁸To ⁸do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,

That the man of the earth may ⁹oppress no more.

Psalm 11

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹In ^athe Lord I put my trust; How can you say to my soul,

“Flee as a bird to your mountain”?

²For look! ^bThe wicked bend their bow,

They make ready their arrow on the string,

That they may shoot ¹secretly at the upright in heart.

^3cIf the foundations are destroyed,

What can the righteous do?

⁴The Lord is in His holy temple,

The Lord’s ^dthrone is in heaven;

^eHis eyes behold,

His eyelids test the sons of men.

⁵The Lord ^ftests the righteous,

But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.

⁶Upon the wicked He will rain coals;

Fire and brimstone and a burning wind

^gShall be ²the portion of their cup.

⁷For the Lord is righteous,

He ^hloves righteousness;

³His countenance beholds the upright.

Psalm 12

To the Chief Musician. On An Eight-Stringed Harp. A Psalm of David.

¹Help, ²Lord, for the godly man ^bceases!

For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

^2cThey speak idly everyone with his neighbor;

With flattering lips and ³a double heart they speak.

³May the Lord ⁴cut off all flattering lips,

And the tongue that speaks ⁵proud things,

⁴Who have said,

“With our tongue we will prevail;

Our lips are our own;

Who is lord over us?”

⁵“For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,

Now I will arise,” says the Lord;

“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”

⁶The words of the Lord are ^dpure words,

Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,

Purified seven times.

⁷You shall keep them, O Lord,

You shall preserve them from this generation forever.

⁸The wicked prowl on every side,

When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.