Psalm 7–12

Psalm 7

A psalm of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush of the tribe of Benjamin.

¹I come to you for protection, O Lord my God.

Save me from my persecutors—rescue me!

²If you don’t, they will maul me like a lion,

tearing me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

³O Lord my God, if I have done wrong

or am guilty of injustice,

⁴if I have betrayed a friend

or plundered my enemy without cause,

⁵then let my enemies capture me.

Let them trample me into the ground

and drag my honor in the dust.

Interlude

⁶Arise, O Lord, in anger!

Stand up against the fury of my enemies!

Wake up, my God, and bring justice!

⁷Gather the nations before you.

Rule over them from on high.

⁸The Lord judges the nations.

Declare me righteous, O Lord,

for I am innocent, O Most High!

⁹End the evil of those who are wicked,

and defend the righteous.

For you look deep within the mind and heart,

O righteous God.

¹⁰God is my shield,

saving those whose hearts are true and right.

¹¹God is an honest judge.

He is angry with the wicked every day.

¹²If a person does not repent,

God will sharpen his sword;

he will bend and string his bow.

¹³He will prepare his deadly weapons

and shoot his flaming arrows.

¹⁴The wicked conceive evil;

they are pregnant with trouble

and give birth to lies.

¹⁵They dig a deep pit to trap others,

then fall into it themselves.

¹⁶The trouble they make for others backfires on them.

The violence they plan falls on their own heads.

¹⁷I will thank the Lord because he is just;

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

Psalm 8

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by a stringed instrument.

¹O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

Your glory is higher than the heavens.

²You have taught children and infants

to tell of your strength,

silencing your enemies

and all who oppose you.

³When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—

the moon and the stars you set in place—

⁴what are mere mortals that you should think about them,

human beings that you should care for them?

⁵Yet you made them only a little lower than God

and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶You gave them charge of everything you made,

putting all things under their authority—

⁷the flocks and the herds

and all the wild animals,

⁸the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,

and everything that swims the ocean currents.

⁹O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

Psalm 9

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be sung to the tune “Death of the Son.”

¹I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;

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

²I will be filled with joy because of you.

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

³My enemies retreated;

they staggered and died when you appeared.

⁴For you have judged in my favor;

from your throne you have judged with fairness.

⁵You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;

you have erased their names forever.

⁶The enemy is finished, in endless ruins;

the cities you uprooted are now forgotten.

⁷But the Lord reigns forever,

executing judgment from his throne.

⁸He will judge the world with justice

and rule the nations with fairness.

⁹The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed,

a refuge in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know your name trust in you,

for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.

¹¹Sing praises to the Lord who reigns in Jerusalem.

Tell the world about his unforgettable deeds.

¹²For he who avenges murder cares for the helpless.

He does not ignore the cries of those who suffer.

¹³Lord, have mercy on me.

See how my enemies torment me.

Snatch me back from the jaws of death.

¹⁴Save me so I can praise you publicly at Jerusalem’s gates,

so I can rejoice that you have rescued me.

¹⁵The nations have fallen into the pit they dug for others.

Their own feet have been caught in the trap they set.

¹⁶The Lord is known for his justice.

The wicked are trapped by their own deeds.

Quiet Interlude

¹⁷The wicked will go down to the grave.

This is the fate of all the nations who ignore God.

¹⁸But the needy will not be ignored forever;

the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed.

¹⁹Arise, O Lord!

Do not let mere mortals defy you!

Judge the nations!

²⁰Make them tremble in fear, O Lord.

Let the nations know they are merely human.

Interlude

Psalm 10

¹O Lord, why do you stand so far away?

Why do you hide when I am in trouble?

²The wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor.

Let them be caught in the evil they plan for others.

³For they brag about their evil desires;

they praise the greedy and curse the Lord.

⁴The wicked are too proud to seek God.

They seem to think that God is dead.

⁵Yet they succeed in everything they do.

They do not see your punishment awaiting them.

They sneer at all their enemies.

⁶They think, “Nothing bad will ever happen to us!

We will be free of trouble forever!”

⁷Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats.

Trouble and evil are on the tips of their tongues.

⁸They lurk in ambush in the villages,

waiting to murder innocent people.

They are always searching for helpless victims.

⁹Like lions crouched in hiding,

they wait to pounce on the helpless.

Like hunters they capture the helpless

and drag them away in nets.

¹⁰Their helpless victims are crushed;

they fall beneath the strength of the wicked.

¹¹The wicked think, “God isn’t watching us!

He has closed his eyes and won’t even see what we do!”

¹²Arise, O Lord!

Punish the wicked, O God!

Do not ignore the helpless!

¹³Why do the wicked get away with despising God?

They think, “God will never call us to account.”

¹⁴But you see the trouble and grief they cause.

You take note of it and punish them.

The helpless put their trust in you.

You defend the orphans.

¹⁵Break the arms of these wicked, evil people!

Go after them until the last one is destroyed.

¹⁶The Lord is king forever and ever!

The godless nations will vanish from the land.

¹⁷Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless.

Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.

¹⁸You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed,

so mere people can no longer terrify them.

Psalm 11

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

¹I trust in the Lord for protection.

So why do you say to me,

“Fly like a bird to the mountains for safety!

²The wicked are stringing their bows

and fitting their arrows on the bowstrings.

They shoot from the shadows

at those whose hearts are right.

³The foundations of law and order have collapsed.

What can the righteous do?”

⁴But the Lord is in his holy Temple;

the Lord still rules from heaven.

He watches everyone closely,

examining every person on earth.

⁵The Lord examines both the righteous and the wicked.

He hates those who love violence.

⁶He will rain down blazing coals and burning sulfur on the wicked,

punishing them with scorching winds.

⁷For the righteous Lord loves justice.

The virtuous will see his face.

Psalm 12

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by an eight-stringed instrument.

¹Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing!

The faithful have vanished from the earth!

²Neighbors lie to each other,

speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.

³May the Lord cut off their flattering lips

and silence their boastful tongues.

⁴They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content.

Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”

⁵The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless,

and I have heard the groans of the poor.

Now I will rise up to rescue them,

as they have longed for me to do.”

⁶The Lord’s promises are pure,

like silver refined in a furnace,

purified seven times over.

⁷Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed,

preserving them forever from this lying generation,

⁸even though the wicked strut about,

and evil is praised throughout the land.