Psalm 7–12

¹‘The Erring One,’ by David, that he sung to Jehovah concerning the words of Cush a Benjamite. O Jehovah, my God, in Thee I have trusted, Save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me.

²Lest he tear as a lion my soul, Rending, and there is no deliverer.

³O Jehovah, my God, if I have done this, If there is iniquity in my hands,

⁴If I have done my well-wisher evil, And draw mine adversary without cause,

⁵An enemy pursueth my soul, and overtaketh, And treadeth down to the earth my life, And my honour placeth in the dust. Selah.

⁶Rise, O Jehovah, in Thine anger, Be lifted up at the wrath of mine adversaries, And awake Thou for me: Judgment Thou hast commanded:

⁷And a company of peoples compass Thee, And over it on high turn Thou back,

⁸Jehovah doth judge the peoples; Judge me, O Jehovah, According to my righteousness, And according to mine integrity on me,

⁹Let, I pray Thee be ended the evil of the wicked, And establish Thou the righteous, And a trier of hearts and reins is the righteous God.

¹⁰My shield is on God, Saviour of the upright in heart!

¹¹God is a righteous judge, And He is not angry at all times.

¹²If one turn not, His sword he sharpeneth, His bow he hath trodden—He prepareth it,

¹³Yea, for him He hath prepared Instruments of death, His arrows for burning pursuers He maketh.

¹⁴Lo, he travaileth with iniquity, And he hath conceived perverseness, And hath brought forth falsehood.

¹⁵A pit he hath prepared, and he diggeth it, And he falleth into a ditch he maketh.

¹⁶Return doth his perverseness on his head, And on his crown his violence cometh down.

¹⁷I thank Jehovah, According to His righteousness, And praise the name of Jehovah Most High!

Psalm 8

¹To the Overseer, ‘On the Gittith.’ A Psalm of David. Jehovah, our Lord, How honourable Thy name in all the earth! Who settest thine honour on the heavens.

²From the mouths of infants and sucklings Thou hast founded strength, Because of Thine adversaries, To still an enemy and a self-avenger.

³For I see Thy heavens, a work of Thy fingers, Moon and stars that Thou didst establish.

⁴What is man that Thou rememberest him? The son of man that Thou inspectest him?

⁵And causest him to lack a little of Godhead, And with honour and majesty compassest him.

⁶Thou dost cause him to rule Over the works of Thy hands, All Thou hast placed under his feet.

⁷Sheep and oxen, all of them, And also beasts of the field,

⁸Bird of the heavens, and fish of the sea, Passing through the paths of the seas!

⁹Jehovah, our Lord, How honourable Thy name in all the earth!

Psalm 9

¹To the Overseer, ‘On the Death of Labben.’—A Psalm of David. I confess, O Jehovah, with all my heart, I recount all Thy wonders,

²I rejoice and exult in Thee, I praise Thy Name, O Most High.

³In mine enemies turning backward, they stumble and perish from Thy face.

⁴For Thou hast done my judgment and my right. Thou hast sat on a throne, A judge of righteousness.

⁵Thou hast rebuked nations, Thou hast destroyed the wicked, Their name Thou hast blotted out to the age and for ever.

⁶O thou Enemy, Finished have been destructions for ever, As to cities thou hast plucked up, Perished hath their memorial with them.

⁷And Jehovah to the age abideth, He is preparing for judgment His throne.

⁸And He judgeth the world in righteousness, He judgeth the peoples in uprightness.

⁹And Jehovah is a tower for the bruised, A tower for times of adversity.

¹⁰They trust in Thee who do know Thy name, For Thou hast not forsaken Those seeking Thee, O Jehovah.

¹¹Sing ye praise to Jehovah, inhabiting Zion, Declare ye among the peoples His acts,

¹²For He who is seeking for blood Them hath remembered, He hath not forgotten the cry of the afflicted.

¹³Favour me, O Jehovah, See mine affliction by those hating me, Thou who liftest me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴So that I recount all Thy praise, In the gates of the daughter of Zion. I rejoice on Thy salvation.

¹⁵Sunk have nations in a pit they made, In a net that they hid hath their foot been captured.

¹⁶Jehovah hath been known, Judgment He hath done, By a work of his hands Hath the wicked been snared. Meditation. Selah.

¹⁷The wicked do turn back to Sheol, All nations forgetting God.

¹⁸For not for ever is the needy forgotten, The hope of the humble lost to the age.

¹⁹Rise, O Jehovah, let not man be strong, Let nations be judged before Thy face.

²⁰Appoint, O Jehovah, a director to them, Let nations know they are men! Selah.

Psalm 10

¹Why, Jehovah, dost Thou stand at a distance? Thou dost hide in times of adversity,

²Through the pride of the wicked, Is the poor inflamed, They are caught in devices that they devised.

³Because the wicked hath boasted Of the desire of his soul, And a dishonest gainer he hath blessed, He hath despised Jehovah.

⁴The wicked according to the height of his face, inquireth not. ‘God is not!’ are all his devices.

⁵Pain do his ways at all times, On high are Thy judgments before him, All his adversaries—he puffeth at them.

⁶He hath said in his heart, ‘I am not moved,’ To generation and generation not in evil.

⁷Of oaths his mouth is full, And deceits, and fraud: Under his tongue is perverseness and iniquity,

⁸He doth sit in an ambush of the villages, In secret places he doth slay the innocent. His eyes for the afflicted watch secretly,

⁹He lieth in wait in a secret place, as a lion in a covert. He lieth in wait to catch the poor, He catcheth the poor, drawing him into his net.

¹⁰He is bruised—he boweth down, Fallen by his mighty ones hath the afflicted.

¹¹He said in his heart, ‘God hath forgotten, He hath hid His face, He hath never seen.’

¹²Arise, O Jehovah! O God, lift up Thy hand! Forget not the humble.

¹³Wherefore hath the wicked despised God? He hath said in his heart, ‘It is not required.’

¹⁴Thou hast seen, For Thou perverseness and anger beholdest; By giving into Thy hand, On Thee doth the afflicted leave it, Of the fatherless Thou hast been an helper.

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and the evil, Seek out his wickedness, find none;

¹⁶Jehovah is king to the age, and for ever, The nations have perished out of His land!

¹⁷The desire of the humble Thou hast heard, O Jehovah. Thou preparest their heart; Thou causest Thine ear to attend,

¹⁸To judge the fatherless and bruised: He addeth no more to oppress—man of the earth!

Psalm 11

¹To the Overseer.—By David. In Jehovah I trusted, how say ye to my soul, ‘They moved to Thy mountain for the bird?

²For lo, the wicked tread a bow, They have prepared their arrow on the string, To shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.

³When the foundations are destroyed, The righteous—what hath he done?

⁴‘Jehovah is in his holy temple: Jehovah—in the heavens is His throne. His eyes see—His eyelids try the sons of men.

⁵Jehovah the righteous doth try. And the wicked and the lover of violence, Hath His soul hated,

⁶He poureth on the wicked snares, fire, and brimstone, And a horrible wind is the portion of their cup.

⁷For righteous is Jehovah, Righteousness He hath loved, The upright doth His countenance see!’

Psalm 12

¹To the Overseer, on the octave.—A Psalm of David. Save, Jehovah, for the saintly hath failed, For the stedfast have ceased From the sons of men:

²Vanity they speak each with his neighbour, Lip of flattery! With heart and heart they speak.

³Jehovah doth cut off all lips of flattery, A tongue speaking great things,

⁴Who said, ‘By our tongue we do mightily: Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?’

⁵Because of the spoiling of the poor, Because of the groaning of the needy, Now do I arise, saith Jehovah, I set in safety him who doth breathe for it.

⁶Sayings of Jehovah are pure sayings; Silver tried in a furnace of earth refined sevenfold.

⁷Thou, O Jehovah, dost preserve them, Thou keepest us from this generation to the age.

⁸Around the wicked walk continually, According as vileness is exalted by sons of men!

Psalm 13