Book 1
   7   I will repeat ^note the Lord's decree:
‘You are my son,’ he said;
  ‘this day I become your father.
   8   Ask of me what you will:
  I will give you nations as your inheritance,
  the ends of the earth as your possession.
   9   You shall break them with a rod of iron,
  you shall shatter them like a clay pot.’
   10   Be mindful then, you kings;
    learn your lesson, rulers of the earth:
   11    12   worship the Lord with reverence;
  tremble, and kiss the king, ^note
lest the Lord be angry and you are struck down in mid course;
  for his anger flares up in a moment.
    Happy are all who find refuge in him.
3

   1   Lord, how my enemies have multiplied!
  Many rise up against me,
   2   many there are who say of me,
  ‘God will not bring him victory.’
3   But thou, Lord, art a shield to cover me:
  thou art my glory, and thou dost raise my head high.
   4   I cry aloud to the Lord,
    and he answers me from his holy mountain.
   5   I lie down and sleep,
  and I wake again, for the Lord upholds me.
   6   I will not fear the nations in their myriads
  who set on me from all sides.


7   Rise up, Lord; save me, O my God.
  Thou dost strike all my foes across the face
    and breakest the teeth of the wicked.
     8   Thine is the victory, O Lord,
  and may ^note thy blessing rest upon thy people.
4

   1   Answer me when I call, O God, maintainer of my right,
I was hard pressed, and thou didst set me at large;
  be gracious to me now and hear my prayer.

Book 1
2   Mortal men, how long will you pay me not honour but dishonour,
or set your heart on trifles and run after lies?
3   Know that the Lord has shown me ^note his marvellous love;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
   4   However angry your hearts, do not do wrong;
though you lie abed resentful, ^note do not break silence:
5   pay your due of sacrifice, and trust in the Lord.


6   There are many who say, ‘If only we might be prosperous again!
But the light of thy presence has fled from us, O Lord.’
   7   Yet in my heart thou hast put more happiness
  than they enjoyed when there was corn and wine in plenty.
8   Now I will lie down in peace, and sleep;
for thou alone, O Lord, makest me live unafraid.
5

   1   Listen to my words, O Lord,
    consider my inmost thoughts;
2   heed my cry for help, my king and my God.
3   In the morning, when I say my prayers,
    thou wilt hear me.
I set out my morning sacrifice ^note
    and watch for thee, O Lord.
4   For thou art not a God who welcomes wickedness;
    evil can be no guest of thine. ^note
   5   There is no place for arrogance before thee;
    thou hatest evildoers,
     6   thou makest an end of all liars.


The Lord detests traitors and men of blood.
7   But I, through thy great love, may come into thy house,
and bow low toward thy holy temple in awe of thee.
   8   Lead me, Lord, in thy righteousness,
    because my enemies are on the watch;
  give me a straight path to follow.
   9   There is no trusting what they say, ^note
    they are nothing but wind.
  Their throats are an open ^note sepulchre;
  smooth talk runs off their tongues.
   10   Bring ruin on them, O God;

Book 1
  let them fall by their own devices.
  Cast them out, after all their rebellions,
  for they have defied thee.
   11   But let all who take refuge in thee rejoice,
  let them for ever break into shouts of joy;
  shelter those who love thy name,
  that they may exult in thee.
12   For thou, O Lord, wilt bless the righteous;
  thou wilt hedge him round with favour as with a shield.
6

   1   O Lord, do not condemn me in thy anger,
    do not punish me in thy fury.
2   Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am weak;
  heal me, my very bones are shaken;
   3   my soul quivers in dismay.
  And thou, O Lord—how long?
4   Come back, O Lord; set my soul free,
    deliver me for thy love's sake.
   5   None talk of thee among the dead;
  who praises thee in Sheol?


     6   I am wearied with groaning;
  all night long my pillow is wet with tears,
  I soak my bed with weeping.
   7   Grief dims my eyes;
    they are worn out with all my woes.
   8   Away from me, all you evildoers,
  for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
   9   The Lord has heard my entreaty;
  the Lord will accept my prayer.
10   All my enemies shall be confounded and dismayed;
  they shall turn away in sudden confusion.
7

1   O Lord my God, in thee I find refuge;
    save me, rescue me from my pursuers,
     2   before they tear at my throat like a lion
    and carry me off beyond hope of rescue.
3   O Lord my God, if I have done any of these things—
    if I have stained my hands with guilt,
     4   if I have repaid a friend evil for good

Book 1
    or set free an enemy who attacked me without cause,
5   may my adversary come after me and overtake me,
  trample my life to the ground
  and lay my honour in the dust!


     6   Arise, O Lord, in thy anger,
    rouse thyself in wrath against my foes.
Awake, my God who hast ordered that justice be done;
     7   let the peoples assemble around thee,
    and take thou thy seat on high above them.
     8   O Lord, thou who dost pass sentence on the nations,
    O Lord, judge me as my righteousness deserves,
    for I am clearly innocent.
   9   Let wicked men do no more harm,
  establish the reign of righteousness, ^note
  thou who examinest both heart and mind,
    thou righteous God.


   10   God, the High God, is my shield
    who saves men of honest heart.
   11   God is a just judge,
  every day he requites the raging enemy.


     12   He sharpens his sword,
  strings his bow and makes it ready.
   13   He has prepared his deadly shafts
  and tipped his arrows with fire.
   14   But the enemy is in labour with iniquity;
he conceives mischief, and his brood is lies.
   15   He has made a pit and dug it deep,
  and he himself shall fall into the hole that he has made.
   16   His mischief shall recoil upon himself,
  and his violence fall on his own head.


   17   I will praise the Lord for his righteousness
  and sing a psalm to the name of the Lord Most High.
8

     1   O Lord our sovereign,
  how glorious is thy name in all the earth!
  Thy majesty is praised high as the heavens.
   2   Out of the mouths of babes, of infants at the breast,
    thou hast rebuked ^note the mighty,

Book 1
silencing enmity and vengeance to teach thy foes a lesson.
3   When I look up at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
  the moon and the stars set in their place by thee,
   4   what is man that thou shouldst remember him,
    mortal man that thou shouldst care for him?
   5   Yet thou hast made him little less than a god,
  crowning him with glory and honour.
   6   Thou makest him master over all thy creatures;
  thou hast put everything under his feet:
7   all sheep and oxen, all the wild beasts,
     8   the birds in the air and the fish in the sea,
    and all that moves along the paths of ocean.
     9   O Lord our sovereign,
  how glorious is thy name in all the earth!
9–10

   1   I will praise thee, O Lord, ^note with all my heart,
    I will tell the story of thy marvellous acts.
   2   I will rejoice and exult in thee,
  I will praise thy name in psalms, O thou Most High,
     3   when my enemies turn back,
  when they fall headlong and perish at thy appearing;
   4   for thou hast upheld my right and my cause,
  seated on thy throne, thou righteous judge.
5   Thou hast rebuked the nations and overwhelmed the ungodly,
thou hast blotted out their name for all time.
6   The strongholds of the enemy are thrown down for evermore;
thou hast laid their cities in ruins, all memory of them is lost.
7   The Lord thunders, ^note he sits enthroned for ever:
  he has set up his throne, his judgement-seat.
8   He it is who will judge the world with justice
  and try the cause of the peoples fairly.
9   So may the Lord be a tower of strength for the oppressed,
  a tower of strength in time of need,
10   that those who acknowledge thy name may trust in thee;
  for thou, Lord, dost not forsake those who seek thee.
   11   Sing psalms to the Lord who dwells in Zion,
  proclaim his deeds among the nations.
   12   For the Avenger of blood has remembered men's desire,
  and has not forgotten the cry of the poor.

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13   Have pity on me, O Lord; look upon my affliction,
  thou who hast lifted me up ^note and caught me back from the gates of death,
   14   that I may repeat all thy praise
and exult at this deliverance in the gates of Zion's city.


   15   The nations have plunged into a pit of their own making;
their own feet are entangled in the net which they hid.
16   Now the Lord makes himself known. Justice is done:
  the wicked man is trapped in his own devices.
   17   They rush blindly down to Sheol, the wicked,
    all the nations who are heedless of God.
   18   But the poor shall not always be unheeded
  nor the hope of the destitute be always vain.
19   Arise, Lord, give man no chance to boast his strength;
  summon the nations before thee for judgement.
20   Strike them with fear, O Lord,
let the nations know that they are but men.


1   Why stand so far off, Lord,
  hiding thyself in time of need?
   2   The wicked man in his pride hunts down the poor:
  may his crafty schemes be his own undoing!
   3   The wicked man is obsessed with his own desires,
  and in his greed gives wickedness ^note his blessing;
   4   arrogant as he is, he scorns the Lord
  and leaves no place for God in all his schemes.
   5   His ways are always devious;
  thy judgements are beyond his grasp, ^note
  and he scoffs at all restraint.
6   He says to himself, ‘I shall never be shaken;
  no misfortune can check my course.’ ^note
7   His mouth is full of lies and violence;
  mischief and trouble lurk under his tongue.
   8   He lies in ambush in the villages
  and murders innocent men by stealth.
  He is watching ^note intently for some poor wretch;
9   he seizes him and drags him away in his net;
he crouches stealthily, like a lion in its lair
  crouching to seize its victim;
   10   the good man ^note is struck down and sinks to the ground,

Book 1
  and poor wretches fall into his toils.
11   He says to himself, ‘God has forgotten;
he has hidden his face and has seen nothing.’


12   Arise, Lord, set ^note thy hand to the task;
  do not forget the poor, O God.
13   Why, O God, has the wicked man rejected thee
  and said to himself that thou dost not care?
14   Thou seest that mischief and trouble are his companions,
  thou takest the matter into thy own hands.
  The poor victim commits himself to thee;
fatherless, he finds in thee his helper.
   15   Break the power of wickedness and wrong;
  hunt out all wickedness until thou canst find no more.


16   The Lord is king for ever and ever;
  the nations have vanished from his land.
   17   Thou hast heard the lament of the humble, O Lord,
  and art attentive to their heart's desire,
   18   bringing justice to the orphan and the downtrodden
that fear may never drive men from their homes again.
11

1   In the Lord I have found my refuge; why do you say to me,
  ‘Flee to the mountains like a bird;
2   see how the wicked string their bows
  and fit the arrow to the string,
  to shoot down honest men out of the darkness’?
3   When foundations are undermined, what can the good man do?
     4   The Lord is in his holy temple,
  the Lord's throne is in heaven.
His eye is upon mankind, he takes their measure at a glance.
5   The Lord weighs just and unjust
  and hates with all his soul the lover of violence.
   6   He shall rain down red-hot coals upon the wicked;
brimstone and scorching winds shall be the cup they drink.
7   For the Lord is just and loves just dealing;
  his face is turned towards the upright man.

Book 1 12

1   Help, Lord, for loyalty is no more;
  good faith between man and man is over.
2   One man lies to another:
they talk with smooth lip and double heart.
   3   May the Lord make an end of such smooth lips
  and the tongue that talks so boastfully!
   4   They said, ‘Our tongue can win the day.
Words are our ally; who can master us?’
5   ‘For the ruin of the poor, for the groans of the needy,
now I will arise,’ says the Lord,
  ‘I will place him in the safety for which he longs.’


   6   The words of the Lord are pure words:
  silver refined in a crucible,
  gold ^note seven times purified.
   7   Do thou, Lord, protect us ^note
  and guard us from a profligate and evil generation. ^note
   8   The wicked flaunt themselves on every side,
    while profligacy stands high among mankind.
13

1   How long, O Lord, wilt thou quite forget me?
How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
2   How long must I suffer anguish in my soul,
  grief in my heart, day and night ^note?
How long shall my enemy lord it over me?
3   Look now and answer me, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death,
   4   lest my adversary say, ‘I have overthrown him’,
  and my enemies rejoice at my downfall.
   5   But for my part I trust in thy true love.
  My heart shall rejoice, for thou hast set me free.
6   I will sing to the Lord, who has granted all my desire.
14

   1    ^note The impious fool says in his heart,
    ‘There is no God.’

Book 1
  How vile men are, how depraved and loathsome;
    not one does anything good!
   2   The Lord looks down from heaven
    on all mankind
  to see if any act wisely,
    if any seek out God.
3   But all are disloyal, all are rotten to the core;
    not one does anything good,
    no, not even one.


     4   Shall they not rue it,
  all evildoers who devour my people
    as men devour bread,
    and never call upon the Lord?
   5   There they were in dire alarm;
for God was in the brotherhood of the godly.
   6   The resistance of their victim was too much for them,
    because the Lord was his refuge.
7   If only Israel's deliverance might come out of Zion!
  When the Lord restores his people's fortunes,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
15

   1   O Lord, who may lodge in thy tabernacle?
  Who may dwell on thy holy mountain?
   2   The man of blameless life, who does what is right
  and speaks the truth from his heart;
     3   who has no malice on his tongue,
  who never wrongs a friend
  and tells no tales against his neighbour;
   4   the man who shows his scorn for the worthless
  and honours all who fear the Lord;
  who swears to his own hurt and does not retract;
   5   who does not put his money out to usury
  and takes no bribe against an innocent man.
He who does these things shall never be brought low.
16

1   Keep me, O God, for in thee have I found refuge.
     2   I have said to the Lord,
  ‘Thou, Lord, art my felicity.’
   3   The gods whom earth holds sacred are all worthless,

Book 1
  and cursed are all who make them their delight; ^note
4   those who run after them ^note find trouble without end.
  I will not offer them libations of blood
  nor take their names upon my lips.
   5   Thou, Lord, my allotted portion, thou my cup,
  thou dost enlarge my boundaries:
   6   the lines fall for me in pleasant places,
  indeed I am well content with my inheritance.
   7   I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel:
  in the night-time wisdom comes to me in my inward parts.
8   I have set the Lord continually before me:
  with him ^note at my right hand I cannot be shaken.
   9   Therefore my heart exults
    and my spirit rejoices,
  my body too rests unafraid;
   10   for thou wilt not abandon me to Sheol
  nor suffer thy faithful servant to see the pit.
     11   Thou wilt show me the path of life;
    in thy presence is the fullness of joy,
    in thy right hand pleasures for evermore.
17

   1   Hear, Lord, my ^note plea for justice,
    give my cry a hearing,
    listen to my prayer,
    for it is innocent of all deceit.
   2   Let judgement in my cause issue from thy lips,
  let thine eyes be fixed on justice.
3   Thou hast tested my heart and watched me all night long;
  thou hast assayed me and found in me no mind to evil.
   4   I will not speak of the deeds of men;
    I have taken good note of all thy sayings.
5   I have not strayed from the course of duty;
    I have followed thy path and never stumbled.
6   I call upon thee, O God, for thou wilt answer me.
Bend down thy ear to me, listen to my words.
     7   Show me how marvellous thy true love can be,
  who with thy hand dost save
    all who seek sanctuary from their enemies.
   8   Keep me like the apple of thine eye;

Book 1
    hide me in the shadow of thy wings
   9   from the wicked who obstruct me,
from deadly foes who throng round me.
   10   They have stifled all compassion;
  their mouths are full of pride;
   11   they press me hard, ^note now they hem me in,
on the watch to bring me ^note to the ground.
12   The enemy is like a lion eager for prey,
  like a young lion crouching in ambush.
13   Arise, Lord, meet him face to face and bring him down.
  Save my life from the wicked;
     14   make an end of them ^note with thy sword.
  With thy hand, O Lord, make an end of them; ^note
  thrust them out of this world in the prime of their life,
  gorged as they are with thy good things,
    blest with many sons
  and leaving their children wealth in plenty.
15   But my plea is just: I shall see thy face,
  and be blest with a vision of thee when I awake.
18

   1   I love thee, O Lord my strength.
2    ^note The Lord is my stronghold, my fortress and my champion,
my God, my rock where I find safety,
my shield, my mountain refuge, my strong tower.
3   I will call on the Lord to whom all praise is due,
and I shall be delivered from my enemies.
4   When the bonds of death held me fast,
destructive torrents overtook me,
5   the bonds of Sheol tightened round me,
the snares of death were set to catch me;
6   then in anguish of heart I cried to the Lord,
I called for help to my God;
he heard me from his temple,
and my cry reached his ears.
7   The earth heaved and quaked,
the foundations of the mountains shook;
they heaved, because he was angry.
8   Smoke rose from his nostrils,
devouring fire came out of his mouth,

Book 1
glowing coals and searing heat.
9   He swept the skies aside as he descended,
thick darkness lay under his feet.
10   He rode on a cherub, he flew through the air;
he swooped on the wings of the wind.
11   He made darkness around him his hiding-place
and dense ^note vapour his canopy. ^note
12   Thick clouds came out of the radiance before him,
hailstones and glowing coals.
13   The Lord thundered from the heavens
and the voice of the Most High spoke out. ^note
14   He loosed his arrows, he sped them far and wide,
he shot forth lightning shafts and sent them echoing.
15   The channels of the sea-bed were revealed,
the foundations of earth laid bare
at the Lord's rebuke,
at the blast of the breath of his ^note nostrils.
16   He reached down from the height and took me,
he drew me out of mighty waters,
17   he rescued me from my enemies, strong as they were,
from my foes when they grew too powerful for me.
18   They confronted me in the hour of my peril,
but the Lord was my buttress.
19   He brought me out into an open place,
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
20   The Lord rewarded me as my righteousness deserved;
my hands were clean, and he requited me.
21   For I have followed the ways of the Lord
and have not turned wickedly from my God;
22   all his laws are before my eyes,
I have not failed to follow his decrees.
23   In his sight I was blameless
and kept myself from wilful sin;
24   the Lord requited me as my righteousness deserved
and the purity of my life in his eyes.


25   With the loyal thou showest thyself loyal
and with the blameless man blameless.
26   With the savage man thou showest thyself savage,
and ^note tortuous with the perverse.

Book 1
27   Thou deliverest humble folk,
and bringest proud looks down to earth.
28   Thou, Lord, dost make my lamp burn bright,
and my God will lighten my darkness.
29   With thy help I leap over a bank,
by God's aid I spring over a wall.


30   The way of God is perfect,
the Lord's word has stood the test;
he is the shield of all who take refuge in him.
31   What god is there but the Lord?
What rock but our God?—
32   the God who girds me with strength
and makes my way blameless,
33   who makes me swift as a hind
and sets me secure on the ^note mountains;
34   who trains my hands for battle,
and my arms aim an arrow tipped with bronze.


35   Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation,
thy hand sustains me, thy providence makes me great.
36   Thou givest me room for my steps,
my feet have not faltered.
37   I pursue my enemies and overtake them,
I do not return until I have made an end of them.
38   I strike them down and they will never rise again;
they fall beneath my feet.
39   Thou dost arm me with strength for the battle
and dost subdue my foes before me.
40   Thou settest my foot on my enemies' necks,
and I bring to nothing those that hate me.
41   They cry out and there is no one to help them,
they cry to the Lord and he does not answer.
42   I will pound them fine as dust before the wind,
like mud in the streets will I trample them. ^note
43   Thou dost deliver me from the clamour of the people,
and makest me master of the nations.
A people I never knew shall be my subjects;
44   as soon as they hear tell of me, they shall obey me,
and foreigners shall come cringing to me.
45   Foreigners shall be brought captive to me,
and emerge from their strongholds.

Book 1

46   The Lord lives, blessed is my rock,
high above all is God who saves me.


47   O God, who grantest me vengeance,
who layest nations prostrate at my feet,
48   who dost rescue me from my foes and set me over my enemies,
thou dost deliver me from violent men.
49   Therefore, Lord, I will praise thee among the nations
and sing psalms to thy name,
50   to one who gives his king great victories
and in all his acts keeps faith with his anointed king,
with David and his descendants for ever.
19

   1   The heavens tell out the glory of God,
  the vault of heaven reveals his handiwork.
2   One day speaks to another,
night with night shares its knowledge,
     3   and this without speech or language
    or sound of any voice.
   4   Their music goes out through all the earth,
    their words reach to the end of the world.
In them a tent is fixed for the sun,
5   who comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
rejoicing like a strong man to run his race.
     6   His rising is at one end of the heavens,
    his circuit touches their farthest ends;
    and nothing is hidden from his heat.


   7   The law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul.
    The Lord's instruction never fails,
    and makes the simple wise.
8   The precepts of the Lord are right and rejoice the heart.
  The commandment of the Lord shines clear
    and gives light to the eyes.
   9   The fear of the Lord is pure and abides for ever.
The Lord's decrees are true and righteous every one,
10   more to be desired than gold, pure gold in plenty,
  sweeter than syrup or honey from the comb.
   11   It is these that give thy servant warning,
  and he who keeps them wins a great reward.


     12   Who is aware of his unwitting sins?
    Cleanse me of any secret fault.

Book 1
   13   Hold back thy servant also from sins of self-will,
    lest they get the better of me.
    Then I shall be blameless
  and innocent of any great transgression.


14   May all that I say and think be acceptable to thee,
  O Lord, my rock and my redeemer!
20

   1   May the Lord answer you in the hour of trouble!
  The name of Jacob's God be your tower of strength,
   2   give you help from the sanctuary
    and send you support from Zion!
     3   May he remember all your offerings
  and look with favour on your rich sacrifices,
   4   give you your heart's desire
    and grant success to all your plans!
     5   Let us sing aloud in praise of your victory,
    let us do homage to the name of our God!
  The Lord grant all you ask!


     6   Now I know
  that the Lord has given victory to his anointed king:
    he will answer him from his holy heaven
    with the victorious might of his right hand.
7   Some boast of chariots and some of horses,
but our boast is the name of the Lord our God.
   8   They totter and fall,
  but we rise up and are full of courage.
   9   O Lord, save the king,
    and answer us ^note in the hour of our calling.
21

1   The king rejoices in thy might, O Lord:
  well may he exult in thy victory,
   2   for thou hast given him his heart's desire
    and hast not refused him what he asked.
   3   Thou dost welcome him with blessings and prosperity
  and set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
4   He asked of thee life, and thou didst give it him,
  length of days for ever and ever.

Book 1
   5   Thy salvation has brought him great glory;
thou dost invest him with majesty and honour,
   6   for thou bestowest blessings on him for evermore
  and dost make him glad with joy in thy presence.
   7   The king puts his trust in the Lord;
    the loving care of the Most High holds him unshaken.


   8   Your hand shall reach all your enemies:
your right hand shall reach those who hate you;
   9   at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace;
  the Lord in his anger will strike them down,
    and fire shall consume them.
   10   It will exterminate their offspring from the earth
    and rid mankind of their posterity.
   11   For they have aimed wicked blows at you,
  they have plotted mischief but could not prevail;
   12   but you will catch them round the shoulders ^note
  and will aim with your bow-strings at their faces.


   13   Be exalted, O Lord, in thy might;
  we will sing a psalm of praise to thy power.
22

1   My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me
  and art so far from saving me, ^note from heeding my groans?
2   O my God, I cry in the day-time but thou dost not answer,
  in the night I cry but get no respite.
   3   And yet thou art enthroned in holiness,
    thou art he whose praises Israel sings.
   4   In thee our fathers put their trust;
    they trusted, and thou didst rescue them.
   5   Unto thee they cried and were delivered;
  in thee they trusted and were not put to shame.
   6   But I am a worm, not a man,
    abused by all men, scorned by the people.
   7   All who see me jeer at me,
make mouths at me and wag their heads:
   8   ‘He threw himself on the Lord for rescue;
  let the Lord deliver him, for he holds him dear!’
   9   But thou art he who drew me from the womb,
    who laid me at my mother's breast.

Book 1
   10   Upon thee was I cast at birth;
  from my mother's womb thou hast been my God.
     11   Be not far from me,
for trouble is near, and I have no helper.
   12   A herd of bulls surrounds me,
    great bulls ^note of Bashan beset me.
   13   Ravening and roaring lions
  open their mouths wide against me.
     14   My strength drains away like water
    and all my bones are loose.
My heart has turned to wax and melts within me.
   15   My mouth ^note is dry as a potsherd,
  and my tongue sticks to my jaw;
    I am laid ^note low in the dust of death. ^note
     16   The huntsmen are all about me;
    a band of ruffians rings me round,
  and they have hacked off ^note my hands and my feet.
     17   I tell my tale of misery,
  while they look on and gloat.
   18   They share out my garments among them
  and cast lots for my clothes.
   19   But do not remain so far away, O Lord;
  O my help, hasten to my aid.
   20   Deliver my very self from the sword,
    my precious life from the axe.
     21   Save me from the lion's mouth,
    my poor body ^note from the horns of the wild ox.


   22   I will declare thy fame to my brethren;
    I will praise thee in the midst of the assembly.
     23   Praise him, you who fear the Lord;
    all you sons of Jacob, do him honour;
  stand in awe of him, all sons of Israel.
     24   For he has not scorned the downtrodden,
    nor shrunk in loathing from his plight,
  nor hidden his face from him,
  but gave heed to him when he cried out.
25   Thou dost inspire my praise in the full assembly;
  and I will pay my vows before all who fear thee.
   26   Let the humble eat and be satisfied.

Book 1
  Let those who seek the Lord praise him
  and be ^note in good heart for ever.
27   Let all the ends of the earth remember and turn again to the Lord;
let all the families of the nations bow down before him. ^note
     28   For kingly power belongs to the Lord,
    and dominion over the nations is his.
   29   How can those buried in the earth do him homage,
  how can those who go down to the grave bow before him?
    But I shall live for his sake,
     30   my posterity ^note shall serve him.
This shall be told of the Lord to future generations;
     31   and they shall justify him,
    declaring to a people yet unborn
    that this was his doing.
23

   1   The Lord is my shepherd; I shall want nothing.
     2   He makes me lie down in green pastures,
  and leads me beside the waters of peace;
     3   he renews life within me,
  and for his name's sake guides me in the right path.
   4   Even though I walk through a valley dark as death
  I fear no evil, for thou art with me,
thy staff and thy crook are my comfort.


5   Thou spreadest a table for me in the sight of my enemies;
  thou hast richly bathed my head with oil,
    and my cup runs over.
   6   Goodness and love unfailing, these will follow me
    all the days of my life,
    and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    my whole life long.
24

   1   The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it,
    the world and those who dwell therein.
   2   For it was he who founded it upon the seas
    and planted it firm upon the waters beneath.


   3   Who may go up the mountain of the Lord?
  And who may stand in his holy place?

Book 1
     4   He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
  who has not set his mind on falsehood,
    and has not committed perjury.
   5   He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
    and justice from God his saviour.
     6   Such is the fortune of those who seek him,
    who seek the face of the God of Jacob. ^note


   7   Lift up your heads, you gates,
    lift yourselves up, you everlasting doors,
  that the king of glory may come in.
     8   Who is the king of glory?
    The Lord strong and mighty,
    the Lord mighty in battle.
   9   Lift up your heads, you gates,
    lift them up, you everlasting doors,
    that the king of glory may come in.
   10   Who then is the king of glory?
  The king of glory is the Lord of Hosts.
25

1   Unto thee, O Lord my God, I lift up my heart.
2   In thee I trust: do not put me to shame,
  let not my enemies exult over me.
   3   No man who hopes in thee is put to shame;
  but shame comes to all who break faith without cause.
     4   Make thy paths known to me, O Lord;
    teach me thy ways.
   5   Lead me in thy truth and teach me;
    thou art God my saviour.
  For thee I have waited all the day long,
    for the coming of thy goodness, Lord. ^note
6   Remember, Lord, thy tender care and thy love unfailing,
    shown from ages past.
   7   Do not remember the sins and offences of my youth,
  but remember me in thy unfailing love.
   8   The Lord is good and upright;
therefore he teaches sinners the way they should go.
   9   He guides the humble man in doing right,
  he teaches the humble his ways.

Book 1
   10   All the ways of the Lord are loving and sure
    to men who keep his covenant and his charge.
     11   For the honour of thy name, O Lord,
  forgive my wickedness, great as it is.
   12   If there is any man who fears the Lord,
  he shall be shown the path that he should choose;
   13   he shall enjoy lasting prosperity,
  and his children after him shall inherit the land.
     14   The Lord confides his purposes to those who fear him,
    and his covenant is theirs to know.
   15   My eyes are ever on the Lord,
who alone can free my feet from the net.


   16   Turn to me and show me thy favour,
  for I am lonely and oppressed.
     17   Relieve the sorrows of my heart
    and bring me out of my distress.
   18   Look at my misery and my trouble
    and forgive me every sin.
   19   Look at my enemies, see how many they are
    and how violent their hatred for me.
   20   Defend me and deliver me,
  do not put me to shame when I take refuge in thee.
   21   Let integrity and uprightness protect me,
    for I have waited for thee, O Lord. ^note
22   O God, redeem Israel from all his sorrows.
26

     1   Give me justice, O Lord,
  for I have lived my life without reproach,
  and put unfaltering trust in the Lord.
   2   Test me, O Lord, and try me;
  put my heart and mind to the proof.
   3   For thy constant love is before my eyes,
    and I live in thy truth.
   4   I have not sat among worthless men,
    nor do I mix with hypocrites;
     5   I hate the company of evildoers
    and will not sit among the ungodly.
   6   I wash my hands in innocence
  to join in procession round thy altar, O Lord,

Book 1
   7   singing of thy marvellous acts,
    recounting them all with thankful voice.
   8   O Lord, I love the beauty ^note of thy house,
    the place where thy glory dwells.
   9   Do not sweep me away with sinners,
  nor cast me out with men who thirst for blood,
     10   whose fingers are active in mischief,
  and their hands are full of bribes.
   11   But I live my life without reproach;
  redeem me, O Lord, ^note and show me thy favour.
   12   When once my feet are planted on firm ground,
  I will bless the Lord in the full assembly.
27

   1   The Lord is my light and my salvation;
    whom should I fear?
  The Lord is the refuge of my life;
    of whom then should I go in dread?
2   When evildoers close in on me to devour me,
  it is my enemies, my assailants,
    who stumble and fall.
   3   If an army should encamp against me,
    my heart would feel no fear;
  if armed men should fall upon me,
  even then I should be undismayed.
   4   One thing I ask of the Lord,
    one thing I seek:
    that I may be constant in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
    to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him ^note in his temple.
   5   For he will keep me safe beneath his roof ^note
    in the day of misfortune;
  he will hide me under the cover of his tent;
    he will raise me beyond reach of distress.
6   Now I can raise my head high
    above the enemy all about me;
  so will I acclaim him with sacrifice before his tent
    and sing a psalm of praise of the Lord.

Book 1

7   Hear, O Lord, when I call aloud;
    show me favour and answer me.
   8   ‘Come,’ my heart has said,
    ‘seek his face.’ ^note
  I will seek thy face, O Lord;
   9   do not hide it from me,
  nor in thy anger turn away thy servant,
    whose help thou hast been;
do not cast me off or forsake me, O God my saviour.
   10   Though my father and my mother forsake me,
    the Lord will take me into his care.
   11    12   Teach me thy way, O Lord;
  do not give me up to the greed of my enemies;
lead me by a level path
    to escape my watchful foes;
  liars stand up to give evidence against me,
    breathing malice.
   13   Well I know ^note that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.


14   Wait for the Lord; be strong, take courage,
    and wait for the Lord.
28

   1   To thee, O Lord, I call;
  O my Rock, be not deaf to my cry,
    lest, if thou answer me with silence,
  I become like those who go down to the abyss.
     2   Hear my cry for mercy
    when I call to thee for help,
  when I lift my hands to thy holy shrine.
3   Do not drag me away with the ungodly, with evildoers,
who speak civilly to neighbours, with malice in their hearts.
4   Reward them for their works, their evil deeds;
  reward them for what their hands have done;
  give them their deserts.
   5   Because they pay no heed to the works of the Lord
    or to what his hands have done,
    may he tear them down and never build them up!


     6   Blessed be the Lord,
  for he has heard my cry for mercy.

Book 1
   7   The Lord is my strength, my shield,
    in him my heart trusts;
  so I am sustained, and my heart leaps for joy,
    and I praise him with my whole body. ^note
   8   The Lord is strength to his people, ^note
    a safe refuge for his anointed king.


9   O save thy people and bless thy own,
  shepherd them, carry them for ever.
29

   1   Ascribe to the Lord, you gods,
ascribe to the Lord glory and might.
   2   Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name;
  bow down to the Lord in the splendour of holiness. ^note
     3   The God of glory thunders:
    the voice of the Lord echoes over the waters,
    the Lord is over the mighty waters.
     4   the voice of the Lord is power.
    The voice of the Lord is majesty.
   5   The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,
  the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
   6   He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
  Sirion like a young wild ox.
   7   The voice of the Lord makes flames of fire burst forth,
8   the voice of the Lord makes the wilderness writhe in travail;
  the Lord makes the wilderness of Kadesh writhe.
   9   The voice of the Lord makes the hinds calve
    and brings kids early to birth;
and in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’
   10   The Lord is king above ^note the flood,
the Lord has taken his royal seat as king for ever.
11   The Lord will give strength to his people;
the Lord will bless his people with peace.
30

     1   I will exalt thee, O Lord;
    thou hast lifted me up
  and hast not let my enemies make merry over me.
2   O Lord my God, I cried to thee and thou didst heal me.

Book 1
3   O Lord, thou hast brought me up from Sheol
    and saved my life as I was sinking into the abyss. ^note
   4   Sing a psalm to the Lord, all you his loyal servants,
    and give thanks to his holy name.
5   In his anger is disquiet, in his favour there is life.
  Tears may linger at nightfall,
    but joy comes in the morning.
   6   Carefree as I was, I had said,
    ‘I can never be shaken.’
7   But, Lord, it was thy will to shake my mountain refuge;
thou didst hide thy face, and I was struck with dismay.
   8   I called unto thee, O Lord,
    and I pleaded with thee, Lord, ^note for mercy:
9   ‘What profit in my death if I go down into the pit?
Can the dust confess thee or proclaim thy truth?
   10   Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me;
  Lord, be my helper.’
   11   Thou hast turned my laments into dancing;
thou hast stripped off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12   that my ^note spirit may sing psalms to thee and never cease.
I will confess thee for ever, O Lord my God.
31

   1   With thee, O Lord, I have sought shelter,
    let me never be put to shame.
    Deliver me in thy righteousness;
   2   bow down and hear me,
    come quickly to my rescue;
  be thou my rock of refuge,
    a stronghold to keep me safe.
   3   Thou art to me both rock and stronghold;
  lead me and guide me for the honour of thy name.
4   Set me free from the net men have hidden for me;
    thou art my refuge,
   5   into thy keeping I commit my spirit.
Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord thou God of truth.
   6   Thou hatest ^note all who worship useless idols,
  but I put my trust in the Lord.
   7   I will rejoice and be glad in thy unfailing love;

Book 1
    for thou hast seen my affliction
    and hast cared for me in my distress.
   8   Thou hast not abandoned me to the power of the enemy
  but hast set me free to range at will.
   9   Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress,
  and my eyes are dimmed with grief. ^note
   10   My life is worn away with sorrow
    and my years with sighing;
strong as I am, I stumble under my load of misery; ^note
    there is disease in all my bones.
   11   I have such enemies that all men scorn me; ^note
    my neighbours find me a burden,
    my friends shudder at me;
when they see me in the street they turn quickly away.
   12   I am forgotten, like a dead man out of mind;
  I have come to be like something lost.
   13   For I hear many men whispering
    threats from every side,
  in league against me as they are
  and plotting to take my life.
14   But, Lord, I put my trust in thee;
  I say, ‘Thou art my God.’
     15   My fortunes are in thy hand;
  rescue me from my enemies and those who persecute me.
   16   Make thy face shine upon thy servant;
    save me in thy unfailing love.
   17   O Lord, do not put me to shame when I call upon thee;
let the wicked be ashamed, let them sink into Sheol.
     18   Strike dumb the lying lips
  which speak with contempt against the righteous
    in pride and arrogance.
     19   How great is thy goodness,
    stored up for those who fear thee,
  made manifest before the eyes of men
    for all who turn to thee for shelter.
   20   Thou wilt hide them under the cover of thy presence
    from men in league together;
    thou keepest them beneath thy roof, ^note
    safe from contentious men.


     21   Blessed be the Lord,
  who worked a miracle of unfailing love for me

Book 1
    when I was in sore straits. ^note
   22   In sudden alarm I said,
    ‘I am shut out from thy sight.’
  But thou didst hear my cry for mercy
    when I called to thee for help.
   23   Love the Lord, all you his loyal servants.
  The Lord protects the faithful
  but pays the arrogant in full.
   24   Be strong and take courage,
    all you whose hope is in the Lord.
32

     1   Happy the man whose disobedience is forgiven,
    whose sin is put away!
2   Happy is a man when the Lord lays no guilt to his account,
    and in his spirit there is no deceit.


   3   While I refused to speak, my body wasted away
    with moaning all day long.
     4   For day and night
  thy hand was heavy upon me,
  the sap in me dried up as in summer drought.
5   Then I declared my sin, I did not conceal my guilt.
  I said, ‘With sorrow I will confess
    my disobedience to the Lord’;
  then thou didst remit the penalty of my sin.
6   So every faithful heart shall pray to thee
  in the hour of anxiety, ^note when great floods threaten.
  Thou art a refuge for me from distress
    so that it cannot touch me; ^note
   7   thou dost guard me ^note and enfold me in salvation
    beyond all reach of harm. ^note


8   I will teach you, and guide you in the way you should go.
  I will keep you under my eye.
9   Do not behave like horse or mule, unreasoning creatures,
whose course must be checked with bit and bridle.
   10   Many are the torments of the ungodly;
but unfailing love enfolds him who trusts in the Lord.
11   Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous men,
  and sing aloud, all men of upright heart.

Book 1 33

   1   Shout for joy before the Lord, you who are righteous;
  praise comes well from the upright.
   2   Give thanks to the Lord on the harp;
  sing him psalms to the ten-stringed lute.
   3   Sing to him a new song;
  strike up with all your art and shout in triumph.
     4   The word of the Lord holds true,
    and all his work endures.
   5   The Lord loves righteousness and justice,
  his love unfailing fills the earth.
   6   The Lord's word made the heavens,
  all the host of heaven was made at his command.
   7   He gathered the sea like water in a goatskin; ^note
  he laid up the deep in his store-chambers.
   8   Let the whole world fear the Lord
  and all men on earth stand in awe of him.
   9   For he spoke, and it was;
  he commanded, and it stood firm.
   10   The Lord brings the plans of nations to nothing;
    he frustrates the counsel of the peoples.
   11   But the Lord's own plans shall stand for ever,
  and his counsel endure for all generations.
12   Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,
  the people he has chosen for his own possession.
   13   The Lord looks out from heaven,
  he sees the whole race of men;
   14   he surveys from his dwelling-place
    all the inhabitants of earth.
   15   It is he who fashions the hearts of all men alike,
    who discerns all that they do.
   16   A king is not saved by a great army,
  nor a warrior delivered by great strength.
   17   A man cannot trust his horse to save him,
    nor can it deliver him for all its strength.
   18   The Lord's eyes are turned towards those who fear him,
    towards those who hope for his unfailing love
   19   to deliver them from death,
    to keep them alive in famine.
   20   We have waited eagerly for the Lord;
  he is our help and our shield.

Book 1
     21   For in him our hearts are glad,
    because we have trusted in his holy name.
22   Let thy unfailing love, O Lord, rest upon us,
  as we have put our hope in thee.
34

   1   I will bless the Lord continually;
  his praise shall be always on my lips.
   2   In the Lord I will glory;
  the humble shall hear and be glad.
   3   O glorify the Lord with me,
  and let us exalt his name together.
   4   I sought the Lord's help and he answered me;
  he set me free from all my terrors.
   5   Look towards him and shine with joy;
    no longer hang your ^note heads in shame.
6   Here was a poor wretch who cried to the Lord;
  he heard him and saved him from all his troubles.
     7   The angel of the Lord is on guard
  round those who fear him, and rescues them.
   8   Taste, then, and see that the Lord is good.
  Happy the man who finds refuge in him!
   9   Fear the Lord, all you his holy people;
  for those who fear him lack nothing.
   10   Unbelievers suffer want and go hungry,
  but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
   11   Come, my children, listen to me:
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
   12   Which of you delights in life
  and desires a long life to enjoy all good things?
   13   Then keep your tongue from evil
  and your lips from uttering lies;
14   turn from evil and do good,
  seek peace and pursue it.
     15   The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
    and his ears are open to their cries.
   16   The Lord sets his face against evildoers
  to blot out their memory from the earth.
   17   When men cry for help, the Lord hears them
  and sets them free from all their troubles.
   18   The Lord is close to those whose courage is broken

Book 1
  and he saves those whose spirit is crushed.
   19   The good man's misfortunes may be many,
  the Lord delivers him out of them all.
     20   He guards every bone of his body,
  and not one of them is broken.
   21   Their own misdeeds are death to the wicked,
    and those who hate the righteous are brought to ruin.


   22   The Lord ransoms the lives of his servants,
  and none who seek refuge in him are brought to ruin.
35

   1   Strive, O Lord, with those who strive against me;
    fight against those who fight me.
   2   Grasp shield and buckler,
    and rise up to help me.
   3   Uncover the spear and bar the way
  against my pursuers.
  Let me hear thee declare,
    ‘I am your salvation.’
4   Shame and disgrace be on those who seek my life;
and may those who plan to hurt me retreat in dismay!
   5   May they be like chaff before the wind,
    driven by the angel of the Lord!
6   Let their way be dark and slippery
    as the angel of the Lord pursues them!
   7   For unprovoked they have hidden a net ^note for me,
  unprovoked they have dug a pit to trap me.
   8   May destruction unforeseen come on him;
  may the net which he hid catch him;
  may he crash headlong into it!
   9   Then I shall rejoice in the Lord
    and delight in his salvation.
     10   My very bones cry out,
    ‘Lord, who is like thee?—
thou saviour of the poor from those too strong for them,
the poor and wretched from those who prey on them.’
     11   Malicious witnesses step forward;
    they question me on matters of which I know nothing.
   12   They return me evil for good,
    lying in wait ^note to take my life.

Book 1
13   And yet when they were sick, I put on sackcloth,
  I mortified myself with fasting.
  When my prayer came back unanswered,
   14   I walked with head bowed in grief as if for a brother;
as one in sorrow for his mother I lay prostrate in mourning.
   15   But when I stumbled, they crowded round rejoicing,
    they crowded about me;
  nameless ruffians ^note jeered at me
    and nothing would stop them.
16   When I slipped, brutes who would mock even a hunchback
  ground their teeth at me.
   17   O Lord, how long wilt thou look on
    at those who hate me for no reason ^note?
  Rescue me out of their cruel grasp,
    save my precious life from the unbelievers.
   18   Then I will praise thee before a great assembly,
  I will extol thee where many people meet.
   19   Let no treacherous enemy gloat over me
    nor leer at me in triumph. ^note
   20   No friendly greeting do they give
    to peaceable folk.
    They invent lie upon lie,
21   they open their mouths at me:
  ‘Hurrah!’ they shout in their joy,
    feasting their eyes on me.
   22   Thou hast seen all this, O Lord, do not keep silence;
  O Lord, be not far from me.
   23   Awake, bestir thyself, to do me justice,
  to plead my cause, my Lord and my God.
24   Judge me, O Lord my God, as thou art true;
    do not let them gloat over me.
25   Do not let them say to themselves, ‘Hurrah!
    We have swallowed him up at one gulp.’ ^note
26   Let them all be disgraced and dismayed
    who rejoice at my fall;
  let them be covered with shame and dishonour
    who glory over me.
   27   But let all who would see me righted shout for joy,
    let them cry continually,
    ‘All glory to the Lord
  who would see his servant thrive!’

Book 1
   28   So shall I talk of thy justice
    and of thy praise all the day long.
36

   1   Deep in his ^note heart, sin whispers to the wicked man
  who cherishes no fear of God.
   2   For he flatters himself in his own opinion
  and, when he is found out, he does not mend his ways. ^note
   3   All that he says is mischievous and false;
  he has turned his back on wisdom;
   4   in his bed he plots how best to do mischief.
  So set is he on his wrong courses
    that he rejects nothing evil.
   5   But thy unfailing love, O Lord, reaches to heaven,
    thy faithfulness to the skies.
     6   Thy righteousness is like the lofty mountains, ^note
  thy judgements are like the great abyss;
O Lord, who savest man and beast,
     7   how precious is thy unfailing love!
Gods and men seek refuge in the shadow of thy wings.
     8   They are filled with the rich plenty of thy house,
    and thou givest them water from the flowing stream of thy delights;
     9   for with thee is the fountain of life,
  and in thy light we are bathed with light.
   10   Maintain thy love unfailing over those who know thee,
    and thy justice toward men of honest heart.
     11   Let not the foot of pride come near me,
    no wicked hand disturb me.
   12   There they lie, the evildoers,
  they are hurled down and cannot rise.
37

     1   Do not strive to outdo the evildoers
    or emulate those who do wrong.
   2   For like grass they soon wither,
    and fade like the green of spring.
3   Trust in the Lord and do good;
settle in the land and find safe pasture.

Book 1
     4   Depend upon the Lord,
  and he will grant you your heart's desire.
   5   Commit your life to the Lord;
trust in him and he will act.
   6   He will make your righteousness shine clear as the day
    and the justice of your cause like the sun at noon.
   7   Wait quietly for the Lord, be patient till he comes;
    do not strive to outdo the successful
    nor envy him who gains his ends.
8   Be angry no more, have done with wrath;
    strive not to outdo in evildoing.
     9   For evildoers will be destroyed,
  but they who hope in the Lord shall possess the land.
   10   A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
look well, and you will find their place is empty.
   11   But the humble shall possess the land
  and enjoy untold prosperity.
   12   The wicked mutter against the righteous man
  and grind their teeth at the sight of him;
   13   the Lord shall laugh at them,
  for he sees that their time is coming.
   14   The wicked have drawn their swords
    and strung their bows
  to bring low the poor and needy
    and to slaughter honest men.
   15   Their swords shall pierce their own hearts
    and their bows be broken.
   16   Better is the little which the righteous has
    than the great wealth of the wicked.
   17   For the strong arm of the wicked shall be broken,
  but the Lord upholds the righteous.
   18   The Lord knows each day of the good man's life,
  and his inheritance shall last for ever.
     19   When times are bad, he shall not be distressed,
    and in days of famine he shall have enough.
     20   But the wicked shall perish,
  and their children shall beg their bread. ^note
  The enemies of the Lord, like fuel in a furnace, ^note
    are consumed in smoke.
   21   The wicked man borrows and does not pay back,
  but the righteous is a generous giver.

Book 1
22   All whom the Lord has blessed shall possess the land,
    and all who are cursed by him shall be destroyed.
   23   It is the Lord who directs a man's steps,
    he holds him firm and watches over his path.
     24   Though he may fall, he will not go headlong,
  for the Lord grasps him by the hand.
   25   I have been young and am now grown old,
  and never have I seen a righteous man forsaken. ^note
   26   Day in, day out, he lends generously,
    and his children become a blessing.
27   Turn from evil and do good,
    and live at peace for ever;
   28   for the Lord is a lover of justice
    and will not forsake his loyal servants.
  The lawless ^note are banished for ever
    and the children of the wicked destroyed.
   29   The righteous shall possess the land
  and shall live there at peace for ever.
   30   The righteous man utters words of wisdom
  and justice is always on his lips.
     31   The law of his God is in his heart,
    his steps do not falter.
   32   The wicked watch for the righteous man
    and seek to take his life;
   33   but the Lord will not leave him in their power
    nor let him be condemned before his judges.
34   Wait for the Lord and hold to his way;
    he will keep you ^note safe from wicked men ^note
  and will raise you to be master of the land.
When the wicked are destroyed, you shall be there to see.
   35   I have watched a wicked man at his work,
  rank as a spreading tree in its native soil.
   36   I ^note passed by one day, and he was gone;
    I searched for him, but he could not be found.
37   Now look at the good man, watch him who is honest,
  for the man of peace leaves descendants;
   38   but transgressors are wiped out one and all,
    and the descendants of the wicked are destroyed.
39   Deliverance for the righteous comes from the Lord,
    their refuge in time of trouble.

Book 1
   40   The Lord will help them and deliver them; ^note
  he will save them because they seek shelter with him.
38

   1   O Lord, do not rebuke me in thy anger,
    nor punish me in thy wrath.
   2   For thou hast aimed thy arrows ^note at me,
    and thy hand weighs heavy upon me.
   3   Thy indignation has left no part of my body unscarred;
  there is no health in my whole frame because of my sin.
   4   For my iniquities have poured over my head;
they are a load heavier than I can bear.
5   My wounds fester and stink because of my folly.
   6   I am bowed down and utterly prostrate.
  All day long I go about as if in mourning,
   7   for my loins burn with fever,
    and there is no wholesome flesh in me.
   8   All battered and benumbed,
    I groan aloud in my heart's longing.
   9   O Lord, all my lament lies open before thee
  and my sighing is no secret to thee.
10   My heart beats fast, my strength has ebbed away,
    and the light has gone out of my eyes.
11   My friends and my companions shun me in my sickness,
  and my kinsfolk keep far away.
     12   Those who wish me dead defame me,
  those who mean to injure me spread cruel gossip
  and mutter slanders all day long.
   13   But I am deaf, I do not listen;
  I am like a dumb man who cannot open his mouth.
   14   I behave like a man who cannot hear
    and whose tongue offers no defence.
   15   On thee, O Lord, I fix my hope;
thou wilt answer, O Lord my God.
   16   I said, ‘Let them never rejoice over me
  who exult when my foot slips.’
   17   I am indeed prone to stumble,
  and suffering is never far away.
     18   I make no secret of my iniquity
    and am anxious at the thought of my sin.

Book 1
   19   But many are my enemies, all without cause, ^note
  and many those who hate me wrongfully.
   20   Those who repay good with evil
  oppose me because my purpose is good.
     21   But, Lord, do not thou forsake me;
  keep not far from me, my God.
22   Hasten to my help, O Lord my salvation.
39

   1   I said: I will keep close watch over myself
    that all I say may be free from sin.
  I will keep a muzzle on my mouth,
    so long as wicked men confront me.
2   In dumb silence I held my peace.
So my agony was quickened,
     3   and my heart burned within me.
  My mind wandered as the fever grew,
    and I began to speak:
   4   Lord, let me know my end
    and the number of my days;
  tell me how short my life must be.
5   I know thou hast made my days a mere span long,
  and my whole life is nothing in thy sight.
  Man, though he stands upright, is but a puff of wind,
   6   he moves like a phantom;
  the riches ^note he piles up are no more than vapour,
  he does not know who will enjoy them.
   7   And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
  My hope is in thee.
     8   Deliver me from all who do me wrong,
    make me no longer the butt of fools.
   9   I am dumb, I will not open my mouth,
    because it is thy doing.
   10   Plague me no more;
  I am exhausted by thy blows.
11   When thou dost rebuke a man to punish his sin,
  all his charm festers and drains away;
    indeed man is only a puff of wind.
   12   Hear my prayer, O Lord;
    listen to my cry,
  hold not thy peace at my tears;

Book 1
  for I find shelter with thee,
  I am thy guest, as all my fathers were.
   13   Frown on me no more and let me smile again,
  before I go away and cease to be.
40

   1   I waited, waited for the Lord,
he bent down to me and heard my cry.
2   He brought me up out of the muddy pit,
    out of the mire and the clay;
  he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm footing;
3   and on my lips he put a new song,
    a song of praise to our God.
  Many when they see will be filled with awe
    and will learn to trust in the Lord:
     4   happy is the man
  who makes the Lord his trust,
and does not look to brutal and treacherous men.
   5   Great things thou hast done,
    O Lord my God;
  thy wonderful purposes are all for our good;
    none can compare with thee;
  I would proclaim them and speak of them,
    but they are more than I can tell.
   6   If thou hadst desired sacrifice and offering
    thou wouldst have given me ears to hear.
  If thou hadst asked for whole-offering and sin-offering
     7   I would have said, ‘Here I am.’ ^note
   8   My desire is to do thy will, O God,
    and thy law is in my heart.
9   In the great assembly I have proclaimed what is right,
  I do not hold back my words,
  as thou knowest, O Lord.
   10   I have not kept thy goodness hidden in my heart;
I have proclaimed thy faithfulness and saving power,
  and not concealed thy unfailing love and truth
    from the great assembly.
   11   Thou, O Lord, dost not withhold
    thy tender care from me;
thy unfailing love and truth for ever guard me.

Book 1

   12   For misfortunes beyond counting
    press on me from all sides;
    my iniquities have overtaken me,
    and my sight fails;
  they are more than the hairs of my head,
    and my courage forsakes me.
   13    ^note Show me favour, O Lord, and save me;
  hasten to help me, O Lord.
     14   Let those who seek to take my life
  be put to shame and dismayed one and all;
let all who love to hurt me shrink back disgraced;
   15   let those who cry ‘Hurrah!’ at my downfall
  be horrified at their reward of shame.
     16   But let all those who seek thee
    be jubilant and rejoice in thee;
and let those who long for thy saving help ever cry,
    ‘All glory to the Lord!’


   17   But I am poor and needy;
  O Lord, think of me. ^note
  Thou art my help and my salvation;
    O my God, make no delay.
41

   1   Happy the man who has a concern for the helpless!
  The Lord will save him in time of trouble.
   2   The Lord protects him and gives him life,
    making him secure in the land;
  the Lord never leaves him ^note to the greed of his enemies.
     3   He nurses him on his sick-bed;
  he turns ^note his bed when he is ill.


4   But I said, ‘Lord, be gracious to me;
heal me, for I have sinned against thee.’
5   ‘His case is desperate,’ my enemies say;
‘when will he die, and his line become extinct?’
6   All who visit me speak from an empty heart,
alert to gather bad news;
  then they go out to spread it abroad.
7   All who hate me whisper together about me
and love to make the worst of everything:

Book 1
   8   ‘An evil spell is cast upon him;
he is laid on his bed, and will rise no more.’
9   Even the friend whom I trusted, who ate at my table, ^note
    exults over my misfortune.
10   O Lord, be gracious and restore me,
  that I may pay them out to the full. ^note
11   Then I shall know that thou delightest in me
  and that my enemy will not triumph over me.
12   But I am upheld by thee because of my innocence;
  thou keepest me for ever in thy sight.


   13   Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting.


      Amen, Amen.
BOOK 2 42–43

1   As a hind longs for the running streams,
so do I long for thee, O God.
2   With my whole being I thirst for God, the living God.
When shall I come to God and appear in his presence?
3   Day and night, tears are my food;
‘Where is your God?’ they ask me all day long.
4   As I pour out my soul in distress, I call to mind
how I marched in the ranks of the great ^note to the house of God,
among exultant shouts of praise, the clamour of the pilgrims.
   5   How deep I am sunk in misery,
  groaning in my distress:
  yet I will wait for God;
  I will praise him continually,
  my ^note deliverer, my God.
6   I am sunk in misery, therefore will I remember thee,
  though from the Hermons and the springs of Jordan,
    and from the hill of Mizar,
7   deep calls to deep in the roar of thy cataracts,
and all thy waves, all thy breakers, pass over me.
   8   The Lord makes his unfailing love shine forth ^note

Book 2
    alike by day and night;
  his praise on my lips is a prayer
    to the God of my life.
9   I will say to God my rock, ‘Why hast thou forgotten me?’
Why must I go like a mourner because my foes oppress me?
10   My enemies taunt me, jeering ^note at my misfortunes;
‘Where is your God?’ they ask me all day long.
   11   How deep I am sunk in misery,
  groaning in my distress:
  yet I will wait for God;
  I will praise him continually,
  my deliverer, my God.


1   Plead my cause and give me judgement against an impious race;
save me from malignant men and liars, O God.
2   Thou, O God, art my refuge; why hast thou rejected me?
Why must I go like a mourner because my foes oppress me?
3   Send forth thy light and thy truth to be my guide
and lead me to thy holy hill, to thy tabernacle,
4   then shall I come to the altar of God, the God of my ^note joy,
and praise thee on the harp, O God, thou God of my delight.
   5   How deep I am sunk in misery,
  groaning in my distress:
  yet I will wait for God;
  I will praise him continually,
  my deliverer, my God.
44

   1   O God, we have heard for ourselves,
  our fathers have told us
all the deeds which thou didst in their days,
2   all the work of thy hand in days of old.
Thou didst plant them in the land and drive the nations out,
thou didst make them strike root, breaking up the peoples;
3   it was not our fathers' swords won them the land,
nor their arm that gave them victory,
  but thy right hand and thy arm
  and the light of thy presence; such was thy favour to them.
4   Thou art my king and my God;
at thy bidding Jacob is victorious.
5   By thy help we will throw back our enemies,
in thy name we will trample down our adversaries.

Book 2
6   I will not trust in my bow,
nor will my sword win me the victory;
7   for thou dost deliver us from our foes
and put all our enemies to shame.
8   In God have we gloried all day long,
and we will praise thy name for ever.
9   But now thou hast rejected and humbled us
and dost no longer lead our armies into battle.
10   Thou hast hurled us back before the enemy,
and our foes plunder us as they will.
11   Thou hast given us up to be butchered like sheep
  and hast scattered us among the nations.
12   Thou hast sold thy people for next to nothing
and had no profit from the sale.
13   Thou hast exposed us to the taunts of our neighbours,
to the mockery and contempt of all around.
14   Thou hast made us a byword among the nations,
  and the peoples shake their heads at us;
15   so my disgrace confronts me all day long,
and I am covered with shame
   16   at the shouts of those who taunt and abuse me
  as the enemy takes his revenge.
17   All this has befallen us, but we do not forget thee
  and have not betrayed thy covenant;
18   we have not gone back on our purpose,
nor have our feet strayed from thy path.
19   Yet thou hast crushed us as the sea-serpent ^note was crushed
and covered us with the darkness of death.
20   If we had forgotten the name of our God
and spread our hands in prayer to any other,
21   would not God find this out,
for he knows the secrets of the heart?
22   Because of thee we are done to death all day long,
  and are treated as sheep for slaughter.
23   Bestir thyself, Lord; why dost thou sleep?
  Awake, do not reject us for ever.
   24   Why dost thou hide thy face,
  heedless of our misery and our sufferings?
   25   For we sink down to the dust
  and lie prone on the earth.
   26   Arise and come to our help;
    for thy love's sake set us free.

Book 2 45

1   My heart is stirred by a noble theme,
in a king's honour I utter the song I have made,
  and my tongue runs like the pen of an expert scribe.


   2   You surpass all mankind in beauty,
  your lips are moulded in grace,
so you are blessed by God for ever.
3   With your sword ready at your side, warrior king,
4   your limbs resplendent ^note in their royal armour,
ride on to execute true sentence and just judgement.
  Your right hand shall show you a scene of terror:
   5   your sharp arrows flying, nations beneath your feet,
    the courage of the king's foes melting away! ^note


6   Your throne is like God's throne, eternal,
  your royal sceptre a sceptre of righteousness.
7   You have loved right and hated wrong;
so God, your God, has anointed you
  above your fellows with oil, the token of joy.
8   Your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and powder of aloes,
    and the music of strings greets you
    from a palace panelled with ivory.
9   A princess ^note takes her place among the noblest of your women,
  a royal lady at your side in gold of Ophir.


   10   Listen, my daughter, hear my words
    and consider them:
  forget your own people and your father's house;
   11   and, when the king desires your beauty,
    remember that he is your lord.
   12   Do him obeisance, daughter of Tyre,
  and the richest in the land will court you with gifts.


     13   In the palace honour awaits her; ^note
    she is a king's daughter,
     14   arrayed in cloth-of-gold richly embroidered.
  Virgins shall follow her into the presence of the king;
    her companions shall be brought to her, ^note
   15   escorted with the noise of revels and rejoicing
    as they enter the king's palace.

Book 2

   16   You shall have sons, O king, in place of your forefathers
  and will make them rulers over all the land. ^note
17   I will declare your fame to all generations;
therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.
46
1   
God is our shelter and our refuge,
a timely help in trouble;
2   so we are not afraid when the earth heaves
  and the mountains are hurled into the sea,
   3   when its waters seethe in tumult
  and the mountains quake before his majesty.
4   There is a river whose streams gladden the city of God, ^note
  which the Most High has made his holy dwelling; ^note
   5   God is in that city; she will not be overthrown,
  and he will help her at the break of day.
6   Nations are in tumult, kingdoms hurled down;
  when he thunders, the earth surges like the sea.
   7   The Lord of Hosts is with us,
  the God of Jacob our high stronghold.


   8   Come and see what the Lord has done,
  the devastation he has brought upon earth,
   9   from end to end of the earth he stamps out war:
he breaks the bow, he snaps the spear
  and burns the shield in the fire.


10   Let be then: learn that I am God,
high over the nations, high above earth.
   11   The Lord of Hosts is with us,
  the God of Jacob our high stronghold.
47

   1   Clap your hands, all you nations;
  acclaim our God with shouts of joy.
   2   How fearful is the Lord Most High,
  great sovereign over all the earth!
   3   He lays the nations prostrate beneath us,
    he lays peoples under our feet;
   4   he chose our patrimony for us,
  the pride of Jacob whom he loved.

Book 2

   5   God has gone up with shouts of acclamation,
    the Lord has gone up with a fanfare of trumpets.
   6   Praise God, ^note praise him with psalms;
  praise our king, praise him with psalms.
   7   God is king of all the earth;
    sing psalms with all your art. ^note
   8   God reigns over the nations,
  God is seated on his holy throne.
     9   The princes of the nations assemble
    with the families of Abraham's line; ^note
  for the mighty ones of earth belong to God,
  and he is raised above them all.
48

1   The Lord is great and worthy of our praise
    in the city of our God, upon his holy hill.
   2   Fair and lofty, the joy of the whole earth
    is Zion's hill, like the farthest reaches of the north, ^note
    the hill of the great King's city.
3   In her palaces God is known for a tower of strength.
   4   See how the kings all gather round her,
    marching on in company.
5   They are struck with amazement when they see her,
    they are filled with alarm and panic;
6   they are seized with trembling,
    they toss in pain like a woman in labour,
     7   like the ships of Tarshish
  when an east wind ^note wrecks them.
8   All we had heard we saw with our own eyes
  in the city of the Lord of Hosts,
  in the city of our God,
  the city which God plants firm for evermore.
9   O God, we re-enact the story of thy true love
    within thy temple;
   10   the praise thy name deserves, O God,
    is heard at earth's farthest bounds.
  Thy hand is charged with justice,
     11   and the hill of Zion rejoices,
  Judah's daughter-cities exult
    in thy judgements.

Book 2

   12   Make the round of Zion in procession,
    count the number of her towers,
   13   take good note of her ramparts,
    pass her palaces in review,
  that you may tell generations yet to come:
     14   Such is God,
  our God for ever and ever;
    he shall be our guide eternally. ^note
49

   1   Hear this, all you nations;
  listen, all who inhabit this world,
   2   all mankind, every living man,
  rich and poor alike;
   3   for the words that I speak are wise,
    my thoughtful heart is full of understanding.


   4   I will set my ear to catch the moral of the story
  and tell on the harp how I read the riddle;
   5   why should I be afraid in evil times,
  beset by the wickedness of treacherous foes,
     6   who trust in their riches
    and boast of their great wealth?
7   Alas! no man can ever ransom himself
  nor pay God the price of that release;
   8   his ^note ransom would cost too much,
    for ever beyond his power to pay,
   9   the ransom that would let him live on always
    and never see the pit of death.


   10   But remember this: ^note wise men must die;
stupid men, brutish men, all perish. ^note
   11   The grave ^note is their eternal home,
  their dwelling for all time to come;
  they may give their own names to estates,
  but they must leave their riches to others. ^note
   12   For men are like oxen whose life cannot last, ^note
  they are like cattle whose time is short.
13   Such is the fate of foolish men
  and of all who seek to please them:

Book 2
   14   like sheep they run headlong into Sheol, the land of Death;
  he is their shepherd and urges them on;
    their flesh must rot away ^note
  and their bodies be wasted by Sheol,
    stripped of all honour.
   15   But God will ransom my life,
    he will take me from the power of Sheol.
   16   Do not envy a man when he grows rich,
    when the wealth of his family increases;
   17   for he will take nothing when he dies,
  and his wealth will not go with him.
   18   Though in his lifetime he counts himself happy
  and men praise him in his ^note prosperity,
   19   he ^note will go to join the company of his forefathers
  who will never again see the light.
   20   For men are like oxen whose life cannot last, ^note
  they are like cattle whose time is short.
50

1   God, the Lord God, has spoken
and summoned the world from the rising to the setting sun.
2   God shines out from Zion, perfect in beauty.
   3   Our God is coming and will not keep silence:
  consuming fire runs before him
  and wreathes him closely round. ^note
   4   He summons heaven on high and earth
  to the judgement of his people:
   5   ‘Gather to me my loyal servants,
  all who by sacrifice have made a covenant with me.’
   6   The heavens proclaim his justice,
  for God himself is the judge.


   7   Listen, my people, and I will speak;
  I will bear witness against you, O Israel:
  I am God, your God,
   8   shall I not ^note find fault with your sacrifices,
  though ^note your offerings are before me always?
   9   I need take no young bull from your house,
    no he-goat from your folds;

Book 2
   10   for all the beasts of the forest are mine
    and the cattle in thousands on my hills.
   11   I know every bird on those hills,
  the teeming life of the fields is my care.
   12   If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
  for the world and all that is in it are mine.
     13   Shall I eat the flesh of your bulls ^note
    or drink the blood of he-goats?
   14   Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving
  and pay your vows to the Most High.
     15   If you call upon me in time of trouble,
    I will come to your rescue, and you shall honour me.


     16   God's word to the wicked man is this:
    What right have you to recite my laws
    and make so free with the words of my covenant,
     17   you who hate correction
    and turn your back when I am speaking?
18   If you meet a thief, you choose him as your friend;
    you make common cause with adulterers;
   19   you charge your mouth with wickedness
  and harness your tongue to slander.
   20   You are for ever talking against your brother,
  stabbing your own mother's son in the back.
   21   All this you have done, and shall I keep silence?
  You thought that I was another like yourself,
  but point by point I will rebuke you to your face.
   22   Think well on this, you who forget God,
  or I will tear you in pieces and no one shall save you.
     23   He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving
    does me due honour,
    and to him who follows my way ^note
    I will show the salvation of God.
51

   1   Be gracious to me, O God, in thy true love;
  in the fullness of thy mercy blot out my misdeeds.


   2   Wash away all my guilt
    and cleanse me from my sin.
   3   For well I know my misdeeds,
  and my sins confront me all the day long.

Book 2
   4   Against thee, thee only, I have sinned
  and done what displeases thee,
  so that thou mayest be proved right in thy charge
    and just in passing sentence.


   5   In iniquity I was brought to birth
  and my mother conceived me in sin;
   6   yet, though thou hast hidden the truth in darkness,
  through this mystery thou dost teach me wisdom.
   7   Take hyssop ^note and sprinkle me, that I may be clean;
  wash me, that I may become whiter than snow;
   8   let me hear the sounds of joy and gladness,
  let the bones dance which thou hast broken.
   9   Turn away thy face from my sins
    and blot out all my guilt.


10   Create a pure heart in me, O God,
  and give me a new and steadfast spirit;
     11   do not drive me from thy presence
  or take thy holy spirit from me;
   12   revive in me the joy of thy deliverance
    and grant me a willing spirit to uphold me.


   13   I will teach transgressors the ways that lead to thee,
  and sinners shall return to thee again.
14   O Lord God, my deliverer, save me from bloodshed, ^note
  and I will sing the praises of thy justice.
   15   Open my lips, O Lord,
  that my mouth may proclaim thy praise.
   16   Thou hast no delight in sacrifice;
  if I brought thee an offering, thou wouldst not accept it.
   17   My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
  a wounded ^note heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.


   18   Let it be thy pleasure to do good to Zion,
    to build anew the walls of Jerusalem.
   19   Then only shalt thou delight in the appointed sacrifices; ^note
  then shall young bulls be offered on thy altar.

Book 2 52

1    2   Why make your wickedness your boast, you man of might,
forging wild lies all day against ^note God's loyal servant?
Your slanderous tongue is sharp as a razor.
   3   You love evil and not good,
  falsehood, not speaking the truth;
4   cruel gossip you love and slanderous talk.
   5   So may God ^note pull you down to the ground,
  sweep you away, leave you ruined and homeless,
    uprooted from the land of the living.
   6   The righteous will look on, awestruck, ^note
    and laugh at his plight:
     7   ‘This is the man’, they say,
    ‘who does not make God his refuge,
  but trusts in his great wealth
    and takes refuge in wild lies.’
8   But I am like a spreading olive-tree in God's house;
for I trust in God's true love for ever and ever.
9   I will praise thee for ever for what thou hast done,
and glorify thy name among thy loyal servants;
    for that is good.
53

   1    ^note The impious fool says in his heart,
    ‘There is no God.’
  How vile men are, how depraved and loathsome;
    not one does anything good!
   2   God looks down from heaven
    on all mankind
  to see if any act wisely,
    if any seek out God.
3   But all are unfaithful, all are rotten to the core;
    not one does anything good,
    no, not even one.


     4   Shall they not rue it,
  these evildoers who devour my people
    as men devour bread,
    and never call upon God?

Book 2
   5   There they were in dire alarm ^note
  when God scattered them.
  The crimes of the godless were frustrated; ^note
    for God had rejected them.
6   If only Israel's deliverance might come out of Zion!
  When God restores his people's fortunes,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
54

   1   Save me, O God, by the power of thy name,
    and vindicate me through thy might.
   2   O God, hear my prayer,
    listen to my supplication.
   3   Insolent men ^note rise to attack me,
  ruthless men seek my life;
  they give no thought to God.


   4   But God is my helper,
    the Lord the mainstay of my life.
   5   May their own malice recoil on my watchful foes;
  silence them by thy truth, O Lord.
   6   I will offer thee a willing sacrifice
  and praise thy name, for that is good;
   7   God has rescued me from every trouble,
  and I look on my enemies' downfall with delight.
55

   1   Listen, O God, to my pleading,
  do not hide thyself when I pray.
   2   Hear me and answer,
    for my cares give me no peace.
   3   I am panic-stricken at the shouts of my enemies,
    at the shrill clamour of the wicked;
  for they heap trouble on me
    and they revile me in their anger.
   4   My heart is torn with anguish
  and the terrors of death come upon me.
   5   Fear and trembling overwhelm me
    and I shudder from head to foot.

Book 2
   6    ^noteOh that I had the wings of a dove
    to fly away and be at rest!
   7   I should escape far away
    and find a refuge in the wilderness;
   8   soon I should find myself a sanctuary
    from wind and storm,
   9   from the blasts of calumny, O Lord,
    from my enemies' contentious tongues.
I have seen violence and strife in the city;
   10   day and night they encircle it,
    all along its walls;
  it is filled with trouble and mischief,
     11   alive with rumour and scandal,
  and its public square is never free
    from violence and spite.
   12   It was no enemy that taunted me,
    or I should have avoided him;
  no adversary that treated me with scorn,
    or I should have kept out of his way.
   13   It was you, a man of my own sort,
    my comrade, my own dear friend,
   14    15   with whom I kept pleasant company
    in the house of God.


    May death strike them,
  and may they ^note perish in confusion,
  may they go down alive into Sheol;
    for their homes are haunts of evil!


   16   But I will call upon God;
    the Lord will save me.
   17   Evening and morning and at noon
    I nurse my woes, and groan.
   18   He has heard my cry, he rescued me
    and gave me back my peace,
  when they beset me like archers, ^note
    massing against me,
   19   like Ishmael and the desert tribes
    and those who dwell in the East,
  who have no respect for an oath
    nor any fear of God.
   20   Such men do violence to those at peace with them

Book 2
    and break their promised word;
   21   their speech is smoother than butter
    but their thoughts are of war;
  their words are slippery as oil
    but sharp as drawn swords.


   22   Commit your fortunes to the Lord,
    and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous be shaken.
23   Cast them, O God, into the pit of destruction;
    bloodthirsty and treacherous,
  they shall not live out half their days;
  but I will put my trust in thee.
56

1   Be gracious to me, O God, for the enemy persecute me,
  my assailants harass me all day long.
   2   All the day long my watchful foes persecute me;
  countless are those who assail me.
   3   Appear on high ^note in my day of fear;
  I put my trust in thee.
   4   With God to help me I will shout defiance,
  in God I trust and shall not be afraid;
  what can mortal men do to me?
   5   All day long abuse of me is their only theme,
    all their thoughts are hostile.
   6   In malice they are on the look-out, and watch for me,
    they dog my footsteps;
  but, while they lie in wait for me,
   7   it is they who will not ^note escape.
    O God, in thy anger bring ruin on the nations.


   8   Enter my lament in thy book, ^note
  store every tear in thy flask. ^note
9   Then my enemies will turn back
    on the day when I call upon thee; ^note
  for this I know, that God is on my side,
   10   with God to help me I will shout defiance. ^note

Book 2
   11   In God I trust and shall not be afraid;
  what can man do to me?
   12   I have bound myself with vows to thee, O God,
  and will redeem them with due thank-offerings;
   13   for thou hast rescued me from death ^note
  to walk in thy presence, in the light of life.
57

   1   Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious;
  for I have made thee my refuge.
  I will take refuge in the shadow of thy wings
    until the storms are past.
   2   I will call upon God Most High,
  on God who fulfils his purpose for me.
3   He will send his truth and his love that never fails,
  he will send from heaven and save me.
  God himself will frustrate my persecutors;
4   for I lie down among lions, man-eaters,
  whose teeth are spears and arrows
  and whose tongues are sharp swords.
   5   Show thyself, O God, high above the heavens;
    let thy glory shine over all the earth.
   6   Men have prepared a net to catch me as I walk,
    but I bow my head to escape from it;
  they have dug a pit in my path
    but have fallen into it themselves.


   7    ^note My heart is steadfast, O God,
    my heart is steadfast.
  I will sing and raise a psalm;
     8   awake, my spirit,
  awake, lute and harp,
    I will awake at dawn of day. ^note
   9   I will confess thee, O Lord, among the peoples,
    among the nations I will raise a psalm to thee,
   10   for thy unfailing love is wide as the heavens
    and thy truth reaches to the skies.
   11   Show thyself, O God, high above the heavens;
    let thy glory shine over all the earth.

Book 2 58

1   Answer, you rulers: ^note are your judgements just?
Do you decide impartially between man and man?
   2   Never! Your hearts devise all kinds of wickedness
  and survey the violence that you have done on earth.


   3   Wicked men, from birth they have taken to devious ways;
  liars, no sooner born than they go astray,
   4   venomous with the venom of serpents,
  of the deaf asp which stops its ears
   5   and will not listen to the sound of the charmer,
    however skilful his spells may be.


6   O God, break the teeth in their mouths.
Break, O Lord, the jaws of the unbelievers. ^note
7   May they melt, may they vanish like water,
may they wither like trodden grass, ^note
   8   like an abortive birth which melts away
  or a still-born child which never sees ^note the sun!
9   All unawares, may they be rooted up like ^note a thorn-bush,
  like weeds which a man angrily ^note clears away!


10   The righteous shall rejoice that he has seen vengeance done
  and shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
     11   and men shall say,
  ‘There is after all a reward for the righteous;
after all, there is a God that judges on earth.’
59

   1   Rescue me from my enemies, O my God,
  be my tower of strength against all who assail me,
     2   rescue me from these evildoers,
    deliver me from men of blood.
   3   Savage men lie in wait for me,
  they lie in ambush ready to attack me;
  for no fault or guilt of mine, O Lord,
   4    5   innocent as I am, ^note they run to take post against me.
But thou, Lord God of Hosts, Israel's God,
  do thou bestir thyself at my call, and look:

Book 2
  awake, and punish all the nations.
  Have no mercy on villains and traitors,
   6   who run wild at nightfall like dogs,
  snarling and prowling round the city,
   15    ^note wandering to and fro in search of food,
  and howling if they are not satisfied.
   7   From their mouths comes a stream of nonsense;
  ‘But who will hear?’ they murmur. ^note
8   But thou, O Lord, dost laugh at them,
    and deride all the nations.
9   O my ^note strength, ^note to thee I turn in the night-watches;
  for thou, ^note O God, art my strong tower.
   10   My God, in his true love, shall be my champion;
  with God's help, I shall gloat over my watchful foes.
   11   Wilt thou not kill them, lest my people forget?
  Scatter them by thy might and bring them to ruin.
     12   Deliver them, ^note O Lord, to be destroyed
    by their own sinful words;
  let what they have spoken entrap them in their pride.
  Let them be cut off for their cursing and falsehood;
     13   bring them to an end in thy wrath,
    and they will be no more;
  then they will know that God is ruler in Jacob,
    even to earth's farthest limits. ^{note note}
   16   But I will sing of thy strength,
  and celebrate thy love when morning comes;
  for thou hast been my strong tower
  and a sure retreat in days of trouble.
   17   O thou my strength, I will raise a psalm to thee;
  for thou, O God, art ^note my strong tower. ^note
60

   1   O God, thou hast cast us off and broken us;
  thou hast been angry and rebuked us cruelly.
   2   Thou hast made the land quake and torn it open;
  it gives way and crumbles into pieces.
   3   Thou hast made thy people drunk with a bitter draught,
  thou hast given us wine that makes us stagger.

Book 2
   4   But thou hast given a warning to those who fear thee,
    to make their escape before the sentence falls. ^note


   5    ^note Deliver those that are dear to thee;
  save them with thy right hand, and answer.
6   God has spoken from his sanctuary: ^note
  ‘I will go up now and measure out Shechem;
  I will divide the valley of Succoth into plots;
7   Gilead and Manasseh are mine;
Ephraim is my helmet, ^note Judah my sceptre;
8   Moab is my wash-bowl, I fling my shoes at Edom;
    Philistia is the target of my anger.’


9   Who can bring me to the fortified city,
    who can guide ^note me to Edom,
10   since thou, O God, hast abandoned us
    and goest not forth ^note with our armies?
11   Grant us help against the enemy,
    for deliverance by man is a vain hope.
   12   With God's help we shall do valiantly,
  and God himself will tread our enemies under foot.
61

   1   Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer.
2   From the end of the earth I call to thee with fainting heart;
  lift me up ^note and set me upon a rock.
   3   For thou hast been my shelter,
    a tower for refuge from the enemy.
   4   In thy tent will I make my home for ever
    and find my shelter under the cover of thy wings.
5   For thou, O God, hast heard my vows
  and granted the wish ^note of all who revere thy name.


6   To the king's life add length of days,
  year upon year for many generations;
   7   may he dwell in God's presence for ever,
  may true and constant love preserve ^note him.


8   So will I ever sing psalms in honour of thy name
  as I fulfil my vows day after day.

Book 2 62

1   Truly my heart waits silently for God;
    my deliverance comes from him.
2   In truth he is my rock of deliverance,
  my tower of strength, so that I stand unshaken.
   3   How long will you assail a man with your threats,
  all battering on a leaning wall?
4   In truth men plan to topple him from his height,
  and stamp on the fallen stones. ^note
  With their lips they bless him, the hypocrites,
    but revile him in their hearts.
5   Truly my heart waits silently for God;
    my hope of deliverance comes from him.
6   In truth he is my rock of deliverance,
  my tower of strength, so that I am unshaken.
   7   My deliverance and my honour depend upon God,
  God who is my rock of refuge and my shelter.
   8   Trust always in God, my people,
  pour out your hearts before him;
    God is our shelter.


   9   In very truth men are a puff of wind,
    all men are faithless;
  put them in the balance and they can only rise,
    all of them lighter than wind.


     10   Put no trust in extortion,
    do not be proud of stolen goods;
  though wealth breeds wealth, set not your heart on it.
   11   One thing God has spoken,
    two things I have learnt:
  ‘Power belongs to God’
   12   and ‘True love, O Lord, is thine’;
thou dost requite a man for his deeds.
63

1   O God, thou art my God, I seek thee early
  with a heart that thirsts for thee
  and a body wasted with longing for thee,
like a dry and thirsty land that has no water.

Book 2
   2   So longing, I come before thee in the sanctuary
  to look upon thy power and glory.
   3   Thy true love is better than life;
    therefore I will sing thy praises.
   4   And so I bless thee all my life
  and in thy name lift my hands in prayer.
5   I am satisfied as with a rich and sumptuous feast
  and wake the echoes with thy praise.
   6   When I call thee to mind upon my bed
  and think on thee in the watches of the night,
   7   remembering how thou hast been my help
    and that I am safe in the shadow of thy wings,
   8   then I humbly follow thee with all my heart,
  and thy right hand is my support.


9   Those who seek my life, bent on evil,
    shall sink into the depths of the earth;
   10   they shall be given over to the sword;
    they shall be carrion for jackals.


   11   The king shall rejoice in God,
  and whoever swears by God's name shall exult;
  the voice of falsehood shall be silenced.
64

1   Hear me, O God, hear my lament;
  keep me safe from the threats ^note of the enemy.
     2   Hide me from the factions of the wicked,
    from the turbulent mob of evildoers,
   3   who sharpen their tongues like swords
  and wing their cruel words like arrows, ^note
   4   to shoot down the innocent from cover,
  shooting suddenly, themselves unseen.
5   They boldly ^note hide their snares,
    sure that none will see them;
6   they hatch their secret plans ^note with skill and cunning,
with evil ^note purpose and deep design.
   7   But God with his arrow shoots them down,
  and sudden is their overthrow.

Book 2

   8   They may repeat their wicked tales, ^note
  but their mischievous tongues ^note are their undoing.
  All who see their fate take fright at it,
     9   every man is afraid;
    ‘This is God's work’, they declare;
    they learn their lesson from what he has done.
10   The righteous rejoice and seek refuge in the Lord
    and all the upright exult.
65

1    2   We owe thee praise, O God, in Zion;
thou hearest prayer, vows shall be paid to thee.
3   All men shall lay their guilt before thee:
    our sins are too heavy for us; ^note
    only thou canst blot them out.
4   Happy is the man of thy choice, whom thou dost bring
    to dwell in thy courts;
  let us enjoy the blessing of thy house,
    thy holy temple.
   5   By deeds of terror answer us with victory,
    O God of our deliverance,
  in whom men trust from the ends of the earth
    and far-off seas;
     6   thou art girded with strength,
and by thy might dost fix the mountains in their place,
7   dost calm the rage of the seas and their raging waves. ^note
     8   The dwellers at the ends of the earth
    hold thy signs in awe;
  thou makest morning and evening sing aloud in triumph.


   9   Thou dost visit the earth and give it abundance,
    as often as thou dost enrich it
  with the waters of heaven, brimming in their channels,
    providing rain ^note for men.
    For this is thy provision for it,
   10   watering its furrows, levelling its ridges,
  softening it with showers and blessing its growth.
     11   Thou dost crown the year with thy good gifts
    and the palm-trees drip with sweet juice;

Book 2
     12   the pastures in the wild are rich with blessing
  and the hills wreathed in happiness,
   13   the meadows are clothed with sheep
  and the valleys mantled in corn,
    so that they shout, they break into song.
66

   1   Acclaim our God, all men on earth;
     2   let psalms declare the glory of his name,
    make glorious his praise.
3   Say unto God, ‘How fearful are thy works!
Thy foes cower before the greatness of thy strength.
   4   All men on earth fall prostrate in thy presence,
and sing to thee, sing psalms in honour of thy name.’
   5   Come and see all that God has done,
  tremendous in his dealings with mankind.
   6   He turned the waters into dry land
  so that his people ^note passed through the sea ^note on foot;
  there did we rejoice in him. ^note


   7   He rules for ever by his power,
  his eye rests on the nations;
  let no rebel rise in defiance.


   8   Bless our God, all nations;
    let his praise be heard far and near.
   9   He set us in the land of the living;
  he keeps our feet from stumbling.
     10   For thou, O God, hast put us to the proof
    and refined us like silver.
     11   Thou hast caught us in a net,
  thou hast bound our bodies fast;
   12   thou hast let men ride over our heads.
  We went through fire and water,
    but thou hast brought us out into liberty. ^note


   13   I will bring sacrifices into thy temple
  and fulfil my vows to thee,
   14   vows which I made with my own lips
  and swore with my own mouth when in distress.
   15   I will offer thee fat beasts as sacrifices

Book 2
    and burn rams as a savoury offering;
  I will make ready oxen and he-goats.


16   Come, listen, all who fear God,
and I will tell you all that he has done for me;
   17   I lifted up my voice in prayer,
    his high praise was on my lips. ^note
   18   If I had cherished evil thoughts,
    the Lord would not have heard me;
   19   but in truth God has heard
    and given heed to my prayer.
     20   Blessed is God
who has not withdrawn his love and care from me.
67

   1   God be gracious to us and bless us,
  God make his face shine upon us,
   2   that his ^note ways may be known on earth
  and his ^note saving power among all the nations.
   3   Let the peoples praise thee, O God;
  let all peoples praise thee.
   4   Let all nations rejoice and shout in triumph;
  for thou dost judge the peoples with justice
  and guidest the nations of the earth.
   5   Let the peoples praise thee, O God;
  let all peoples praise thee.
   6   The earth has given its increase
  and God, our God, will bless us.


     7   God grant us his blessing,
that all the ends of the earth may fear him.
68

1   God arises and his enemies are scattered;
  those who hate him flee before him,
   2   driven away like smoke in the wind;
  like wax melting at the fire,
  the wicked perish at the presence of God.
3   But the righteous are joyful, they exult before God,
    they are jubilant and shout for joy.

Book 2

4   Sing the praises of God, raise a psalm to his name,
  extol him who rides over the desert plains. ^note
Be joyful ^note and exult before him,
   5   father of the fatherless, the widow's champion—
    God in his holy dwelling-place.
6   God gives the friendless a home
  and brings out the prisoner safe and sound;
but rebels must live in the scorching desert.


   7   O God, when thou didst go forth before thy people,
    marching across the wilderness,
8   earth trembled, the very heavens quaked
before God the lord of Sinai, before God the God of Israel.


   9   Of thy bounty, O God, thou dost refresh with rain
    thy own land in its weariness,
    the land which thou thyself didst provide,
   10   where thy own people made their home,
which thou, O God, in thy goodness providest for the poor.


11    12    13   The Lord proclaims good news: ^note
‘Kings with their armies have fled headlong.’
O mighty host, will you linger among the sheepfolds
  while the women in your tents divide the spoil—
  an image of a dove, its wings sheathed in silver
  and its pinions in yellow gold—
   14   while the Almighty scatters kings far and wide
    like snowflakes falling on Zalmon?


     15   The hill of Bashan is a hill of God indeed,
    a hill of many peaks is Bashan's hill.
16   But, O hill of many peaks, why gaze in envy
at the hill where the Lord delights to dwell,
where the Lord himself will live for ever?
   17   Twice ten thousand were God's chariots, thousands upon thousands, ^note
when the Lord came in holiness from Sinai. ^note
18   Thou didst go up to thy lofty home with captives in thy train,
  having received tribute from men;
in the presence of the Lord God no rebel could live. ^note

Book 2

     19   Blessed is the Lord:
  he carries us day by day,
    God our salvation.
20   Our God is a God who saves us,
in the Lord God's hand lies escape from death. ^note
21   God himself will smite ^note the head of his enemies,
  those proud sinners with their flowing locks.
22   The Lord says, ‘I will return from the Dragon, ^note
    I will return from the depths of the sea,
23   that you may dabble your feet in blood,
  while the tongues of your dogs are eager ^note for it.’


   24   Thy procession, O God, comes into view,
  the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary:
25   at its head the singers, next come minstrels,
  girls among them playing on tambourines.
   26   In the great concourse they bless God,
  all Israel assembled ^note bless the Lord.
27   There is the little tribe of Benjamin leading them,
  there the company of Judah's princes,
  the princes of Zebulun and of Naphtali.


   28   O God, in virtue of thy power ^note—
  that godlike power which has acted for us—
29   command kings to bring gifts to thee
    for the honour of thy temple in Jerusalem.
30   Rebuke those wild beasts of the reeds, that herd of bulls,
    the bull-calf warriors of the nations; ^note
scatter these nations which revel in war;
   31   make them bring tribute ^note from Egypt,
  precious stones and silver from Pathros; ^note
let Nubia stretch out ^note her hands to God.


32   All you kingdoms of the world, sing praises to God,
    sing psalms to the Lord,
   33   to him who rides on the heavens, the ancient heavens.
Hark! he speaks in the mighty thunder.
34   Ascribe all might to God, Israel's High God,
  Israel's pride and might throned in the skies.

Book 2
   35   Terrible is God as he comes from his ^note sanctuary;
  he is Israel's own God,
who gives to his ^note people might and abundant power.


    Blessed be God.
69

     1   Save me, O God;
  for the waters have risen up to my neck.
2   I sink in muddy depths and have no foothold;
I am swept into deep water, and the flood carries me away.
3   I am wearied with crying out, my throat is sore,
my eyes grow dim as I wait for God to help me.
     4   Those who hate me without reason
  are more than the hairs of my head;
they outnumber my hairs, those who accuse me falsely.
How can I give back what I have not stolen?
5   O God, thou knowest how foolish I am,
  and my guilty deeds are not hidden from thee.
6   Let none of those who look to thee be shamed on my account,
    O Lord God of Hosts;
  let none who seek thee be humbled through my fault,
    O God of Israel.
   7   For in thy service I have suffered reproach;
  I dare not show my face for shame.
   8   I have become a stranger to my brothers,
    an alien to my own mother's sons;
   9   bitter enemies of thy temple tear me in pieces; ^note
  those who reproach thee reproach me.
   10   I have broken ^note my spirit with fasting,
  only to lay myself open to many reproaches.
   11   I have made sackcloth my clothing
  and have become a byword among them.
   12   Those who sit by the town gate talk about me;
  drunkards sing songs about me ^note in their cups.
   13   But I lift up this prayer to thee, O Lord:
  accept me ^note now in thy great love,
  answer me with thy sure deliverance, O God.
   14   Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink;
  let me be rescued from the muddy depths, ^note

Book 2
     15   so that no flood may carry me away,
    no abyss swallow me up,
    no deep close over me.
16   Answer me, O Lord, in the goodness of thy unfailing love,
  turn towards me in thy great affection.
   17   I am thy servant, do not hide thy face from me.
  Make haste to answer me, for I am in distress.
   18   Come near to me and redeem me;
    ransom me, for I have many enemies.


   19   Thou knowest what reproaches I bear,
  all my anguish is seen by thee.
   20   Reproach has broken my heart,
  my shame and my dishonour ^note are past hope;
  I looked for consolation and received none,
    for comfort and did not find any.
   21   They put poison in my food
  and gave me vinegar when I was thirsty.
22   May their own table be a snare to them
  and their sacred feasts lure them to their ruin;
   23   may their eyes be darkened so that they do not see,
  let a continual ague shake their loins.
   24   Pour out thine indignation upon them
    and let thy burning anger overtake them.
   25   May their settlements be desolate,
  and no one living in their tents;
   26   for they pursue him whom thou hast struck down
and multiply ^note the torments of those ^note whom thou hast wounded.
   27   Give them the punishment their sin deserves; ^note
    exclude them from thy righteous mercy;
     28   let them be blotted out from the book of life
    and not be enrolled among the righteous.


   29   But by thy saving power, O God, lift me high
  above my pain and my distress,
   30   then I will praise God's name in song
    and glorify him with thanksgiving;
31   that will please the Lord more than the offering of a bull,
  a young bull with horn and cloven hoof.


   32   See and rejoice, ^note you humble folk,
  take heart, you seekers after God;

Book 2
   33   for the Lord listens to the poor
  and does not despise those bound to his service. ^note
   34   Let sky and earth praise him,
  the seas and all that move in them,
   35    36   for God will deliver Zion
    and rebuild the cities of Judah.
    His servants' children shall inherit them;
  they shall dwell there in their own possession
    and all who love his name shall live in them.
70

   1    ^note Show me favour, ^note O God, and save me;
  hasten to help me, O Lord.
   2   Let all who seek my life be brought to shame and dismay,
let all who love to hurt me shrink back disgraced;
   3   let those who cry ‘Hurrah!’ at my downfall ^note
  turn back at the shame they incur,
     4   but let all who seek thee
    be jubilant and rejoice in thee,
  and let those who long for thy saving help ever cry,
    ‘All glory to God!’


   5   But I am poor and needy;
    O God, hasten to my aid.
  Thou art my help, my salvation;
    O Lord, make no delay.
71

   1   In thee, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
  never let me be put to shame.
   2   As thou art righteous rescue me and save my life;
hear me and set me free,
3   be a rock of refuge for me,
where I may ever find safety at thy call;
  for thou art my towering crag and stronghold.
   4   O God, keep my life safe from the wicked,
    from the clutches of unjust and cruel men.


   5   Thou art my hope, O Lord,
  my trust, O Lord, since boyhood.

Book 2
   6   From birth I have leaned upon thee,
  my protector since I left ^note my mother's womb. ^note
   7   To many I seem a solemn warning;
  but I have thee for my strong refuge.
   8   My mouth shall be full of thy praises,
    I shall tell of thy splendour all day long.
   9   Do not cast me off when old age comes,
    nor forsake me when my strength fails,
   10   when my enemies' rancour bursts upon me ^note
  and those who watch me whisper together,
   11   saying, ‘God has forsaken him;
  after him! seize him; no one will rescue him.’
   12   O God, do not stand aloof from me;
  O my God, hasten to my help.
   13   Let all my traducers be shamed and dishonoured, ^note
  let all who seek my hurt be covered with scorn. ^note
   14   But I will wait in continual hope,
  I will praise thee again and yet again;
     15   all day long thy righteousness,
    thy saving acts, shall be upon my lips.
  Thou shalt ever be the theme of my praise, ^note
  although I have not the skill of a poet.
16   I will begin with a tale of great deeds, O Lord God,
  and sing of thy righteousness, thine alone.
   17   O God, thou hast taught me from boyhood,
  all my life I have proclaimed thy marvellous works;
   18   and now that I am old and my hairs are grey,
    forsake me not, O God,
when I extol thy mighty arm to future generations,
19   thy power and righteousness, O God, to highest heaven;
    for thou hast done great things.
    Who is like thee, O God?
20   Thou hast made me pass through bitter and deep distress,
    yet dost revive me once again
  and lift me again from earth's watery depths.
21   Restore me to honour, turn and comfort me,
   22   then I will praise thee on the lute
    for thy faithfulness, O God;
I will sing psalms to thee with the harp,
    thou Holy One of Israel;

Book 2
     23   songs of joy shall be on my lips;
I will sing thee psalms, because thou hast redeemed me.
24   All day long my tongue shall tell of thy righteousness;
  shame and disgrace await those who seek my hurt.
72

1   O God, endow the king with thy own justice,
    and give thy righteousness to a king's son,
   2   that he may judge thy people rightly
    and deal out justice to the poor and suffering.
3   May hills and mountains afford thy people
    peace and prosperity in righteousness.
     4   He shall give judgement for the suffering
    and help those of the people that are needy;
    he shall crush the oppressor.
     5   He shall live as long ^note as the sun endures,
    long as the moon, age after age.
   6   He shall be like rain falling on early crops,
    like showers watering ^note the earth.
   7   In his days righteousness ^note shall flourish,
  prosperity abound until the moon is no more.
   8   May he hold sway from sea to sea,
  from the River to the ends of the earth.
   9   Ethiopians shall crouch low before him;
  his enemies shall lick the dust.
10   The kings of Tarshish and the islands shall bring gifts,
the kings of Sheba and Seba shall present their tribute,
   11   and all kings shall pay him homage,
    all nations shall serve him.
12   For he shall rescue the needy from their rich oppressors,
  the distressed who have no protector.
   13   May he have pity on the needy and the poor,
    deliver the poor from death;
   14   may he redeem them from oppression and violence
    and may their blood be precious in his eyes.


   15   May the king live long
  and receive gifts of gold ^note from Sheba;
  prayer be made for him continually,
    blessings be his all the day long.
   16   May there be abundance of corn in the land,

Book 2
    growing in plenty to the tops of the hills;
  may the crops flourish like Lebanon,
    and the sheaves ^note be numberless as blades of grass.
   17   Long may the king's name endure,
  may it live for ever ^note like the sun;
so shall all peoples ^note pray to be blessed as he was,
    all nations tell of his happiness.


18   Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvellous things;
19   blessed be his glorious name for ever,
and may his glory fill all the earth.


      Amen, Amen.


20   Here end the prayers of David son of Jesse.
BOOK 3 73

1   How good God is to the upright! ^note
  How good to those who are pure in heart!


   2   My feet had almost slipped,
  my foothold had all but given way,
   3   because the boasts of sinners roused my envy
  when I saw how they prosper.
   4   No pain, no suffering is theirs;
  they are sleek and sound in limb;
   5   they are not plunged in trouble as other men are,
  nor do they suffer the torments of mortal men.
   6   Therefore pride is their collar of jewels
  and violence the robe that wraps them round.
   7   Their eyes gleam through folds of fat;
  while vain fancies pass through their minds.
   8   Their talk is all sneers and malice;
  scornfully they spread their calumnies.
   9   Their slanders reach up to heaven,
  while their tongues ply to and fro on earth.
10   And so my ^note people follow their lead ^note

Book 3
  and find nothing to blame in them, ^note
11   even though they say, ‘What does God know?
  The Most High neither knows nor cares.’
12   So wicked men talk, yet still they prosper,
  and rogues ^note amass great wealth.


13   So it was all in vain that I kept my heart pure
  and washed my hands in innocence.
   14   For all day long I suffer torment
  and am punished every morning.
   15   Yet had I let myself talk on in this fashion,
I should have betrayed the family of God. ^note
   16   So I set myself to think this out
  but I found it too hard for me,
   17   until I went into God's sacred courts;
    there I saw clearly what their end would be.


18   How often thou dost set them on slippery ground
    and drive them headlong into ruin!
19   Then in a moment how dreadful their end,
  cut off root and branch by death with all its terrors,
   20   like a dream when a man rouses himself, O Lord,
  like images in sleep which are dismissed on waking!


     21   When my heart was embittered
    I felt the pangs of envy,
   22   I would not understand, so brutish was I,
  I was a mere beast in thy sight, O God.
     23   Yet I am always with thee,
    thou holdest my right hand;
     24   thou dost guide me by thy counsel
    and afterwards wilt receive me with glory. ^note
   25   Whom have I in heaven but thee ^note?
  And having thee, ^note I desire nothing else on earth.
   26   Though heart and body fail, ^note
  yet God is my possession for ever.
   27   They who are far from thee are lost;
  thou dost destroy all who wantonly forsake thee.
   28   But my chief good is to be near thee, O God;
I have chosen thee, Lord God, to be my refuge. ^note

Book 3 74

1   Why hast thou cast us off, O God? Is it for ever?
Why art thou so stern, so angry with the sheep of thy flock?
   2   Remember the assembly of thy people,
  taken long since for thy own, ^note
and Mount Zion, which was thy home.
3   Now at last ^note restore what was ruined beyond repair,
the wreck that the foe has made of thy sanctuary.


   4   The shouts of thy enemies filled the holy place, ^note
  they planted their standards there as tokens of victory.
   5   They brought it crashing down, ^note
    like woodmen plying their axes in the forest;
   6   they ripped ^note the carvings clean out,
  they smashed them with hatchet and pick.
   7   They set fire to thy sanctuary,
  tore down and polluted the shrine sacred to thy name.
8   They said to themselves, ‘We will sweep them away’, ^note
  and all over the land they burnt God's holy places. ^note


9   We cannot see what lies before us, ^note we have no prophet now;
  we have no one who knows how long this is to last.
10   How long, O God, will the enemy taunt thee?
Will the adversary pour scorn on thy name for ever?
   11   Why dost thou hold back thy hand,
  why keep thy right hand within thy bosom?


   12   But thou, O God, thou king from of old,
    thou mighty conqueror all the world over,
13   by thy power thou didst cleave the sea-monster in two
  and break the sea-serpent's heads above the waters;
   14   thou didst crush Leviathan's many heads
  and throw him to the sharks ^note for food.
15   Thou didst open channels for spring and torrent;
  thou didst dry up rivers never known to fail.
16   The day is thine, and the night is thine also,
thou didst ordain the light of moon and sun;
   17   thou hast fixed all the regions of the earth;
summer and winter, thou didst create them both.

Book 3

18   Remember, O Lord, the taunts of the enemy,
the scorn a savage nation pours on thy name.
19   Cast not to the beasts the soul that confesses thee; ^note
  forget not for ever the sufferings of thy servants.
20   Look upon thy creatures: ^note they are filled with hatred,
  and earth is the haunt of violence.
   21   Let not the oppressed be shamed and turned away;
let the poor and the downtrodden praise thy name.
22   Rise up, O God, maintain thy own cause;
  remember how brutal men taunt thee all day long.
   23   Ignore no longer the cries of thy assailants,
  the mounting clamour of those who defy thee.
75

1   We give thee thanks, O God, we give thee thanks;
  thy name is brought very near to us
  in the story of thy wonderful deeds.


   2   I seize the appointed time
  and then I judge mankind with justice.
   3   When the earth rocks, with all who live on it,
  I make its pillars firm.
   4   To the boastful I say, ‘Boast no more’,
  and to the wicked, ‘Do not toss your proud horns:
   5   toss not your horns against high heaven
  nor speak arrogantly against your Creator.’
   6   No power from the east nor from the west,
  no power from the wilderness, can raise a man up.
     7   For God is judge;
he puts one man down and raises up another.
   8   The Lord holds a cup in his hand,
and the wine foams in it, hot with spice;
he offers it to every man ^note for drink,
and all the wicked on earth must drain it to the dregs.
   9   But I will glorify him for ever;
  I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.


   10   I will break off the horns of the wicked,
  but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted high.

Book 3 76

   1   In Judah God is known,
  his name is great in Israel;
   2   his tent is pitched in Salem,
  in Zion his battle-quarters are set up. ^note
   3   He has broken the flashing arrows,
  shield and sword and weapons of war.


   4   Thou art terrible, ^note O Lord, and mighty:
   5   men that lust for plunder stand aghast,
  the boldest swoon away,
  and the strongest cannot lift a hand.
     6   At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob,
  rider and horse fall senseless.
   7   Terrible art thou, O Lord;
  who can stand in thy presence when thou art angry?
   8   Thou didst give sentence out of heaven;
  the earth was afraid and kept silence.
   9   O God, at thy rising ^note in judgement
  to deliver all humble men on the earth,
   10   for all her fury Edom shall confess thee,
  and the remnant left in Hamath shall dance in worship.


11   Make vows to the Lord your God, and pay them duly;
  let the peoples all around him bring their tribute; ^note
   12   for he breaks the spirit of princes,
  he is the terror of the kings on earth.
77

     1   I cried aloud to God,
I cried to God, and he heard me.
2   In the day of my distress I sought the Lord,
and by night I lifted ^note my outspread hands in prayer.
I lay sweating and nothing would cool me;
I refused all comfort.
3   When I called God to mind, I groaned;
as I lay thinking, darkness came over my spirit.
4   My eyelids were tightly closed;
I was dazed and I could not speak.

Book 3
5   My thoughts went back to times long past,
  I remembered forgotten years;
6   all night long I was in deep distress,
as I lay thinking, my spirit was sunk in despair.


7   Will the Lord reject us for evermore
    and never again show favour?
8   Has his unfailing love now failed us utterly,
must his ^note promise time and again be unfulfilled?
9   Has God forgotten to be gracious,
has he in anger withheld his mercies?
10   ‘Has his right hand’, I said, ‘lost its grasp?
  Does it hang powerless, ^note the arm of the Most High?’


11   But then, O Lord, I call to mind thy deeds; ^note
I recall thy wonderful acts in times gone by.
     12   I meditate upon thy works
    and muse on all that thou hast done.
13   O God, thy way is holy;
what god is so great as our God?
14   Thou art the God who workest miracles;
thou hast shown the nations thy power.
15   With thy strong arm thou didst redeem thy people,
    the sons of Jacob and Joseph.


     16   The waters saw thee, O God,
    they saw thee and writhed in anguish;
    the ocean was troubled to its depths.
17   The clouds poured water, the skies thundered,
    thy arrows flashed hither and thither.
   18   The sound of thy thunder was in the whirlwind, ^note
    thy lightnings lit up the world,
    earth shook and quaked.
19   Thy path was through the sea, thy way through mighty waters,
    and no man marked thy footsteps.
   20   Thou didst guide thy people like a flock of sheep,
    under the hand of Moses and Aaron.
78

   1   Mark my teaching, O my people,
  listen to the words I am to speak.
   2   I will tell you a story with a meaning,

Book 3
  I will expound the riddle of things past,
   3   things that we have heard and know,
  and our fathers have repeated to us.
   4   From their sons we will not hide
  the praises of the Lord and his might
  nor the wonderful acts he has performed;
  then they shall repeat them to the next generation.
   5   He laid on Jacob a solemn charge
  and established a law in Israel,
  which he commanded our fathers
    to teach their sons,
   6   that it might be known to a future generation,
    to children yet unborn,
  and these would repeat it to their sons in turn.
   7   He charged them to put their trust in God,
  to hold his great acts ever in mind
    and to keep all his commandments;
   8   not to do as their fathers did,
  a disobedient and rebellious race,
  a generation with no firm purpose,
  with hearts not fixed steadfastly on God.


   9   The men of Ephraim, bowmen all and marksmen,
    turned and ran in the hour of battle.
   10   They had not kept God's covenant
  and had refused to live by his law;
     11   they forgot all that he had done
  and the wonderful acts which he had shown them.


   12   He did wonders in their fathers' sight
    in the land of Egypt, the country of Zoan:
   13   he divided the sea and took them through it,
  making the water stand up like banks on either side.
   14   He led them with a cloud by day
  and all night long with a glowing fire.
   15   He cleft the rock in the wilderness
  and gave them water to drink, abundant as the sea;
   16   he brought streams out of the cliff
  and made water run down like rivers.
   17   But they sinned against him yet again:
  in the desert they defied the Most High,
   18   they tried God's patience wilfully,
  demanding food to satisfy their hunger.
   19   They vented their grievance against God and said,

Book 3
  ‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness?’
   20   When he struck a rock, water gushed out
  until the gullies overflowed;
  they said, ‘Can he give bread as well,
  can he provide meat for his people?’
21   When he heard this, the Lord was filled with fury:
  fire raged against Jacob,
  anger blazed up against Israel,
   22   because they put no trust in God
  and had no faith in his power to save.
   23   Then he gave orders to the skies above
    and threw open heaven's doors,
24   he rained down manna for them to eat
  and gave them the grain of heaven.
   25   So men ate the bread of angels;
he sent them food to their heart's desire.
   26   He let loose the east wind from heaven
  and drove the south wind by his power;
   27   he rained meat like a dust-storm upon them,
  flying birds like the sand of the sea-shore,
   28   which he made settle all over the camp
    round the tents where they lived.
   29   So the people ate and were well filled,
  for he had given them what they craved.
   30   Yet they did not abandon their complaints ^note
  even while the food was in their mouths.
31   Then the anger of God blazed up against them;
    he spread death among their stoutest men
    and brought the young men of Israel to the ground.


   32   In spite of all, they persisted in their sin
  and had no faith in his wonderful acts.
   33   So in one moment he snuffed out their lives
    and ended their years in calamity.
   34   When he struck them, they began to seek him,
  they would turn and look eagerly for God;
   35   they remembered that God was their Creator,
  that God Most High was their deliverer.
     36   But still they beguiled him with words
  and deceived him with fine speeches;
   37   they were not loyal to him in their hearts
  nor were they faithful to his covenant.

Book 3
   38   Yet he wiped out their guilt
  and did not smother his own ^note natural affection;
  often he restrained his wrath
  and did not rouse his anger to its height.
   39   He remembered that they were only mortal men,
  who pass by like a wind and never return.


   40   How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
    and grieved him in the desert!
   41   Again and again they tried God's patience
    and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
   42   They did not remember his prowess
  on the day when he saved them from the enemy,
   43   how he set his signs in Egypt,
    his portents in the land of Zoan.
   44   He turned their streams into blood,
  and they could not drink the running water.
   45   He sent swarms of flies which devoured them,
  and frogs which brought devastation;
     46   he gave their harvest over to locusts
  and their produce to the grubs;
   47   he killed their vines with hailstones
    and their figs ^note with torrents of rain;
   48   he abandoned their cattle to the plague ^note
    and their beasts to the arrows of pestilence.
   49   He loosed upon them the violence of his anger,
  wrath and enmity and rage,
  launching those messengers of evil
   50    51   to open a way for his fury.
  He struck down all the first-born in Egypt,
  the flower of their manhood in the tents of Ham,
  not shielding their lives from death
  but abandoning their bodies to the plague.
   52   But he led out his own people like sheep
  and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
   53   He led them in safety and they were not afraid,
  and the sea closed over their enemies.
   54   He brought them to his holy mountain,
  the hill which his right hand had won;
   55   he drove out nations before them,
  he allotted their lands to Israel as a possession

Book 3
  and settled his tribes in their dwellings.
   56   Yet they tried God's patience and rebelled against him;
  they did not keep the commands of the Most High;
   57   they were renegades, traitors like their fathers,
  they changed, they went slack like a bow.
     58   They provoked him to anger with their hill-shrines
    and roused his jealousy with their carved images.
   59   When God heard this, he put them out of mind
  and utterly rejected Israel.
     60   He forsook his home at Shiloh,
  the tabernacle in which he dwelt among men;
     61   he surrendered the symbol of his strength ^note into captivity
   62   he gave his people over to the sword
    and put his own possession out of mind.
   63   Fire devoured his young men,
  and his maidens could raise no lament for them;
   64   his priests fell by the sword,
  and his widows could not weep.


   65   Then the Lord awoke as a sleeper awakes,
  like a warrior heated with wine;
   66   he struck his foes in the back parts
  and brought perpetual shame upon them.
     67   He despised the clan of Joseph
    and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
     68   he chose the tribe of Judah
    and Mount Zion which he loved;
   69   he built his sanctuary high as the heavens,
  founded like the earth to last for ever.
   70   He chose David to be his servant
    and took him from the sheepfolds;
     71   he brought him from minding the ewes
    to be the shepherd of his people Jacob; ^note
     72   and he shepherded them in singleness of heart
    and guided them with skilful hand.
79

1   O God, the heathen have set foot in thy domain,
    defiled thy holy temple
  and laid Jerusalem in ruins.

Book 3
2   They have thrown out the dead bodies of thy servants
    to feed the birds of the air;
  they have made thy loyal servants carrion for wild beasts.
3   Their blood is spilled all round Jerusalem like water,
    and there they lie unburied.
   4   We suffer the contempt of our neighbours,
  the gibes and mockery of all around us.


5   How long, O Lord, wilt thou be roused to such fury?
  Must thy jealousy rage like a fire?
6   Pour out thy wrath over nations which do not know thee
and over kingdoms which do not invoke thee by name;
7   see how they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his homesteads.
   8   Do not remember against us the guilt of past generations
  but let thy compassion come swiftly to meet us,
    we have been brought so low.


9   Help us, O God our saviour, for the honour of thy name;
  for thy name's sake deliver us and wipe out our sins.
10   Why should the nations ask, ‘Where is their God?’
  Let thy vengeance for the bloody slaughter of thy servants
  fall on those nations before our very eyes.


11   Let the groaning of the captives reach thy presence
  and in thy great might set free death's prisoners.
12   As for the contempt our neighbours pour on thee, O Lord,
  turn it back sevenfold on their own heads.
   13   Then we thy people, the flock which thou dost shepherd,
  will give thee thanks for ever
and repeat thy praise to every generation.
80

     1   Hear us, O shepherd of Israel,
  who leadest Joseph like a flock of sheep.
    Show thyself, thou that art throned on the cherubim,
     2   to Ephraim and to Benjamin.
    Rouse thy victorious might from slumber, ^note
    come to our rescue.
     3   Restore us, O God,
  and make thy face shine upon us that we may be saved.
     4   O Lord God of Hosts,
  how long wilt thou resist thy people's prayer?

Book 3
     5   Thou hast made sorrow their daily bread
  and tears of threefold grief their drink.
   6   Thou hast humbled us before our neighbours,
  and our enemies mock us to their hearts' content.
     7   O God of Hosts, restore us;
  make thy face shine upon us that we may be saved.


   8   Thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt;
  thou didst drive out nations and plant it;
   9   thou didst clear the ground before it,
so that it made good roots and filled the land.
   10   The mountains were covered with its shade,
    and its branches were like those of mighty cedars.
   11   It put out boughs all the way to the Sea
    and its shoots as far as the River.
   12   Why hast thou broken down the wall round it
  so that every passer-by can pluck its fruit?
   13   The wild boar from the thickets gnaws it,
    and swarming insects from the fields feed on it.
   14   O God of Hosts, once more look down from heaven,
  take thought for this vine and tend it,
     15   this stock that thy right hand has planted. ^note
   16   Let them that set fire to it or cut it down
    perish before thy angry face.
   17   Let thy hand rest upon the man at thy right side,
  the man whom thou hast made strong for thy service.
     18   We have not turned back from thee,
  so grant us new life, and we will invoke thee by name.
   19   Lord God of Hosts, restore us;
  make thy face shine upon us that we may be saved.
81

   1   Sing out in praise of God our refuge, ^note
    acclaim the God of Jacob.
   2   Take pipe and tabor,
  take tuneful harp and lute.
   3   Blow the horn for the new month,
    for the full moon on the day of our pilgrim-feast.
   4   This is a law for Israel,
    an ordinance of the God of Jacob,

Book 3
   5   laid as a solemn charge on Joseph
    when he came out of Egypt. ^note


   6   When I lifted the load from his shoulders,
  his hands let go the builder's basket.
   7   When you cried to me in distress, I rescued you;
    unseen, I answered you in thunder.
  I tested you at the waters of Meribah,
  where I opened your mouths and filled them. ^note
   16    ^noteI fed Israel ^note with the finest wheat-flour
  and satisfied him ^note with honey from the rocks.
   8   Listen, my people, while I give you a solemn charge—
  do but listen to me, O Israel:
   9   you shall have no strange god
  nor bow down to any foreign god;
   10   I am the Lord your God
    who brought you up from Egypt. ^note
   11   But my people did not listen to my words
  and Israel would have none of me;
     12   so I sent them off, stubborn as they were,
    to follow their own devices.


   13   If my people would but listen to me,
  if Israel would only conform to my ways,
   14   I would soon bring their enemies to their knees
  and lay a heavy hand upon their persecutors.
   15   Let those who hate them ^note come cringing to them,
  and meet with everlasting troubles. ^note
82

   1   God takes his stand in the court of heaven
    to deliver judgement among the gods themselves.


   2   How long will you judge unjustly
    and show favour to the wicked?
   3   You ought to give judgement for the weak and the orphan,
    and see right done to the destitute and downtrodden,
   4   you ought to rescue the weak and the poor,
    and save them from the clutches of wicked men.

Book 3
     5   But you know nothing, you understand nothing,
    you walk in the dark
    while earth's foundations are giving way.
   6   This is my sentence: Gods you may be,
    sons all of you of a high god, ^note
   7   yet you shall die as men die; ^note
  princes fall, every one of them, and so shall you.


8   Arise, O God, and judge the earth;
    for thou dost pass all nations through thy sieve.
83

   1   Rest not, O God;
  O God, be neither silent nor still,
   2   for thy enemies are making a tumult,
  and those that hate thee carry their heads high.
   3   They devise cunning schemes against thy people
  and conspire against those thou hast made thy treasure:
     4   ‘Come, away with them,’ they cry,
    ‘let them be a nation no longer,
  let Israel's name be remembered no more.’
   5   With one mind they have agreed together
  to make a league against thee:
     6   the families of Edom, the Ishmaelites,
    Moabites and Hagarenes,
   7   Gebal, Ammon and Amalek,
    Philistia and the citizens of Tyre,
   8   Asshur too their ally,
  all of them lending aid to the descendants of Lot.
   9   Deal with them as with Sisera,
    as with Jabin by the torrent of Kishon,
   10   who fell vanquished as Midian ^note fell at En-harod, ^note
    and were spread on the battlefield like dung.
   11   Make their princes like Oreb and Zeeb,
    make all their nobles like Zebah and Zalmunna;
   12   for they said, ‘We will seize for ourselves
    all the pastures of God's people.’
   13   Scatter them, O God, like thistledown,
    like chaff before the wind.
   14   Like fire raging through the forest
  or flames which blaze across the hills,