1  Transgression speaks to the wicked

deep in his heart;¹

^ythere is no fear of God

before his eyes.

2  ^zFor he flatters himself in his own eyes

that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.

3  The words of his mouth are ^atrouble and deceit;

^bhe has ceased to act wisely and do good.

4  He ^cplots ^dtrouble while on his bed;

he sets himself in ^ea way that is not good;

^fhe does not reject evil.

5  Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the clouds.

6  ^gYour righteousness is like the mountains of God;

^hyour judgments are like the great deep;

man and beast you ⁱsave, O Lord.

7  ^jHow precious is your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge ^kin the shadow of your wings.

8  They feast on ^lthe abundance of your house,

and you give them drink from ^mthe river of ⁿyour delights.

9  For with you is ^othe fountain of life;

^pin your light do we see light.

10  Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who ^qknow you,

and your righteousness to ^rthe upright of heart!

11  Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,

nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

12  There ^sthe evildoers lie fallen;

they are thrust down, ^tunable to rise.

1  I said, “I will ^wguard my ways,

that I ^xmay not sin with my tongue;

I will ^yguard my mouth with a muzzle,

so long as the wicked are in my presence.”

2  I was ^zmute and silent;

I held my peace to no avail,

and my distress grew worse.

3  My ^aheart became hot within me.

As I mused, the fire burned;

then I spoke with my tongue:

4  “O Lord, ^bmake me know my end

and what is the measure of my days;

let me know how fleeting I am!

5  Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,

and ^cmy lifetime is as nothing before you.

Surely ^dall mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah

6  Surely a man ^egoes about as a shadow!

Surely for nothing¹ they are in turmoil;

man ^fheaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

7  “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?

^gMy hope is in you.

8  Deliver me from all my transgressions.

^hDo not make me the scorn of the fool!

9  ⁱI am mute; I do not open my mouth,

^jfor it is you who have done it.

10  ^kRemove your stroke from me;

I am spent by the hostility of your hand.

11  When you discipline a man

with ^lrebukes for sin,

you ^mconsume like a ⁿmoth what is dear to him;

^osurely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah

12  ^p“Hear my prayer, O Lord,

and give ear to my cry;

hold not your peace at my tears!

For I am ^qa sojourner with you,

^qa guest, like all my fathers.

13  ^rLook away from me, that I may smile again,

^sbefore I depart and ^tam no more!”

1  I ^acry aloud to God,

aloud to God, and he will hear me.

2  ^bIn the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in ^cthe night my ^dhand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul ^erefuses to be comforted.

3  When I remember God, I ^fmoan;

when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

4  You hold my eyelids open;

I am so ^gtroubled that I cannot speak.

5  I consider ^hthe days of old,

the years long ago.

6  I said,¹ “Let me remember my ⁱsong in the night;

let me ^jmeditate in my heart.”

Then my spirit made a diligent search:

7  “Will the Lord ^kspurn forever,

and never again ^lbe favorable?

8  Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

Are his ^mpromises at an end for all time?

9  ⁿHas God forgotten to be gracious?

^oHas he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

10  Then I said, “I will appeal to this,

to the years of the ^pright hand of the Most High.”²

11  I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

yes, I will ^qremember your wonders of old.

12  I will ponder all your ^rwork,

and meditate on your ^smighty deeds.

13  Your way, O God, is ^tholy.

^uWhat god is great like our God?

14  You are the God who ^vworks wonders;

you have ^wmade known your might among the peoples.

15  You ^xwith your arm redeemed your people,

the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

16  When ^ythe waters saw you, O God,

when the waters saw you, they were afraid;

indeed, the deep trembled.

17  The clouds poured out water;

the skies ^zgave forth thunder;

your ^aarrows flashed on every side.

18  ^bThe crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

^cyour lightnings lighted up the world;

the earth ^dtrembled and shook.

19  Your ^eway was through the sea,

your path through the great waters;

yet your footprints ^fwere unseen.³

20  You ^gled your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

1  ⁱGive ear, O my people, to my teaching;

incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

2  ^jI will open my mouth ^kin a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old,

3  things that we have heard and known,

that our ^lfathers have told us.

4  We will not ^mhide them from their children,

but ⁿtell to the coming generation

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

and ^othe wonders that he has done.

5  He established ^pa testimony in ^qJacob

and appointed a law in ^qIsrael,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children,

6  that ^rthe next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn,

and arise and tell them to their children,

7  so that they should set their hope in God

and not forget ^sthe works of God,

but ^tkeep his commandments;

8  and that they should not be ^ulike their fathers,

^va stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation ^wwhose heart was not steadfast,

whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9  The Ephraimites, armed with⁵ the bow,

^xturned back on the day of battle.

10  They ^ydid not keep God’s covenant,

but refused to walk according to his law.

11  They ^zforgot his works

and ^athe wonders that he had shown them.

12  In the sight of their fathers ^bhe performed wonders

in the land of Egypt, in ^cthe fields of Zoan.

13  He ^ddivided the sea and let them pass through it,

and made the waters ^estand like a heap.

14  ^fIn the daytime he led them with a cloud,

and all the night with a fiery light.

15  He ^gsplit rocks in the wilderness

and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

16  He made streams come out of ^hthe rock

and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

17  Yet they sinned still more against him,

ⁱrebelling against the Most High in the desert.

18  They ^jtested God in their heart

by demanding the food they craved.

19  They spoke against God, saying,

^k“Can God ^lspread a table in the wilderness?

20  ^mHe struck the rock so that water gushed out

and streams overflowed.

Can he also give bread

or provide meat for his people?”

21  Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;

ⁿa fire was kindled against Jacob;

his anger rose against Israel,

22  because they ^odid not believe in God

and did not trust his saving power.

23  Yet he commanded the skies above

and ^popened the doors of heaven,

24  and he ^qrained down on them manna to eat

and gave them ^rthe grain of heaven.

25  Man ate of the bread of ^sthe angels;

he sent them food ^tin abundance.

26  He ^ucaused the east wind to blow in the heavens,

and by his power he led out the south wind;

27  he rained meat on them like ^vdust,

winged birds like ^wthe sand of the seas;

28  he ^xlet them fall in the midst of their camp,

all around their dwellings.

29  And they ^yate and were well filled,

for he gave them what they ^zcraved.

30  But before they had satisfied their craving,

^awhile the food was still in their mouths,

31  the anger of God rose against them,

and he killed ^bthe strongest of them

and laid low ^cthe young men of Israel.

32  In spite of all this, they ^dstill sinned;

^edespite his wonders, they did not believe.

33  So he made ^ftheir days ^gvanish like⁶ a breath,⁷

and their years in terror.

34  When he killed them, they ^hsought him;

they repented and sought God earnestly.

35  They remembered that God was their ⁱrock,

the Most High God their ^jredeemer.

36  But they ^kflattered him with their mouths;

they ^llied to him with their tongues.

37  Their ^mheart was not ⁿsteadfast toward him;

they were not faithful to his covenant.

38  Yet he, being ^ocompassionate,

^patoned for their iniquity

and did not destroy them;

he restrained his anger often

and did not stir up all his wrath.

39  He ^qremembered that they were but ^rflesh,

^sa wind that passes and comes not again.

40  How often they ^trebelled against him in the wilderness

and ^ugrieved him in ^vthe desert!

41  They ^wtested God again and again

and provoked ^xthe Holy One of Israel.

42  They ^ydid not remember his power⁸

or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,

43  ^zwhen he performed his ^asigns in Egypt

and his ^bmarvels in ^cthe fields of Zoan.

44  He ^dturned their rivers to blood,

so that they could not drink of their streams.

45  He sent among them swarms of ^eflies, which devoured them,

and ^ffrogs, which destroyed them.

46  He gave their crops to ^gthe destroying locust

and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

47  He destroyed their vines with ^hhail

and their sycamores with frost.

48  He gave over their ⁱcattle to the hail

and their flocks to thunderbolts.

49  He let loose on them his burning anger,

wrath, indignation, and distress,

a company of ^jdestroying angels.

50  He made a path for his anger;

he did not spare them from death,

but gave their lives over to the plague.

51  He struck down every ^kfirstborn in Egypt,

the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of ^lHam.

52  Then he led out his people ^mlike sheep

and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53  ⁿHe led them in safety, so that they ^owere not afraid,

but ^pthe sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54  And he brought them to his ^qholy land,

^rto the mountain which his right hand had ^swon.

55  He ^tdrove out nations before them;

he ^uapportioned them for a possession

and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56  Yet they ^vtested and ^wrebelled against the Most High God

and did not keep his testimonies,

57  but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;

they twisted like ^xa deceitful bow.

58  For they ^yprovoked him to anger with their ^zhigh places;

they ^amoved him to jealousy with their ^bidols.

59  When God heard, he was full of ^cwrath,

and he utterly rejected Israel.

60  He ^dforsook his dwelling at ^eShiloh,

the tent where he dwelt among mankind,

61  and delivered his ^fpower to captivity,

his ^gglory to the hand of the foe.

62  He ^hgave his people over to the sword

and ⁱvented his wrath on his heritage.

63  ^jFire devoured their young men,

and their young women had no ^kmarriage song.

64  Their ^lpriests fell by the sword,

and their ^mwidows made no lamentation.

65  Then the Lord ⁿawoke as from sleep,

like a strong man shouting because of wine.

66  And he ^oput his adversaries to rout;

he put them to everlasting shame.

67  He rejected the tent of ^pJoseph;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68  but he chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which he ^qloves.

69  He ^rbuilt his sanctuary like the high heavens,

like the earth, which he has founded forever.

70  He ^schose David his servant

and took him from the sheepfolds;

71  from ^tfollowing the nursing ewes he brought him

to ^ushepherd Jacob his people,

Israel his ^vinheritance.

72  With ^wupright heart he shepherded them

and ^xguided them with his skillful hand.