2  ^cVanity² of vanities, says the Preacher,

vanity of vanities! ^dAll is vanity.

3  What does man ^egain by all the toil

at which he toils ^funder the sun?

4  A generation goes, and a generation comes,

but the earth remains forever.

5  The sun rises, and the sun goes down,

and hastens³ to the place where it rises.

6  The wind blows to the south

and goes around to the north;

around and around goes the wind,

and on its circuits the wind returns.

7  All streams run to the sea,

but the sea is not full;

to the place where the streams flow,

there they flow again.

8  All things are full of weariness;

a man cannot utter it;

the ^geye is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ear filled with hearing.

9  ^hWhat has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.

10  Is there a thing of which it is said,

“See, this is new”?

It has been already

in the ages before us.

11  There is no ⁱremembrance of former things,⁴

nor will there be any remembrance

of later things⁵ yet to be

among those who come after.

15  ^oWhat is crooked cannot be made straight,

and what is lacking cannot be counted.

18  For in ^rmuch wisdom is much vexation,

and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

1  Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;

preserve my life from dread of the enemy.

2  Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,

from the throng of evildoers,

3  who whet their tongues like swords,

who ^gaim bitter words like arrows,

4  shooting ^hfrom ambush at the blameless,

shooting at him suddenly and without fear.

5  They hold fast to their evil purpose;

they talk of laying snares secretly,

thinking, “Who can see them?”

6  They search out injustice,

saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.”

For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.

7  But God shoots his arrow at them;

they are wounded suddenly.

8  They are brought to ruin, ⁱwith their own tongues turned against them;

all who see them will ^jwag their heads.

9  Then all mankind fears;

they tell what God has brought about

and ponder what he has done.

10  Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord

and take refuge in him!

Let all the ^kupright in heart exult!

1  Praise is due to you,¹ O God, in Zion,

and to you shall vows be performed.

2  O you who hear prayer,

^lto you shall all flesh come.

3  When iniquities prevail against me,

you ^matone for our transgressions.

4  ⁿBlessed is the one you choose and bring near,

^oto dwell in your courts!

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,

the holiness of your temple!

5  By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,

O God of our salvation,

the hope of all the ends of the earth

and of the farthest seas;

6  the one who by his strength established the mountains,

being ^pgirded with might;

7  who ^qstills the roaring of the seas,

the roaring of their waves,

the ^rtumult of the peoples,

8  so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.

You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

9  You visit the earth and ^swater it;²

you greatly enrich it;

the river of God is full of water;

you provide their grain,

for so you have prepared it.

10  You water its furrows abundantly,

settling its ridges,

softening it with showers,

and blessing its growth.

11  You crown the year with your bounty;

your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

12  The ^tpastures of the wilderness overflow,

the hills gird themselves with joy,

13  the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,

the valleys deck themselves with grain,

^uthey shout and sing together for joy.

1  ^vShout for joy to God, all the earth;

2  ^wsing the glory of his name;

give to him glorious praise!

3  Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

4  All the earth worships you

and sings praises to you;

they sing praises to your name.” Selah

5  ^xCome and see what God has done:

he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.

6  ^yHe turned the sea into dry land;

^zthey passed through the river on foot.

There did we rejoice in him,

7  ^awho rules by his might forever,

whose eyes keep watch on the nations—

let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

8  Bless our God, O peoples;

let the sound of his praise be heard,

9  who has kept our soul among the living

and has not let our ^bfeet slip.

10  For you, O God, have ^ctested us;

you have tried us as silver is tried.

11  You brought us into the net;

you laid a crushing burden on our backs;

12  you let men ride over our heads;

we went through fire and through water;

yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

13  I will come into your house with burnt offerings;

I will perform my vows to you,

14  that which my lips uttered

and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

15  I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,

with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;

I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

16  ^dCome and hear, all you who fear God,

and I will tell what he has done for my soul.

17  I cried to him with my mouth,

and ^ehigh praise was on³ my tongue.⁴

18  If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened.

19  But truly God has listened;

he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20  Blessed be God,

because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me!

1  ^fMay God be gracious to us and bless us

and ^gmake his face to shine upon us, Selah

2  that your way may be known on earth,

your ^hsaving power among all nations.

3  Let the peoples praise you, O God;

let ⁱall the peoples praise you!

4  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you ^jjudge the peoples with equity

and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

5  Let the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

6  ^kThe earth has yielded its increase;

God, our God, shall bless us.

7  God shall bless us;

^llet all the ends of the earth fear him!

1  ^mGod shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;

and those who hate him shall flee before him!

2  ⁿAs smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;

as wax melts before fire,

so the wicked shall perish before God!

3  But the righteous shall be glad;

they shall ^oexult before God;

they shall be jubilant with joy!

4  Sing to God, ^psing praises to his name;

lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;

his name is the Lord;

exult before him!

5  ^qFather of the fatherless and protector of widows

is God in ^rhis holy habitation.

6  ^sGod settles the solitary in a home;

he ^tleads out the prisoners to prosperity,

but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

7  O God, ^uwhen you went out before your people,

^vwhen you marched through the wilderness, Selah

8  ^wthe earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,

before God, the One of Sinai,

before God,⁵ the God of Israel.

9  Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;

you restored your inheritance as it languished;

10  your flock⁶ found a dwelling in it;

in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

11  The Lord gives the word;

^xthe women who announce the news are a great host:

12  “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”

The women at home divide the spoil—

13  though you men lie among the sheepfolds—

the wings of a dove covered with silver,

its pinions with shimmering gold.

14  When the Almighty scatters kings there,

let snow fall on Zalmon.

15  O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;

O many-peaked⁷ mountain, mountain of Bashan!

16  Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,

at the mount that ^yGod desired for his abode,

yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?

17  The ^zchariots of God are twice ten thousand,

thousands upon thousands;

the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.

18  ^aYou ascended on high,

leading a host of captives in your train

and receiving gifts among men,

even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

19  Blessed be the Lord,

who daily ^bbears us up;

God is our salvation. Selah

20  Our God is a God of salvation,

and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

21  But God will ^cstrike the heads of his enemies,

the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.

22  The Lord said,

“I will bring them back from Bashan,

I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

23  that you may strike your ^dfeet in their blood,

that ^ethe tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.”

24  Your procession is⁸ seen, O God,

the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—

25  the singers in front, the musicians last,

between them virgins playing tambourines:

26  “Bless God in the great congregation,

the Lord, O you⁹ who are of Israel’s fountain!”

27  There is Benjamin, ^fthe least of them, in the lead,

the princes of Judah in their throng,

the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

28  Summon your power, O God,¹⁰

the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.

29  Because of your temple at Jerusalem

^gkings shall bear ^hgifts to you.

30  Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds,

the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.

Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute;

scatter the peoples who delight in war.¹¹

31  Nobles shall come from Egypt;

ⁱCush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.

32  O ^jkingdoms of the earth, sing to God;

sing praises to the Lord, Selah

33  to him who ^krides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;

behold, he sends out his voice, his ^lmighty voice.

34  ^mAscribe power to God,

whose majesty is over Israel,

and whose power is in the skies.

35  Awesome is God from his¹² sanctuary;

the God of Israel—he is the one who ⁿgives power and strength to his people.

Blessed be God!

1  Save me, O God!

For the ^owaters have come up to my neck.¹³

2  I sink in deep ^pmire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the ^qflood sweeps over me.

3  ^rI am weary with my crying out;

my throat is parched.

^sMy eyes grow dim

with waiting for my God.

4  More in number than the hairs of my head

are ^tthose who hate me ^uwithout cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

those who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal

must I now restore?

5  O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

6  ^vLet not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,

O Lord God of hosts;

let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,

O God of Israel.

7  For it is ^wfor your sake that I have borne reproach,

that dishonor has covered my face.

8  ^xI have become a stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother’s sons.

9  For ^yzeal for your house has consumed me,

and ^zthe reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10  When I wept and humbled¹⁴ my soul with ^afasting,

it became my reproach.

11  When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

12  I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,

and the drunkards make ^bsongs about me.

13  ^cBut as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

At an acceptable time, O God,

in the ^dabundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

14  Deliver me

from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

and from the ^edeep waters.

15  Let not the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or the pit close its mouth over me.

16  Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;

according to your abundant mercy, ^fturn to me.

17  ^gHide not your face from your servant,

for ^hI am in distress; make haste to answer me.

18  Draw near to my soul, redeem me;

ransom me because of my enemies!

19  You know my reproach,

and my shame and my dishonor;

my foes are all known to you.

20  Reproaches have broken my heart,

so that I am in despair.

I looked for pity, but there was none,

and for comforters, but I found none.

21  They gave me poison for food,

and for my ⁱthirst they gave me ^jsour wine to drink.

22  ^kLet their own table before them become a snare;

and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.¹⁵

23  Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,

and make their loins tremble continually.

24  ^lPour out your indignation upon them,

and let your burning anger overtake them.

25  ^mMay their camp be a desolation;

let no one dwell in their tents.

26  For they persecute him whom you have struck down,

and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.

27  Add to them punishment upon punishment;

may they have no acquittal from you.¹⁶

28  Let them be ⁿblotted out of the ^obook of the living;

let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

29  But ^pI am afflicted and in pain;

let your salvation, O God, set me on high!

30  I will praise the name of God with a song;

I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31  ^qThis will please the Lord more than an ox

or a bull with horns and hoofs.

32  ^rWhen the humble see it they will be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

33  For the Lord hears the needy

and ^sdoes not despise his own people who are prisoners.

34  ^tLet heaven and earth praise him,

^uthe seas and everything that moves in them.

35  For God will save Zion

and build up the cities of Judah,

and people shall dwell there and possess it;

36  the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who ^vlove his name shall dwell in it.

1  ^xMake haste, O God, to deliver me!

O Lord, ^ymake haste to help me!

2  ^zLet them be put to shame and confusion

who seek my life!

Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor

who delight in my hurt!

3  Let them turn back because of their shame

who say, ^a“Aha, Aha!”

4  May all who seek you

rejoice and be ^bglad in you!

May those who love your salvation

say evermore, “God is great!”

5  But ^cI am poor and needy;

hasten to me, O God!

You are my help and my deliverer;

O Lord, do not delay!

1  ^dIn you, O Lord, do I take refuge;

^elet me never be put to shame!

2  ^fIn your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me, and save me!

3  Be to me a ^grock of refuge,

to which I may continually come;

you have given the command to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

4  Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

5  For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

6  Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;

^hyou are he who took me from my mother’s womb.

My praise is ⁱcontinually of you.

7  I have been as a portent to many,

but you are my strong refuge.

8  My mouth is filled with your praise,

and with your glory all the day.

9  ^jDo not cast me off in the time of old age;

^kforsake me not when my strength is spent.

10  For my enemies speak concerning me;

those who ^lwatch for my life ^mconsult together

11  and ⁿsay, “God has forsaken him;

pursue and seize him,

for there is none to deliver him.”

12  O God, ^obe not far from me;

O my God, ^pmake haste to help me!

13  May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;

with scorn and disgrace may they be ^qcovered

who seek my hurt.

14  But I will hope continually

and will praise you yet more and more.

15  My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,

of your deeds of salvation all the day,

for ^rtheir number is past my knowledge.

16  With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;

I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

17  O God, from my youth you have taught me,

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

18  So ^seven to old age and gray hairs,

O God, do not forsake me,

until I proclaim your might to another generation,

your power to all those to come.

19  ^tYour righteousness, O God,

^ureaches the high heavens.

You who have done great things,

O God, ^vwho is like you?

20  ^wYou who have made me see many troubles and calamities

will ^xrevive me again;

from the depths of the earth

you will bring me up again.

21  You will increase my greatness

and comfort me again.

22  ^yI will also praise you with the harp

for your faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praises to you with the lyre,

O Holy One of Israel.

23  My lips will shout for joy,

when I sing praises to you;

my soul also, which you have redeemed.

24  And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,

for they have been put to shame and disappointed

who sought to do me hurt.

1  Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,

^sfor I am poor and needy.

2  Preserve my life, for I am godly;

save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.

3  Be gracious to me, O Lord,

for to you do I cry ^tall the day.

4  Gladden the soul of your servant,