The Fool Says, There Is No God
To the choirmaster. Of David.
1 gThe hfool says in his heart, i“There is no God.”
They are jcorrupt, they do abominable deeds;
kthere is none who does good.
2 The Lord llooks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,1
who mseek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become ncorrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
4 Have they no oknowledge, all the evildoers
who peat up my people as they eat bread
and qdo not call upon the Lord?
5 There they are in great terror,
for God is with rthe generation of the righteous.
6 You would shame the plans of the poor,
7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord trestores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
Come to Our Help
To the choirmaster. cA Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah.
1 O God, we have heard with our ears,
dour fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
ein the days of old:
2 you with your own hand fdrove out the nations,
but gthem you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but hthem you set free;
3 for not iby their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
and jthe light of your face,
kfor you delighted in them.
4 lYou are my King, O God;
mordain salvation for Jacob!
5 Through you we npush down our foes;
through your name we otread down those who rise up against us.
6 For not in pmy bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our foes
and have qput to shame those who hate us.
8 rIn God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
9 But you have srejected us and disgraced us
and thave not gone out with our armies.
10 You have made us uturn back from the foe,
and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
11 You have made us like vsheep for slaughter
and have wscattered us among the nations.
12 xYou have sold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.
13 You have made us ythe taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and zscorn of those around us.
14 You have made us aa byword among the nations,
ba laughingstock2 among the peoples.
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
and cshame has covered my face
16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
at the sight of dthe enemy and the avenger.
17 eAll this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our fsteps gdeparted from your way;
19 yet you have hbroken us in the place of ijackals
and covered us with jthe shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or kspread out our hands to la foreign god,
21 mwould not God discover this?
nFor he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yet ofor your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 pAwake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! qDo not reject us forever!
24 Why rdo you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
25 For our ssoul is bowed down to the dust;
our belly clings to the ground.
26 Rise up; tcome to our help!
uRedeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!
Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause
A Maskil1 of rAsaph.
1 O God, why do you scast us off forever?
Why does your anger tsmoke against uthe sheep of your pasture?
2 vRemember your congregation, which you have wpurchased of old,
which you have xredeemed to be ythe tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, zwhere you have dwelt.
3 Direct your steps to athe perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have broared in the midst of your meeting place;
cthey set up their down signs for esigns.
5 They were like those who swing faxes
in a forest of trees.2
6 And all its gcarved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They hset your sanctuary on fire;
they iprofaned jthe dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They ksaid to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our lsigns;
mthere is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, nis the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why odo you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment3 and destroy them!
12 Yet pGod my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You qdivided the sea by your might;
you rbroke the heads of sthe sea monsters4 on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of tLeviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You usplit open springs and brooks;
you vdried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established wthe heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have xfixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made ysummer and winter.
18 zRemember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and aa foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your bdove to the wild beasts;
cdo not forget the life of your poor forever.
20 Have regard for dthe covenant,
for ethe dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not fthe downtrodden gturn back in shame;
let hthe poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, idefend your cause;
jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
kthe uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
O Lord My God, You Are Very Great
1 lBless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are mvery great!
nYou are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2 covering yourself with light as with a garment,
ostretching out the heavens plike a tent.
3 He qlays the beams of his rchambers on the waters;
he makes sthe clouds his chariot;
he rides on tthe wings of the wind;
4 he umakes his messengers winds,
5 He xset the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
6 You ycovered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At zyour rebuke they fled;
at athe sound of your thunder they btook to flight.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place that you cappointed for them.
9 You set da boundary that they may not pass,
so that they emight not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills;
11 they fgive drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
they sing among the branches.
13 gFrom your lofty abode you hwater the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause ithe grass to grow for the livestock
and jplants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth kfood from the earth
15 and lwine to gladden the heart of man,
moil to make his face shine
and bread to nstrengthen man’s heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
othe cedars of Lebanon pthat he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has her home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for qthe wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for rthe rock badgers.
19 He made the moon to mark the sseasons;1
the sun knows its time for setting.
20 tYou make darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21 uThe young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and lie down in their vdens.
23 wMan goes out to his work
and to his labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In xwisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the sea, great and wide,
ywhich teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
27 These ball look to you,
to cgive them their food in due season.
28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you dopen your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you ehide your face, they are fdismayed;
when you gtake away their breath, they die
and hreturn to their dust.
30 When you isend forth your Spirit,3 they are created,
and you jrenew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord kendure forever;
may the Lord lrejoice in his works,
32 who looks on the earth and it mtrembles,
who ntouches the mountains and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the Lord oas long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my pmeditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let qsinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
rBless the Lord, O my soul!
sPraise the Lord!
Come, Bless the Lord
A Song of mAscents.
1 Come, bless the Lord, all you mservants of the Lord,
who nstand oby night in the house of the Lord!
2 pLift up your hands to qthe holy place
and bless the Lord!
3 May the Lord rbless you sfrom Zion,
he who tmade heaven and earth!
1 eThe wisest of women fbuilds her house,
but folly with her own hands gtears it down.
2 Whoever hwalks in uprightness fears the Lord,
but he who is idevious in his ways despises him.
3 By the mouth of a fool comes ja rod for his back,1
kbut the lips of the wise will preserve them.
4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.
5 lA faithful witness does not lie,
but ma false witness breathes out lies.
6 nA scoffer seeks wisdom oin vain,
but pknowledge is easy for a man of understanding.
7 Leave the presence of a fool,
for there you do not meet words of knowledge.
8 The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way,
but the folly of fools is deceiving.
9 qFools mock at the guilt offering,
but the upright enjoy acceptance.2
10 The heart knows its own rbitterness,
and no stranger shares its joy.
11 sThe house of the wicked will be destroyed,
but the tent of the upright will flourish.
12 tThere is a way that seems right to a man,
but uits end is the way to death.3
13 Even in laughter the heart may ache,
and vthe end of joy may be wgrief.
14 The backslider in heart will be xfilled with the fruit of his ways,
and ya good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.
15 zThe simple believes everything,
but the prudent gives thought to his steps.
16 aOne who is wise is cautious4 and bturns away from evil,
but a fool is reckless and careless.
17 A man of cquick temper acts foolishly,
and a man of evil devices is hated.
18 The simple inherit folly,
but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
19 dThe evil bow down before the good,
the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
20 eThe poor is disliked even by his neighbor,
fbut the rich has many friends.
21 Whoever gdespises his neighbor is a sinner,
but hblessed is he who is generous to the poor.
22 Do they not go astray who idevise evil?
Those who devise good meet5 jsteadfast love and faithfulness.
23 In all toil there is profit,
but mere talk ktends only to poverty.
24 The crown of the wise is their wealth,
but the folly of fools brings folly.
25 A truthful witness saves lives,
but one who lbreathes out lies is deceitful.
26 In the fear of the Lord one has mstrong confidence,
and nhis children will have oa refuge.
27 The fear of the Lord is pa fountain of life,
that one may qturn away from the snares of death.
28 In ra multitude of people is the glory of a king,
but without people a prince is ruined.
29 Whoever is sslow to anger has great understanding,
but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
30 A tranquil6 heart gives tlife to the flesh,
but uenvy7 makes vthe bones rot.
31 Whoever oppresses a poor man winsults his xMaker,
ybut he who is generous to the needy honors him.
32 zThe wicked is overthrown through his evildoing,
but athe righteous finds refuge in his death.
33 Wisdom brests in the heart of a man of understanding,
but it makes itself known even in the midst of fools.8
34 Righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a reproach to any people.
35 A servant who deals wisely has cthe king’s favor,
but his wrath falls on one who acts shamefully.
