The Reign of the Lord’s Anointed
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his jAnointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens klaughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
lThe Lord said to me, m“You are my nSon;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the oends of the earth your possession.
9 pYou shall break2 them with a qrod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 rKiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
sBlessed are all who take refuge in him.
Why Have You Forsaken Me?
To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
1 dMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
eWhy are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, fbut you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises1 of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
gin you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and hdespised by the people.
7 All who see me imock me;
they make mouths at me; they jwag their heads;
8 k“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
9 Yet lyou are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 mBe not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is nnone to help.
12 Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring olion.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For pdogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have qpierced my hands and feet2—
17 I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
18 rthey divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off!
O you my help, scome quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the tlion!
You have rescued3 me from the horns of the wild oxen!
22 uI will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, vglorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will wperform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted4 shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May your hearts live forever!
27 All the xends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down yto the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be ztold of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people ayet unborn,
that he has done it.
Save Me, O God
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.
1 Save me, O God!
For the owaters have come up to my neck.1
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 humbled2 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,
22 kLet their own table before them become a snare;
and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.3
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.4
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.
Give the King Your Justice
zOf Solomon.
1 Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to the royal son!
2 aMay he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
3 Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!
5 May they fear you1 bwhile the sun endures,
and as long as the moon, cthroughout all generations!
6 May he be dlike rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth!
7 In his days may ethe righteous flourish,
and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
8 fMay he have dominion gfrom sea to sea,
and hfrom the River2 to the iends of the earth!
9 May desert tribes bow down before him,
and his enemies jlick the dust!
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
render him tribute;
may the kkings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts!
11 May all kings fall down before him,
all nations serve him!
12 lFor he mdelivers the needy when he calls,
the poor and him who has nno helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and osaves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
and pprecious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live;
may qgold of Sheba be given to him!
May prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all the day!
16 May there be abundance of grain in the land;
on the tops of the mountains may it wave;
may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people blossom in the cities
rlike the grass of the field!
17 May his name endure forever,
his fame continue as long as the sun!
sMay people be blessed in him,
all nations call him blessed!
18 tBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone does uwondrous things.
19 vBlessed be his glorious name forever;
may wthe whole earth be filled with his glory!
xAmen and Amen!
20 The yprayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.
Sit at My Right Hand
A Psalm of David.
1 sThe Lord says to my Lord:
t“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The Lord sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
uRule in the midst of your enemies!
3 Your people will offer themselves vfreely
on the day of your power,1
in holy garments;2
from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours.3
4 wThe Lord has sworn
and xwill not change his mind,
after the order of aMelchizedek.”
5 The Lord is bat your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute cjudgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
