Joy Comes with the Morning
A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of rthe temple.
1 I will sextol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up
and have not let my foes trejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I ucried to you for help,
and you have vhealed me.
3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from wSheol;
you restored me to life from among those who xgo down to the pit.1
4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you yhis saints,
and zgive thanks to his holy name.2
5 aFor his anger is but for a moment,
and bhis favor is for a lifetime.3
cWeeping may tarry for the night,
but djoy comes with the morning.
6 As for me, I said in my eprosperity,
“I shall never be fmoved.”
7 By your favor, O Lord,
you made my gmountain stand strong;
you hhid your face;
I was idismayed.
8 To you, O Lord, I cry,
and jto the Lord I plead for mercy:
9 “What profit is there in my death,4
if I go down to the pit?5
Will kthe dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 lHear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!
O Lord, be my helper!”
11 You have turned for me my mourning into mdancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
12 that my nglory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
1 “Why are lnot times of judgment mkept by the Almighty,
and why do those who know him never see his ndays?
2 Some move olandmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
they ptake the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They qthrust the poor off the road;
the poor of the earth rall hide themselves.
5 Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert
the poor1 sgo out to their toil, tseeking game;
the wasteland yields food for their children.
6 They gather their2 fodder in the field,
and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
7 They ulie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains
and vcling to the rock for lack of shelter.
9 (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,
and they take a pledge against the poor.)
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
hungry, they wcarry the sheaves;
11 among the olive rows of the wicked3 they make oil;
they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.
12 From out of the city the dying4 groan,
and the soul of xthe wounded cries for help;
yet God charges no one with ywrong.
13 “There are those who rebel zagainst the light,
who are not acquainted with its ways,
and do not stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises before it is light,
that he amay kill the poor and needy,
and in the night he is like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for bthe twilight,
saying, ‘No ceye will see me’;
and he veils his face.
16 In the dark they ddig through houses;
by day they shut themselves up;
they do not know the light.
17 For edeep darkness is morning to all of them;
for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18 “You say, f‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
their portion is cursed in the land;
no treader turns toward their vineyards.
19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
so does gSheol those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them;
the worm finds them sweet;
they are hno longer remembered,
so wickedness is broken like ia tree.’
21 “They wrong the barren, childless woman,
and do no good to the widow.
22 Yet God5 prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
they rise up when they despair of life.
23 He gives them security, and they are supported,
and his jeyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted ka little while, and then lare gone;
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
they are mcut off like the heads of grain.
25 If it is nnot so, who will prove me a liar
and show that there is nothing in what I say?”
