Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 rIn you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
sin your righteousness deliver me!
2 Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily!
Be a trock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me!
3 For you are my rock and my fortress;
and ufor your name’s sake you lead me and guide me;
4 vyou take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
5 wInto your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
6 xI hate1 those who pay regard to worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will rejoice and be yglad in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have known the distress of my soul,
8 and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
you have set my feet in a zbroad place.
9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for aI am in distress;
bmy eye is wasted from grief;
my soul and my body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with csighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
and dmy bones waste away.
11 Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,
especially to my neighbors,
and an object of dread to my eacquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 fI have been forgotten like one who is dead;
I have become glike a broken vessel.
13 For hI hear the whispering of many—
terror on every side!—
as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.
14 But I trust in you, O Lord;
iI say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hand;
rescue me jfrom the hand of my enemies and kfrom my persecutors!
16 lMake your face shine on your servant;
save me in your steadfast love!
17 O Lord, let me not be put to shame,
for I call upon you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
let them go silently to Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be mute,
which speak insolently against the righteous
in pride and contempt.
19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of the children of mankind!
20 In the mcover of your presence you hide them
from the plots of men;
you store them in your nshelter
from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord,
for he has owondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was in a besieged city.
q“I am cut off from your sight.”
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
when I cried to you for help.
23 Love the Lord, all you his saints!
The Lord preserves the faithful
but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who rwait for the Lord!
Great Is the Lord
Of David.
1 uContend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of shield and buckler
and rise for my help!
3 Draw the spear and javelin1
against my pursuers!
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation!”
4 vLet them be put to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life!
Let them be turned back and disappointed
who devise evil against me!
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them away!
6 Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!
7 For without cause they hid their net for me;
without cause they wdug a pit for my life.2
8 Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
And let the xnet that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall into it—to his destruction!
9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord,
exulting in his salvation.
10 All my ybones shall say,
“O Lord, zwho is like you,
adelivering the poor
from him who is too strong for him,
the poor and needy from him who robs him?”
11 bMalicious3 witnesses rise up;
they ask me of things that I do not know.
12 They crepay me evil for good;
my soul is bereft.4
13 But I, dwhen they were sick—
I wore sackcloth;
I afflicted myself with efasting;
I prayed with head bowed5 on my chest.
14 I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
I bowed down in mourning.
15 But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
they gathered together against me;
wretches whom I did not know
tore at me without ceasing;
16 like profane mockers at a feast,6
they gnash at me with their teeth.
17 How long, O Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their destruction,
my precious life from the flions!
18 I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19 Let not those rejoice over me
who are wrongfully my foes,
and let not those gwink the eye
20 For they do not speak peace,
but against those who are quiet in the land
they devise words of deceit.
21 They jopen wide their mouths against me;
they say, k“Aha, Aha!
Our eyes have seen it!”
22 You have seen, O Lord; be not lsilent!
O Lord, mbe not far from me!
23 nAwake and rouse yourself for my vindication,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 oVindicate me, O Lord, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and let them not rejoice over me!
25 Let them not say in their hearts,
“Aha, our heart’s desire!”
Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”
26 Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether
who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be pclothed with shame and dishonor
who magnify themselves against me!
27 Let those who delight in my righteousness
shout for joy and be glad
and say evermore,
“Great is the Lord,
who delights in the welfare of his servant!”
28 Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
and of your praise all the day long.
How Precious Is Your Steadfast Love
To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the Lord.
1 Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;7
qthere is no fear of God
before his eyes.
2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3 The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
4 He rplots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good;
he does not reject evil.
5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends sto the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 tYour righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O Lord.
7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge uin the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9 For with you is vthe fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.
10 Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
11 Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There the evildoers lie fallen;
they are thrust down, wunable to rise.
He Will Not Forsake His Saints
8 Of David.
1 xFret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not yenvious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade zlike the grass
and wither like the green herb.
3 aTrust in the Lord, and bdo good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.9
4 cDelight yourself in the Lord,
and he will dgive you the desires of your heart.
5 eCommit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness fas the light,
and your justice as the gnoonday.
7 hBe still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
8 iRefrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
9 For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
jthough you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
11 But kthe meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.
12 The wicked plots against the righteous
and gnashes his teeth at him,
13 but the Lord llaughs at the wicked,
for he sees that his day is coming.
14 The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose way is upright;
15 their sword shall enter their own heart,
and their bows shall be broken.
16 mBetter is the little that the righteous has
than the abundance of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be nbroken,
but the Lord upholds the righteous.
18 The Lord knows the days of the blameless,
and their heritage will remain forever;
19 they are not put to shame in evil times;
oin the days of famine they have abundance.
20 But the wicked will perish;
the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures;
they vanish—like psmoke they vanish away.
21 The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
but the righteous is generous and gives;
22 for those blessed by the Lord10 shall inherit the land,
but those cursed by him shall be cut off.
23 qThe steps of a man are established by the Lord,
when he rdelights in his way;
24 sthough he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord upholds his hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old,
yet tI have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging for bread.
26 He is ever ulending generously,
and his children become a blessing.
27 vTurn away from evil and do good;
so shall you dwell forever.
28 For the Lord loves justice;
he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land
and dwell upon it forever.
30 wThe mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
31 The law of his God is in his heart;
his steps do not xslip.
32 The wicked watches for the righteous
and seeks to put him to death.
33 The Lord will not abandon him to his power
or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.
34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
yyou will look on when the wicked are cut off.
35 zI have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
spreading himself like a green laurel tree.11
36 aBut he passed away,12 and behold, he was no more;
though I sought him, he could not be found.
37 Mark the blameless and behold the upright,
for there is a future for the man of peace.
38 But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
the future of the wicked shall be cut off.
39 The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
40 The Lord helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
