My Help and My Deliverer
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 I uwaited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and vheard my cry.
2 He drew me up from wthe pit of destruction,
out of xthe miry bog,
and yset my feet upon a rock,
zmaking my steps secure.
3 He put aa new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will bsee and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
4 Blessed is the man who cmakes
the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who dgo astray after a lie!
5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your ewondrous deeds and your fthoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are gmore than can be told.
6 hIn sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open iear.1
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written jof me:
8 kI delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is lwithin my heart.”
9 I have told the glad news of deliverance2
in mthe great congregation;
behold, I have not nrestrained my lips,
oas you know, O Lord.
10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.
11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
your mercy from me;
your psteadfast love and your faithfulness will
ever preserve me!
12 For evils have qencompassed me
beyond number;
my riniquities have overtaken me,
and I cannot ssee;
they are tmore than the hairs of my head;
my heart ufails me.
13 vBe pleased, O Lord, to wdeliver me!
O Lord, xmake haste to help me!
14 yLet those be put to shame and disappointed altogether
who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be zturned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
15 Let those be appalled because of their shame
who asay to me, “Aha, Aha!”
16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
bsay continually, “Great is the Lord!”
17 As for me, I am cpoor and needy,
but dthe Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God!
Job’s Summary Defense
1 And Job again ztook up his discourse, and said:
2 “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,
3 when his alamp shone upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
4 as I was in my prime,1
when the bfriendship of God was upon my tent,
5 when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my cchildren were all around me,
6 when my steps were dwashed with ebutter,
and fthe rock poured out for me streams of goil!
7 When I went out to hthe gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
9 the princes refrained from talking
and ilaid their hand on their mouth;
10 the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their jtongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12 because I kdelivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
13 lThe blessing of him who was mabout to perish came upon me,
and I caused nthe widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I oput on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and pa turban.
15 I was qeyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out rthe cause of him whom I did not know.
17 I sbroke tthe fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
18 uThen I thought, ‘I shall die in my vnest,
and I shall multiply my days as wthe sand,
19 my xroots spread out to ythe waters,
with the dew all night on my zbranches,
20 my glory fresh with me,
21 “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word cdropped upon them.
23 They waited for me as for the rain,
and they dopened their mouths as for the espring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and fthe light of my gface they did not cast down.
25 I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like ha king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
