1  ^eVindicate me, O God, and defend my cause

against an ungodly people,

from the deceitful and unjust man

deliver me!

2  For you are the God in whom I take refuge;

why have you rejected me?

Why do I go about mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?

3  Send out your light and your truth;

let them lead me;

let them bring me to your holy hill

and to your dwelling!

4  Then I will go to the altar of God,

to God my exceeding joy,

and ^fI will praise you with the lyre,

O God, my God.

5  ^gWhy are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.

1  O God, we have heard with our ears,

^hour fathers have told us,

what deeds you performed in their days,

in the ⁱdays of old:

2  you with your own hand drove out the nations,

but them you planted;

you afflicted the peoples,

but them you set free;

3  for ^jnot by their own sword did they win the land,

nor did their own arm save them,

but your right hand and your arm,

and the ^klight of your face,

for you delighted in them.

4  You are my King, O God;

ordain salvation for Jacob!

5  Through you we push down our foes;

through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.

6  For ^lnot in my bow do I trust,

nor can my sword save me.

7  But you have saved us from our foes

and have put to shame those who hate us.

8  In God we have ^mboasted continually,

and ⁿwe will give thanks to your name forever. Selah

9  But you have ^orejected us and disgraced us

and ^phave not gone out with our armies.

10  You have made us turn back from the foe,

and those who hate us have gotten spoil.

11  You have made us ^qlike sheep for slaughter

and have ^rscattered us among the nations.

12  You have ^ssold your people for a trifle,

demanding no high price for them.

13  You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,

the ^tderision and scorn of those around us.

14  You have made us a byword among the nations,

a laughingstock² among the peoples.

15  All day long my disgrace is before me,

and shame has covered my face

16  at the sound of the taunter and reviler,

at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.

17  All this has come upon us,

though we have not ^uforgotten you,

and we have not been false to your covenant.

18  Our heart has not turned back,

^vnor have our steps departed from your way;

19  yet you have broken us in the place of jackals

and covered us with the shadow of death.

20  ^wIf we had forgotten the name of our God

or spread out our hands to a ^xforeign god,

21  would not God discover this?

For he ^yknows the secrets of the heart.

22  Yet ^zfor your sake we are killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

23  ^aAwake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?

Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!

24  Why do you hide your face?

Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

25  For ^bour soul is bowed down to the dust;

our belly clings to the ground.

26  Rise up; come to our help!

Redeem us ^cfor the sake of your steadfast love!

1  My heart overflows with a pleasing theme;

I address my verses to the king;

my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

2  You are the most handsome of the sons of men;

grace is poured upon your lips;

therefore God has blessed you forever.

3  Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,

in your splendor and majesty!

4  In your majesty ride out victoriously

for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;

let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!

5  Your arrows are sharp

in the heart of the king’s enemies;

the peoples fall under you.

6  ^eYour throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;

7  you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the ^foil of gladness beyond your companions;

8  your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.

From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;

9  daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;

at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

10  Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:

forget your people and your father’s house,

11  and the king will desire your beauty.

Since he is your lord, bow to him.

12  The people⁴ of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,

the richest of the people.⁵

13  All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.

14  In many-colored robes she is led to the king,

with her virgin companions following behind her.

15  With joy and gladness they are led along

as they enter the palace of the king.

16  In place of your fathers shall be your sons;

you will make them princes in all the earth.

17  I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;

therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.

1  Hear this, all peoples!

Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

2  both ^clow and high,

rich and poor together!

3  My mouth shall speak wisdom;

the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.

4  I will incline my ear to a proverb;

I will solve my ^driddle to the music of the lyre.

5  Why should I fear in times of trouble,

when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,

6  those who trust in their wealth

and boast of the abundance of their riches?

7  Truly no man can ransom another,

or give to God the price of his life,

8  for the ransom of their life is costly

and can never suffice,

9  that he should live on forever

and never see the pit.

10  For he sees that ^eeven the wise die;

the fool and the stupid alike must perish

and leave their wealth to others.

11  Their graves are their homes forever,¹

their dwelling places to all generations,

though they called lands by their own names.

12  Man in his pomp will not remain;

he is ^flike the beasts that perish.

13  This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;

yet after them people approve of their boasts.² Selah

14  Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;

death shall be their shepherd,

and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.

Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.

15  But God will ^gransom my soul from the power of Sheol,

for he will ^hreceive me. Selah

16  ⁱBe not afraid when a man becomes rich,

when the glory of his house increases.

17  For when he dies ^jhe will carry nothing away;

his glory will not go down after him.

18  For though, while he lives, ^khe counts himself blessed—

and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—

19  his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,

who will never again see ^llight.

20  Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

1  How lovely is your ^wdwelling place,

O Lord of hosts!

2  ^xMy soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

3  Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

^ymy King and my God.

4  ^zBlessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise! Selah

5  Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion.²

6  As they go through the Valley of Baca

they make it a place of springs;

the early rain also covers it with pools.

7  They go from strength to strength;

each one ^aappears before God in Zion.

8  O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

9  Behold our shield, O God;

look on the face of your ^banointed!

10  ^cFor a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11  For the Lord God is a ^dsun and ^eshield;

the Lord bestows favor and honor.

^fNo good thing does he withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

12  O Lord of hosts,

blessed is the one who ^gtrusts in you!

1  Lord, you were favorable to your land;

you ^hrestored the fortunes of Jacob.

2  You ⁱforgave the iniquity of your people;

you ^jcovered all their sin. Selah

3  You withdrew all your wrath;

you turned from your hot anger.

4  ^kRestore us again, O God of our salvation,

and put away your indignation toward us!

5  ^lWill you be angry with us forever?

Will you prolong your anger to all generations?

6  Will you not ^mrevive us again,

that your people may rejoice in you?

7  Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,

and grant us your salvation.

8  Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,

for he will ⁿspeak peace to his people, to his saints;

but let them not turn back to folly.

9  Surely his ^osalvation is near to those who fear him,

that ^pglory may dwell in our land.

10  Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;

righteousness and peace kiss each other.

11  Faithfulness springs up from the ground,

and righteousness looks down from the sky.

12  Yes, ^qthe Lord will give what is good,

and ^rour land will yield its increase.

13  Righteousness will go before him

and make his footsteps a way.

1  On the ^mholy mount stands the city he ⁿfounded;

2  the Lord ^oloves the gates of Zion

more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

3  Glorious things of you are spoken,

O ^pcity of God. Selah

4  Among those who know me I mention ^qRahab and Babylon;

behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush¹—

“This one was born there,” they say.

5  And of Zion it shall be said,

“This one and that one were born in her”;

for the Most High himself will ^restablish her.

6  The Lord records as he registers the peoples,

“This one was born there.” Selah

7  Singers and dancers alike say,

“All my springs are in you.”