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.
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.
