Psalms 1–2; Psalm 15; Psalms 22–24; Psalm 47; Psalm 68

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Psalms 1–2

Book One

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

Blessed is the man1

who awalks not in bthe counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in cthe way of sinners,

nor dsits in ethe seat of fscoffers;

but his gdelight is in the law2 of the Lord,

and on his hlaw he meditates day and night.

He is like ia tree

planted by jstreams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its kleaf does not wither.

lIn all that he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so,

but are like mchaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked nwill not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in othe congregation of the righteous;

for the Lord pknows qthe way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

The Reign of the Lord’s Anointed

rWhy do sthe nations rage3

and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the Lord and against his tAnointed, saying,

Let us uburst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us.

He who vsits in the heavens wlaughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

Then he will speak to them in his xwrath,

and terrify them in his fury, saying,

As for me, I have yset my King

on zZion, my aholy hill.

I will tell of the decree:

The Lord said to me, bYou are my Son;

today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

and cthe ends of the earth your possession.

You shall dbreak4 them with ea rod of iron

and dash them in pieces like fa potter’s vessel.

10  Now therefore, O kings, be wise;

be warned, O rulers of the earth.

11  gServe the Lord with hfear,

and irejoice with htrembling.

12  jKiss kthe Son,

lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,

for his lwrath is quickly kindled.

mBlessed are all who take refuge in him.


Psalm 15

Who Shall Dwell on Your Holy Hill?

A Psalm of David.

O Lord, uwho shall sojourn in your vtent?

Who shall dwell on your wholy hill?

He who xwalks blamelessly and ydoes what is right

and zspeaks truth in his heart;

who adoes not slander with his tongue

and does no evil to his neighbor,

nor btakes up a reproach against his friend;

cin whose eyes a vile person is despised,

but who honors those who fear the Lord;

who dswears to his own hurt and does not change;

who edoes not put out his money at interest

and fdoes not take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be gmoved.


Psalms 22–24

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

uMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so vfar from saving me, from the words of my wgroaning?

O my God, I cry by xday, but you do not answer,

and by night, but I find no rest.

Yet you are yholy,

zenthroned on athe praises1 of Israel.

In you our fathers trusted;

they trusted, and you delivered them.

To you they bcried and were rescued;

in you they ctrusted and were not put to shame.

But I am da worm and not a man,

escorned by mankind and fdespised by the people.

All who see me gmock me;

they make mouths at me; they hwag their heads;

iHe trusts in the Lord; let him jdeliver him;

let him rescue him, for he kdelights in him!

Yet you are he who ltook 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 mmy mother’s womb you have been my God.

11  Be not nfar from me,

for trouble is near,

and there is onone to help.

12  Many bulls encompass me;

pstrong bulls of qBashan surround me;

13  they ropen wide their mouths at me,

like a ravening and roaring lion.

14  I am spoured out like water,

and all my bones are tout of joint;

my uheart is like vwax;

it is melted within my breast;

15  my strength is wdried up like a potsherd,

and my xtongue sticks to my jaws;

you lay me in the dust of death.

16  For ydogs encompass me;

a company of evildoers zencircles me;

they have apierced my hands and feet2

17  I can count all my bones

they bstare and gloat over me;

18  cthey divide my garments among them,

and for my clothing they cast lots.

19  But you, O Lord, ndo not be far off!

O you my help, dcome quickly to my aid!

20  Deliver my soul from the sword,

my precious life from the power of ethe dog!

21  Save me from fthe mouth of the lion!

You have rescued3 me from the horns of gthe wild oxen!

22  hI will tell of your name to my ibrothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

23  You who jfear the Lord, praise him!

All you offspring of Jacob, kglorify him,

and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

24  For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of lthe afflicted,

and he has not mhidden his face from him,

but has heard, when he ncried to him.

25  From you comes my praise in the great ocongregation;

my pvows I will qperform before those who fear him.

26  rThe afflicted4 shall seat and be satisfied;

those who seek him shall praise the Lord!

May your hearts tlive forever!

27  All uthe ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the Lord,

and all vthe families of the nations

shall worship before you.

28  For wkingship belongs to the Lord,

and he rules over the nations.

29  All xthe prosperous of the earth eat and worship;

before him shall ybow all who go down to the dust,

even the one who could not zkeep himself alive.

30  Posterity shall serve him;

it shall be told of the Lord to the coming ageneration;

31  they shall bcome and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet cunborn,

that he has done it.

The Lord Is My Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

The Lord is my dshepherd; I shall not ewant.

He makes me lie down in green fpastures.

He leads me beside still waters.5

He grestores my soul.

He hleads me in ipaths of righteousness6

for his jname’s sake.

Even though I kwalk through the valley of lthe shadow of death,7

I will mfear no evil,

for nyou are with me;

your orod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You pprepare a table before me

in qthe presence of my enemies;

you ranoint my head with oil;

my scup overflows.

Surely8 goodness and mercy9 shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall tdwell10 in the house of the Lord

uforever.11

The King of Glory

A Psalm of David.

vThe earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,12

the world and those who dwell therein,

for he has wfounded it upon xthe seas

and established it upon the rivers.

yWho shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

And who shall stand in his zholy place?

aHe who has bclean hands and ca pure heart,

who does not dlift up his soul to ewhat is false

and does not swear deceitfully.

He will receive fblessing from the Lord

and grighteousness from hthe God of his salvation.

Such is ithe generation of those who seek him,

who jseek the face of the God of Jacob.13 Selah

kLift up your heads, O gates!

And be lifted up, O ancient doors,

that lthe King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord, strong and mighty,

the Lord, mmighty in battle!

Lift up your heads, O gates!

And lift them up, O ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

10  Who is this King of glory?

nThe Lord of hosts,

he is the King of glory! Selah


Psalm 47

God Is King over All the Earth

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of wthe Sons of Korah.

xClap your hands, all peoples!

yShout to God with loud songs of joy!

For the Lord, the Most High, zis to be feared,

aa great king over all the earth.

He bsubdued peoples under us,

and nations under our feet.

He chose our cheritage for us,

dthe pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah

God ehas gone up with a shout,

the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Sing praises to God, sing praises!

Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

For God is fthe King of all the earth;

sing praises gwith a psalm!1

God hreigns over the nations;

God sits on his holy throne.

iThe princes of the peoples gather

as the people of the God of Abraham.

For jthe shields of the earth belong to God;

he is highly exalted!


Psalm 68

God Shall Scatter His Enemies

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

eGod shall arise, his enemies shall be fscattered;

and those who hate him shall flee before him!

As gsmoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;

has wax melts before fire,

so the wicked shall perish before God!

But ithe righteous shall be glad;

they shall exult before God;

they shall be jubilant with joy!

Sing to God, jsing praises to his name;

klift up a song to him who lrides through mthe deserts;

his name is nthe Lord;

exult before him!

oFather of the fatherless and pprotector of widows

is God in his holy habitation.

God qsettles the solitary in a home;

he rleads out the prisoners to prosperity,

but sthe rebellious dwell in ta parched land.

O God, when you uwent out before your people,

vwhen you marched through wthe wilderness, Selah

xthe earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,

before God, the One of Sinai,

before God,1 the God of Israel.

yRain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;

you restored your inheritance as it languished;

10  your flock2 found a dwelling in it;

in your goodness, O God, you zprovided for the needy.

11  The Lord gives athe word;

bthe women who announce the news are a great host:

12  cThe kings of the armiesthey flee, they flee!

The women at home ddivide the spoil

13  though you men lie among ethe sheepfolds

the wings of a dove covered with silver,

its pinions with shimmering gold.

14  When the Almighty scatters kings there,

let snow fall on fZalmon.

15  O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;

O many-peaked3 mountain, mountain of Bashan!

16  Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,

at the mount that God gdesired for his abode,

yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?

17  hThe chariots of God are twice ten thousand,

thousands upon thousands;

the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.

18  iYou ascended on high,

jleading a host of captives in your train

and kreceiving gifts among men,

even among lthe rebellious, mthat the Lord God may dwell there.

19  Blessed be the Lord,

who daily nbears us up;

God is our salvation. Selah

20  Our God is a God of salvation,

oand to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

21  pBut God will strike the heads of his enemies,

the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.

22  The Lord said,

I will bring them back qfrom Bashan,

rI will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

23  that you may sstrike your feet in their blood,

that tthe tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.

24  Your procession is4 seen, O God,

the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary

25  uthe singers in front, vthe musicians last,

between them wvirgins playing tambourines:

26  xBless God in the great congregation,

the Lord, O you5 who are of yIsrael’s fountain!

27  There is zBenjamin, the least of them, in the lead,

the princes of Judah in their throng,

the princes of aZebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

28  bSummon your power, O God,6

the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.

29  Because of your temple at Jerusalem

kings shall cbear gifts to you.

30  Rebuke dthe beasts that dwell among the reeds,

the herd of ebulls with the calves of the peoples.

fTrample underfoot those who lust after tribute;

scatter the peoples who delight in war.7

31  Nobles shall come from gEgypt;

hCush shall hasten to istretch out her hands to God.

32  jO kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;

sing praises to the Lord, Selah

33  to him kwho rides in lthe heavens, the ancient heavens;

behold, he msends out his voice, his mighty voice.

34  nAscribe power to God,

whose majesty is over Israel,

and whose opower is in pthe skies.

35  qAwesome is God from his8 rsanctuary;

the God of Israelhe is the one who gives spower and strength to his people.

Blessed be God!