Your loyal followers will be glad when they see me, for I find hope in your word.

May I experience your compassion, so I might live! For I find delight in your law.

May the arrogant be humiliated, for they have slandered me! But I meditate on your precepts.

(Kaf) I desperately long for your deliverance. I find hope in your word.

My eyes grow tired as I wait for your promise to be fulfilled. I say, "When will you comfort me?"

For I am like a wineskin dried up in smoke. I do not forget your statutes.

How long must your servant endure this? When will you judge those who pursue me?

They have almost destroyed me here on the earth, but I do not reject your precepts.

(Lamed) O Lord, your instructions endure; they stand secure in heaven.

If I had not found encouragement in your law, I would have died in my sorrow.

The wicked prepare to kill me, yet I concentrate on your rules.

(Mem) O how I love your law! All day long I meditate on it.

I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your rules.

Your words are sweeter in my mouth than honey!

My life is in continual danger, but I do not forget your law.

You are my hiding place and my shield. I find hope in your word.

Support me, so that I will be delivered. Then I will focus on your statutes continually.

(Ayin) I do what is fair and right. Do not abandon me to my oppressors!

Smile on your servant! Teach me your statutes!

Distress and hardship confront me, yet I find delight in your commands.

I am up before dawn crying for help. I find hope in your word.

My eyes anticipate the nighttime hours, so that I can meditate on your word.

I rejoice in your instructions, like one who finds much plunder.

I long for your deliverance, O Lord; I find delight in your law.

A song of ascents. In my distress I cried out to the Lord and he answered me.

How miserable I am! For I have lived temporarily in Meshech; I have resided among the tents of Kedar.

I am committed to peace, but when I speak, they want to make war.

The Lord will protect you in all you do, now and forevermore.

Jerusalem is a city designed to accommodate an assembly.

Indeed, the leaders sit there on thrones and make legal decisions, on the thrones of the house of David.

For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors I will say, "May there be peace in you!"

A song of ascents. I look up toward you, the one enthroned in heaven.

A song of ascents, by David. "If the Lord had not been on our side" -- let Israel say this! --

if the Lord had not been on our side, when men attacked us,

they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger raged against us.

A song of ascents. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion; it cannot be upended and will endure forever.

As for those who are bent on traveling a sinful path, may the Lord remove them, along with those who behave wickedly! May Israel experience peace!

A song of ascents. When the Lord restored the well-being of Zion, we thought we were dreaming.

O Lord, restore our well-being, just as the streams in the arid south are replenished.

Those who shed tears as they plant will shout for joy when they reap the harvest.

The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag of seed, will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain.

A song of ascents, by Solomon. If the Lord does not build a house, then those who build it work in vain. If the Lord does not guard a city, then the watchman stands guard in vain.

It is vain for you to rise early, come home late, and work so hard for your food. Yes, he can provide for those whom he loves even when they sleep.

Sons born during one's youth are like arrows in a warrior's hand.

How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! They will not be put to shame when they confront enemies at the city gate.

A song of ascents. How blessed is every one of the Lord's loyal followers, each one who keeps his commands!

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner rooms of your house; your children will be like olive branches, as they sit all around your table.

Yes indeed, the man who fears the Lord will be blessed in this way.

May they be like the grass on the rooftops which withers before one can even pull it up,

which cannot fill the reaper's hand, or the lap of the one who gathers the grain!

Those who pass by will not say, "May you experience the Lord's blessing! We pronounce a blessing on you in the name of the Lord."

I rely on the Lord, I rely on him with my whole being; I wait for his assuring word.

O Israel, hope in the Lord, for the Lord exhibits loyal love, and is more than willing to deliver.

O Israel, hope in the Lord now and forevermore!

and how he made a vow to the Lord, and swore an oath to the powerful ruler of Jacob.

He said, "I will not enter my own home, or get into my bed.

Look, we heard about it in Ephrathah, we found it in the territory of Jaar.

The Lord made a reliable promise to David; he will not go back on his word. He said, "I will place one of your descendants on your throne.

If your sons keep my covenant and the rules I teach them, their sons will also sit on your throne forever."

A song of ascents, by David. Look! How good and how pleasant it is when brothers live together!

It is like fine oil poured on the head which flows down the beard -- Aaron's beard, and then flows down his garments.

A song of ascents. Attention! Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who serve in the Lord's temple during the night.

who serve in the Lord's temple, in the courts of the temple of our God.

He does whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the ocean depths.

He performed awesome deeds and acts of judgment in your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.

He gave their land as an inheritance, as an inheritance to Israel his people.

For the Lord vindicates his people, and has compassion on his servants.

Those who make them will end up like them, as will everyone who trusts in them.

The Lord deserves praise in Zion -- he who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

to the one who performs magnificent, amazing deeds all by himself, for his loyal love endures,

to the one who used wisdom to make the heavens, for his loyal love endures,

to the one who spread out the earth over the water, for his loyal love endures,

to the one who made the great lights, for his loyal love endures,

to the one who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, for his loyal love endures,

with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his loyal love endures,

to the one who divided the Red Sea in two, for his loyal love endures,

to the one who led his people through the wilderness, for his loyal love endures,

to the one who struck down great kings, for his loyal love endures,

and gave their land as an inheritance, for his loyal love endures,

as an inheritance to Israel his servant, for his loyal love endures,

to the one who remembered us when we were down, for his loyal love endures,

to the one who gives food to all living things, for his loyal love endures.

By the rivers of Babylon we sit down and weep when we remember Zion.

On the poplars in her midst we hang our harps,

How can we sing a song to the Lord in a foreign land?

Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. They said, "Tear it down, tear it down, right to its very foundation!"

O daughter Babylon, soon to be devastated! How blessed will be the one who repays you for what you dished out to us!

How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies and smashes them on a rock!

When I cried out for help, you answered me. You made me bold and energized me.

Let all the kings of the earth give thanks to you, O Lord, when they hear the words you speak.

Even when I must walk in the midst of danger, you revive me. You oppose my angry enemies, and your right hand delivers me.

You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives.

You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; you are aware of everything I do.

You squeeze me in from behind and in front; you place your hand on me.

If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be.

If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn, and settle down on the other side of the sea,

Certainly you made my mind and heart; you wove me together in my mother's womb.

my bones were not hidden from you, when I was made in secret and sewed together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. All the days ordained for me were recorded in your scroll before one of them came into existence.

See if there is any idolatrous tendency in me, and lead me in the reliable ancient path!