Why are the nations in an uproar [in turmoil against God],
And why do the people devise a vain and hopeless plot?

Salvation belongs to the Lord;
May Your blessing be upon Your people. Selah.

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have freed me when I was hemmed in and relieved me when I was in distress;
Be gracious to me and hear [and respond to] my prayer.

Tremble [with anger or fear], and do not sin;
Meditate in your heart upon your bed and be still [reflect on your sin and repent of your rebellion]. Selah.

Many are saying, “Oh, that we might see some good!”
Lift up the light of Your face upon us, O Lord.

For there is nothing trustworthy or reliable or truthful in what they say;
Their heart is destruction [just a treacherous chasm, a yawning gulf of lies].
Their throat is an open grave;
They [glibly] flatter with their [silken] tongue.

His mischief will return on his own head,
And his violence will come down on the top of his head [like loose dirt].

Have mercy on me and be gracious to me, O Lord;
See how I am afflicted by those who hate me,
You who lift me up from the gates of death,

For look, the wicked are bending the bow;
They take aim with their arrow on the string
To shoot [by stealth] in darkness at the upright in heart.

Upon the wicked (godless) He will rain coals of fire;
Fire and brimstone and a dreadful scorching wind will be the portion of their cup [of doom].

The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the children of men
To see if there are any who understand (act wisely),
Who [truly] seek after God, [longing for His wisdom and guidance].

The sorrows [pain and suffering] of those who have chosen another god will be multiplied [because of their idolatry];
I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

I have called upon You, for You, O God, will answer me;
Incline Your ear to me, hear my speech.

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
And I am saved from my enemies.

The cords of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.

In my distress [when I seemed surrounded] I called upon the Lord
And cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry for help came before Him, into His very ears.

And He rode upon a cherub (storm) and flew;
And He sped on the wings of the wind.

They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
But the Lord was my support.

He makes my feet like hinds’ feet [able to stand firmly and tread safely on paths of testing and trouble];
He sets me [securely] upon my high places.

His glory is great because of Your victory;
Splendor and majesty You bestow upon him.

I was cast upon You from birth;
From my mother’s womb You have been my God.

All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship;
All those who go down to the dust (the dead) will bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.

For He has founded it upon the seas
And established it upon the streams and the rivers.

When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.

One thing I have asked of the Lord, and that I will seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life,
To gaze upon the beauty [the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur] of the Lord
And to meditate in His temple.

For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.

The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;
The God of glory thunders;
The Lord is over many waters.

Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, for I call on You;
Let the wicked (godless) be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead).

Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, favored by God] is he whose transgression is forgiven,
And whose sin is covered.

For day and night Your hand [of displeasure] was heavy upon me;
My energy (vitality, strength) was drained away as with the burning heat of summer. Selah.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you [who are willing to learn] with My eye upon you.

From His dwelling place He looks closely
Upon all the inhabitants of the earth—

Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him [and worship Him with awe-inspired reverence and obedience],
On those who hope [confidently] in His compassion and lovingkindness,

Let Your [steadfast] lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us,
In proportion as we have hoped in You.

The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous [those with moral courage and spiritual integrity]
And His ears are open to their cry.

They open their mouths wide against me;
They say, “Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!”

Be still before the Lord; wait patiently for Him and entrust yourself to Him;
Do not fret (whine, agonize) because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.

The righteous will inherit the land
And live in it forever.

For Your arrows have sunk into me and penetrate deeply,
And Your hand has pressed down on me and greatly disciplined me.

“I am mute, I do not open my mouth,
Because it is You who has done it.

He brought me up out of a horrible pit [of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path.

“A wicked thing is poured out upon him and holds him;
And when he lies down, he will not rise up again.”

O my God, my soul is in despair within me [the burden more than I can bear];
Therefore I will [fervently] remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of [Mount] Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten You,
Nor have we been false to Your covenant [which You made with our fathers].

You are fairer than the sons of men;
Graciousness is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.

Strap Your sword on Your thigh, O mighty One,
In Your splendor and Your majesty!

God reigns over the nations;
God sits on His holy throne.

“For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.

O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.

Then will You delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,
In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

God has looked down from heaven upon the children of men
To see if there is anyone who understands,
Who seeks after God [who requires Him, who longs for Him as essential to life].

Have workers of wickedness no knowledge or no understanding?
They eat up My people as though they ate bread
And have not called upon God.

Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the pressure of the wicked;
For they bring down trouble on me,
And in anger they persecute me.

My heart is in anguish within me,
And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

Fear and trembling have come upon me;
Horror has overwhelmed me.

Let death come deceitfully upon them;
Let them go down alive to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),
For evil [of every kind] is in their dwelling and in their hearts, in their midst.

As for me, I shall call upon God,
And the Lord will save me.

Your vows are binding upon me, O God;
I will give thank offerings to You.

You have made the land quake, You have split it open;
Heal its rifts, for it shakes and totters.

“Moab is My washbowl;
Over Edom I shall throw My shoe [in triumph];
Over Philistia I raise the shout [of victory].”

You will prolong the king’s life [adding days upon days];
His years will be like many generations.

How long will you attack a man
So that you may murder him, all of you,
Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?

For God alone my soul waits in silence and quietly submits to Him,
For my hope is from Him.

So I have gazed upon You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.

When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate and thoughtfully focus on You in the night watches,

So they will be caused to stumble;
Their own tongue is against them;
All who gaze at them will shake the head [in scorn].

You brought us into the net;
You laid a heavy burden [of servitude] on us.

You made men (charioteers) ride over our heads [in defeat];
We went through fire and through water,
Yet You brought us out into a [broad] place of abundance [to be refreshed].

God be gracious and kind-hearted to us and bless us,
And make His face shine [with favor] on us— Selah.

That Your way may be known on earth,
Your salvation and deliverance among all nations.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
For You will judge the people fairly
And guide the nations on earth. Selah.

The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands;
The Lord is among them as He was at Sinai, in holiness.

To Him who rides in the highest heavens, the ancient heavens,
Behold, He sends out His voice, a mighty and majestic voice.

For zeal for Your house has consumed me,
And the [mocking] insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.

Pour out Your indignation on them,
And let [the fierceness of] Your burning anger overtake them.

Add [unforgiven] iniquity to their iniquity [in Your book],
And may they not come into Your righteousness.

Upon You have I relied and been sustained from my birth;
You are He who took me from my mother’s womb and You have been my benefactor from that day.
My praise is continually of You.

May he come down like rain on the mown grass,
Like showers that water the earth.

There will be an abundance of grain in the soil on the top of the mountains;
Its fruit will wave like [the cedars of] Lebanon,
And those of the city will flourish like grass of the earth.

It seems as if one had lifted up
An axe in a forest of trees [to set a record of destruction].

You broke open fountains and streams;
You dried up ever-flowing rivers.

I will meditate on all Your works
And thoughtfully consider all Your [great and wondrous] deeds.

I will open my mouth in a parable [to instruct using examples];
I will utter dark and puzzling sayings of old [that contain important truth]—

And He rained down manna upon them to eat
And gave them the grain of heaven.

He rained meat upon them like the dust,
And winged birds (quail) like the sand of the seas.

The wrath of God rose against them
And killed some of the strongest of them,
And subdued the choice young men of Israel.

He sent upon them His burning anger,
His fury and indignation and distress,
A band of angels of destruction [among them].

Pour out Your wrath on the [Gentile] nations that do not know You,
And on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.

Hear us O Shepherd of Israel,
You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who sit enthroned above the cherubim [of the ark of the covenant], shine forth!

Restore us, O God of hosts;
And cause Your face to shine on us [with favor and approval], and we will be saved.

Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
Upon the son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself.

Then we shall not turn back from You;
Revive us and we will call on Your name.

“I am the Lord your God,
Who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

The rulers do not know nor do they understand;
They walk on in the darkness [of complacent satisfaction];
All the foundations of the earth [the fundamental principles of the administration of justice] are shaken.

See our shield, O God,
And look at the face of Your anointed [the king as Your representative].

For You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive [our sins, sending them away, completely letting them go forever and ever];
And abundant in lovingkindness and overflowing in mercy to all those who call upon You.

Your wrath has rested heavily upon me,
And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah.

They have surrounded me like flood waters all day long;
They have completely encompassed me.

“My faithfulness and My steadfast lovingkindness shall be with him,
And in My name shall his horn be exalted [great power and prosperity shall be conferred upon him].