“I will declare the decree of the Lord:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son;
This day [I proclaim] I have begotten You.

I will not be intimidated or afraid of the ten thousands
Who have set themselves against me all around.

But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself [and dealt wonderfully with] the godly man [the one of honorable character and moral courage—the one who does right].
The Lord hears and responds when I call to Him.

The boastful and the arrogant will not stand in Your sight;
You hate all who do evil.

O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic and glorious and excellent is Your name in all the earth!
You have displayed Your splendor above the heavens.

For You have maintained my right and my cause;
You have sat on the throne judging righteously.

His ways prosper at all times;
Your judgments [Lord] are on high, out of his sight [so he never thinks about them];
As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.

“Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”

The wicked strut about [in pompous self-importance] on every side,
As vileness is exalted and baseness is prized among the sons of men.

The [spiritually ignorant] fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they have committed repulsive and unspeakable deeds;
There is no one who does good.

I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

They track us down and have now surrounded us in our steps;
They set their eyes to force us to the ground,

As for me, I shall see Your face in righteousness;
I will be [fully] satisfied when I awake [to find myself] seeing Your likeness.

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

Therefore the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness (moral character, spiritual integrity),
According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable and pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, my [firm, immovable] rock and my Redeemer.

May the Lord answer you (David) in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high [and defend you in battle]!

We will sing joyously over your victory,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners.
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

For You meet him with blessings of good things;
You set a crown of pure gold on his head.

The secret [of the wise counsel] of the Lord is for those who fear Him,
And He will let them know His covenant and reveal to them [through His word] its [deep, inner] meaning.

I do not sit with deceitful or unethical or worthless men,
Nor seek companionship with pretenders (self-righteous hypocrites).

I hate the company of evildoers,
And will not sit with the wicked.

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.

When You said, “Seek My face [in prayer, require My presence as your greatest need],” my heart said to You,
“Your face, O Lord, I will seek [on the authority of Your word].”

The Lord sat as King at the flood;
Yes, the Lord sits as King forever.

As for me, in my prosperity I said,
“I shall never be moved.”

And You have not given me into the hand of the enemy;
You have set my feet in a broad place.

For I have heard the slander and whispering of many,
Terror is on every side;
While they schemed together against me,
They plotted to take away my life.

But as for me, I trust [confidently] in You and Your greatness, O Lord;
I said, “You are my God.”

As for me, I said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from Your eyes.”
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications (specific requests)
When I cried to You [for help].

I acknowledged my sin to You,
And I did not hide my wickedness;
I said, “I will confess [all] my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous (those in right standing with God) abandoned
Or his descendants pleading for bread.

I said, “I will guard my ways
That I may not sin with my tongue;
I will muzzle my mouth
While the wicked are in my presence.”

“Lord, let me know my [life’s] end
And [to appreciate] the extent of my days;
Let me know how frail I am [how transient is my stay here].

“Behold, You have made my days as [short as] hand widths,
And my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight.
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath [a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes]! Selah.

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.

Then I said, “Behold, I come [to the throne];
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And You set me in Your presence forever.

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why are you restless and disturbed within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him,
The help of my [sad] countenance and my God.

Fair and beautiful in elevation, the joy of all the earth,
Is Mount Zion [the City of David] in the far north,
The city of the great King.

Why should I fear in the days of evil,
When the wickedness of those who would betray me surrounds me [on every side],

“Gather My godly ones to Me,
Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

“You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.

Against You, You only, have I sinned
And done that which is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak [Your sentence]
And faultless in Your judgment.

The [empty-headed] fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt and evil, and have committed repulsive injustice;
There is no one who does good.

For strangers have risen against me
And violent men have sought my life;
They have not set God before them. Selah.

We who had sweet fellowship together,
Who walked to the house of God in company.

They set a net for my steps;
My very life was bowed down.
They dug a pit before me;
Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah.

You have set up a banner for those who fear You [with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder—a banner to shield them from attack],
A banner that may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.

He will sit enthroned forever before [the face of] God;
Appoint lovingkindness and truth to watch over and preserve him.

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

Do not trust in oppression,
And do not vainly hope in robbery;
If riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

Wickedness and guilt prevail against me;
Yet as for our transgressions,
You forgive them [removing them from Your sight].

I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat lambs,
With the [sweet] smoke of rams;
I will offer bulls with male goats. Selah.

The Lord said, “I will bring your enemies back from Bashan;
I will bring them back from the depths of the [Red] Sea,

They who sit in the [city’s] gate talk about me and mock me,
And I am the song of the drunkards.

Answer me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is sweet and good and comforting;
According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me.

Draw near to my soul and redeem it;
Ransom me because of my enemies [so that they do not delight in my distress].

But I am sorrowful and in pain;
May Your salvation, O God, set me [securely] on high.

He will redeem their life from oppression and fraud and violence,
And their blood will be precious in His sight.

They set their mouth against the heavens,
And their tongue swaggers through the earth.

Surely You set the wicked-minded and immoral on slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.

In the midst of Your meeting place Your enemies have roared [with their battle cry];
They have set up their own emblems for signs [of victory].

They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;
They have profaned the dwelling place of Your name.

They said in their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.”
They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

“I said to the arrogant, ‘Do not boast;’
And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn [of self-glorification].

That they should place their confidence in God
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments,

And not be like their fathers—
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not prepare its heart to know and follow God,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan [where Pharaoh resided].

Then they spoke against God;
They said, “Can God prepare [food for] a table in the wilderness?

Why should the [Gentile] nations say, “Where is their God?”
Let there be known [without delay] among the nations in our sight [and to this generation],
Your vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been poured out.

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!

Raise a song, sound the timbrel,
The sweet sounding lyre with the harp.

I said, “You are gods;
Indeed, all of you are sons of the Most High.

They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation;
Let the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

O God, arrogant and insolent men have risen up against me;
A band of violent men have sought my life,
And they have not set You before them.

But of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her,”
And the Most High Himself will establish her.

For I have said, “Goodness and lovingkindness will be built up forever;
In the heavens [unchangeable and majestic] You will establish Your faithfulness.”

[God has said] “I have made a covenant with My chosen one;
I have sworn to David My servant,

I will establish your seed forever
And I will build up your throne for all generations.” Selah.

Once You spoke in a vision to Your godly ones,
And said, “I have given help to one who is mighty [giving him the power to be a champion for Israel];
I have exalted one chosen from the people.

“I will also set his hand on the [Mediterranean] sea,
And his right hand on the rivers [the tributaries of the Euphrates].

For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
Or as a watch in the night.

You have placed our wickedness before you,
Our secret sins [which we tried to conceal, You have placed] in the [revealing] light of Your presence.

A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But danger will not come near you.

“Because he set his love on Me, therefore I will save him;
I will set him [securely] on high, because he knows My name [he confidently trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never abandon him, no, never].

If I say, “My foot has slipped,”
Your compassion and lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up.

“For forty years I was grieved and disgusted with that generation,
And I said, ‘They are a people who err in their heart,
And they do not acknowledge or regard My ways.’

The Lord has made known His salvation;
He has [openly] revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.

I will set no worthless or wicked thing before my eyes.
I hate the practice of those who fall away [from the right path];
It will not grasp hold of me.

For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And have mingled my drink with tears

You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
For it is time to be gracious and show favor to her;
Yes, the appointed time [the moment designated] has come.

I said, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days;
Your years are [eternal] throughout all generations.

You set a boundary [for the waters] that they may not cross over,
So that they will not return to cover the earth.

May my meditation be sweet and pleasing to Him;
As for me, I will rejoice and be glad in the Lord.

Therefore He said He would destroy them,
[And He would have done so] had not Moses, His chosen one, stepped into the gap before Him,
To turn away His wrath from destroying them.

Some dwelt in darkness and in the deep (deathly) darkness,
Prisoners [bound] in misery and chains,

Appoint a wicked man against him,
And let an attacker stand at his right hand [to kill him].