“Yet as for Me, I have anointed and firmly installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

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

Kiss (pay respect to) the Son, so that He does not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled and set aflame.
How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] are all those who take refuge in Him!

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.

What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him?

Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion;
Declare among the peoples His [great and wondrous] deeds.

That I may tell aloud all Your praises,
That in the gates of the daughter of Zion (Jerusalem)
I may rejoice in Your salvation and Your help.

His mouth is full of curses and deceit (fraud) and oppression;
Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness [injustice and sin].

You have seen it, for You have noted mischief and vexation (irritation) to take it into Your hand.
The unfortunate commits himself to You;
You are the helper of the fatherless.

Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores His captive people,
Then Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.

I was blameless before Him,
And I kept myself free from my sin.

As soon as they hear me, they respond and obey me;
Foreigners feign obedience to me.

Yet their voice [in quiet evidence] has gone out through all the earth,
Their words to the end of the world.
In them and in the heavens He has made a tent for the sun,

May He send you help from the sanctuary (His dwelling place)
And support and strengthen you from Zion!

I will rejoice and be glad in Your steadfast love,
Because You have seen my affliction;
You have taken note of my life’s distresses,

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

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.

The Lord is near to the heartbroken
And He saves those who are crushed in spirit (contrite in heart, truly sorry for their sin).

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

You have seen this, O Lord; do not keep silent.
O Lord, do not be far from me.

For they will wither quickly like the grass,
And fade like the green herb.

He will make your righteousness [your pursuit of right standing with God] like the light,
And your judgment like [the shining of] the noonday [sun].

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 have seen a wicked, violent man [with great power]
Spreading and flaunting himself like a cedar in its native soil,

There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation;
There is no health in my bones because of my sin.

For I do confess my guilt and iniquity;
I am filled with anxiety because of my sin.

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.”

“With rebukes You discipline man for sin;
You consume like a moth what is precious to him;
Surely every man is a mere breath [a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes]. Selah.

Sacrifice and meal offering You do not desire, nor do You delight in them;
You have opened my ears and given me the capacity to hear [and obey Your word];
Burnt offerings and sin offerings You do not require.

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.

As we have heard, so have we seen
In the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God:
God will establish her forever. Selah.

Let Mount Zion be glad,
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice
Because of Your [righteous] judgments.

Walk about Zion, go all around her;
Count her towers,

The mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken,
And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting [from east to west].

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shone forth.

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

Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness and guilt
And cleanse me from my sin.

For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them;
My sin is always before me.

Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

My [only] sacrifice [acceptable] to God is a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart [broken with sorrow for sin, thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.

By Your favor do good to Zion;
May You rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores [the fortunes of] His people,
Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

Confuse [my enemies], O Lord, divide their tongues [destroying their schemes],
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

The wicked are estranged from the womb;
These go astray from birth, speaking lies [even twisted partial truths].

Let them be as a snail which melts away (secretes slime) as it goes along,
Like the miscarriage of a woman which never sees the sun.

Look! They lie in wait for my life;
Fierce and powerful men [are uniting together to] launch an attack against me,
Not for my wrongdoing nor for any sin of mine, O Lord.

For the sin of their mouths and the words of their lips,
Let them even be trapped in their pride,
And on account of the curses and lies which they tell.

To You belongs silence [the submissive wonder of reverence], and [it bursts into] praise in Zion, O God;
And to You the vow shall be performed.

The earth trembled;
The heavens also poured down rain at the presence of God;
Sinai itself trembled at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

Why do you look with envy, mountains with many peaks,
At the mountain [of the city of Zion] which God has desired for His dwelling place?
Yes, the Lord will dwell there forever.

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

For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah,
That His servants may remain there and possess it.

Give the king [knowledge of] Your judgments, O God,
And [the spirit of] Your righteousness to the king’s son [to guide all his ways].

Let them fear You [with awe-inspired reverence and worship You with obedience] while the sun endures,
And as long as the moon [reflects light], throughout all generations.

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

May his name endure forever;
May his name continue as long as the sun;
And let men bless themselves by him;
Let all nations call him blessed.

The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.

Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
Which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance;
Remember Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.

The day is Yours, the night also is Yours;
You have established and prepared the [heavenly] light and the sun.

His tabernacle is in Salem (Jerusalem);
His dwelling place is in Zion.

Your way, O God, is holy [far from sin and guilt].
What god is great like our God?

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

Yet they still continued to sin against Him
By rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

How He worked His miracles in Egypt
And His wonders in the field of Zoan [where Pharaoh resided],

So He brought them to His holy land,
To this mountain [Zion] which His right hand had acquired.

His priests [Hophni and Phinehas] fell by the sword,
And His widows could not weep.

But He chose the tribe of Judah [as Israel’s leader],
Mount Zion, which He loved [to replace Shiloh as His capital].

Even the stock which Your right hand has planted,
And [look down on] the son that You have reared and strengthened for Yourself.

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

Blessed and greatly favored is the man whose strength is in You,
In whose heart are the highways to Zion.

They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power];
Each of them appears before God in Zion.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord bestows grace and favor and honor;
No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

You have forgiven the wickedness of Your people;
You have covered all their sin. Selah.

Turn to me, and be gracious to me;
Grant Your strength [Your might and the power to resist temptation] to Your servant,
And save the son of Your handmaid.

Show me a sign of [Your] goodwill,
That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed,
Because You, O Lord, helped and comforted me.

The Lord loves the gates of Zion
More than all the dwellings of Jacob (Israel).

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

“His descendants shall endure forever
And his throne [will continue] as the sun before Me.

You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep [forgotten as soon as they are gone];
In the morning they are like grass which grows anew—

For all our days pass away in Your wrath;
We have finished our years like a whispered sigh.

The days of our life are seventy years—
Or even, if because of strength, eighty years;
Yet their pride [in additional years] is only labor and sorrow,
For it is soon gone and we fly away.

Who understands the power of Your anger? [Who connects this brevity of life among us with Your judgment of sin?]
And Your wrath, [who connects it] with the [reverent] fear that is due You?

Your precepts are fully confirmed and completely reliable;
Holiness adorns Your house,
O Lord, forever.

If the Lord had not been my help,
I would soon have dwelt in [the land of] silence.

Clouds and thick darkness surround Him [as at Sinai];
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

Zion heard this and was glad,
And the daughters (cities) of Judah rejoiced [in relief]
Because of Your judgments, O Lord.

Light is sown [like seed] for the righteous and illuminates their path,
And [irrepressible] joy [is spread] for the upright in heart [who delight in His favor and protection].

The Lord is great in Zion,
And He is exalted and magnified above all the peoples.

My days are like an evening shadow that lengthens and vanishes [with the sun];
And as for me, I wither away like grass.

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.

For the Lord has built up Zion;
He has appeared in His glory and brilliance;

So that people may declare the name of the Lord in Zion
And His praise in Jerusalem,

He made the moon for the seasons;
The sun knows the [exact] place of its setting.

When the sun arises, they withdraw
And lie down in their dens.

When he enters into dispute, let wickedness come about.
Let his prayer [for help] result [only] in sin.

Let the wickedness of his fathers be remembered by the Lord;
And do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.

The Lord will send the scepter of Your strength from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

From the rising of the sun to its setting
The name of the Lord is to be praised [with awe-inspired reverence].

O Lord, truly I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid;
You have unfastened my chains.

Your word I have treasured and stored in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.