The wicked [those who live in disobedience to God’s law] are not so,
But they are like the chaff [worthless and without substance] which the wind blows away.

W hy did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things?

I will tell the decree; Yahweh said to me: "You are my son; today I have begotten you.

I did call upon the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.

For no faith may be put in their words; their inner part is nothing but evil; their throat is like an open place for the dead; smooth are the words of their tongues.

For in death there is no mention of You;
In Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) who will praise You and give You thanks?

O Jehovah my God, if I did this, if there is iniquity in my hand;

If I have given back evil to him who did evil to me, or have taken anything from him who was against me without cause;

For the one who takes revenge against murderers took notice of the oppressed; he did not overlook their cry for help

And Jehovah was known by the judgment he did: by the work of his hands the unjust was snared. Meditation. Silence.

The wicked will turn back to where the dead are all the nations that have forgotten God.

He says to himself, “God has [quite] forgotten;
He has hidden His face; He will never see my deed.”

For what did the unjust one despise God, saying in his heart, Thou wilt not search?

If the pillars shall be pulled down, what did the just one?

The impious hath said in his heart - There is no God! They have acted corruptly, they have done an abominable deed, there is none that doeth good.

The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.

Did not the workers of vanity know? eating my people they ate bread; they called not Jehovah.

A Secret Treasure of David. Preserve me, O God, for I did trust in Thee.

I did place Jehovah before me continually, Because -- at my right hand I am not moved.

For You will not abandon me to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

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

Then did the earth shake and quake, Even, the foundations of the mountains, were deeply moved, Yea they did shake, because he was angry.

And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

Then did Yahweh thunder in the heavens, and the Highest uttered his voice, - hail, and live coals of fire.

Because I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not forsaken my God, as the wicked doth. {TYNDALE: For I kept the ways of the LORD, and did no wickedness, forsaking my God.}

For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.

Therefore shall the LORD reward me after my righteous dealing, and according unto the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. {TYNDALE: And the LORD did to me again, according to my righteousness, and after my pureness that I had in his sight.}

Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.

I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

They cried out but there was no rescuer, [even] to Yahweh, but he did not answer them.

Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.

You rescued me from strife with people; you set me as head (over) nations. People I did not know served me;

Magnifying the salvation of his king; and he did mercy to his anointed, and to David and to his seed even to forever.

In Thee did our fathers trust -- they trusted, And Thou dost deliver them.

But you are he that took me out of the womb: you did make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.

For He has not despised or detested
the torment of the afflicted.
He did not hide His face from him
but listened when he cried to Him for help.

Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience the Lord's favor in the land of the living?

Give to them according to their acting, And according to the evil of their doings. According to the work of their hands give to them. Return their deed to them.

A psalm -- a song used at the dedication of the temple; by David. I will praise you, O Lord, for you lifted me up, and did not allow my enemies to gloat over me.

O Lord, You have brought my life up from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead);
You have kept me alive, so that I would not go down to the pit (grave).

LORD, by your favor you have made my mountain to stand strong: you did hide your face, and I was troubled.

I called to thee, Jehovah, and unto the Lord did I make supplication:

I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.

I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.

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).

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, And mine iniquity did I not hide: I said, I will confess my transgressions unto Jehovah; And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah

O the happiness of the nation whose God is Jehovah, Of the people He did choose, For an inheritance to Him.

I sought Jehovah, and He answered me, And from all my fears did deliver me.

I did not harm them, but they hid a net to catch me and dug a pit to trap me.

False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.

My behaviour was as if it had been my friend or my brother: I was bent low in grief like one whose mother is dead.

But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:

There did the workers of iniquity fall, - thrust down and not able to rise!

I was mute. I didn't open my mouth, because you did it.

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; my ears have you opened: burnt offering and sin offering have you not required.

In the great congregation I have proclaimed the righteous good news. Behold, I did not seal my lips, LORD, as you know.

I did not hide Your righteousness in my heart;
I spoke about Your faithfulness and salvation;
I did not conceal Your constant love and truth
from the great assembly.

I -- I said, 'O Jehovah, favour me, Heal my soul, for I did sin against Thee,'

My haters say evil against me, When will he be dead, and his name come to an end?

Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

The LORD hath granted his loving-kindness in the daytime; and in the night-season did I sing of him, and made my prayer unto the God of my life.

We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us
The work You did in their days,
In the days of old.

How you did drive out the nations with your hand, and planted them; how you did afflict the people, and cast them out.

For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.

However, you cast us off and made us ashamed! You did not even march with our armies!

You have sold your people {cheaply}, and did not profit by their price.

All this met us, and we did not forget Thee, Nor have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.

Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

The place of the dead is their house for ever, and their resting-place through all generations; those who come after them give their names to their lands.

Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead);
Death will be their shepherd;
And the upright shall rule over them in the morning,
And their form and beauty shall be for Sheol to consume,
So that they have no dwelling [on earth].

But God will redeem my life from the power of Sheol,
For He will receive me. Selah.

These things you did, and I kept silent, because you assumed that I was like you. But now I am going to rebuke you, and I will set forth my case before your very own eyes."

Against thee, thee alone, did I sin, and I did evil in thine eyes: so that thou wilt be justified in thy speaking, and thou wilt be pure in thy judging.

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

See, this is the man who did not make God his strength, but had faith in his goods and his property, and made himself

Therefore I will praise you forever because of what you did; I will proclaim that your name is good in the midst of your faithful ones. To the Director: Upon . A Davidic instruction.

God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.

Did not those transgressing know any thing? eating up my people, they ate bread: they called not upon God.

For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:

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.

A net, did they fix for my steps, My soul was bowed down, - They digged before me a pit, They fell into the midst thereof! Selah.

{To the Chanter, Michtam of David} If your minds be upon righteousness in deed, then judge the thing that is right, O ye sons of men.

Do not strike them dead suddenly, because then my people might forget the lesson. Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down, O Lord who shields us!

Will not you, O God, who had cast us off? and you, O God, who did not go out with our armies?

And, thine, O My Lord, is lovingkindness, - For, thou, wilt pay back unto every man - according to his deed.

But those who seek my life to destroy it
Will [be destroyed and] go into the depths of the earth [into the underworld].

They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed. They plan how to hide snares, and boast, "Who will see them?"

And all men fear, and declare the work of God, And His deed they have considered wisely.

Come and see the doings of God, - Fearful in deed toward the sons of men:

He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.

Come, hear, all ye who fear God, And I recount what he did for my soul.

Unto him - with my mouth, did I cry, And high praise was under my tongue.

Blessed be God, who did not turn away my prayers nor his gracious love from me. To the Director of music: Accompanied by stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song.

O God, when you went forth before your people, when you did march through the wilderness; Selah:

You, O God, sent abroad plentiful rain;
You confirmed Your inheritance when it was parched and weary.

Your flock found a dwelling place in it;
O God, in Your goodness You provided for the poor.

Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.

The LORD hath said, "I will bring my people again, as I did from Bashan; mine own will I bring again, as I did sometimes from the deep of the sea,

Those who hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head;
Those who would destroy me are powerful, being my enemies wrongfully;
I am forced to restore what I did not steal.

And they said, How did God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High?