I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I was saved from my enemies.

They confronted me in the day of my distress,
but the Lord was my support.

I was blameless toward Him
and kept myself from sinning.

I was given over to You at birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.

I wash my hands in innocence
and go around Your altar, Lord,

When I was secure, I said,
“I will never be shaken.”

Lord, when You showed Your favor,
You made me stand like a strong mountain;
when You hid Your face, I was terrified.

For day and night Your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was drained
as in the summer’s heat.Selah

Yet when they were sick,
my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled myself with fasting,
and my prayer was genuine.

I went about grieving as if for my friend or brother;
I was bowed down with grief,
like one mourning a mother.

Then I passed by and noticed he was gone;
I searched for him, but he could not be found.

I was speechless and quiet;
I kept silent, even from speaking good,
and my pain intensified.

You have done these things, and I kept silent;
you thought I was just like you.
But I will rebuke you
and lay out the case before you.

Wash away my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.

Indeed, I was guilty when I was born;
I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

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

They prepared a net for my steps;
I was despondent.
They dug a pit ahead of me,
but they fell into it!Selah

The righteous one will rejoice
when he sees the retribution;
he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

I cried out to Him with my mouth,
and praise was on my tongue.

God’s chariots are tens of thousands,
thousands and thousands;
the Lord is among them in the sanctuary
as He was at Sinai.

I wore sackcloth as my clothing,
and I was a joke to them.

Insults have broken my heart,
and I am in despair.
I waited for sympathy,
but there was none;
for comforters, but found no one.

Did I purify my heart
and wash my hands in innocence for nothing?

When I became embittered
and my innermost being was wounded,

I was stupid and didn’t understand;
I was an unthinking animal toward You.

It was like men in a thicket of trees,
wielding axes,

The brave-hearted have been plundered;
they have slipped into their final sleep.
None of the warriors was able to lift a hand.

The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
lightning lit up the world.
The earth shook and quaked.

Then they would not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not loyal
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Before they had satisfied their desire,
while the food was still in their mouths,

They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God, their Redeemer.

Yet He was compassionate;
He atoned for their guilt
and did not destroy them.
He often turned His anger aside
and did not unleash all His wrath.

He surrendered His people to the sword
because He was enraged with His heritage.

They poured out their blood
like water all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.

It was cut down and burned up;
they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.

“I will mention those who know Me:
Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush—
each one was born there.”

When He registers the peoples,
the Lord will record,
“This one was born there.”Selah

For 40 years I was disgusted with that generation;
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray;
they do not know My ways.”

Moses and Aaron were among His priests;
Samuel also was among those calling on His name.
They called to Yahweh and He answered them.

He had sent a man ahead of them—
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

They hurt his feet with shackles;
his neck was put in an iron collar.

Their land was overrun with frogs,
even in their royal chambers.

Egypt was glad when they left,
for the dread of Israel had fallen on them.

But Phinehas stood up and intervened,
and the plague was stopped.

It was credited to him as righteousness
throughout all generations to come.

He broke their spirits with hard labor;
they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

they reeled and staggered like drunken men,
and all their skill was useless.

Why was it, sea, that you fled?
Jordan, that you turned back?

The Lord guards the inexperienced;
I was helpless, and He saved me.

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep Your word.

It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I could learn Your statutes.

For it was You who created my inward parts;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

My bones were not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in Your book and planned
before a single one of them began.