Righteousness will go before Him
And will make His footsteps into a way [in which to walk].

All nations whom You have made shall come and kneel down in worship before You, O Lord,
And they shall glorify Your name.

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.

Let my prayer come before You and enter into Your presence;
Incline Your ear to my cry!

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Lovingkindness and truth go before You.

“I will crush his adversaries before him,
And strike those who hate him.

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

Before the mountains were born
Or before You had given birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are [the eternal] God.

O satisfy us with Your lovingkindness in the morning [now, before we grow older],
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Let us come before His presence with a song of thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with songs.

O come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker [in reverent praise and prayer].

Splendor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name;
Bring an offering and come into His courts.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;
Tremble [in submissive wonder] before Him, all the earth.

Before the Lord, for He is coming,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples in His faithfulness.

Fire goes before Him
And burns up His adversaries on all sides.

Let all those be [deeply] ashamed who serve carved images,
Who boast in idols.
Worship Him, all you gods!

With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Shout with joy before the King, the Lord.

Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with fairness.

Serve the Lord with gladness and delight;
Come before His presence with joyful singing.

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.

“The children of Your servants will continue,
And their descendants will be established before You.”

He sent a man before them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

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.

Let them be before the Lord continually,
That He may cut off their memory from the earth;

I will walk [in submissive wonder] before the Lord
In the land of the living.

I have chosen the faithful way;
I have placed Your ordinances before me.

I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings
And shall not be ashamed.

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep and honor Your word [with loving obedience].

Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,
For Your words are always with me.

My eyes anticipate the night watches and I awake before the call of the watchman,
That I may meditate on Your word.

I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies,
For all my ways are [fully known] before You.

Tav.
Let my [mournful] cry come before You, O Lord;
Give me understanding [the ability to learn and a teachable heart] according to Your word [of promise].

Let my supplication come before You;
Deliver me according to Your word.

Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
Which withers before it grows up,

I will give You thanks with all my heart;
I sing praises to You before the [pagan] gods.

You have enclosed me behind and before,
And [You have] placed Your hand upon me.

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were appointed for me,
When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].

Surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name;
The upright will dwell in Your presence.

Let my prayer be counted as incense before You;
The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
Keep watch over the door of my lips [to keep me from speaking thoughtlessly].

I pour out my complaint before Him;
I declare my trouble before Him.

He casts out His ice like fragments;
Who can stand before His cold?

Let your eyes look directly ahead [toward the path of moral courage]
And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you [toward the path of integrity].

For the ways of man are directly before the eyes of the Lord,
And He carefully watches all of his paths [all of his comings and goings].

“The Lord created and possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old [were accomplished].

“From everlasting I was established and ordained,
From the beginning, before the earth existed, [I, godly wisdom, existed].

“Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills, I was born;

Then I was beside Him, as a master craftsman;
And I was daily His delight;
Rejoicing before Him always,

There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him,
But its end is the way of death.

The evil will bow down before the good,
And the wicked [will bow down] at the gates of the righteous.

Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) and Abaddon (the abyss, the place of eternal punishment) lie open before the Lord—
How much more the hearts and inner motives of the children of men.

The [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the instruction for wisdom [its starting point and its essence];
And before honor comes humility.

Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before a fall.

There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him,
But its end is the way of death.

The beginning of strife is like letting out water [as from a small break in a dam; first it trickles and then it gushes];
Therefore abandon the quarrel before it breaks out and tempers explode.

[Skillful and godly] wisdom is in the presence of a person of understanding [and he recognizes it],
But the eyes of a [thickheaded] fool are on the ends of the earth.

Before disaster the heart of a man is haughty and filled with self-importance,
But humility comes before honor.

He who answers before he hears [the facts]—
It is folly and shame to him.

A man’s gift [given in love or courtesy] makes room for him
And brings him before great men.

Do you see a man skillful and experienced in his work?
He will stand [in honor] before kings;
He will not stand before obscure men.

When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is [set] before you;

Take away the wicked from before the king,
And his throne will be established in righteousness.

Do not rush out to argue your case [before magistrates or judges];
Otherwise what will you do in the end [when your case is lost and]
When your neighbor (opponent) humiliates you?

Like a muddied fountain and a polluted spring
Is a righteous man who yields and compromises his integrity before the wicked.

Though his hatred covers itself with guile and deceit,
His malevolence will be revealed openly before the assembly.

Wrath is cruel and anger is an overwhelming flood,
But who is able to endure and stand before [the sin of] jealousy?

Two things I have asked of You;
Do not deny them to me before I die:

Do not slander or malign a servant before his master [stay out of another’s personal life],
Or he will curse you [for your interference], and you will be found guilty.

The lion, which is mighty among beasts
And does not turn back before any;

She considers a field before she buys or accepts it [expanding her business prudently];
With her profits she plants fruitful vines in her vineyard.

Is there anything of which it can be said,
“See this, it is new”?
It has already existed for [the vast] ages [of time recorded or unrecorded]
Which were before us.

I spoke with my heart, saying, “Behold, I have acquired great [human] wisdom and experience, more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of [moral] wisdom and [scientific] knowledge.”

I bought male and female slaves and had slaves born in my house. I also possessed herds and flocks larger than any who preceded me in Jerusalem.

So I became great and excelled more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me.

Do not be hasty with your mouth [speaking careless words or vows] or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.

Do not allow your speech to cause you to sin, and do not say before the messenger (priest) of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of your voice (words) and destroy the work of your hands?

For what advantage has the wise man over the fool [for being worldly-wise is not the secret to happiness]? What advantage has the poor man who has learned how to walk [publicly] among the living [with men’s eyes on him; for being poor is not the secret to happiness either]?

Do not be excessively or willfully wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time?

For I have taken all this to heart, exploring and examining it all, how the righteous (those in right standing with God) and the wise and their deeds are in the hands of God. No man knows whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him.

If the serpent bites before being charmed, then there is no profit for the charmer.

Remember [thoughtfully] also your Creator in the days of your youth [for you are not your own, but His], before the evil days come or the years draw near when you will say [of physical pleasures], “I have no enjoyment and delight in them”;

before the sun and the light, and the moon and the stars are darkened [by impaired vision], and the clouds [of depression] return after the rain [of tears];

Earnestly remember your Creator before the silver cord [of life] is broken, or the golden bowl is crushed, or the pitcher at the fountain is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed;

“Before I was aware [of what was happening], my desire had brought me
Into the area of the princes of my people [the king’s retinue].”

(The Chorus)
“Return, return, O Shulammite;
Return, return, that we may gaze at you.”

“My very own vineyard is at my disposal;
The thousand [shekels of silver] are for you, O Solomon,
And two hundred are for those who tend the fruit.”

“When you come to appear before Me,
Who requires this of you, this trampling of My [temple] courts [by your sinful feet]?

“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Get your evil deeds out of My sight.
Stop doing evil,

So the common man has been humbled [before idols]
And the man of importance has been degraded,
Therefore do not forgive them [O Lord].

Go among the rocks and hide in the dust
From the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty.

They [the stricken, deprived of all in which they had trusted] will go into the caves of the rocks
And into the holes of the ground [fleeing]
From the terror and dread of the Lord
And from the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises to terrify the earth.

To go into the caverns of the rocks and into the clefts of the [ragged] cliffs [as they flee]
From the terror and dread of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises to terrify the earth.

For before the child will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land (Canaan) whose two kings you dread will be deserted [both Ephraim and Aram].

for before the boy knows how to say, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus (Aram’s capital) and the spoil of Samaria (Israel’s capital) will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”

You [O God] will increase the nation,
You will multiply their joy;
They will rejoice before You
Like the joy and jubilation of the harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil [of victory].

The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west;
And they devour Israel with gaping jaws.
In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

Their children also will be smashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be looted
And their wives ravished.

The nations roar on like the roaring of many waters,
But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before the storm.

At evening time, now look, sudden terror!
Before morning the Assyrians are no more.
This is the portion (fate) of those who plunder us,
And the lot of those who pillage us.