For they planned evil against You;
They devised a [malevolent] plot
And they will not succeed.

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?

But You are holy,
O You who are enthroned in [the holy place where] the praises of Israel [are offered].

Yet You are He who pulled me out of the womb;
You made me trust when on my mother’s breasts.

I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax;
It is melted [by anguish] within me.

For the kingship and the kingdom are the Lord’s
And He rules over the nations.

Even though I walk through the [sunless] valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort and console me.

Guide me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
For You [and only You] I wait [expectantly] all the day long.

All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and goodness and truth and faithfulness
To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

For Your name’s sake, O Lord,
Pardon my wickedness and my guilt, for they are great.

My eyes are continually toward the Lord,
For He will bring my feet out of the net.

The troubles of my heart are multiplied;
Bring me out of my distresses.

Guard my soul and rescue me;
Do not let me be ashamed or disappointed,
For I have taken refuge in You.

In whose hands is a wicked scheme,
And whose right hand is full of bribes.

Do not drag me away with the wicked
And with those who do evil,
Who speak peace with their neighbors,
While malice and mischief are in their hearts.

Yes, You are my rock and my fortress;
For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.

You will draw me out of the net that they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my strength and my stronghold.

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

My times are in Your hands;
Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who pursue and persecute me.

You are my hiding place; You, Lord, protect me from trouble;
You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance. Selah.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
But he who trusts in and relies on the Lord shall be surrounded with compassion and lovingkindness.

Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous [who actively seek right standing with Him];
Shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright [in heart—those with moral integrity and godly character].

The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous [those with moral courage and spiritual integrity]
And His ears are open to their cry.

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

Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me;
Nor let those who hate me without cause wink their eye [maliciously].

For they do not speak peace,
But they devise deceitful words [half-truths and lies] against those who are quiet in the land.

The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
He has ceased to be wise and to do good.

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God,
Your judgments are like the great deep.
O Lord, You preserve man and beast.

There those who [are perverse and] do evil have fallen;
They have been thrust down and cannot rise.

Better is the little of the righteous [who seek the will of God]
Than the abundance (riches) of many wicked (godless).

The wicked borrows and does not pay back,
But the righteous is gracious and kind and gives.

For those blessed by God will [at last] inherit the land,
But those cursed by Him will be cut off.

The steps of a [good and righteous] man are directed and established by the Lord,
And He delights in his way [and blesses his path].

All day long he is gracious and lends,
And his descendants are a blessing.

For the Lord delights in justice
And does not abandon His saints (faithful ones);
They are preserved forever,
But the descendants of the wicked will [in time] be cut off.

The Lord will not leave him in his hand
Or let him be condemned when he is judged.

Wait for and expect the Lord and keep His way,
And He will exalt you to inherit the land;
[In the end] when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

My wounds are loathsome and foul
Because of my foolishness.

For my sides are filled with burning,
And there is no health in my flesh.

Yes, I am like a man who does not hear,
In whose mouth are no arguments.

For I am ready to fall;
My sorrow is continually before me.

But my [numerous] enemies are vigorous and strong,
And those who hate me without cause are many.

They repay evil for good, they attack and try to kill me,
Because I follow what is good.

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.”

“And now, Lord, for what do I expectantly wait?
My hope [my confident expectation] is in You.

Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful works which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of your wonders,
They would be too many to count.

For innumerable evils have encompassed me;
My sins have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see.
They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,
And my heart has failed me.

Even though I am afflicted and needy,
Still the Lord takes thought and is mindful of me.
You are my help and my rescuer.
O my God, do not delay.

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become restless and disturbed within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
Why have you become restless and disquieted within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

For You are the God of my strength [my stronghold—in whom I take refuge]; why have You rejected me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

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.

You are my King, O God;
Command victories and deliverance for Jacob (Israel).

You have made us the reproach and taunt of our neighbors,
A scoffing and a derision to those around us.

Our heart has not turned back,
Nor have our steps wandered from Your path,

But for Your sake we are killed all the day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

For our life has melted away into the dust;
Our body clings to the ground.

You are fairer than the sons of men;
Graciousness is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.

Your arrows are sharp;
The peoples (nations) fall under You;
Your arrows pierce the hearts of the King’s enemies.

All Your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes and cassia;
From ivory palaces stringed instruments have made You glad.

Kings’ daughters are among Your noble ladies;
At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.

The princes of the people have gathered together as the people of the God of Abraham,
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
He is highly exalted.

This is the fate of those who are foolishly confident,
And of those after them who approve [and are influenced by] their words. Selah.

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].

Be not afraid when [an ungodly] man becomes rich,
When the wealth and glory of his house are increased;

“I do not reprove you for your sacrifices;
Your burnt offerings are continually before Me.

“For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.

“I know every bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is Mine.

“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
For the world and all it contains are Mine.

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.

There they were, in great terror and dread, where there had been no terror or dread;
For God scattered the bones of him who besieged you;
You have put them to shame, because God has rejected them.

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

Day and night they go around her walls;
Wickedness and mischief are in her midst.

Destruction is within her;
Oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets and market places.

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.

My enemies have trampled upon me all day long,
For they are many who fight proudly against me.

All day long they twist my words and say hurtful things;
All their thoughts are against me for evil.

You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not recorded in Your book?

Your vows are binding upon me, O God;
I will give thank offerings to You.

Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious and merciful to me,
For my soul finds shelter and safety in You,
And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge and be confidently secure
Until destruction passes by.

My life is among lions;
I must lie among those who breathe out fire—
The sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
And their tongue a sharp sword.

For Your faithfulness and lovingkindness are great, reaching to the heavens,
And Your truth to the clouds.

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

Their poison is like the venom of a serpent;
They are like the deaf horned viper that stops up its ear,

Before your cooking pots can feel the fire of thorns [burning under them as fuel],
He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning ones alike.

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.

Look how they belch out [insults] with their mouths;
Swords [of sarcasm, ridicule, slander, and lies] are in their lips,
For they say, “Who hears us?”

They wander around for food [to devour]
And growl all night if they are not satisfied.

For God alone my soul waits in silence and quietly submits to Him,
For my hope is from Him.

Men of low degree are only a breath (emptiness), and men of [high] rank are a lie (delusion).
In the balances they go up [because they have no measurable weight or value];
They are together lighter than a breath.

O God, You are my God; with deepest longing I will seek You;
My soul [my life, my very self] thirsts for You, my flesh longs and sighs for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

By awesome and wondrous things You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation,
You who are the trust and hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea;

So they who dwell at the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs [the evidence of Your presence].
You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.

The meadows are clothed with flocks
And the valleys are covered with grain;
They shout for joy and they sing.

Say to God, “How awesome and fearfully glorious are Your works!
Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will pretend to be obedient to You.

The Lord gives the command [to take Canaan];
The women who proclaim the good news are a great host (army);

When you lie down [to rest] among the sheepfolds,
You [Israel] are like the wings of a dove [of victory] overlaid with silver,
Its feathers glistening with gold [trophies taken from the enemy].

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