CHETH. Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.

The bands of the wicked have robbed me: but I have not forgotten thy law.

Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.

Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

JOD. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.

They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word.

Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.

The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.

Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.

I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts.

The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies.

I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.

I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.

I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.

I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.

I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.

The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.

Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.

I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.

Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.

AIN. I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors.

It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.

Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.

Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights.

Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.

SCHIN. Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.

I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee.

Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.

Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.

Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.

{A Song of degrees.} Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:

Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.

{A Song of degrees.} Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD.

Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.

This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.

They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;

They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths.

They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.

Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.

The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.

Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.

For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.

While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.

To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.

Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:

Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.

I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.

For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.

Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.

I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.

Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.

Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.

He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.

In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.

Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?

That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.

Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.

For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen.

And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.

Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.

To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.

He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.

He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length.

Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.

I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.

Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:

Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;

The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.

Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.

I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.