[A Psalm of Asaph.] Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had nearly slipped.

They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

Therefore pride surrounds them as a chain; violence covers them as a garment.

How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

As a dream when one awakes; so, O Lord, when you awake, you shall despise their image.

So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before you.

A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.

Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand up as a heap.

He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

He rained meat also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls as the sand of the sea:

Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouts by reason of wine.

Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kishon:

Who perished at Endor: they became as refuse for the earth.

Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:

O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.

As the fire burns wood, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire;

As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in you.

I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that has no strength:

You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; you have scattered your enemies with your strong arm.

The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours: as for the world and the fullness thereof, you have founded them.

His descendants also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

His descendants shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.

It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

You carry them away as with a flood; they are like a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which grows up.

For all our days are passed away in your wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed forever:

Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of trials in the wilderness:

For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as a hearth.

I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.

They shall perish, but you shall endure: yea, all of them shall grow old like a garment; as a vesture shall you change them, and they shall be changed:

For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Like as a father pities his children, so the LORD pities them that fear him.

As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

Who covers yourself with light as with a garment: who stretches out the heavens like a curtain:

You covered it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.

Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and in irons;

As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.

As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, so let it come into his body like water, and like oil into his bones.

Let it be unto him as the garment which covers him, and for a belt with which he is girded continually.

Let my adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.

He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap;

Because he has inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

They encompassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches.

Their heart is as gross as grease; but I delight in your law.

Your testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.

Look upon me, and be merciful unto me, as you do unto those that love your name.

I rejoice at your word, as one that finds great spoil.

Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together:

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 he has mercy upon us.

Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.

Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

[A song of ascents.] They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides forever.

As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from this time forth even forever.

As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.

Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the South.

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of your house: your children like olive plants round about your table.

Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withers before it grows up:

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

As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.

O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewards you as you have served us.

Yea, the darkness hides not from you; but the night shines as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to you.

Your eyes did see my substance, being yet unformed; and in your book they were all written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.

Let my prayer be set forth before you as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cuts and splits wood upon the earth.

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

I stretch forth my hands unto you: my soul thirsts after you, as a thirsty land. Selah.

Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passes away.

That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner pillars, polished after the similitude of a palace:

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

Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:

When your terror comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish comes upon you.

If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures;

For whom the LORD loves he corrects; even as a father the son in whom he delights.

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day.

The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

For the lips of an immoral woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

Let her be as the loving deer and graceful doe; let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and be ravished always with her love.

Deliver yourself as a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of your eye.

He goes after her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;

Till an arrow strikes through his liver; as a bird hastens to the snare, and knows not that it is for his life.

While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the first of the dust of the world.

Whosoever is simple, let him turn in here: as for him that lacks understanding, she says to him,

Whosoever is simple, let him turn in here: and as for him that lacks understanding, she says to him,

The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is of little worth.

It is as sport to a fool to do wrong: but a man of understanding has wisdom.

As the whirlwind passes, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.