You have tried my heart;
You have visited me in the night;
You have tested me and You find nothing [evil in me];
I intend that my mouth will not transgress.

Concerning the deeds of men, by the word of Your lips
I have kept away from the paths of the violent.

My steps have held closely to Your paths;
My feet have not staggered.

I have called upon You, for You, O God, will answer me;
Incline Your ear to me, hear my speech.

They have closed their unfeeling heart [to kindness and compassion];
With their mouths they speak proudly and make presumptuous claims.

From men with Your hand, O Lord,
From men of the world [these moths of the night] whose portion [of enjoyment] is in this life—idle and vain,
And whose belly You fill with Your treasure;
They are satisfied with children,
And they leave what they have left [of wealth] to their children.

For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.

You have also given me the shield of Your salvation,
And Your right hand upholds and sustains me;
Your gentleness [Your gracious response when I pray] makes me great.

You enlarge the path beneath me and make my steps secure,
So that my feet will not slip.

For You have encircled me with strength for the battle;
You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me [in defeat],
And I silenced and destroyed those who hated me.

You have rescued me from the contentions of the people;
You have placed me as the head of the nations;
A people whom I have not known serve me.

Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous (deliberate, willful) sins;
Let them not rule and have control over me.
Then I will be blameless (complete),
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

You have given him his heart’s desire,
And You have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.

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

I was cast upon You from birth;
From my mother’s womb You have been my God.

Many [enemies like] bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.

My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery;
And my [dry] tongue clings to my jaws;
And You have laid me in the dust of death.

For [a pack of] dogs have surrounded me;
A gang of evildoers has encircled me,
They pierced my hands and my feet.

Save me from the lion’s mouth;
From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me.

Remember, O Lord, Your [tender] compassion and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they have been from of old.

The secret [of the wise counsel] of the Lord is for those who fear Him,
And He will let them know His covenant and reveal to them [through His word] its [deep, inner] meaning.

Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity;
I have [relied on and] trusted [confidently] in the Lord without wavering and I shall not slip.

For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,
And I have walked [faithfully] in Your truth.

One thing I have asked of the Lord, and that I will seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life,
To gaze upon the beauty [the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur] of the Lord
And to meditate in His temple.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
Be gracious and compassionate to me and answer me.

When You said, “Seek My face [in prayer, require My presence as your greatest need],” my heart said to You,
“Your face, O Lord, I will seek [on the authority of Your word].”

Do not hide Your face from me,
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not abandon me nor leave me,
O God of my salvation!

Although my father and my mother have abandoned me,
Yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child].

Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
For false witnesses have come against me;
They breathe out violence.

I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.

I will extol and praise You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O Lord my God,
I cried to You for help, and You have healed me.

O Lord, You have brought my life up from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead);
You have kept me alive, so that I would not go down to the pit (grave).

By Your favor and grace, O Lord, you have made my mountain stand strong;
You hid Your face, and I was horrified.

“Hear, O Lord, be gracious and show favor to me;
O Lord, be my helper.”

You have turned my mourning into dancing for me;
You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

In You, O Lord, I have placed my trust and taken refuge;
Let me never be ashamed;
In Your righteousness rescue me.

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

Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth and faithfulness.

I will rejoice and be glad in Your steadfast love,
Because You have seen my affliction;
You have taken note of my life’s distresses,

And You have not given me into the hand of the enemy;
You have set my feet in a broad place.

Be gracious and compassionate to me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;
My eye is clouded and weakened by grief, my soul and my body also.

For my life is spent with sorrow
And my years with sighing;
My strength has failed because of my iniquity,
And even my body has wasted away.

Because of all my enemies I have become a reproach and disgrace,
Especially to my neighbors,
And an object of dread to my acquaintances;
Those who see me on the street run from me.

For I have heard the slander and whispering of many,
Terror is on every side;
While they schemed together against me,
They plotted to take away my life.

How great is Your goodness,
Which You have stored up for those who [reverently] fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who take refuge in You,
Before the sons of man!

Do not be like the horse or like the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bridle and rein to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.

For in Him our heart rejoices,
Because we trust [lean on, rely on, and are confident] in His holy name.

They open their mouths wide against me;
They say, “Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!”

You have seen this, O Lord; do not keep silent.
O Lord, do not be far from me.

Do not let them say in their heart, “Aha, that is what we wanted!”
Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up and destroyed him.”

Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication and want what is right for me;
Let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified, who delights and takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”

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

I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous (those in right standing with God) abandoned
Or his descendants pleading for bread.

I have seen a wicked, violent man [with great power]
Spreading and flaunting himself like a cedar in its native soil,

For Your arrows have sunk into me and penetrate deeply,
And Your hand has pressed down on me and greatly disciplined me.

For my iniquities have gone over my head [like the waves of a flood];
As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.

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

“Behold, You have made my days as [short as] hand widths,
And my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight.
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath [a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes]! Selah.

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.

Sacrifice and meal offering You do not desire, nor do You delight in them;
You have opened my ears and given me the capacity to hear [and obey Your word];
Burnt offerings and sin offerings You do not require.

I have proclaimed good news of righteousness [and the joy that comes from obedience to You] in the great assembly;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips [from proclaiming Your righteousness],
As You know, O Lord.

I have not concealed Your righteousness within my heart;
I have proclaimed Your faithfulness and Your salvation.
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.

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.

As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And You set me in Your presence forever.

My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Deep calls to deep at the [thundering] sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.

I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

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?

We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us
The work You did in their days,
In the days of old.

But You have saved us from our enemies,
And You have put them to shame and humiliated those who hate us.

In God we have boasted all the day long,
And we will praise and give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.

But now You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor,
And You do not go out with our armies [to lead us to victory].

You have made us like sheep to be eaten [as mutton]
And have scattered us [in exile] among the nations.

You sell Your people cheaply,
And have not increased Your wealth by their sale.

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

All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten You,
Nor have we been false to Your covenant [which You made with our fathers].

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

Yet You have [distressingly] crushed us in the place of jackals
And covered us with [the deep darkness of] the shadow of death.

As we have heard, so have we seen
In the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God:
God will establish her forever. Selah.

We have thought of Your lovingkindness, O God,
In the midst of Your temple.

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].

“Gather My godly ones to Me,
Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite My statutes
Or to take My covenant on your lips?

“When you see a thief, you are pleased with him and condone his behavior,
And you associate with adulterers.

“These things you have done and I kept silent;
You thought that I was just like you.
Now I will reprimand and denounce you and state the case in order before your eyes.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.

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.

Make me hear joy and gladness and be satisfied;
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.

I will thank You forever, because You have done it, [You have rescued me and kept me safe].
I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.

Every one of them has turned aside and fallen away;
Together they have become filthy and corrupt;
There is no one who does good, no, not even one.

Have workers of wickedness no knowledge or no understanding?
They eat up My people as though they ate bread
And have not called upon God.

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.

My heart is in anguish within me,
And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

Fear and trembling have come upon me;
Horror has overwhelmed me.

Confuse [my enemies], O Lord, divide their tongues [destroying their schemes],
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

When I am afraid,
I will put my trust and faith in You.

They attack, they hide and lurk,
They watch my steps,
As they have [expectantly] waited to take my life.