A man [who is held] in honor,
Yet who lacks [spiritual] understanding and a teachable heart, is like the beasts that perish.

May our God come and not keep silent;
Fire devours before Him,
And around Him a mighty tempest rages.

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

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

Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

For You do not delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.

My [only] sacrifice [acceptable] to God is a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart [broken with sorrow for sin, thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.

“Look, [this is] the man who would not make God his strength [his stronghold and fortress],
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
Taking refuge in his wealth.”

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.

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

Listen to my prayer, O God,
And do not hide Yourself from my plea.

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.

For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
Then I could bear it;
Nor is it one who has hated me who insolently exalts himself against me—
Then I could hide from him.

God will hear and humble them,
Even He who sits enthroned from old— Selah.
Because in them there has been no change [of heart],
And they do not fear God [at all].

But You, O God, will bring down the wicked to the pit of destruction;
Men of blood and treachery will not live out half their days.
But I will [boldly and unwaveringly] trust in You.

In God, whose word I praise;
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not fear.
What can mere man do to me?

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

In God have I put my trust and confident reliance; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

They set a net for my steps;
My very life was bowed down.
They dug a pit before me;
Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah.

So that it does not listen to the voice of charmers,
Or of the skillful enchanter casting [cunning] spells.

Let them be as a snail which melts away (secretes slime) as it goes along,
Like the miscarriage of a woman which never sees the sun.

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.

You, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Arise to punish all the nations;
Spare no one and do not be merciful to any who treacherously plot evil. Selah.

Do not kill them, or my people will forget;
Scatter them and make them wander [endlessly] back and forth by Your power, and bring them down,
O Lord our shield!

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

Have You not rejected us, O God?
And will You not go out with our armies?

He alone is my rock and my salvation,
My defense and my strong tower; I will not be shaken or disheartened.

He only is my rock and my salvation;
My fortress and my defense, I will not be shaken or discouraged.

Do not trust in oppression,
And do not vainly hope in robbery;
If riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate and thoughtfully focus on You in the night watches,

Who rules by His might forever,
His eyes keep watch on the nations;
Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

Who keeps us among the living,
And does not allow our feet to slip or stumble.

You brought us into the net;
You laid a heavy burden [of servitude] on us.

If I regard sin and baseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it],
The Lord will not hear [me];

Blessed be God,
Who has not turned away my prayer
Nor His lovingkindness from me.

Those who hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head;
Those who would destroy me are powerful, being my enemies wrongfully;
I am forced to restore what I did not steal.

O God, You know my folly;
My wrongs are not hidden from You.

Do not let those who wait [confidently] for You be ashamed through me, O Lord God of hosts;
Do not let those who seek You [as necessary for life itself] be dishonored through me, O God of Israel,

Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink;
Let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep waters.

Do not let the floodwater overwhelm me,
Nor the deep waters swallow me up,
Nor the pit [of Sheol] shut its mouth over me.

Do not hide Your face from Your servant,
For I am in distress; answer me quickly.

Add [unforgiven] iniquity to their iniquity [in Your book],
And may they not come into Your righteousness.

May they be blotted out of the book of life [and their lives come to an end]
And may they not be recorded with the righteous (those in right standing with God).

The humble have seen it and are glad;
You who seek God [requiring Him as your greatest need], let your heart revive and live.

For the Lord hears the needy
And does not despise His who are prisoners.

May all those who seek You [as life’s first priority] rejoice and be glad in You;
May those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified!”

But I am afflicted and needy;
Come quickly to me, O God!
You are my help and my rescuer;
O Lord, do not delay.

Do not cast me off nor send me away in the time of old age;
Do not abandon me when my strength fails and I am weak.

O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, come quickly to help me!

And even when I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not abandon me,
Until I declare Your [mighty] strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.

They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like mankind.

Like a dream [which seems real] until one awakens,
O Lord, when stirred, [You observe the wicked], You will despise their image.

We do not see our symbols;
There is no longer any prophet [to guide us],
Nor does any among us know for how long.

The day is Yours, the night also is Yours;
You have established and prepared the [heavenly] light and the sun.

Oh, do not hand over the soul of your turtledove to the wild beast;
Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.

Let not the oppressed return dishonored;
Let the afflicted and needy praise Your name.

Do not forget the [clamoring] voices of Your adversaries,
The uproar of those who rise against You, which ascends continually [to Your ears].

“I said to the arrogant, ‘Do not boast;’
And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn [of self-glorification].

‘Do not lift up your [defiant and aggressive] horn on high,
Do not speak with a stiff neck.’”

For not from the east, nor from the west,
Nor from the desert comes exaltation.

In the day of my trouble I [desperately] sought the Lord;
In the night my hand was stretched out [in prayer] without weariness;
My soul refused to be comforted.

I will remember my song in the night;
I will meditate with my heart,
And my spirit searches:

Your way [of escape for Your people] was through the sea,
And Your paths through the great waters,
And Your footprints were not traceable.

We will not hide them from their children,
But [we will] tell to the generation to come the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
And [tell of] His great might and power and the wonderful works that He has done.

That they should place their confidence in God
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments,

And not be like their fathers—
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not prepare its heart to know and follow God,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

They did not keep the covenant of God
And refused to walk according to His law;

In the daytime He led them with a cloud
And all the night with a light of fire.

Because they did not believe in God [they did not rely on Him, they did not adhere to Him],
And they did not trust in His salvation (His power to save).

In spite of all this they still sinned,
For they did not believe in His wonderful and extraordinary works.

For their heart was not steadfast toward Him,
Nor were they faithful to His covenant.

But He, the source of compassion and lovingkindness, forgave their wickedness and did not destroy them;
Many times He restrained His anger
And did not stir up all His wrath.

For He [graciously] remembered that they were mere [human] flesh,
A wind that goes and does not return.

They did not remember [the miracles worked by] His [powerful] hand,
Nor the day when He redeemed them from the enemy,

And turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, so that they could not drink.

He leveled a path for His anger [to give it free run];
He did not spare their souls from death,
But turned over their lives to the plague.

He led them safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea engulfed their enemies.

Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies (laws).

They turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were twisted like a warped bow [that will not respond to the archer’s aim].

The fire [of war] devoured His young men,
And His [bereaved] virgins had no wedding songs.

His priests [Hophni and Phinehas] fell by the sword,
And His widows could not weep.

Moreover, He rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim [in which the tabernacle stood].

Pour out Your wrath on the [Gentile] nations that do not know You,
And on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.

O do not remember against us the sins and guilt of our forefathers.
Let Your compassion and mercy come quickly to meet us,
For we have been brought very low.

Why should the [Gentile] nations say, “Where is their God?”
Let there be known [without delay] among the nations in our sight [and to this generation],
Your vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been poured out.

Then we shall not turn back from You;
Revive us and we will call on Your name.

He established it for a testimony in Joseph
When He went throughout the land of Egypt.
I heard the language [of One whom] I did not know, saying,

“But My people would not listen to My voice,
And Israel did not [consent to] obey Me.

The rulers do not know nor do they understand;
They walk on in the darkness [of complacent satisfaction];
All the foundations of the earth [the fundamental principles of the administration of justice] are shaken.

Do not keep silent, O God;
Do not hold Your peace or be still, O God.

Will You not revive us and bring us to life again,
That Your people may rejoice in You?

I will hear [with expectant hope] what God the Lord will say,
For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones—
But let them not turn again to folly.

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.

O Lord, the God of my salvation,
I have cried out [for help] by day and in the night before You.

“The enemy will not outwit him,
Nor will the wicked man afflict or humiliate him.

“If his children turn away from My law
And do not walk in My ordinances,

If they break My statutes
And do not keep My commandments,

“Nevertheless, I will not break off My lovingkindness from him,
Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.