May he come down like rain on the mown grass,
Like showers that water the earth.

But as for me, it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge and placed my trust in Him,
That I may tell of all Your works.

We give thanks and praise to You, O God, we give thanks,
For Your [wonderful works declare that Your] name is near;
People declare Your wonders.

“The earth and all the inhabitants of it melt [in tumultuous times].
It is I who will steady its pillars. Selah.

There He broke the flaming arrows,
The shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah.

When God arose to [establish] judgment,
To save all the humble of the earth. Selah.

I remember God; then I am disquieted and I groan;
I sigh [in prayer], and my spirit grows faint. Selah.

You have held my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Selah.

And I said, “This is my grief,
That the right hand of the Most High has changed [and His lovingkindness is withheld].”

You have with Your [great] arm redeemed Your people,
The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

I will open my mouth in a parable [to instruct using examples];
I will utter dark and puzzling sayings of old [that contain important truth]—

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.

For He established a testimony (a specific precept) in Jacob
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers
That they should teach to their children [the great facts of God’s transactions with Israel],

That the generation to come might know them, that the children still to be born
May arise and recount them to their children,

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.

And they forgot His [incredible] works
And His miraculous wonders that He had shown them.

“Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out
And the streams overflowed;
Can He give bread also?
Or will He provide meat for His people?”

And they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.

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

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

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

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].

So that He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
The tent in which He had dwelled among men,

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

From tending the ewes with nursing young He brought him
To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance.

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

Why have You broken down its walls and hedges,
So that all who pass by pick its fruit?

Even the stock which Your right hand has planted,
And [look down on] the son that You have reared and strengthened for Yourself.

“You called in [the time of] trouble and I rescued you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

“So I gave them up to the stubbornness of their heart,
To walk in [the path of] their own counsel.

“Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!

How long will you judge unjustly
And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.

Assyria also has joined with them;
They have helped the children of Lot [the Ammonites and the Moabites] and have been an arm [of strength] to them. Selah.

Fill their faces with shame and disgrace,
That they may [persistently] seek Your name, O Lord.

That they may know that You alone, whose name is the Lord,
Are the Most High over all the earth.

Blessed and greatly favored are those who dwell in Your house and Your presence;
They will be singing Your praises all the day long. Selah.

O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Listen, O God of Jacob! Selah.

O Lord of hosts,
How blessed and greatly favored is the man who trusts in You [believing in You, relying on You, and committing himself to You with confident hope and expectation].

You have forgiven the wickedness of Your people;
You have covered all their sin. Selah.

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

Surely His salvation is near to those who [reverently] fear Him [and obey Him with submissive wonder],
That glory [the manifest presence of God] may dwell in our land.

Teach me Your way, O Lord,
I will walk and live in Your truth;
Direct my heart to fear Your name [with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder].

Show me a sign of [Your] goodwill,
That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed,
Because You, O Lord, helped and comforted me.

Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God [Jerusalem]. Selah.

But of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her,”
And the Most High Himself will establish her.

The Lord will count, when He registers the peoples,
“This one was born there.” Selah.

Cast away [from the living] and abandoned among the dead,
Like the slain who lie in a [nameless] grave,
Whom You no longer remember,
And they are cut off from Your hand.

Your wrath has rested heavily upon me,
And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah.

Will You perform wonders for the dead?
Shall the departed spirits arise and praise You? Selah.

I will establish your seed forever
And I will build up your throne for all generations.” Selah.

The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours;
The world and all that is in it, You have founded and established them.

“My covenant I will not violate,
Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.

“It shall be established forever like the moon,
And the witness in the heavens is ever faithful.” Selah.

You have shortened the days of his youth;
You have covered him with shame. Selah.

What man can live and not see death?
Can he rescue his soul from the [powerful] hand of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead)? Selah.

For all our days pass away in Your wrath;
We have finished our years like a whispered sigh.

Who understands the power of Your anger? [Who connects this brevity of life among us with Your judgment of sin?]
And Your wrath, [who connects it] with the [reverent] fear that is due You?

So teach us to number our days,
That we may cultivate and bring to You a heart of wisdom.

O satisfy us with Your lovingkindness in the morning [now, before we grow older],
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

You will not be afraid of the terror of night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction (sudden death) that lays waste at noon.

That though the wicked sprout up like grass
And all evildoers flourish,
They will be destroyed forever.

But my horn [my emblem of strength and power] You have exalted like that of a wild ox;
I am anointed with fresh oil [for Your service].

My eye has looked on my foes;
My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.

[They are living memorials] to declare that the Lord is upright and faithful [to His promises];
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty and splendor;
The Lord has clothed and encircled Himself with strength;
the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.

The Lord knows the thoughts of man,
That they are a mere breath (vain, empty, futile).

That You may grant him [power to calm himself and find] peace in the days of adversity,
Until the pit is dug for the wicked and ungodly.

“For forty years I was grieved and disgusted with that generation,
And I said, ‘They are a people who err in their heart,
And they do not acknowledge or regard My ways.’

“Therefore I swore [an oath] in My wrath,
‘They absolutely shall not enter My rest [the land of promise].’”

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns;
Indeed, the world is firmly and securely established, it shall not be moved;
He will judge and rule the people with fairness.”

Let the field be exultant, and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy

Let the sea thunder and roar, and all the things it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.

He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
They kept His testimonies
And the statutes that He gave them.

Know and fully recognize with gratitude that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, not we ourselves [and we are His].
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

My eyes will be on the faithful (honorable) of the land, that they may dwell with me;
He who walks blamelessly is the one who will minister to and serve me.

Morning after morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land,
That I may cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do evil.

My heart has been struck like grass and withered,
Indeed, [absorbed by my heartache] I forget to eat my food.

My days are like an evening shadow that lengthens and vanishes [with the sun];
And as for me, I wither away like grass.

Let this be recorded for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created will praise the Lord.

So that people may declare the name of the Lord in Zion
And His praise in Jerusalem,

Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is [deep] within me, bless His holy name.

Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the [soaring] eagle.

For He knows our [mortal] frame;
He remembers that we are [merely] dust.

He established the earth on its foundations,
So that it will not be moved forever and ever.

You set a boundary [for the waters] that they may not cross over,
So that they will not return to cover the earth.

He causes grass to grow for the cattle,
And all that the earth produces for cultivation by man,
So that he may bring food from the earth—

And wine which makes the heart of man glad,
So that he may make his face glisten with oil,
And bread to sustain and strengthen man’s heart.

They all wait for You
To give them their food in its appointed season.

Remember [with awe and gratitude] the wonderful things which He has done,
His amazing deeds and the judgments uttered by His mouth [on His enemies, as in Egypt],

He spoke, and the [migratory] locusts came,
And the young locusts, even without number,

So that they might observe His precepts
And keep His laws [obediently accepting and honoring and valuing them].
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

Who can put into words the mighty deeds of the Lord?
Or who can proclaim all His praise [that is due Him]?

That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with Your inheritance.

Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake,
That He might make His [supreme] power known.

So He saved them from the hand of the one that hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the [Egyptian] enemy.

Thus they exchanged [the true God who was] their glory
For the image of an ox that eats grass.

Therefore He lifted up His hand [swearing] to them,
That He would cause them to fall in the wilderness,