Davidic. A Maskil.How joyful is the one
whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered!

How joyful is the man
the Lord does not charge with sin
and in whose spirit is no deceit!

Taste and see that the Lord is good.
How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Lord, how long will You look on?
Rescue my life from their ravages,
my only one from the young lions.

“Lord, reveal to me the end of my life
and the number of my days.
Let me know how short-lived I am.

How happy is the man
who has put his trust in the Lord
and has not turned to the proud
or to those who run after lies!

I remember this as I pour out my heart:
how I walked with many,
leading the festive procession to the house of God,
with joyful and thankful shouts.

How far away I would flee;
I would stay in the wilderness.Selah

How long will you threaten a man?
Will all of you attack
as if he were a leaning wall
or a tottering stone fence?

How happy is the one You choose
and bring near to live in Your courts!
We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
the holiness of Your temple.

Say to God, “How awe-inspiring are Your works!
Your enemies will cringe before You
because of Your great strength.

The wicked say, “How can God know?
Does the Most High know everything?”

How suddenly they become a desolation!
They come to an end, swept away by terrors.

There are no signs for us to see.
There is no longer a prophet.
And none of us knows how long this will last.

God, how long will the enemy mock?
Will the foe insult Your name forever?

How often they rebelled against Him
in the wilderness
and grieved Him in the desert.

How long, Yahweh? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy keep burning like fire?

Lord God of Hosts,
how long will You be angry
with Your people’s prayers?

“How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?Selah

See how Your enemies make an uproar;
those who hate You have acted arrogantly.

For the choir director: on the Gittith. A psalm of the sons of Korah.How lovely is Your dwelling place,
Lord of Hosts.

How happy are those who reside in Your house,
who praise You continually.Selah

How long, Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever?
Will Your anger keep burning like fire?

Remember how short my life is.
Have You created everyone for nothing?

how Your enemies have ridiculed, Lord,
how they have ridiculed every step of Your anointed.

Lord—how long?
Turn and have compassion on Your servants.

How magnificent are Your works, Lord,
how profound Your thoughts!

Lord, how long will the wicked—
how long will the wicked gloat?

How countless are Your works, Lord!
In wisdom You have made them all;
the earth is full of Your creatures.

How happy are those who uphold justice,
who practice righteousness at all times.

How can I repay the Lord
for all the good He has done for me?

א AlefHow happy are those whose way is blameless,
who live according to the Lord’s instruction!

ב BetHow can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping Your word.

How I long for Your precepts!
Give me life through Your righteousness.

How many days must Your servant wait?
When will You execute judgment on my persecutors?

מ MemHow I love Your instruction!
It is my meditation all day long.

How sweet Your word is to my taste—
sweeter than honey in my mouth.

Consider how I love Your precepts;
Lord, give me life according to Your faithful love.

A song of ascents.How happy is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in His ways!

and how he swore an oath to the Lord,
making a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:

A Davidic song of ascents.How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in harmony!

How can we sing the Lord’s song
on foreign soil?

God, how difficult Your thoughts are
for me to comprehend;
how vast their sum is!

Hallelujah!
How good it is to sing to our God,
for praise is pleasant and lovely.

“How long, foolish ones, will you love ignorance?
How long will you mockers enjoy mocking
and you fools hate knowledge?

and you will say, “How I hated discipline,
and how my heart despised correction.

How long will you stay in bed, you slacker?
When will you get up from your sleep?

If the righteous will be repaid on earth,
how much more the wicked and sinful.

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Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the Lord—
how much more, human hearts.

A man takes joy in giving an answer;
and a timely word—how good that is!

Get wisdom—
how much better it is than gold!
And get understanding—
it is preferable to silver.

Eloquent words are not appropriate on a fool’s lips;
how much worse are lies for a ruler.

All the brothers of a poor man hate him;
how much more do his friends
keep their distance from him!
He may pursue them with words,
but they are not there.

Luxury is not appropriate for a fool—
how much less for a slave to rule over princes!

A man’s steps are determined by the Lord,
so how can anyone understand his own way?

The sacrifice of a wicked person is detestable—
how much more so
when he brings it with ulterior motives!

There is a generation—how haughty its eyes
and pretentious its looks.

I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool?

Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm?

A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

What advantage then does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage is there for the poor person who knows how to conduct himself before others?

The struggles of fools weary them,
for they don’t know how to go to the city.

Just as you don’t know the path of the wind,
or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman,
so you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.

M How beautiful you are, my darling.
How very beautiful!
Your eyes are doves.

W How handsome you are, my love.
How delightful!
Our bed is lush with foliage;

M How beautiful you are, my darling.
How very beautiful!
Behind your veil,
your eyes are doves.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Mount Gilead.

How delightful your love is, my sister, my bride.
Your love is much better than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume than any balsam.

W I have taken off my clothing.
How can I put it back on?
I have washed my feet.
How can I get them dirty?

How beautiful are your sandaled feet, princess!
The curves of your thighs are like jewelry,
the handiwork of a master.

How beautiful you are and how pleasant,
my love, with such delights!

He raises a signal flag for the distant nations
and whistles for them from the ends of the earth.
Look—how quickly and swiftly they come!

for before the boy knows how to call out father or mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.”

Hyenas will howl in the fortresses,
and jackals, in the luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time is almost up;
her days are almost over.

you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon and say:

How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging has become quiet!

Shining morning star,
how you have fallen from the heavens!
You destroyer of nations,
you have been cut down to the ground.

We have heard of Moab’s pride—
how very proud he is—
his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,
and his empty boasting.

The princes of Zoan are complete fools;
Pharaoh’s wisest advisers give stupid advice!
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the wise,
a student of eastern kings”?

And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue us from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?’”

For this is how it will be on earth
among the nations:
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

You have turned things around,
as if the potter were the same as the clay.
How can what is made say about its maker,
“He didn’t make me”?
How can what is formed
say about the one who formed it,
“He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?

Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will enter and pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.

How then can you drive back a single officer among the weakest of my master’s officers and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

He said, “Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly, and have done what pleases You.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

How absurd is the one who says to his father,
‘What are you fathering?’
or to his mother,
‘What are you giving birth to?’”

But disaster will happen to you;
you will not know how to avert it.
And it will fall on you,
but you will be unable to ward it off.
Devastation will happen to you suddenly
and unexpectedly.

I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own,
for how can I be defiled?
I will not give My glory to another.

The Lord God has given Me
the tongue of those who are instructed
to know how to sustain the weary with a word.
He awakens Me each morning;
He awakens My ear to listen like those being instructed.

These two things have happened to you:
devastation and destruction,
famine and sword.
Who will grieve for you?
How can I comfort you?

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of the herald,
who proclaims peace,
who brings news of good things,
who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

But I protested, “Oh no, Lord, God! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.”

“Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says:

I remember the loyalty of your youth,
your love as a bride—
how you followed Me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.

Your own evil will discipline you;
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Think it over and see how evil and bitter it is
for you to abandon the Lord your God
and to have no fear of Me.
This is the declaration
of the Lord God of Hosts.

I planted you, a choice vine
from the very best seed.
How then could you turn into
a degenerate, foreign vine?

How can you protest, “I am not defiled;
I have not followed the Baals”?
Look at your behavior in the valley;
acknowledge what you have done.
You are a swift young camel
twisting and turning on her way,

How skillfully you pursue love;
you also teach evil women your ways.

How unstable you are,
constantly changing your ways!
You will be put to shame by Egypt
just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

I thought: How I long to make you My sons
and give you a desirable land,
the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations.
I thought: You will call Me, my Father,
and never turn away from Me.

Wash the evil from your heart, Jerusalem,
so that you will be delivered.
How long will you harbor
malicious thoughts within you?

How long must I see the signal flag
and hear the sound of the ram’s horn?