Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
And as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He is gracious and favorable toward us.

Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious and favorable toward us,
For we are greatly filled with contempt.

Our soul is greatly filled
With the scoffing of those who are at ease,
And with the contempt of the proud [who disregard God’s law].

“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
When men rose up against us,

Then they would have [quickly] swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;

Then the waters would have engulfed us,
The torrent would have swept over our soul;

Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul.”

Blessed be the Lord,
Who has not given us as prey to be torn by their teeth.

We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers;
The trap is broken and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the Lord surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever.

But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways [in unresponsiveness to God],
The Lord will lead them away with those who do evil.
Peace be upon Israel.

The Lord has done great things for us;
We are glad!

Restore our captivity, O Lord,
As the stream-beds in the South (the Negev) [are restored by torrents of rain].

It is vain for you to rise early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of anxious labors—
For He gives [blessings] to His beloved even in his sleep.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.

How blessed [happy and fortunate] is the man whose quiver is filled with them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies [in gatherings] at the [city] gate.

Blessed [happy and sheltered by God’s favor] is everyone who fears the Lord [and worships Him with obedience],
Who walks in His ways and lives according to His commandments.

The Lord is righteous;
He has cut in two the [thick] cords of the wicked [which enslaved the people of Israel].

Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
Which withers before it grows up,

If You, Lord, should keep an account of our sins and treat us accordingly,
O Lord, who could stand [before you in judgment and claim innocence]?

But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared and worshiped [with submissive wonder].

O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.

Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.

Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child [resting] with his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me [composed and freed from discontent].

Let us go into His tabernacle;
Let us worship at His footstool.

“This is My resting place forever” [says the Lord];
“Here will I dwell, for I have desired it.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!

It is like the precious oil [of consecration] poured on the head,
Coming down on the beard,
Even the beard of Aaron,
Coming down upon the edge of his [priestly] robes [consecrating the whole body].

It is like the dew of [Mount] Hermon
Coming down on the hills of Zion;
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing: life forevermore.

Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
Sing praises to His name, for it is gracious and lovely.

For I know that the Lord is great
And that our Lord is above all gods.

And He gave their land as a heritage,
A heritage to Israel His people.

They have ears, but they do not hear,
Nor is there any breath in their mouths.

Those who make idols are like them [absolutely worthless—spiritually blind, deaf, and powerless];
So is everyone who trusts in and relies on them.

Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
Who dwells [with us] at Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness (graciousness, mercy, compassion) endures forever.

And gave their land as a heritage,
For His lovingkindness endures forever;

Who [faithfully] remembered us in our lowly condition,
For His lovingkindness endures forever;

And has rescued us from our enemies,
For His lovingkindness endures forever;

For there they who took us captive demanded of us a song with words,
And our tormentors [who made a mockery of us demanded] amusement, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

O daughter of Babylon, you devastator,
How blessed will be the one
Who repays you [with destruction] as you have repaid us.

Yes, they will sing of the ways of the Lord [joyfully celebrating His wonderful acts],
For great is the glory and majesty of the Lord.

Though the Lord is exalted,
He regards the lowly [and invites them into His fellowship];
But the proud and haughty He knows from a distance.

Even before there is a word on my tongue [still unspoken],
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.

Such [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high [above me], I cannot reach it.

Even the darkness is not dark to You and conceals nothing from You,
But the night shines as bright as the day;
Darkness and light are alike to You.

My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was being formed in secret,
And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were appointed for me,
When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

They sharpen their tongues like a serpent’s;
Poison of a viper is under their lips. Selah.

The proud have hidden a trap for me, and cords;
They have spread a net by the wayside;
They have set traps for me. Selah.

Let my prayer be counted as incense before You;
The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

Let the righteous [thoughtfully] strike (correct) me—it is a kindness [done to encourage my spiritual maturity].
It is [the choicest anointing] oil on the head;
Let my head not refuse [to accept and acknowledge and learn from] it;
For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.

As when the one plows and breaks open the ground [and the soil scatters behind him],
Our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol [by the injustices of the wicked].

Look to the right [the point of attack] and see;
For there is no one who has regard for me [to act in my favor].
Escape has failed me and I have nowhere to run;
No one cares about my life.

And do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no man living is righteous or justified.

For the enemy has persecuted me,
He has crushed my life down to the ground;
He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have been long dead.

Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed and weak within me [wrapped in darkness];
My heart grows numb within me.

Lord, what is man that You take notice of him?
Or the son of man that You think of him?

Man is like a mere breath;
His days are like a shadow that passes away.

Stretch out Your hand from above;
Set me free and rescue me from great waters,
Out of the hands of [hostile] foreigners [who surround us]

Whose mouths speak deceit [without restraint],
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

Set me free and rescue me from the hand of [hostile] foreigners,
Whose mouth speaks deceit [without restraint],
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

Let our sons in their youth be like plants full grown,
And our daughters like corner pillars fashioned for a palace;

Let our cattle bear
Without mishap and without loss,
And let there be no outcry in our streets!

How blessed and favored are the people in such circumstance;
How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored] are the people whose God is the Lord!

Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is [so vast and profound as to be] unsearchable [incomprehensible to man].

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.

The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works [the entirety of things created].

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

The Lord is [unwaveringly] righteous in all His ways
And gracious and kind in all His works.

The Lord is near to all who call on Him,
To all who call on Him in truth (without guile).

Do not trust in princes,
In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation (help).

How blessed and graciously favored is he whose help is the God of Jacob (Israel),
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them,
Who keeps truth and is faithful forever,

Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our [gracious and majestic] God;
Praise is becoming and appropriate.

The Lord is building up Jerusalem;
He is gathering [together] the exiles of Israel.

Great is our [majestic and mighty] Lord and abundant in strength;
His understanding is inexhaustible [infinite, boundless].

He casts out His ice like fragments;
Who can stand before His cold?

He sends out His word and melts the ice;
He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow.

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For His name alone is exalted and supreme;
His glory and majesty are above earth and heaven.

To execute on them the judgment written.
This is the honor for all His godly ones.
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

To receive instruction in wise behavior and the discipline of wise thoughtfulness,
Righteousness, justice, and integrity;

The wise will hear and increase their learning,
And the person of understanding will acquire wise counsel and the skill [to steer his course wisely and lead others to the truth],

To understand a proverb and a figure [of speech] or an enigma with its interpretation,
And the words of the wise and their riddles [that require reflection].

The [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the beginning and the preeminent part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence];
But arrogant fools despise [skillful and godly] wisdom and instruction and self-discipline.

If they say, “Come with us;
Let us lie in wait to shed blood,
Let us ambush the innocent without cause;

Let us swallow them alive like Sheol (the place of the dead),
Even whole, as those who go down to the pit [of death];

Throw in your lot with us [they insist];
We will all have one money bag [in common],”

Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net
In the sight of any bird;

So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain;
Greed takes away the lives of its possessors.

And you treated all my counsel as nothing
And would not accept my reprimand,

When your dread and panic come like a storm,
And your disaster comes like a whirlwind,
When anxiety and distress come upon you [as retribution].

“But whoever listens to me (Wisdom) will live securely and in confident trust
And will be at ease, without fear or dread of evil.”

If you seek skillful and godly wisdom as you would silver
And search for her as you would hidden treasures;

He stores away sound wisdom for the righteous [those who are in right standing with Him];
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity [those of honorable character and moral courage],

Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord [with reverent awe and obedience] and turn [entirely] away from evil.

For those whom the Lord loves He corrects,
Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.