Oh give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. ALEPH

How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.

I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free. HEY

How many are the days of your servant? When will you execute judgment on those who persecute me?

How I love your law! It is my meditation all day.

How sweet are your promises to my taste, more than honey to my mouth!

Consider how I love your precepts. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your loving kindness.

In my distress, I cried to Yahweh. He answered me.

He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

Yahweh will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul.

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes look to Yahweh, our God, until he has mercy on us.

He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves. A Song of Ascents. By Solomon.

It is vain for you to rise up early, to stay up late, eating the bread of toil; for he gives sleep to his loved ones.

Yahweh is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked.

with which the reaper doesn't fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his bosom.

He will redeem Israel from all their sins. A Song of Ascents. By David.

how he swore to Yahweh, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

Yahweh has sworn to David in truth. He will not turn from it: "I will set the fruit of your body on your throne.

For Yahweh has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation.

See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity!

May Yahweh bless you from Zion; even he who made heaven and earth.

Whatever Yahweh pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps;

Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever.

How can we sing Yahweh's song in a foreign land?

Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who rewards you, as you have served us.

Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock. By David.

For though Yahweh is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but the proud, he knows from afar.

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!

Let the wicked fall together into their own nets, while I pass by. A contemplation by David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.

For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.

my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge; who subdues my people under me.

You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword.

He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.

Yahweh preserves all those who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God:

Yahweh preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.

Yahweh builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.

He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.

He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names.

Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.

He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.

He doesn't delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has blessed your children within you.

He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat.

He sends out his commandment to the earth. His word runs very swiftly.

He gives snow like wool, and scatters frost like ashes.

He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can stand before his cold?

He sends out his word, and melts them. He causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.

He shows his word to Jacob; his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.

He has not done this for just any nation. They don't know his ordinances. Praise Yah!

Let them praise the name of Yahweh, For he commanded, and they were created.

He has also established them forever and ever. He has made a decree which will not pass away.

He has lifted up the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near to him. Praise Yah!

For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people. He crowns the humble with salvation.

May the high praises of God be in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in their hand;

"How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?

He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;

that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens.

Don't devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you.

Don't strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm.

Yahweh's curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.

Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives grace to the humble.

He taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.

and say, "How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

For the ways of man are before the eyes of Yahweh. He examines all his paths.

He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.

How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth;

Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

Men don't despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry:

but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.

He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.

He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.

For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won't spare in the day of vengeance.

He won't regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.

passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,

For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey.

He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon."

He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.

On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands.

while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world.

When he established the heavens, I was there; when he set a circle on the surface of the deep,

when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong,

when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth;

But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death."

He who corrects a mocker invites insult. He who reproves a wicked man invites abuse.

Don't reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

Instruct a wise man, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,

But he doesn't know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Yahweh will not allow the soul of the righteous to go hungry, but he thrusts away the desire of the wicked.

He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.

He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during the harvest is a son who causes shame.