They do corruptly, And they speak in the wickedness of oppression, From on high they speak.

And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?

When I thought how I might know this, It was too painful for me;

Namely, how thou hast set them in a slippery places, that thou mayest cast them down headlong and destroy them.

How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

As for me, how good for me it is that God is near! I have made the Lord GOD my refuge so I can tell about all your deeds. An instruction of Asaph

A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.

We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.

O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

But God is my King of old; the help that is done upon earth, he doeth it himself.

Remember this, O Lord, the enemy has scoffed,
And a foolish and impious people has spurned Your name.

O let not he who is oppressed return ashamed. Let a poor and needy man praise thy name.

Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.

Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.

But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.

But, all the horns of the lawless, will I hew off, - Exalted shall be the horns of the Righteous One.

He lives in Salem; he dwells in Zion.

There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.

He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.

{To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph.} I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:

that they also might put their trust in God, and not to forget what he had done, but to keep his commandments.

And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.

Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

For they spake against God, and said, "Yea yea, God shall prepare a table in the wilderness, shall he?

Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?

Therefore hath Jehovah heard, And He sheweth Himself wroth, And fire hath been kindled against Jacob, And anger also hath gone up against Israel,

Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven.

Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.

He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.

He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.

So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;

When the anger of God went up against them; and he slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and inquired early after God.

And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:

And He turneth to blood their streams, And their floods they drink not.

He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.

He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.

He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

And he smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the first-fruits of their vigour in the tents of Ham.

But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

And He giveth His strength to captivity, And His beauty into the hand of an adversary,

He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

But then the Lord awoke from his sleep; he was like a warrior in a drunken rage.

And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

For he hath devoured Jacob, - And, his dwelling-place, have they laid waste.

Wherefore shall the nations say, Where is their God? He will make known among the nations before our eyes the vengeance of the blood of thy servants being poured out.

O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

{A Psalm of Asaph.} God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.

How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.

I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

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

That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

{To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.} How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!

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

How happy the men whose strength is in thee, Festive processions are in their heart.

They will pass through the Baca Valley where he will prepare a spring for them; even the early rain will cover it with blessings.

They go from strength unto strength, He appeareth unto God in Zion.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

O Yahweh of hosts! How happy the man who trusteth in thee!

I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.

Surely, he will soon deliver those who fear him, for his glory will live in our land.

Righteousness, before him, shall march long, - That he may make, into a way, the steps of its feet.