‘Ask of Me, and I will assuredly give [You] the nations as Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth as Your possession.

For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness;
No evil [person] dwells with You.

But as for me, I will enter Your house through the abundance of Your steadfast love and tender mercy;
At Your holy temple I will bow [obediently] in reverence for You.

For You, O Lord, bless the righteous man [the one who is in right standing with You];
You surround him with favor as with a shield.

My soul [as well as my body] is greatly dismayed.
But as for You, O Lord—how long [until You act on my behalf]?

His ways prosper at all times;
Your judgments [Lord] are on high, out of his sight [so he never thinks about them];
As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.

Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer,
Seek out his wickedness until You find no more.

The wicked strut about [in pompous self-importance] on every side,
As vileness is exalted and baseness is prized among the sons of men.

Have all the workers of wickedness and injustice no knowledge,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And do not call upon the Lord?

As for the saints (godly people) who are in the land,
They are the majestic and the noble and the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

Keep me [in Your affectionate care, protect me] as the apple of Your eye;
Hide me in the [protective] shadow of Your wings

He is like a lion eager to tear [his prey],
And like a young lion lurking in hiding places.

As for me, I shall see Your face in righteousness;
I will be [fully] satisfied when I awake [to find myself] seeing Your likeness.

He made darkness His hiding place (covering); His pavilion (canopy) around Him,
The darkness of the waters, the thick clouds of the skies.

As for God, His way is blameless.
The word of the Lord is tested [it is perfect, it is faultless];
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

Then I beat them fine as the dust before the wind;
I emptied them out as the dirt of the streets.

As soon as they hear me, they respond and obey me;
Foreigners feign obedience to me.

Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.

You will make them as [if in] a blazing oven in the time of your anger;
The Lord will swallow them up in His wrath,
And the fire will devour them.

The afflicted will eat and be satisfied;
Those who [diligently] seek Him and require Him [as their greatest need] will praise the Lord.
May your hearts live forever!

But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
Redeem me and be merciful and gracious to me.

When You said, “Seek My face [in prayer, require My presence as your greatest need],” my heart said to You,
“Your face, O Lord, I will seek [on the authority of Your word].”

Although my father and my mother have abandoned me,
Yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child].

Hear the voice of my supplication (specific requests, humble entreaties) as I cry to You for help,
As I lift up my hands and heart toward Your innermost sanctuary (Holy of Holies).

The Lord sat as King at the flood;
Yes, the Lord sits as King forever.

As for me, in my prosperity I said,
“I shall never be moved.”

By Your favor and grace, O Lord, you have made my mountain stand strong;
You hid Your face, and I was horrified.

Blessed be the Lord,
For He has shown His marvelous favor and lovingkindness to me [when I was assailed] in a besieged city.

As for me, I said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from Your eyes.”
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications (specific requests)
When I cried to You [for help].

He gathers the waters of the sea together as in a wineskin;
He puts the deeps in storehouses.

Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people whom He has chosen as His own inheritance.

The Lord is near to the heartbroken
And He saves those who are crushed in spirit (contrite in heart, truly sorry for their sin).

Let them be [blown away] like chaff before the wind [worthless, without substance],
With the angel of the Lord driving them on.

Malicious witnesses rise up;
They ask me of things that I do not know.

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth (mourning garment);
I humbled my soul with fasting,
And I prayed with my head bowed on my chest.

I behaved as if grieving for my friend or my brother;
I bowed down in mourning, as one who sorrows for his mother.

For they will wither quickly like the grass,
And fade like the green herb.

He will make your righteousness [your pursuit of right standing with God] like the light,
And your judgment like [the shining of] the noonday [sun].

But the wicked (ungodly) will perish,
And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures and like the fat of lambs [that is consumed in smoke],
They vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

For those blessed by God will [at last] inherit the land,
But those cursed by Him will be cut off.

As for transgressors, they will be completely destroyed;
The future of the wicked will be cut off.

For my iniquities have gone over my head [like the waves of a flood];
As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.

My heart throbs violently, my strength fails me;
And as for the light of my eyes, even that has also gone from me.

I said, “I will guard my ways
That I may not sin with my tongue;
I will muzzle my mouth
While the wicked are in my presence.”

“Behold, You have made my days as [short as] hand widths,
And my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight.
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath [a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes]! Selah.

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and listen to my cry;
Do not be silent at my tears;
For I am Your temporary guest,
A sojourner like all my fathers.

I have proclaimed good news of righteousness [and the joy that comes from obedience to You] in the great assembly;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips [from proclaiming Your righteousness],
As You know, O Lord.

Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”

Even though I am afflicted and needy,
Still the Lord takes thought and is mindful of me.
You are my help and my rescuer.
O my God, do not delay.

As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And You set me in Your presence forever.

As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks,
So my soul pants [longingly] for You, O God.

As a crushing of my bones [with a sword], my adversaries taunt me,
While they say continually to me, “Where is your God?”

But for Your sake we are killed all the day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

God, in her palaces,
Has made Himself known as a stronghold.

Panic seized them there,
And pain, as that of a woman in childbirth.

As we have heard, so have we seen
In the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God:
God will establish her forever. Selah.

As is Your name, O God,
So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;
Your right hand is full of righteousness (rightness, justice).

Have workers of wickedness no knowledge or no understanding?
They eat up My people as though they ate bread
And have not called upon God.

As for me, I shall call upon God,
And the Lord will save me.

They attack, they hide and lurk,
They watch my steps,
As they have [expectantly] waited to take my life.

The wicked are estranged from the womb;
These go astray from birth, speaking lies [even twisted partial truths].

Their poison is like the venom of a serpent;
They are like the deaf horned viper that stops up its ear,

Let them flow away like water that runs off;
When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.

Let them be as a snail which melts away (secretes slime) as it goes along,
Like the miscarriage of a woman which never sees the sun.

Before your cooking pots can feel the fire of thorns [burning under them as fuel],
He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning ones alike.

My soul [my life, my very self] is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises [to You] with joyful lips.

Wickedness and guilt prevail against me;
Yet as for our transgressions,
You forgive them [removing them from Your sight].

For You have tested us, O God;
You have refined us as silver is refined.

Blessed be God,
Who has not turned away my prayer
Nor His lovingkindness from me.

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away;
As wax melts before the fire,
So let the wicked and guilty perish before [the presence of] God.

When the Almighty scattered [the Canaanite] kings in the land of Canaan,
It was snowing on Zalmon.

The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands;
The Lord is among them as He was at Sinai, in holiness.

Surely God will shatter the head of His enemies,
The hairy scalp of one who goes on in his guilty ways.

Do not let those who wait [confidently] for You be ashamed through me, O Lord God of hosts;
Do not let those who seek You [as necessary for life itself] be dishonored through me, O God of Israel,

But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, at an acceptable and opportune time;
O God, in the greatness of Your favor and in the abundance of Your lovingkindness,
Answer me with truth [that is, the faithfulness of Your salvation].

The humble have seen it and are glad;
You who seek God [requiring Him as your greatest need], let your heart revive and live.

May all those who seek You [as life’s first priority] rejoice and be glad in You;
May those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified!”

I am as a wonder to many,
For You are my strong refuge.

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

May his name endure forever;
May his name continue as long as the sun;
And let men bless themselves by him;
Let all nations call him blessed.

But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling,
My steps had almost slipped.

They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like mankind.

Like a dream [which seems real] until one awakens,
O Lord, when stirred, [You observe the wicked], You will despise their image.

When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within [as with the fang of an adder],

You crushed the heads of Leviathan (Egypt);
You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

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.

He split rocks in the wilderness
And gave them abundant [water to] drink like the ocean depths.

He also drove out the nations before the sons of Israel
And allotted their land as an inheritance, measured out and partitioned;
And He had the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents [the tents of those who had been dispossessed].

Then the Lord awakened as from sleep,
Like a [mighty] warrior who awakens from the sleep of wine [fully conscious of his power].

He drove His enemies backward;
He subjected them to lasting shame and dishonor.

But He chose the tribe of Judah [as Israel’s leader],
Mount Zion, which He loved [to replace Shiloh as His capital].

They have given the dead bodies of Your servants as food to the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth.

Restore us, O God of hosts;
And cause Your face to shine on us [with favor and approval], and we will be saved.

God stands in the divine assembly;
He judges among the gods (divine beings).

I said, “You are gods;
Indeed, all of you are sons of the Most High.

“Nevertheless you will die like men
And fall like any one of the princes.”

They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation;
Let the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

Deal with them as [You did] with Midian,
As with Sisera and Jabin at the brook of Kishon,

Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb
And all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

Like fire consumes the forest,
And like the flame sets the mountains on fire,