Prayer for Help against Persecutors.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David; for a memorial.
aO God, hasten to deliver me;
O Lord, hasten to my help!
2 aLet those be ashamed and humiliated
Who seek my life;
Let those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight in my hurt.
3 aLet those be turned back because of their shame
Who say, “Aha, aha!”
4 Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
And let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified.”
5 But aI am afflicted and needy;
bHasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay.
Prayer of an Old Man for Deliverance.
aIn You, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be ashamed.
2 aIn Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
bIncline Your ear to me and save me.
3 aBe to me a rock of bhabitation to which I may continually come;
You have given ccommandment to save me,
For You are dmy rock and my fortress.
4 aRescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man,
5 For You are my ahope;
O Lord God, You are my bconfidence from my youth.
6 By You I have been asustained from my birth;
You are He who btook me from my mother’s womb;
My cpraise is continually of You.
7 I have become a amarvel to many,
For You are bmy strong refuge.
8 My amouth is filled with Your praise
And with bYour glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the atime of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies have spoken against me;
And those who awatch for my life bhave consulted together,
11 Saying, “aGod has forsaken him;
Pursue and seize him, for there is bno one to deliver.”
12 O God, ado not be far from me;
O my God, bhasten to my help!
13 Let those who are adversaries of my soul be aashamed and consumed;
Let them be bcovered with reproach and dishonor, who cseek to injure me.
14 But as for me, I will ahope continually,
And will bpraise You yet more and more.
15 My amouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And of bYour salvation all day long;
For I cdo not know the sum of them.
16 I will come awith the mighty deeds of the Lord God;
I will bmake mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.
17 O God, You ahave taught me from my youth,
And I still bdeclare Your wondrous deeds.
18 And even when I am aold and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
Until I bdeclare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.
19 For Your arighteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens,
You who have bdone great things;
O God, cwho is like You?
20 You who have ashown me many troubles and distresses
Will brevive me again,
And will bring me up again cfrom the depths of the earth.
21 May You increase my agreatness
And turn to bcomfort me.
22 I will also praise You with aa harp,
Even Your truth, O my God;
To You I will sing praises with the blyre,
O cHoly One of Israel.
23 My lips will ashout for joy when I sing praises to You;
And my bsoul, which You have redeemed.
24 My atongue also will utter Your righteousness all day long;
For they are bashamed, for they are humiliated who seek my hurt.
The Reign of the Righteous King.
A Psalm of Solomon.
Give the king aYour judgments, O God,
And bYour righteousness to the king’s son.
2 May he ajudge Your people with righteousness
And bYour afflicted with justice.
3 Let the mountains bring apeace to the people,
And the hills, in righteousness.
4 May he avindicate the afflicted of the people,
Save the children of the needy
And crush the oppressor.
5 Let them fear You awhile the sun endures,
And as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
6 May he come down alike rain upon the mown grass,
Like bshowers that water the earth.
7 In his days may the arighteous flourish,
And babundance of peace till the moon is no more.
8 May he also rule afrom sea to sea
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 Let athe nomads of the desert bbow before him,
And his enemies click the dust.
10 Let the kings of aTarshish and of the bislands bring presents;
The kings of cSheba and dSeba eoffer gifts.
11 And let all akings bow down before him,
All bnations serve him.
12 For he will adeliver the needy when he cries for help,
The afflicted also, and him who has no helper.
13 He will have acompassion on the poor and needy,
And the lives of the needy he will save.
14 He will arescue their life from oppression and violence,
And their blood will be bprecious in his sight;
15 So may he live, and may the agold of Sheba be given to him;
And let them pray for him continually;
Let them bless him all day long.
16 May there be abundance of grain in the earth on top of the mountains;
Its fruit will wave like the cedars of aLebanon;
And may those from the city flourish like bvegetation of the earth.
17 May his aname endure forever;
May his name increase bas long as the sun shines;
And let men cbless themselves by him;
dLet all nations call him blessed.
18 aBlessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
Who alone bworks wonders.
19 And blessed be His aglorious name forever;
And may the whole bearth be filled with His glory.
cAmen, and Amen.
20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
The End of the Wicked Contrasted with That of the Righteous.
A Psalm of Asaph.
Surely God is agood to Israel,
To those who are bpure in heart!
2 But as for me, amy feet came close to stumbling,
My steps had almost slipped.
3 For I was aenvious of the arrogant
As I saw the bprosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains in their death,
And their body is fat.
5 They are anot in trouble as other men,
Nor are they bplagued like mankind.
6 Therefore pride is atheir necklace;
The bgarment of violence covers them.
7 Their eye bulges from afatness;
The imaginations of their heart run riot.
8 They amock and wickedly speak of oppression;
They bspeak from on high.
9 They have aset their mouth against the heavens,
And their tongue parades through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return to this place,
And waters of aabundance are drunk by them.
11 They say, “aHow does God know?
And is there knowledge with the Most High?”
12 Behold, athese are the wicked;
And always bat ease, they have increased in wealth.
13 Surely ain vain I have kept my heart pure
And bwashed my hands in innocence;
14 For I have been stricken aall day long
And bchastened every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
Behold, I would have betrayed the ageneration of Your children.
16 When I apondered to understand this,
It was troublesome in my sight
17 Until I came into the asanctuary of God;
Then I perceived their bend.
18 Surely You set them in aslippery places;
You cast them down to bdestruction.
19 How they are adestroyed in a moment!
They are utterly swept away by bsudden terrors!
20 Like a adream when one awakes,
O Lord, when baroused, You will cdespise their form.
21 When my aheart was embittered
And I was bpierced within,
22 Then I was asenseless and ignorant;
I was like a bbeast before You.
23 Nevertheless aI am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand.
24 With Your counsel You will aguide me,
And afterward breceive me to glory.
25 aWhom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
26 My aflesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my bportion forever.
27 For, behold, athose who are far from You will bperish;
You have destroyed all those who care unfaithful to You.
28 But as for me, athe nearness of God is my good;
I have made the Lord God my brefuge,
That I may ctell of all Your works.