PSALMS

Psalm 1

¹ How fortunate are those who do not do what the wicked people advise them to do,

who do not imitate the behavior of sinful people,

and who do not join with people who ridicule God.

² Instead, those with whom Yahweh is pleased delight in understanding what he teaches us.

They read and think every day and every night about what Yahweh teaches.

³ They constantly do things that please God,

just as fruit trees that have been planted along the banks of a stream produce fruit at the right time every year.

Like trees that never wither,

they succeed in everything that they do.

⁴ But wicked people are not like that!

Wicked people are as worthless as chaff

that is blown away by the wind.

⁵ Therefore, when God judges all mankind, he will condemn the wicked.

Furthermore, the wicked will not be present when Yahweh gathers all the righteous people together.

⁶ For Yahweh guides and protects righteous people,

but the path that the wicked walk on leads them to where God will destroy them forever.

Psalm 2

¹ Why do the leaders of nations rage against Yahweh?

Why do people plan to rebel against him, even though it is in vain?

² The kings of the nations on earth prepare to revolt;

the rulers plot together to fight against Yahweh and against his Anointed One.

³ They shout, "We should free ourselves from their control;

we should not let them rule over us any longer!"

⁴ But the one who sits on his throne in heaven laughs at them;

the Lord ridicules those rulers.

⁵ Then, because he is angry with them, he rebukes them.

He causes them to be terrified when they realize that he will furiously punish them.

⁶ Yahweh says, "I have put my king on a throne on Zion, my sacred hill in Jerusalem."

⁷ His king says, "I will proclaim what Yahweh has decreed.

He said to me, 'You are my son;

today I have become your father.

⁸ Request me to give you the nations

so that they belong to you permanently,

and I will give them to you.

Even the most remote nations will be yours.

⁹ You will strike them down with an iron rod;

like the potter crashes his pot into pieces when he throws it on the ground,

that is how you will break them up into small pieces.

¹⁰ So then, you kings and other rulers on the earth, act wisely!

Listen to what Yahweh is warning you!

¹¹ Worship Yahweh; fervently honor him.

Rejoice about the things he has done, but tremble before him!

¹² Bow down humbly before his son!

If you do not do that, he will be angry,

and he will suddenly kill you.

Do not forget that he can, in one moment, show that he is very angry!

But how fortunate are all those who request him to protect them.

Psalm 3

¹ Yahweh, I have many enemies!

There are many people who oppose me.

² Many people are saying about me,

"God will certainly not help him."

³ But Yahweh, you are like a shield that protects me.

You greatly honor me, and you encourage me.

⁴ I cry out to you, Yahweh,

and you answer me from Zion, your sacred hill.

⁵ At night I lay down and slept, and I woke up in the morning

because you, Yahweh, took care of me all during the night.

⁶ There may be thousands of enemy soldiers who surround me,

but I am not afraid.

⁷ Yahweh, arise!

My God, come and rescue me again!

You will insult my enemies by slapping them on their cheeks;

when you strike them, you will destroy their power,

with the result that they cannot hurt anyone.

⁸ Yahweh, you are the one who saves your people from their enemies.

Yahweh, bless your people!

Psalm 4

¹ God, answer me when I pray to you.

You are the one who shows people that I am right to trust in you.

You rescued me when I was in great trouble.

Act mercifully toward me and listen to me while I pray.

² How long will you people shame me instead of honoring me?

You people love to falsely accuse me.

³ All those who honor Yahweh—

he has chosen them to belong to him.

Yahweh will listen to me when I pray to him.

⁴ You should be afraid of Yahweh, but do not allow your fear to cause you to sin.

While you lie on your bed,

silently examine what you are thinking in your inner being.

⁵ Also, offer to Yahweh the proper sacrifices

and continue trusting in him.

⁶ Some people ask, "Will somone please bring good things to us?"

But I say, "Yahweh, continue to act kindly toward us.

⁷ You have caused me to be very happy;

I am happier than people who have harvested a great amount of grain and grapes.

⁸ It is in peace and security that I will lie down at night and sleep soundly

because I know that it is only you, Yahweh, who will keep me safe."

Psalm 5

¹ Yahweh, listen to me while I pray!

Pay attention to me when I am groaning because I am suffering very much.

² You are my king and my God.

When I call to you to request you to help me, listen to me

because you are the one to whom I pray.

³ You listen to me when I pray to you each morning,

and I wait for you to reply.

⁴ You are not a god who is pleased with wicked people;

you will never welcome those who do what is evil.

⁵ You do not allow those who are proud to come to you to worship you.

You hate all those who do evil things.

⁶ You get rid of liars,

and you despise those who murder others and those who deceive others.

⁷ Yahweh, because you greatly and faithfully love me,

I come into your temple.

I have an awesome respect for you

and I will bow down to worship you at your sacred temple.

⁸ Yahweh, because you act righteously toward me,

show me what is right for me to do.

Because I have many enemies,

show me clearly how to live in the right way.

⁹ My enemies never say what is true;

in their inner beings they want to destroy others.

They speak threats of violence and death.

They use their tongues to say good things to please people.

¹⁰ O God, declare that they are guilty and punish them.

Cause them to experience the same disasters that they plan to cause to happen to others.

Get rid of them because they have committed many sins,

and they have rebelled against you.

¹¹ But cause that all those who go to you to be protected will rejoice;

cause them to sing joyfully to you forever.

Protect those who love you;

they are truly happy because of what you do for them.

¹² Yahweh, you always bless those who act righteously;

you protect them as a soldier protects himself with his shield.

Psalm 6

¹ Yahweh, do not correct me when you are angry with me;

do not punish me when you are upset.

² Yahweh, act kindly toward me and heal me because I have become weak.

My body shakes because I am experiencing so much sorrow.

³ Yahweh, I am greatly troubled in my inner being.

How long must I endure this?

⁴ Yahweh, please come and rescue me.

Save me because you always keep the promises of your covenant.

⁵ I will not be able to praise you after I die;

no one in the place where the dead are praise you.

⁶ I am exhausted because of my pain.

I cry all night long so that my bed and my pillow are drenched by my tears.

⁷ Because I cry so much, I cannot see well.

My eyes have become weak because I constantly cry in fear of my enemies.

⁸ You people who do evil things, get away from me,

because Yahweh heard me when I was crying!

⁹ Yahweh heard me when I called out for him to help me,

and he will answer my prayer.

¹⁰ When that happens, all my enemies will be ashamed;

they will be the ones who are terrified.

They will turn away from me and suddenly leave me

because they will be disgraced.

Psalm 7

¹ Yahweh my God, I come to you to protect me.

Rescue me, save me from all those who are pursuing me in order to harm me.

² If you do not do that, they will tear me into pieces

like a lion does when it attacks the animals it wants to kill;

no one will save me from them.

³ Yahweh my God, suppose that I have done anything that is wrong,

⁴ or that I have done evil to some friend,

or that, for no good reason, I have harmed my enemies.

⁵ Then allow my enemies to pursue me and capture me.

Allow them to trample me into the ground

and leave me lying dead in the dirt.

⁶ Yahweh, because you are very angry with those who pursue me,

arise and attack the ones attacking me!

Do to them what you have said is just!

⁷ The people of all nations gather around you to attack you,

but you will rule them from where you are in heaven.

⁸ Yahweh, judge the people of all nations!

Yahweh, show that I have done nothing wrong.

⁹ God, you know what every person is thinking in his inner being

and because you are righteous, you always do what is just.

So now stop evil people from doing wicked deeds,

and defend all of us who are righteous!

¹⁰ God, you protect me as a shield protects soldiers;

you rescue all those who are righteous in their inner being.

¹¹ You judge everyone correctly,

and every day you punish wicked people who insult your law.

¹² Whenever your enemies do not repent,

it is as though you sharpen your sword and put a string on your bow to get ready to kill them.

¹³ You are preparing your weapons to kill those whom you strike;

the arrows that you will shoot have flaming tips.

¹⁴ Wicked people plot their lies and evil things,

they plan and take delight in their thoughts like a pregnant woman who is planning to give birth.

¹⁵ But when they dig a deep pit to trap others,

they themselves will fall into it.

¹⁶ They themselves will experience the trouble that they want to cause others to have;

they will hurt themselves by the violent things that they want to do to others.

¹⁷ I praise Yahweh because he always acts righteously;

I sing to praise Yahweh, the one who is much greater than any other god.

Psalm 8

¹ Yahweh our Lord, people all over the world know that you are very great!

We see your greatness every time we look toward the heavens!

² You have taught little children and infants to praise you;

they cause your enemies and those who try to get revenge on you to be silent.

³ I look up at the sky at night

and see the things that you have made—

the moon and the stars that you have set in place.

⁴ It is amazing to me that you think about people,

that you are concerned about us humans!

⁵ You made the angels in heaven to be only a little more important than we are;

you caused us to be like kings!

⁶ You put us in charge of everything that you made;

you gave us authority over all things—

⁷ the sheep and the cattle,

and even the wild animals,

⁸ the birds, the fish,

and everything else that swims in the seas.

⁹ Yahweh our Lord,

people all over the world know that you are very great!

Psalm 9

¹ Yahweh, I will praise you with all of my inner being.

I will tell others about all the wonderful things that you have done.

² I will sing to celebrate what you, who are much greater than all other gods, have done.

³ When my enemies realize that you are very powerful,

they stumble, and then they are killed.

⁴ You sit on your throne to judge people,

and you have judged fairly concerning me.

⁵ You rebuked the people of other nations,

and you have gotten rid of the wicked people;

you have erased their names forever.

⁶ Our enemies have disappeared;

you destroyed their cities,

and people do not even remember them anymore.

⁷ But Yahweh rules forever.

He judges people while he sits on his throne.

⁸ He will judge all the people in the world justly;

he will be fair when he judges the people of every nation.

⁹ Yahweh will be a refuge for those who are oppressed;

he will be like a shelter for them when they have trouble.

¹⁰ Those who know Yahweh trust in him;

he never abandons those who come to him for help.

¹¹ Yahweh rules on Mount Zion;

praise him and sing to him.

Tell the people of all the nations the marvelous things that he has done.

¹² He does not forget to punish those who have murdered others;

he will punish them,

and he will not ignore people who are crying because they are suffering.

¹³ Yahweh, act mercifully toward me!

Look at the ways that my enemies have injured me.

Do not allow me to die because of these injuries.

¹⁴ I want to live in order that I can praise you at the gates of Jerusalem

and to rejoice because you rescued me.

¹⁵ It is as though the wicked people of many nations have dug a pit for me to fall into,

but they have fallen into that same pit.

It is as though they have spread out a net to catch me,

but their feet have been caught in that same net.

¹⁶ Because of what you have done, people know that you make justice happen;

you allow wicked people to be trapped by the same evil things that they themselves do.

¹⁷ Wicked people will all die and be buried in their graves;

their spirits will go to be with all those who have forgotten about you.

¹⁸ But you will not forget those who are needy;

what they confidently expect will never be in vain.

¹⁹ Yahweh, do not allow our enemies to conquer us

just because they are strong;

You see what the people do and you bring justice to them all.

²⁰ Yahweh, teach them that they must be afraid of you and honor you.

Cause them to know that they are only human beings.

Psalm 10

¹ Yahweh, why do you keep yourself far away from us?

Why do you not pay attention when we have troubles?

² Proud, wicked people, have a terrible desire within them to make poor people suffer.

God, make them fall into their own traps, so that what they did to others may be done to them!

³ The wicked person boasts about the evil things he wants to do.

He desires to own the things that others have, and he does not want them to own more things than he has.

He boasts about all the things he owns, while he curses you, Yahweh.

⁴ The wicked person is so proud

he never looks for God

and if he did look for God, he would not find him.

He is too proud to even think about God.

⁵ But, looking at the life of the wicked man,

it seems that everything he does is successful.

He cannot even understand your commands, God,

and then he mocks his enemies.

⁶ In his mind he thinks, "Nothing bad can happen to me!

As long as I live, I will never have troubles."

⁷ When he speaks he always curses and tells lies,

and he makes threats against others.

When he talks, he only speaks about hurting or destroying other people.

⁸ He makes plans to attack the people living in the villages, people who have done nothing wrong.

He waits in places where he can hide

while he keeps looking for more people he can attack,

people who cannot defend themselves.

⁹ He waits for his victims like a lion who crouches down,

and just like the lion, he hides in the bushes.

He is like the hunter who spreads out the net

so he can catch helpless people and drag them away.

¹⁰ The helpless people are crushed by the wicked person's plans

and all the things he does.

He is powerful, and when he opposes the helpless people,

he always takes away from them whatever he wants.

¹¹ The wicked person says, "God cannot remember what I did.

His eyes are covered, and he cannot see anything that I have done."

¹² Yahweh, arise! God, strike him down!

Do not forget those who are suffering!

¹³ Why does the most wicked person curse you, God, and turn away from you?

Does he think, "God can never punish me"?

¹⁴ God, you do see the trouble and the distress that the wicked person causes.

And you will strike the wicked man and punish him for all that he does.

¹⁵ God, destroy the power of the person who is wicked and evil!

Make him pay for those evil things he did,

those things that he thought God would not find out about him.

¹⁶ Yahweh is king forever!

He will drive out foreign people from his land.

¹⁷ Yahweh, when the people who suffer cry out to you, you listen.

You hear them when they pray and you encourage them.

¹⁸ You defend the orphans and oppressed people

when the strong and the wicked work to do them harm.

And so, no one has to worry or be terrified anymore.

Psalm 11

¹ I trust that Yahweh will protect me.

So I do not fly off to the mountains like birds do.

² It is true that wicked people have hidden in the darkness,

that they have pulled back their bowstrings and aimed their arrows

to shoot them at people who honor Yahweh.

³ When wicked people do not suffer for disobeying the laws,

what can righteous people do?

⁴ But Yahweh is sitting on his throne in his sacred temple in heaven,

and he sees everything that people do.

⁵ Yahweh examines what righteous people do and what wicked people do,

and he hates those who love to injure others.

⁶ He will send down from the sky flaming coals and burning sulfur on the wicked;

he will send scorching hot winds to punish them.

⁷ Yahweh does everything that is right, and he loves those who do what is right;

such people will come into his presence.

Psalm 12

¹ Yahweh, help us! It seems like people who honor you are no more,

that those who are loyal to you have all vanished.

² Everyone tells lies to other people;

they deceive others by flattering them, but they tell lies.

³ Yahweh, we wish that you would cut off their tongues

so that they cannot continue to boast.

⁴ They say, "By telling lies we will get what we want;

we control what we say, so no one can tell us what we should do!"

⁵ But Yahweh replies, "I have seen the violent things that they have done to helpless people;

I have heard those people groaning,

so I will arise and rescue the people who are wanting me to help them."

⁶ Yahweh, you always do what you have promised to do;

what you have promised is as precious and pure as silver

that has been heated seven times in a furnace to get rid of all the impure material.

⁷ Yahweh, we know that you will protect us who honor you

from those wicked people,

⁸ those who strut around proudly,

while people praise them for doing evil deeds.

Psalm 13

¹ Yahweh, how long will you continue to forget about me?

Will you hide yourself from me forever?

² How long must I endure anguish within myself?

Must I be miserable every day?

How long will my enemies continue to defeat me?

³ Yahweh my God, look at me and answer me.

Restore my strength, or I will die.

⁴ Do not allow my enemies to boast and to say, "We have defeated him!"

Do not allow them to defeat me,

with the result that they will rejoice about it!

⁵ But I trust that you will faithfully love me;

I will rejoice when you rescue me.

⁶ Yahweh, you have done many good things for me,

so I will sing to you.

Psalm 14

¹ Only foolish people say to themselves, "There is no God!"

People who say those things only do corrupt deeds;

there is not one of them who does what is good.

² From heaven Yahweh looks down at everyone;

he looks to see if anyone is very wise,

wise enough to desire to know him.

³ Everyone turns away from Yahweh. They are depraved and do disgusting, filthy things.

No one does what is good.

⁴ Will those evil people never learn what God will do to punish them?

They act violently toward Yahweh's people and want to consume them like one who eats food consumes it,

and they never pray to Yahweh.

⁵ But some day they will become very terrified

because God helps those who act righteously and will punish those who reject him.

⁶ Those who do evil may prevent helpless people from doing what they plan to do,

but Yahweh protects them.

⁷ Out of Zion Yahweh will come and rescue the Israelite people!

He will make his people free again and will bring them back to their home.

On that day all of us Israelite people will rejoice, and we, who are also called the descendants of Jacob, will be happy.

Psalm 15

¹ Yahweh, who are allowed to enter your sacred tent?

Who are allowed to live on your sacred mountain?

² Only those who always do what is right and do not sin may do that,

those who always speak the truth.

³ They do not slander others.

They do not do to others things that are wrong,

and they do not say bad things about anyone.

⁴ People who honor God hate those whom he has rejected,

but they respect those who have a fearful respect for Yahweh.

They do what they have promised to do

even if it causes them trouble to do that.

⁵ They lend money to others without charging interest,

and they never accept bribes in order to lie about people who have not done anything wrong.

Those who do those things will always live in safety.

Psalm 16

¹ God, protect me

because I go to you to keep me safe!

² I said to Yahweh, "You are my Lord;

all the good things that I have come from you."

³ People who try to be holy who live in this land are wonderful;

I delight to be with them.

⁴ Those who choose to worship other gods will have many things that cause them to be sad.

I will not join them when they make sacrifices to their gods;

I will not even join them in speaking the names of their gods.

⁵ Yahweh, you are the one whom I have chosen,

and you give me great blessings.

You protect me and control what happens to me.

⁶ Yahweh has given me a wonderful place in which to live;

I am delighted with all the things that he has given me.

⁷ I will praise Yahweh, the one who teaches me;

even at night he tells my heart what is right for me to do.

⁸ I know that Yahweh is always with me.

Nothing will take me from his side.

⁹ Therefore I am glad; I am honored to praise him,

and I can rest securely

¹⁰ because you, Yahweh, will not allow me to remain in the place where the dead people are,

and you will not allow me, someone who has been faithful to the covenant, to stay there.

¹¹ You will show me the road that leads to where I receive eternal life,

and you will make me joyful when I am with you.

I will have pleasure forever when I am at your right hand.

Psalm 17

¹ Yahweh, listen to me while I plead with you to act justly toward me.

Hear me while I call out to you to help me.

Pay attention to what I say while I pray

because I am speaking honestly.

² You are the one who is able to declare that I am innocent;

please agree to do what is right for me.

³ If you come to me at night to learn what I think,

if you see what I think in my heart,

you will know that I have determined to never tell any lies; you will find that I do not think evil things.

⁴ I have not acted like those who do not honor you;

I have always acted in the power of what you have instructed me;

I have not acted like those who do not know your law.

⁵ I have always done what you told me to do;

I have never failed to do those things.

⁶ O God, I am praying to you because you answer me;

please listen to what I am saying.

⁷ Continue to show me your love as you promised you would do.

By your great power you protect all who trust in you; you keep them safe from their enemies.

⁸ Protect me as carefully as people protect their own eyes;

protect me like birds protect their babies under their wings.

⁹ Do not allow wicked people to attack me,

those enemies of mine who surround, wanting to kill me.

¹⁰ They are proud of their riches and success,

but they have no mercy on anyone.

¹¹ They have hunted for me and found me.

They surround me, watching for an opportunity to throw me to the ground and kill me.

¹² They are like lions that are ready to tear apart the animals that they capture;

They are like young lions that are hiding, waiting to jump on their prey.

¹³ Yahweh, arise, attack my enemies, and defeat them!

With your sword save me from those wicked people!

¹⁴ Yahweh, by your power rescue me from those people who are interested only in things here in this world.

But you provide plenty of food for those whom you love dearly;

their children also have many things that their grandchildren will inherit.

¹⁵ Yahweh, because I act in the right way, I will be with you one day.

When I awake after I die, I will see you face to face, and then I will be happy.

Psalm 18

¹ Yahweh, I love you, the one who enables me to be strong.

² Yahweh is like a huge rock; when I am on top of it, my enemies cannot reach me. He is like a strong fortress; I run into it to be safe.

He protects me like a shield protects a soldier; he is the one whom I trust to keep me safe; he defends me by his great power!

³ I called out to Yahweh, who deserves for me to praise him, and he rescued me from my enemies.

⁴ All around me were dangerous situations in which I might die; it was as though there were huge waves that almost crashed on me and killed me.

⁵ It was as though the place where dead people are had ropes that were wrapped around me, or it was as though there was a trap that would seize and kill me.

⁶ But when I was very distressed, I called out to Yahweh, and far off in his temple he heard me.

He listened to me when I cried out for help.

⁷ Then Yahweh became angry, and the earth quaked, and the mountains shook to their very foundations!

⁸ He was so angry that it was as though smoke poured out from his nostrils, as though burning coals came out of his mouth!

⁹ He opened the sky and came down with a black cloud under his feet.

¹⁰ He flew, riding on the back of an angel traveling fast, which the wind was blowing along.

¹¹ Darkness was all around him like a blanket; dark clouds, full of water moisture, covered him.

¹² Hailstones and flashes of lightning were around him; hail and burning coals fell down from the sky.

¹³ Then Yahweh shouted loudly from the sky, and to his enemies, it sounded like thunder. Yahweh, the Supreme God, rained hailstones on them and caused lightning to flash against them.

¹⁴ He shot his arrows at them and caused them to scatter; his flashes of lightning caused them to become very confused.

¹⁵ The bottom of the ocean became visible, and the water uncovered the foundations of the earth when Yahweh rebuked his enemies

with the breath that came in his anger!

¹⁶ It was as though he reached down from heaven and grabbed me and pulled me up out of the deep ocean.

¹⁷ He rescued me from my strong enemies who hated me; they were very strong, and I could not defeat them by myself.

¹⁸ When I was distressed, they attacked me, but Yahweh defended me.

¹⁹ He made me completely safe; he rescued me because he was pleased with me.

²⁰ Yahweh has rewarded me because I do what is right; he has blessed me because I am innocent.

²¹ I have obeyed Yahweh's laws; I have not abandoned him.

²² I have followed his decrees; I have not stopped obeying them.

²³ He knows that I have not done what is wrong and that I have kept myself from sinning.

²⁴ So he rewards me because I do what is right; he knows that I have not committed sins.

²⁵ Yahweh, you are faithful to those who faithfully do your covenant; you always do what is good to those who do not do evil.

²⁶ You are kind to those who are honest toward others, but you act wisely toward those who act dishonestly.

²⁷ You save those who are humble, but you humiliate those who are proud.

²⁸ You keep me alive, and you will continue to do so.

²⁹ You enable me to be strong, so that I can attack and defeat a line of enemy soldiers; with your help I can scale the walls that surround my enemies' cities.

³⁰ Everything that Yahweh my God does is perfect. We can depend on him to do what he promises.

He is like a shield to protect all those who go to him to be safe.

³¹ Yahweh is the only one who is God; only he is like a huge rock on top of which we can be safe.

³² God is the one who enables me to be strong and who keeps me safe on the roads that I walk on.

³³ He enables me to walk swiftly without stumbling as a deer walks in the mountains.

³⁴ He teaches me how to use a strong bow in order that I can use it to fight in battles.

³⁵ Yahweh, you protect and save me with your shield; you are strong and have therefore kept me safe. I have become strong because you have helped me.

³⁶ You have made a safe path for me, with the result that now I do not slip.

³⁷ I pursued my enemies and caught them; I did not stop until I had defeated them all.

³⁸ When I strike them, they are not able to get up again; they lie on the ground, defeated.

³⁹ You have enabled me to be strong in order that I can fight battles and defeat my enemies.

⁴⁰ You delivered my enemies to me, for me to strike them on their necks. I have gotten rid of all those who hated me.

⁴¹ They shouted for someone to help them, but no one saved them. They shouted out to Yahweh, but he did not help them.

⁴² I crushed them to powder, and they became like the dust that the wind blows away; I threw them out like people throw dirt out into the streets.

⁴³ You enabled me to defeat those who fought against me and appointed me to be the ruler of many nations; people whom I did not know about previously are now slaves in my kingdom.

⁴⁴ When foreigners hear about me, they cringe and they obey me.

⁴⁵ They are no longer courageous, and from their holes where they were hiding they come to me trembling.

⁴⁶ Yahweh is alive! Praise the one who is like a huge rock on top of which I am safe! Exalt the God who saves me!

⁴⁷ He enables me to get revenge on my enemies; he causes me to defeat nations and to rule over them.

⁴⁸ it is Yahweh who rescues me from my enemies. He has lifted me up high so that violent men could not reach me and harm me.

⁴⁹ So I praise him, and I tell the nations the great things that he has done.

⁵⁰ He has enabled me, his king, to powerfully defeat my enemies; he faithfully loves me as he promised in his covenant.

He loves me, David, the one he has chosen to be king, and he will faithfully love my descendants forever.

Psalm 19

¹ When people look at everything that God has placed in the skies, they can see that he is very great;

they can see the great things that he has created.

² Day after day it is as though the sun proclaims the glory of God,

and night after night it is as though the moon and stars say that they know that God made them.

³ They do not really speak;

they do not say any words.

There is no sound from them for anyone to hear.

⁴ But what they declare about God goes throughout the world,

and even people who live in the most distant places on earth can know it.

The sun is in the skies where God placed it;

⁵ it rises each morning like a bridegroom who is happy as he comes out of his bedroom after his wedding.

It is like a strong athlete who is very eager to start running in a race.

⁶ The sun rises at one side of the sky and goes across the sky and sets on the other side;

nothing can hide from its heat.

⁷ The instructions that Yahweh has given us are perfect;

they revive us.

We can be sure that the things that Yahweh has told us will never change,

and by learning them people who have not been previously taught will become wise.

⁸ Yahweh's laws are fair;

when we obey them, we become joyful.

The commands of Yahweh are clear,

and by reading them we start to understand how God wants us to behave.

⁹ It is good for people to revere Yahweh;

that is something that they will do forever.

What Yahweh has decreed is fair,

and it is always right.

¹⁰ The things that God has decided are more valuable than gold,

even the finest gold.

They are sweeter than honey

that drips from honeycombs.

¹¹ Furthermore, by reading them I learn what things are good to do and what things are evil,

and they promise a great reward

to us who obey them.

¹² But here is no one who can know all his errors;

so Yahweh, forgive me for these things which I do that I do not realize are wrong.

¹³ Keep me from doing things that I know are wrong;

do not let me keep doing the evil things I want to do.

If you do that, I will no longer be guilty for committing such sins,

and I will not commit the great sin of rebelling terribly against you.

¹⁴ O Yahweh, you are like a huge rock on top of which I can be safe; you are the one who protects me.

I hope that the things that I say and what I think will always please you.

Psalm 20

¹ We desire that Yahweh may help you when you call out to him when you have troubles!

We desire that God, whom our ancestor Jacob honored, may keep you safe from your enemies.

² We desire that he may reach out from his sacred temple and help you

and aid you from where he lives on Mount Zion.

³ We desire that he may accept all the offerings that you give him to be burned on the altar

and all your other offerings.

⁴ We desire that he may give to you what you desire in your heart,

and that you may be able to accomplish all that you desire to do.

⁵ When you defeat your enemies, we will shout joyfully.

We will lift up a banner proclaiming that it is God who has helped you.

May Yahweh do for you all that you request him to do.

⁶ I know now that Yahweh rescues me, the one whom he has chosen to be king.

From his holy place in heaven he will answer me,

and he will save me by his great power.

⁷ Some kings trust that because they have chariots they will be able to defeat their enemies,

and some trust that their horses will enable them to defeat their enemies,

but we will trust in the power of Yahweh our God.

⁸ Some will stumble and fall down,

but we will be strong and not be moved.

⁹ Yahweh, help the king defeat our enemies!

Answer us when we call out to you to help us!

Psalm 21

¹ Yahweh, the man you made king is glad because you have caused him to be strong.

He rejoices because you have enabled him to defeat his enemies.

² You have given him everything he most desired,

and you have not refused to do what he requested you to do.

³ You have done so many wonderful things for him.

You placed a gold crown on his head.

⁴ He asked you to let him live for a long time,

and you have enabled him to live for a long time.

⁵ His power as king is very great because you have allowed him to win victories over his enemies.

⁶ You will bless him forever,

and you have caused him to be joyful in your presence.

⁷ Yahweh, you are God Almighty,

and the king trusts in you.

Because you faithfully love him,

disastrous things will never happen to him.

⁸ You will enable him to kill all his enemies,

all those who hate him.

⁹ When you appear, you will throw them into a fiery furnace.

Because you are angry with them, you will swallow them up;

the fire will burn them up.

¹⁰ You will remove their children from this earth;

their descendants will all disappear.

¹¹ They wanted to harm you,

but what they plan will never succeed.

¹² You will cause them to run away

by shooting arrows at them.

¹³ Yahweh, show us that you are very strong!

When you do that, we will sing and praise you because you are very powerful.

Psalm 22

¹ My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

Why do you stay so far from me,

and why do you not listent to me?

Why do you not hear me when I am suffering and groaning?

² My God, every day I call to you during the daytime, but you do not answer me.

I call to you during the night; I am not silent at all.

³ But you are holy.

You sit on your throne as king, and we the people of Israel praise you.

⁴ Our ancestors trusted in you.

Because they trusted in you, you rescued them.

⁵ When they called out to you for help, you saved them.

They trusted in you, and they were not disappointed.

⁶ But you have not rescued me!

People despise me and consider that I am not a man;

they think that I am a worm!

Everyone scorns me and despises me.

⁷ Everyone who sees me makes fun of me.

They sneer at me and insult me by shaking their heads at me as though I were an evil man.

They say,

⁸ "He trusts in Yahweh,

so Yahweh should save him!

He says that Yahweh is very pleased with him;

if that is so, Yahweh should rescue him!"

⁹ You, God, have been with me since I was in my mother's womb,

and you taught me to trust you when I was at my mother's breasts.

¹⁰ It was as though you had adopted me right when I was born.

You have been my God ever since I was born.

¹¹ So do not stay far from me now

because enemies who will cause me much trouble are near me,

and there is no one else who can help me.

¹² My enemies surround me like a herd of wild bulls.

Fierce people, like those strong bulls that graze on the hills in the region of Bashan, surround me.

¹³ They are like roaring lions that are attacking the animals that they want to eat;

they rush toward me to kill me;

they are like lions that have their mouths open, ready to chew their victims to pieces.

¹⁴ I am completely exhausted,

and all my bones are out of their joints.

I no longer expect that God will save me;

I am completely discouraged.

¹⁵ My strength is all dried up

like a broken piece of a clay jar that has dried in the sun.

I am so thirsty that my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

God, I think that you are about to let my body die and become dust!

¹⁶ My enemies are like wild dogs that surround me.

A group of evil men has encircled me, ready to attack me.

They have pierced through my hands and my feet.

¹⁷ I am so weak and thin that I can count all my bones.

My enemies stare at me and gloat about what has happened to me.

¹⁸ They looked at the clothes that I was wearing

and gambled to determine which piece each of them would get.

¹⁹ Yahweh, be concerned for me!

You who are my source of strength,

come quickly and help me!

²⁰ Rescue me from those who want to kill me with their swords.

Save my life from the power of those who are like wild dogs.

²¹ Snatch me away from my enemies who are like lions with jaws open and ready to chew me up!

Grab me away from those men who are like wild oxen that attack other animals with their horns!

²² If you save me from them, I will declare to my fellow Israelites how great you are.

I will praise you among the group of your people gathered together to worship you.

²³ You people who have an awesome respect for Yahweh, praise him!

All you who are descended from Jacob, honor Yahweh!

All you Israelite people, revere him!

²⁴ He does not despise or ignore those who are suffering;

he does not hide his face from them.

He has listened to them when they cried out to him for help.

²⁵ Yahweh, in the great gathering of your people, I will praise you for what you have done.

In the presence of those who have an awesome respect for you, I will offer the sacrifices that I promised.

²⁶ The poor people whom I have invited to the meal will eat as much as they want.

All who come to worship Yahweh will praise him.

I pray that God will enable you all to live a long and happy life!

²⁷ I pray that people in all nations, even in the remote areas, will think about Yahweh and turn to him,

and that people from all the clans in the world will bow down before him.

²⁸ For Yahweh is the king!

He rules all the nations.

²⁹ All the rich people on the earth will celebrate and bow before him.

Some day they will die, for they cannot avoid it,

but they will prostrate themselves on the ground in his presence.

³⁰ People in the future generations will also serve Yahweh.

They will tell their children about what Yahweh has done.

³¹ People who are not yet born, who will live in future years, will learn how Yahweh rescued his people.

People will tell them, "Yahweh did it!"

Psalm 23

¹ Yahweh, you care for me like a shepherd cares for his sheep,

so I have everything that I need.

² You enable me to rest in peace

as when a shepherd leads his sheep to places where there is plenty of green grass for them to eat,

as when he lets them lie down beside streams where the water is flowing slowly.

³ You renew my strength.

You show me how to live in the right way,

in order that I can honor you.

⁴ Even when I am walking in very dangerous places

where I might die,

I will not be afraid of anything

because you are with me.

You protect me like a shepherd protects his sheep.

⁵ You prepare a great feast for me

in a place where my enemies can see me.

You welcome me

as a guest whom you honor.

You have given me very many blessings!

⁶ I am certain that you will be good to me

and act mercifully toward me

as long as I live;

then, O Yahweh, I will live in your home forever.

Psalm 24

¹ The earth and everything in it belongs to Yahweh;

all the people in the world belong to him, too;

² he built the land on the water,

above the water that is deep below.

³ Who will be allowed to go up onto Mount Zion in Jerusalem,

in order to stand and worship in Yahweh's holy temple?

⁴ Only those whose actions and thoughts are pure,

who have not worshiped idols,

and who do not tell lies when they have solemnly promised to tell the truth.

⁵ Yahweh will bless them.

When God judges them, he will rescue them and say that they have done nothing wrong.

⁶ They are the people who come to God,

they are the ones who desire to worship God,

and serve the God of Jacob.

⁷ Open up the temple gates

in order that our glorious king may enter!

⁸ Do you know who the glorious king is?

It is Yahweh, the one who is very strong;

It is Yahweh, who conquers all his enemies in battles!

⁹ Open up the temple gates

in order that our glorious king may enter!

¹⁰ Do you know who the glorious king is?

It is Yahweh, commander of the angel armies;

he is our glorious king!

Psalm 25

¹ Yahweh, I give myself to you.

² My God, I trust in you.

Do not allow my enemies to defeat me

and shame me.

Do not allow my enemies to defeat me

and rejoice over me.

³ Do not allow any of those who trust in you to be ashamed.

Cause those who act treacherously toward others to be disgraced.

⁴ Yahweh, show me the way that I should conduct my life,

teach me how to act in the manner that you want me to act.

⁵ Teach me to conduct my life by obeying your truth

because you are my God, the one who saves me.

All during the day I trust in you.

⁶ Yahweh, do not forget how you have acted mercifully to me and have faithfully loved me because of your covenant with me;

that is the way that you have acted toward me from long ago.

⁷ Forgive me for all the sinful things I did and the ways that I rebelled against you when I was young;

I request this because you faithfully love your people and do good things for them, as you promised in your covenant.

Yahweh, do not forget me!

⁸ Yahweh is good and fair,

so he shows sinners how they should conduct their lives.

⁹ He shows humble people what is right for them to do

and teaches them what he wants them to do.

¹⁰ He always faithfully loves us and does what he has promised

for those who obey his covenant and who do what he requires.

¹¹ Yahweh, forgive me for all my sins, which are many,

in order that I may honor you.

¹² To all those who have an awesome respect for you,

you show them the right way to conduct their lives.

¹³ They will always be prosperous,

and their descendants will continue to live in this land.

¹⁴ Yahweh is a friend of those who have an awesome respect for him,

and he teaches them the covenant that he made with them.

¹⁵ I always request Yahweh to help me,

and he rescues me from danger.

¹⁶ Yahweh, pay attention to me and be merciful to me because I am alone,

and I am greatly distressed because I am suffering.

¹⁷ I have many troubles that make me afraid;

rescue me from them.

¹⁸ Note that I am distressed and troubled,

and forgive me for all my sins.

¹⁹ Note that I have many enemies;

you see that they hate me very much.

²⁰ Protect me and rescue me from them;

do not allow them to defeat me

with the result that I would be ashamed;

I have gone to you to get refuge.

²¹ Protect me because I do what is good and honest

and because I trust in you.

²² God, rescue us Israelite people from all of our troubles!

Psalm 26

¹ Yahweh, show that I am innocent.

I always do what is right;

I have trusted in you and never doubted that you would help me.

² Yahweh, examine what I have done and test me;

thoroughly evaluate what I think in my inner being.

³ I never forget that you are true to your covenant and faithfully love me;

I conduct my life according to your faithfulness.

⁴ I do not spend my time with liars,

and I stay away from hypocrites.

⁵ I do not like to be with evil people,

and I avoid wicked people.

⁶ Yahweh, I wash my hands to show that I am innocent.

As I join with others marching around your altar,

⁷ we sing songs to thank you,

and we tell others the wonderful things that you have done.

⁸ Yahweh, I love to be in the house where you live,

in the place where your glory appears.

⁹ Do not get rid of me like you get rid of sinners;

do not cause me to die like you cause those who murder people to die,

¹⁰ people who are ready to do wicked things

and those who are always taking bribes.

¹¹ But as for me, I always try to do what is right.

So act kindly toward me and rescue me.

¹² I stand in places where I am safe,

and when all your people gather together, I praise you.

Psalm 27

¹ Yahweh is the one who gives me life and the one who saves me,

so I do not need to be afraid of anyone.

Yahweh is the one to whom I go for refuge,

so I will never be afraid.

² When those who do evil come near me to destroy me,

they stumble and fall down.

³ Even if an army surrounds me,

I will not be afraid.

Even if they attack me,

I will trust in God.

⁴ There is one thing that I have requested from Yahweh;

this is the one thing that I desire:

that I may worship in Yahweh's house every day during my life,

that I may see how wonderful Yahweh is,

and that I may ask him what he wants me to do.

⁵ He will protect me when I have troubles;

he will keep me safe in his sacred tent.

He will set me safely on a high rock.

⁶ Then I will triumph over my enemies.

I will shout joyfully as I offer sacrifices in his sacred tent,

and I will praise Yahweh as I sing.

⁷ Yahweh, listen to me while I call to you.

Act kindly toward me and answer my prayer.

⁸ Within my inner being I desire to worship you,

so, Yahweh, I will come to your temple to pray to you.

⁹ I am your servant;

do not be angry with me, or turn away from me.

You have always helped me.

You are the one who has saved me,

so do not abandon me now.

¹⁰ Even if my father and mother desert me,

Yahweh always takes care of me.

¹¹ Yahweh, teach me to do what you want me to do,

and lead me on a safe path

because I have many enemies.

¹² Do not allow my enemies to do to me what they want;

they say many false things about me and threaten to do violent things to me.

¹³ I would have died if I had not trusted you

to be good to me as long as I live.

¹⁴ So trust in Yahweh!

Be strong and courageous,

and wait expectantly for him to help you!

Psalm 28

¹ Yahweh, I call out to you;

You are like a huge rock on top of which I am safe.

Do not refuse to answer me

because if you are silent, I will soon be with those who are in their graves.

² Listen to me when I call out for you to help me,

when I lift up my hands as I face your very holy place in your sacred tent.

³ Do not drag me away with wicked people,

with those who do wicked deeds,

with those who pretend to act peacefully toward others

while in their inner beings, they hate them.

⁴ Punish those people in the way that they deserve for what they have done;

punish them for their evil deeds.

⁵ Yahweh, they do not pay attention to the wonderful things that you have done and that you have created;

so get rid of them permanently and do not let them appear again!

⁶ Praise Yahweh

because he has heard me when I called out for him to help me!

⁷ Yahweh makes me strong and protects me like a shield;

I trust in him, and he helps me.

So I was glad in my inner being,

and from my inner being I praise him as I sing to him.

⁸ Yahweh causes us to be strong and protects us;

he saves me, the one he appointed to be king.

⁹ Yahweh, save your people;

bless those who belong to you.

Take care of them like a shepherd takes care of his sheep;

take care of them forever.

Psalm 29

¹ Mighty people, praise Yahweh!

Praise him because he is very glorious and powerful.

² Praise Yahweh with the glory his names deserves.

Bow down and worship Yahweh because he is holy and his holiness shines out from him with wonderful beauty.

³ Yahweh's voice is heard above the oceans;

the glorious God thunders.

He appears over the huge oceans.

⁴ His voice is powerful and majestic.

⁵ Yahweh's voice breaks great cedar trees,

the cedars that grow in Lebanon.

⁶ He causes earthquakes to shake the region of Lebanon as a young cow jumps;

he causes Mount Hermon to shake as a young bull jumps.

⁷ Yahweh's voice tells the lightning to flash.

⁸ His voice causes the desert to shake;

he shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹ Yahweh's voice makes the large trees shake,

and strips the leaves from the trees

while the people in the temple shout, "Praise God!"

¹⁰ Yahweh rules over the flood that covered the earth;

he is our king who will rule forever.

¹¹ Yahweh enables his people to be strong,

and he blesses them by causing things to go well for them.

Psalm 30

¹ Yahweh, I praise you because you rescued me. You did not allow me to die or my enemies to gloat over me.

² Yahweh, my God, I called out for you to help me when I was wounded, and you healed me.

³ You saved me from death. I was nearly dead, but you caused me to become healthy again.

⁴ All you who are faithful to the covenant with Yahweh, sing to praise him! Remember what God, the holy one, has done and thank him!

⁵ When he becomes angry, he is angry for only a very short time, but he is good to us all of our lives.

We may cry during the night, but the next morning we will be joyful.

⁶ As for me, I was calm when I said to myself, "No one will defeat me!"

⁷ Yahweh, because you were good to me, at first you caused me to be secure as though I were a high mountain.

But then I thought that you had turned away from me, and I became afraid.

⁸ So I called out to you, and I pleaded for you to help me.

⁹ I said, "Yahweh, what will you gain if I die?

In what way will it benefit you if I go to the place where the dead people are?

When I am dead I will certainly not able to praise you, and I will not able to tell others that you are trustworthy!

¹⁰ Yahweh, listen to me, and act mercifully to me! Yahweh, help me!"

¹¹ But now you have healed me, and you have changed me from being sad to dancing joyfully.

You have taken away the clothes that showed that I was very sad and given me clothes that showed that I was very joyful.

¹² So I will not be silent; I will sing out and praise you.

Yahweh, you are my God, and I will thank you forever.

Psalm 31

¹ Yahweh, I have come to you to be protected;

do not allow me to be defeated and disgraced.

Since you always do what is fair,

rescue me!

² Listen to me, and save me right now!

Be like a huge rock on which I can be safe

and like a strong fort in which I will be secure.

³ Yes, you are like my huge rock and my fort;

guide me and lead me because I worship you.

⁴ You are the one who protects me,

so keep me from falling into the hidden traps that my enemies have set for me.

⁵ Yahweh, you are a God whom I can trust,

so I put myself into your care

because you will rescue me.

⁶ Yahweh, I hate those who worship useless idols,

but I trust in you.

⁷ I will be very glad because you faithfully love me.

You see me when I have been afflicted,

and you know when I have had troubles.

⁸ You have not allowed my enemies to capture me;

instead, you have rescued me from danger.

⁹ But now, Yahweh, act kindly toward me

because I am distressed.

Because I cry so much, I cannot see well,

and I am completely exhausted.

¹⁰ I have become very weak because I am so miserable;

my life is getting shorter.

I have become weak because of all my troubles;

even my bones are becoming weaker.

¹¹ All of my enemies make fun of me,

and even my neighbors despise me.

Even my friends are afraid of me because they think that you are punishing me.

When they see me on the streets, they run away.

¹² People have forgotten me like they forget people who are dead.

They think I am as useless as a broken pot.

¹³ I have heard people slandering me,

and they have terrified me.

My enemies are making plans

to kill me.

¹⁴ But Yahweh, I trust in you.

I say confidently that you are the God I worship.

¹⁵ My whole life is in your hands;

save me from my enemies,

from those who pursue me.

¹⁶ Act kindly toward me

and rescue me because you always faithfully love me.

¹⁷ Yahweh, I call out to you,

so do not allow others to disgrace me.

I wish that wicked people may be disgraced;

I wish that they may go down to the place where the people are silent and dead.

¹⁸ I wish that you may cause people who tell lies to be unable to speak.

Do that to people who are proud and to those who arrogantly accuse others.

¹⁹ You have stored up many great and good things to do for those who have great respect for you.

You do good things for those who go to you to be protected;

everyone sees you doing that.

²⁰ You hide people in your presence where it is safe,

and you protect them from others who plot to kill them.

You hide them in safe places where their enemies cannot speak evil at them.

²¹ Praise Yahweh!

When my enemies surrounded the city in which I was living,

he showed me wonderfully that he faithfully loves me.

²² I was afraid and cried out in a hurry, "I have been separated from Yahweh!"

but you heard me and answered my cry for help.

²³ You people who belong to Yahweh, love him!

He protects those who are loyal to him,

but he punishes the proud; he punishes them severely as they deserve.

²⁴ You who confidently expect Yahweh to do great things for you,

be strong and be courageous!

Psalm 32

¹ Those whom God has forgiven for rebelling against him

and those whose sin God does not look at,

these are the ones who are truly fortunate!

² Those whose record of sins Yahweh has erased

and those who no longer do deceitful things,

these are the ones who are truly fortunate!

³ When I did not confess my sins,

my body was very weak and sick,

and I groaned all day long.

⁴ Day and night, Yahweh, you punished me severely.

My strength disappeared like water that evaporates on a hot summer day.

⁵ Then I confessed my sins to you;

I stopped trying to hide them.

I said to myself,

"I will tell Yahweh the wrong things that I have done."

When I confessed them, you forgave me,

so now I am no longer guilty for my sins.

⁶ Therefore the people who honor you should pray to you

when they are in great trouble.

If they do that, difficulties will not come on them like a great flood.

⁷ You are like a place where I can hide from my enemies;

you protect me from troubles

and enable me to shout, praising you for saving me from my enemies.

⁸ Yahweh says to me, "I will instruct you about how you should conduct your life.

I will teach you and watch over you.

⁹ Do not be stupid like horses and mules that do not understand anything;

they need bits

so they will go in the direction you want them to go."

¹⁰ Wicked people will have many troubles that will make them sad,

but those who trust in Yahweh will experience him faithfully loving them all the time.

¹¹ So, all you righteous people, rejoice about what Yahweh has done for you;

you whose heart are pure, be glad and shout joyfully!

Psalm 33

¹ You righteous people should shout joyfully to Yahweh

because that is what he deserves.

² Praise Yahweh as you play songs on the harp.

Praise him as you play harps that have ten strings.

³ Sing a new song to him;

play those instruments well, and shout joyfully as you play them.

⁴ Yahweh always does what he says that he will do;

we can trust that everything that he does is right.

⁵ He loves everything that we do that is just and right.

Yahweh helps people all over the earth because he always loves them.

⁶ Yahweh created everything in the sky by commanding it.

By what he commanded, he created all the stars.

⁷ He gathered all the water into one huge mass

like someone scoops liquid into a container.

⁸ Everyone on the earth should honor Yahweh;

everyone on the earth should honor him.

⁹ When he spoke, he created the world.

Everything started to exist when he commanded it to be.

¹⁰ Yahweh stops the other nations from doing the things they want to do.

He prevents them from doing the evil things that they plan to do.

¹¹ But what Yahweh decides to do will last forever.

What he plans to do will never change.

¹² Yahweh blesses our nation, we who worship him;

How fortunate are we, the nation that belongs to him forever!

¹³ Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees all people.

¹⁴ From where he rules, he looks down on all the people who live on the earth.

¹⁵ He forms our inner beings,

and he sees everything that we do.

¹⁶ It is not because a king has a great army that he is able to win battles,

and it is not because a soldier is very strong that he is able to defeat his enemy.

¹⁷ It is foolish to think that because horses are very strong,

they will be able to win a battle and save their riders.

¹⁸ Do not forget that Yahweh watches over those who honor him,

those who confidently expect him to faithfully love them.

¹⁹ He saves them from dying before they should die;

he preserves them when there is a famine.

²⁰ We trust Yahweh to help us;

he protects us as a shield protects a soldier.

²¹ We rejoice because of what he has done for us;

we trust in him because he is holy.

²² Yahweh, we pray that you will always faithfully love us

while we confidently expect you to do great things for us.

Psalm 34

¹ I will always thank Yahweh;

I will constantly praise him.

² I will praise Yahweh for what he has done.

All those who are oppressed should listen to me and rejoice.

³ Join with me in telling others that Yahweh is great!

You and I should together proclaim how glorious he is!

⁴ I prayed to Yahweh, and he answered my prayer;

he rescued me from all those who caused me to be afraid.

⁵ Those who trust that he will help them will be joyful;

they will never have to look down in disgrace.

⁶ I was miserable, but I called out to Yahweh, and he heard me.

He rescued me from all my troubles.

⁷ An angel from Yahweh guards those who have an awesome respect for him,

and the angel rescues them.

⁸ Try for yourself, and you will experience that Yahweh is good to you!

How fortunate are those who trust him to protect them.

⁹ All you who belong to him, have an awesome respect for him!

Those who do that will always have the things that they need.

¹⁰ Lions are usually very strong, but sometimes even young lions are hungry and become weak.

However, those who trust in Yahweh will have everything that they need.

¹¹ You who are my students, come and listen to me,

and I will teach you how to have an awesome respect for Yahweh.

¹² If any of you wants to enjoy life

and have a good long life,

¹³ do not speak what it evil!

Do not tell lies!

¹⁴ Refuse to do evil; instead, do what is good!

Always try hard to enable people to live peacefully with each other!

¹⁵ Yahweh carefully watches over those who act righteously;

he always responds to them when they call to him for help.

¹⁶ But Yahweh works against those who do what is evil.

After they die, people here on earth will forget them completely.

¹⁷ Yahweh hears righteous people when they call out to him;

he rescues them from all their troubles.

¹⁸ Yahweh is always ready to help those who are discouraged;

he rescues those who have no hope for anything good.

¹⁹ Righteous people may have many troubles,

but Yahweh rescues them from all those troubles.

²⁰ Yahweh protects them from being harmed;

when their enemies attack them,

they will not break any bones of those righteous people.

²¹ Disasters will kill the wicked people,

and Yahweh will punish those who oppose righteous people.

²² Yahweh will save those who serve him.

He will not condemn those who trust in him.

Psalm 35

¹ Yahweh, fight against those who fight against me!

Fight with my enemies when they fight me!

² Be like a shield to protect me

and come to help me!

³ Lift up your spear and throw it at those who pursue me!

Promise me that you will enable me to defeat my enemies.

⁴ Those who are trying to kill me—make others disgrace and dishonor them.

Push back and confuse those who are planning to do evil things to me.

⁵ Send your angel to pursue them

and to make them disappear like chaff that the wind blows away.

⁶ Cause the path on which they run to be dark and slippery

as your angel pursues them!

⁷ Although I did not do anything wrong to them,

they dug a deep pit for me to fall into;

they hid a net in which they would catch me.

⁸ Cause them to suddenly experience disaster!

Cause their own nets to trap them.

Cause them to fall into the pits that they have dug for me, and make them die in them!

⁹ Then I will rejoice in what you, Yahweh, have done for me;

I will be glad that you have rescued me.

¹⁰ With my whole inner being I will say,

"There is no one like Yahweh!

No one else can rescue helpless people from powerful people.

No one else can rescue weak and needy people from those who want to rob them."

¹¹ People who tell lies stand in court

and accuse me of doing things that I do not know anything about.

¹² In return for my doing good things for them, they do evil things to me,

with the result that I feel that I am alone.

¹³ When they were ill, I showed that I was sad.

I did not eat any food, and I bowed my head as I prayed for them.

¹⁴ I mourned and bowed my head as I prayed

as though it were a friend or my mother for whom I was grieving.

¹⁵ But when I had troubles, they were all happy about it.

They unexpectedly gathered around to make fun of me.

Strangers kept striking me;

they would not stop.

¹⁶ People who respect no one ridiculed me

and snarled at me.

¹⁷ Lord, how long will you only watch them doing this?

Rescue me from their attacks;

Save me from being killed by these men who are attacking me

as lions attack other animals!

¹⁸ Then, when many of your people gather,

I will praise you,

and I will thank you in front of all of them.

¹⁹ Do not allow my enemies, who tell lies about me, defeat me

and then rejoice about it!

Do not allow those who hate me when there in no reason to hate me

to laugh about how I suffer!

²⁰ They do not speak peacefully to people;

instead, they look for ways to tell lies about people in our land who do no harm to anyone.

²¹ They shout at me in order to accuse me;

they say, "We saw the wrong things that you did!"

²² Yahweh, you have seen these things, so do not be silent!

Do not stay far from me!

²³ Arise, my God, plead my case in court,

and successfully defend me!

²⁴ Yahweh, my God, because you are righteous,

prove that I am innocent

so that my enemies will not be able to gloat that I was judged to be guilty.

²⁵ Do not allow them to be able to say to themselves,

"Yes, we have gotten rid of him just like we desired!"

²⁶ Cause those who rejoice about my misfortunes

to be completely confused and disgraced;

cause those who boast that they are much greater than I am

to be disgraced and dishonored!

²⁷ But cause those who desire that you declare me innocent

to be happy and shout joyfully;

cause them to always say, "Yahweh is great!

He is delighted to cause things to go well for those who serve him."

²⁸ Then I will proclaim that you act in the right way,

and I will praise you all the time.

Psalm 36

¹ A continual desire to sin is in the inner beings of wicked people.

They consider that they do not need to have an awesome respect for God.

² Because they want to believe good things about themselves,

they do not think that God knows and hates their sins.

³ Everything that they say is deceitful and full of lies;

they no longer do what is good

and are no longer wise.

⁴ While they are lying on their beds, they plan to do things to harm others;

they are determined to do things that are not good,

and they never refuse to do what is evil.

⁵ Yahweh, your faithful love for us reaches as high as the heavens;

your faithfulness in doing what you have promised extends up to the clouds.

⁶ Your righteous behavior is as permanent as the highest mountains;

your acting justly will continue as long as the deepest oceans will continue.

You take care of people and you take care of animals.

⁷ God, your faithful love for us is very precious.

You protect us like birds protect their baby birds under their wings .

⁸ You provide for us plenty of food from the abundant supply that you have;

your great gifts flow to us like a river.

⁹ You are the one who causes everything to live;

your light is what enables us to know the truth about you.

¹⁰ Continue to faithfully love those who are faithful to you,

and protect those who act righteously.

¹¹ Do not allow proud people to attack me,

or allow wicked people to chase me away.

¹² Look where evil people have fallen on the ground, defeated;

they were thrown down, and they will never rise again.

Psalm 37

¹ Do not be bothered by what wicked people do.

Do not desire to have the things that people who do wrong have

² because they will soon disappear like grass withers in the hot sun and dries up.

Just like some green plants come up but die during the hot summer,

evil people will soon die also.

³ Trust in Yahweh and do what is good.

If you do that, then you will live safely in the land he has given you,

and that land will be a place where you can be faithful to God as you live your lives.

⁴ Be delighted with all that Yahweh does for you;

if you do that, he will give you the things that you desire most.

⁵ Commit to Yahweh all the things that you plan to do;

trust in him,

and he will do whatever is needed to help you.

⁶ He will show as clearly as the sunlight that you are innocent;

he will show as clearly as the sun at noontime

that all the things that you have decided are just.

⁷ Be quiet in Yahweh's presence and wait patiently for him to do what you want him to do.

Do not be bothered when what evil men do is successful,

when they are able to do the wicked things that they plan.

⁸ Do not be angry about what wicked people do.

Do not want to punish them yourself.

Do not be envious of such people

because you will only harm yourself if you try to do that.

⁹ Someday Yahweh will get rid of wicked people,

but those who trust in him will live safely in the land that he has given to them.

¹⁰ Soon the wicked will disappear.

You will look for them, but they will be gone.

¹¹ But those who are humble will live safely in their land.

They will happily enjoy living peacefully and having the other good things that Yahweh gives them.

¹² Wicked people plan to harm righteous people;

they snarl at them like wild animals.

¹³ But Yahweh laughs at them

because he knows that someday he will judge and punish the wicked people.

¹⁴ Wicked people pull out their swords

and they put strings on their bows,

ready to kill people who are poor

and to slaughter those who live righteously.

¹⁵ But they will be killed by their own swords,

and their bows will be broken.

¹⁶ It is good to be righteous even if you do not have many possessions,

but it is bad to be wicked even if you are very wealthy

¹⁷ because Yahweh will completely remove the strength of wicked people,

but he will sustain people who live righteously.

¹⁸ Day by day Yahweh protects those who have not done any evil things;

the things that Yahweh gives them will last forever.

¹⁹ They will survive when calamities occur;

when there are famines, they will still have plenty to eat.

²⁰ But wicked people will die;

just as the beautiful wild flowers in the fields die under the hot sun and disappear like smoke,

Yahweh will cause his enemies to suddenly disappear.

²¹ The wicked people borrow money, but they are not able to repay it;

righteous people, in contrast, have enough money to give generously to others.

²² Those whom Yahweh has blessed will live safely in the land that he has given to them,

but he will get rid of those people whom he has cursed.

²³ Yahweh protects those who do what is pleasing to him,

and he will enable them to walk confidently wherever they go;

²⁴ even if they stumble, they will not fall down

because Yahweh holds them by his hand.

²⁵ I was young previously, and now I am an old man,

but in all those years, I have never seen that righteous people have been abandoned by Yahweh,

nor have I seen that their children needed to beg for food.

²⁶ Righteous people are generous and happily lend money to others,

and their children are a blessing to them.

²⁷ Turn away from doing evil, and do what is good.

If you do that, you and your descendants will live in your land forever.

²⁸ This will happen because Yahweh likes to see people doing what is just,

and he will never forsake righteous people.

He will protect them forever;

but he will get rid of the children of wicked people.

²⁹ Righteous people will own the land that Yahweh promised to give to them,

and they will live there forever.

³⁰ Righteous people give wise advice to others,

and they encourage other people to live rightly.

³¹ They fill their minds with God's laws;

they do not stray from walking on God's path.

³² Those who are evil wait in ambush for righteous people

in order to kill them as they walk by.

³³ But Yahweh will not abandon righteous people

and let them fall into their enemies' hands.

He will not allow righteous people to be condemned

when someone takes them to a judge to be put on trial.

³⁴ Be patient and trust that Yahweh will help you,

and walk on his paths.

If you do that, he will honor you by giving you the land that he promised,

and when he gets rid of the wicked, you will see it happen.

³⁵ I have seen that wicked people who act like tyrants sometimes prosper like trees that grow well in fertile soil,

³⁶ but when I looked later, they were gone!

I searched for them, but Yahweh had caused them to disappear.

³⁷ Notice the people who have not done evil things, those who act righteously;

their descendants will have peace in their inner beings.

³⁸ But Yahweh will get rid of the wicked;

he will also get rid of their descendants.

³⁹ Yahweh rescues righteous people;

in times of trouble he protects them.

⁴⁰ Yahweh helps them and saves them;

he rescues them from being attacked by wicked people

because they go to him to be protected.

Psalm 38

¹ Yahweh, when you are angry with me,

do not rebuke me and punish me!

² Now it is as though you have shot your arrows at me and wounded me;

it is as though you have struck me and knocked me down.

³ Because you have been angry with me,

I am suffering great pain.

Because of my sin,

my whole body is diseased.

⁴ All my sins are like a flood that covers my head;

they are like a load that is very heavy; I cannot carry them.

⁵ Because I have done foolish things,

I have sores that have become worse, and they stink.

⁶ Sometimes I am bent over, and sometimes I lie prostrate;

I mourn all day.

⁷ My body is burning with fever,

and I am very ill.

⁸ I am completely exhausted, and I have no strength.

I am very distressed in my inner being, and I groan with pain.

⁹ Yahweh, you know that I desire you to heal me;

you hear me while I am groaning.

¹⁰ My heart pounds heavily, and all my strength is gone.

I am no longer able to see well.

¹¹ My friends and neighbors stay away from me because of my sores;

even my own family stays far from me.

¹² Those who want to kill me set traps to catch me;

those who want to harm me discuss the ways that they can get rid of me;

they plot against me all day.

¹³ Now I act like a deaf man and do not listen to what they say.

I act like a man who cannot talk, and I say nothing to reply to them.

¹⁴ I act like a man who does not answer when people talk to him

because he cannot hear anything.

¹⁵ But Yahweh, I trust in you.

My Lord God, you will answer me.

¹⁶ I said to you, "Do not cause me to die so that my enemies will rejoice!

If troubles overwhelm me, my enemies will do very bad things to me!"

¹⁷ I say that because I am about to fall down,

and I constantly have pain.

¹⁸ I confess the wrong things that I have done;

I am very sorry for the sins that I have committed.

¹⁹ My enemies are healthy and strong;

there are many people who hate me for no reason.

²⁰ Those who do evil things to me in return for my doing good things to them

oppose me because I try to do what is right.

²¹ Yahweh, do not abandon me!

My God, do not stay far from me!

²² Lord, you are the one who saves me;

Quickly come and help me!

Psalm 39

¹ I said to myself, "I will be careful not to sin by the things that I say.

I will not say anything to complain to you

while wicked people are near to me and can hear me."

² So I was completely silent, and I did not even talk about things that were good;

but it was useless because I began to suffer even more.

³ I became very anxious in my inner being.

As I thought about my troubles, I became more worried.

Then finally I said this:

⁴ "Yahweh, show me how long I will live.

Tell me when I will die.

Tell me how many years I will live!

⁵ It seems that you have caused me to live only a short time;

my lifetime seems nothing to you.

The time that all we humans live is as short as a puff of air.

⁶ Then we disappear like a shadow does.

It seems that all that we do is for nothing.

We sometimes get a lot of money, but we do not even know who will get it after we die.

⁷ So now, Yahweh, I can expect to receive nothing from anyone else.

You are the only one from whom I confidently expect to receive blessings.

⁸ Deliver me from the sins that I have committed.

Do not allow foolish people to make fun of me.

⁹ I did not say anything when you punished me

because I knew that you were the one who caused me to suffer.

¹⁰ But now, please stop punishing me!

If you do not do that, I am about to die because of how you make me suffer.

¹¹ When you rebuke someone and punish him for the sin that he has committed,

you destroy the things he loves like moths eat away at clothing.

Our lives disappear like a puff of air.

¹² Yahweh, listen to me while I pray;

pay attention to me while I cry out to you.

Help me while I am crying.

I am here on the earth for only a short time,

like all my ancestors.

¹³ Now please allow me to be alone and do not punish me anymore

so that I may smile and be happy for a while before I die."

Psalm 40

¹ I waited patiently for Yahweh to help me,

and he listened to me when I called out to him.

² When I had many troubles, it was as though I was in a deep pit.

But he lifted me up out of the mud and slime of that pit;

he set my feet on a solid rock

and enabled me to walk safely.

³ He has given me a new song to sing,

a song to praise him who is our God.

Many people will find out what he has done for me,

and they will revere and trust him.

⁴ How fortunate are those who trust Yahweh to protect them,

those who do not trust in idols

or join with those who worship those false gods.

⁵ O Yahweh, my God, you have done many wonderful things!

No one can list all the wonderful things that you have planned for us.

If I tried to tell others about all those wonderful things,

I would not be able to

because there would be too many for me to mention.

⁶ Sacrifices and other offerings are not the things that delight you most.

But you have enabled me to hear your commands.

Animals burned on the altar and other offerings for our sins are not what you require most.

⁷ So I said to you, "Yahweh, here I am,

to obey the laws that have been written in the scroll,

things that you want me to do."

⁸ O my God, I enjoy doing what you desire;

I am always thinking about your laws within my inner being.

⁹ When all your people were gathered together,

I told them about how you do what is right and how you rescue us.

Yahweh, you know that I have not refused to tell that to them.

¹⁰ I have not kept within me the news that you always act justly;

when many of your people have gathered together to worship you,

I have told them that you are faithful to us and save us.

I have not concealed that you faithfully love us and act loyally toward us.

¹¹ Yahweh, do not stop acting mercifully toward me.

Because you faithfully love me and are loyal to me, protect me always.

¹² I have many troubles; I cannot count them.

I am now suffering the things that happened because I sinned.

I can no longer see because of my tears.

The sins that I have committed are more than the hairs on my head.

I am very discouraged.

¹³ O Yahweh, please save me!

Come quickly to help me!

¹⁴ Humble those who are happy about my troubles, and cause them to be disgraced.

Chase away those who are trying to get rid of me.

¹⁵ I hope that those who make fun of me

will be dismayed when you defeat them.

¹⁶ But I hope that all those who go to worship you will be very joyful.

I hope that those who love you because you saved them will shout repeatedly,

"Yahweh is great!"

¹⁷ As for me, I am poor and needy,

but I know that the Lord has not forgotten me.

O my God, you are the one who saves and helps me,

so please come quickly and help me!

Psalm 41

¹ How fortunate are those who provide for the poor;

Yahweh will rescue those people when they have troubles.

² Yahweh will protect them and allow them to live for a long time.

He will enable them to be happy in the land of Israel

and will rescue them from their enemies.

³ When they are sick, Yahweh will strengthen them

and will heal them.

⁴ When I was sick, I said, "Yahweh, act mercifully toward me and heal me;

I know that I am sick because I have sinned against you."

⁵ My enemies say cruel things about me;

they say, "How soon will he die, and then everyone will forget about him?"

⁶ When my enemies come to me, they pretend to be concerned about me.

They eagerly listen to all the bad news about me.

Then they go away and tell everyone what is happening to me.

⁷ All those who hate me whisper to others about me,

and they hope that very bad things will happen to me.

⁸ They say, "He will soon die because of his being sick;

he will never get up from his bed before he dies."

⁹ Even a very close friend, whom I trusted very much,

who often ate with me,

has betrayed me.

¹⁰ But Yahweh, act mercifully to me, and enable me to become healthy again.

When you do that, I will be able to pay back my enemies.

¹¹ If you enable me to do that, with the result that my enemies do not defeat me,

I will know that you are pleased with me.

¹² I will know that it is because I have done what is right that you have helped me,

and I will know that you will enable me to be with you forever.

¹³ Praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship;

Praise him forever!

Amen! I desire that it will be so!

Psalm 42

¹ O God, I need you very much as a deer needs to drink water from a cool stream.

² I desire to be with you, the all-powerful God.

I say to myself, "When will I be able to go back to the temple in Israel

and worship in your presence again?"

³ Every day and every night I weep;

the only thing I have to drink is my tears;

and while I do that, my enemies are always asking me,

"Why does your God not help you?"

⁴ I pray earnestly to God as I remember

when I used to go with the crowd of people to the temple in Jerusalem.

I used to lead them as we walked along;

we were all shouting joyfully and singing to thank God for what he had done;

we were a large group who were celebrating.

⁵ So now I say to myself, "Why am I in a panic?

I confidently expect God to bless me,

and again I will praise him,

my God, the one who saves me."

⁶ But now, Yahweh, I was panicking,

so I think about you.

You are there in Israel where the Jordan River rushes down from the bottom of the peaks of Mount Hermon and from Mount Mizar.

⁷ But here, the great sorrow that I feel is like water that you send down;

it is like a waterfall that tumbles down and floods over me.

⁸ I desire that Yahweh will show me each day that he faithfully loves me,

in order that each night I may sing to him

and pray to him, the God who causes me to live.

⁹ I say to God, who is like a huge rock on top of which I am safe,

"Why have you forgotten me? You know the hardships that my enemies bring on me."

¹⁰ They are always making fun of me;

they keep asking, "Why does your God not help you?"

When they insult me like that,

it is like wounds that shatter my bones.

¹¹ But I say to myself,

"Why am I in a panic?

I will confidently expect God to bless me,

and I will praise him again,

my God, the one who saves me."

Psalm 43

¹ God, declare that I am innocent.

Defend me when people say things against me—those people who do not honor you!

Rescue me from people who deceive me and say things about me that are not true.

² You are God, the one who protects me;

why have you abandoned me?

It does not seem right that I should always have to be sad

because of my enemies acting cruelly toward me.

³ Speak true words that help me to live.

Give a command that will allow me to go back to Zion, your sacred hill in Jerusalem,

and to your temple where you live.

⁴ When you do that, I will go to your altar

to worship you, my God, who causes me to be very joyful.

There I will praise you, the God whom I worship, and I will play my harp.

⁵ So why am I sad and discouraged?

I confidently expect God to bless me,

and again I will praise him,

my God, the one who saves me.

Psalm 44

¹ God, we ourselves have heard

what our parents and grandparents told us.

They told us about the miracles

that you performed long ago.

² They told us how you expelled the ungodly people

and enabled us to live in their land.

They told us that you punished those ungodly people

and enabled your own people to possess the land.

³ It was not by using their own swords that they conquered the people that lived in that land,

and it was not by their own power that they were victorious;

it was only by your power that they did those things;

and they were sure that you were with them,

showing that you were pleased with them.

⁴ You are my king and my God;

Make us, your people, able to defeat our enemies.

⁵ It is by your power that we knock our enemies down and tramp on them.

⁶ I do not trust that I can save myself

by using my bow and arrows and my sword.

⁷ No, it is you who have rescued us from our enemies;

it is you who have caused those who hate us to become ashamed because they were defeated.

⁸ We have always been proud about what God has done for us,

and we will thank him forever.

⁹ But now you have rejected us and caused us to be disgraced;

when our armies march out to fight a battle, you no longer go with them.

¹⁰ You have caused us to run away from our enemies,

with the result that they captured the things that belonged to us.

¹¹ You have allowed us to become like sheep that were ready to be slaughtered;

you scattered us far away among other nations.

¹² It is as though you sold us, your people, to our enemies for a very small price,

although you did not gain any profit from selling us!

¹³ People who live in nations near us make fun of us;

they laugh at us and deride us.

¹⁴ They make jokes using the name of our country,

they shake their heads to indicate that they despise us.

¹⁵ All day I am disgraced;

from seeing my face, people know that I am ashamed.

¹⁶ I hear what those who sneer at me and revile me say;

I am ashamed in front of my enemies and those who want to harm me.

¹⁷ All these things have happened to us

even though we have not forgotten you,

and we are not the ones who disobeyed the covenant you made with our ancestors.

¹⁸ We have not stopped being loyal to you,

and we have not stopped doing what you want us to do.

¹⁹ But it is as though you have allowed us to be helpless among wild animals

and you have abandoned us in a deep dark ravine.

²⁰ If we had forgotten to worship our God,

or if we had spread out our hands to worship a foreign god,

²¹ you certainly would have known that

because you know even what we secretly think.

²² But it is because we belong to you

that our enemies are constantly killing us.

They act toward us as though we were only sheep that they were going to slaughter.

²³ So Yahweh, arise! Why are you asleep?

Get up! Do not reject us forever!

²⁴ Why are you not looking at us?

Why are you forgetting that we are suffering, that our enemies are oppressing us?

²⁵ We are in complete panic;

we cannot do anything; we are as good as dead.

²⁶ Do something! Come and help us!

Rescue us because you love us as you promised to do.

Psalm 45

¹ In my inner being I am aroused by something beautiful to write about,

a song that I will sing to the king.

The words of this song will be written by me, a skilled writer.

² O King, you are the most handsome man in the world,

and you always speak eloquently!

So we know that God has always blessed you.

³ You who are a mighty warrior, put on your sword!

You are glorious and majestic.

⁴ Ride on like a great king

to defend the truth that you speak

and the fair decisions that you make!

Because you fight in many battles,

you will learn to do deeds that your enemies will fear.

⁵ Your arrows are sharp,

and they pierce the hearts of your enemies.

Soldiers of many nations will fall at your feet.

⁶ The kingdom that God will give to you will remain forever.

You rule over people justly.

⁷ You love right actions,

and you hate evil actions.

Therefore God, your God, has chosen you to be king

and has caused you to be happier than any other king.

⁸ The perfume of various spices is on your robes.

Musicians entertain you in ivory palaces

by playing stringed instruments.

⁹ Among your wives are daughters of other kings.

At your right hand stands your bride, the queen, wearing beautiful ornaments of gold that comes from Ophir.

¹⁰ Now I will say something to your bride:

"Listen to me carefully!

Forget the people who live in your home country,

forget your relatives!

¹¹ Because you are very beautiful,

the king will desire to be with you.

He is your master, so you must obey him.

¹² The people from the city of Tyre will bring gifts to you;

their rich people will try to persuade you to do favors for them.

¹³ You, the king's bride, enter the palace

wearing beautiful robes made from gold thread."

¹⁴ O king, while she is wearing a gown that has many colors,

her woman servants will lead her to you.

She will have many other young women who accompany her.

¹⁵ They will be very joyful as they are led along

to enter your palace.

¹⁶ Someday, your sons and your grandsons will become kings,

just as your ancestors were.

You will enable them to become rulers in many countries.

¹⁷ As for me, I will enable people in every generation to remember the great things that you have done,

and people will praise you forever.

Psalm 46

¹ God is the one who protects us and causes us to be strong;

he is always ready to help us when we have troubles.

² So, even if the earth shakes,

we will not be afraid.

Even if the mountains fall into the middle of the sea,

³ and if the water in the sea roars and foams,

and if the hills shake violently,

we will not be afraid!

⁴ Blessings that come from God are like a river that makes everyone in the city joyful, there where we worship him.

It is the city where the temple of God, who is greater than any other god, exists.

⁵ God is in this city, and it will never be destroyed;

he will come to help the people in that city at dawn every day.

⁶ Sometimes the people of many nations are terrified;

kingdoms are overthrown;

God speaks loudly like thunder,

and the earth melts.

⁷ But Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, is with us;

the God whom Jacob worshiped is our refuge.

⁸ Come and see the things that Yahweh does!

Come and see the things he has destroyed all over the earth.

⁹ He stops wars all over the world;

he breaks bows and arrows;

he destroys spears;

he burns up shields.

¹⁰ God says, "Be quiet and remember that I am God!

People of all nations will honor me.

People all over the earth will honor me."

¹¹ So never forget that Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, is with us;

the God whom Jacob worshiped is our refuge.

Psalm 47

¹ You people all over the world, clap your hands!

Shout joyfully to praise God!

² Yahweh, who is much greater than any other god, is awesome;

he is a king who rules over all the world!

³ He enabled us to defeat the armies of the people groups that lived in Canaan.

⁴ He chose for us this land where we now live;

we Israelite people, whom he loves, are proud that we own this land.

⁵ God has gone up into his temple.

The people shouted joyfully and blew trumpets as he went up.

⁶ Sing songs to praise our God!

Sing to praise him !

Sing to God, our king!

⁷ God is the one who rules over everything in the world;

sing a psalm to him!

⁸ God sits on his sacred throne

as he rules over the people of all ethnic groups.

⁹ The rulers of those people groups gather in front of God's people, the people descended from Abraham.

God has more power than the weapons of all the kings on the earth;

he is great, and all people everywhere will honor him.

Psalm 48

¹ Yahweh is great, and he deserves to be greatly praised in the city where he lives,

which is built on Zion, his sacred hill.

² That city on a high hill is beautiful;

it is the city where the true God, the great king, lives,

and it causes people all over the world to rejoice when they see it.

³ God is in the strong towers there,

and he shows that he protects the people in that city.

⁴ Many kings gathered with their armies to attack our city,

⁵ but when they saw it, they were amazed;

they became terrified, and ran away.

⁶ Because they were very afraid, they trembled

like a woman who is about to give birth to a child.

⁷ They shook as ships sailing from Tarshish shake in a strong wind.

⁸ We had heard that this city was glorious,

and now we have seen that it is.

It is the city in which Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, lives.

It is the city that God will preserve forever.

⁹ God, here in your temple we think about how you love us as you promised to do.

¹⁰ People all over the earth will praise you

because you rule powerfully and justly.

¹¹ The people who live at Mount Zion should be happy!

The people in all the cities of Judah should rejoice

because you judge people fairly.

¹² You Israelite people should walk around Mount Zion

and count the towers there;

¹³ notice the walls there and examine their strongest parts

so that you can tell your children about them.

¹⁴ Say to your children, "This is the city of our God, the one who lives forever;

he will guide us during all of our lives."

Psalm 49

¹ You people of all people groups, listen!

You people all over the world,

² important people and unimportant people,

rich people and poor people,

everyone, listen to what I am saying.

³ For what I am thinking is very sensible,

and what I say will enable you to become wise.

⁴ I think about wise words to tell you,

and while I play my harp, I explain what they mean.

⁵ I do not worry when I am in trouble,

when I am surrounded by my enemies.

⁶ These are evil men who trust that things will always go well for them because they are wealthy

and who boast about being very rich.

⁷ They may be rich, but no one can pay God money

so that he can live forever!

No one can pay God enough so that God will allow him to continue to live

⁸ because that cost is too much,

and he will never be able to pay enough.

⁹ No one can pay God enough money so that he will live forever

and never die and be buried!

¹⁰ We see that foolish and stupid people die,

but we see that wise people also die;

they all leave their wealth, and others inherit it.

¹¹ They once had houses on land that they owned,

but now their graves are their homes forever,

the place where they will stay for all time!

¹² Even if people are great, that cannot prevent them from dying;

people all die, the same as the animals do.

¹³ That is what happens to those who foolishly trust in what they have accomplished,

to those who are delighted in all that they possess.

¹⁴ They are certain to die just like sheep

when a shepherd leads them away to be slaughtered.

In the morning the righteous people will rule over them,

and then those wealthy people will die and their bodies will quickly decay in their graves;

they will be where dead people are, far from their homes.

¹⁵ But it is certain that God will rescue me so that I am not held fast in the place of the dead;

he will take me to himself.

¹⁶ So do not be dismayed when someone becomes rich

and the houses where they live become more and more luxurious;

¹⁷ for when he dies, he will take nothing with him;

his wealth will not go with him.

¹⁸ While a rich person is alive, he congratulates himself,

and people praise him for being successful,

¹⁹ but he will die and join his ancestors,

who will never see daylight again.

²⁰ Even if someone is great, that cannot prevent him from dying;

he will die, the same as the animals do.

Psalm 50

¹ God, the all-powerful one, speaks;

he summons all people,

from the east to the west.

² His glory shines from Mount Zion in Jerusalem,

an extremely beautiful city.

³ Our God comes to us,

and he is not silent.

A great fire is in front of him,

and a storm is around him.

⁴ He comes to judge his people.

He shouts to the angels in heaven

and to the people on the earth.

⁵ He says, "Summon those who faithfully worship me,

those who made a covenant with me by offering sacrifices to me."

⁶ The angels in heaven declare,

"God is righteous,

and he is the supreme judge."

⁷ God says, "My people, listen!

You Israelite people, listen,

as I, your God, say what you have done that is wrong.

⁸ I am not rebuking you for making sacrifices to me,

for the offerings that you always burn on the altar for me.

⁹ But I do not really need the bulls from your barns

and the goats from your pens that you sacrifice,

¹⁰ because all the animals in the forest belong to me,

and all the cattle on a thousand hills also belong to me.

¹¹ I know and own all the birds in the mountains,

and all the creatures that move around in the fields.

¹² So if I were hungry, I would not tell you to bring me some food

because everything in the world belongs to me!

¹³ I do not eat the flesh of the bulls that you sacrifice,

and I do not drink the blood of the goats that you offer to me.

¹⁴ The sacrifice that I really want is that you thank me

and do all that you have promised to do.

¹⁵ Pray to me when you have troubles.

If you do that, I will rescue you, and then you will praise me.

¹⁶ But I say this to the wicked people:

Why do you recite my commandments

or talk about the covenant that I made with you?

¹⁷ For you have refused to allow me to discipline you,

and you have rejected what I told you to do.

¹⁸ Every time that you see a thief, you become his friend,

and you spend much time with those who commit adultery.

¹⁹ You are always talking about doing wicked things,

and you are always trying to deceive people.

²⁰ You are always accusing members of your own family

and slandering them.

²¹ You did all those things, and I did not say anything to you,

so you thought that I was a sinner just like you.

But now I rebuke you and accuse you, right in front of you.

²² So, all you who have ignored me, pay attention to this,

because if you do not, I will tear you to pieces,

and there will be no one to rescue you.

²³ The sacrifice that truly honors me is to thank me for what I have done;

and I will save those who always do the things that I want them to."

Psalm 51

¹ O God, act mercifully toward me

because you love me faithfully;

because you are very merciful,

forget the ways that I disobeyed you!

² Make me acceptable to you again, even though I did wrong things;

forgive the guilt of my sin and accept me.

³ I say that because I know the ways that I have disobeyed you;

I cannot forget them.

⁴ You, you only, are the one I that have really sinned against,

and you have seen the evil things that I have done.

When you say that I am guilty, you are right,

and when you judge me, you justly say that I deserve to be punished.

⁵ I have been a sinner since the day that I was born;

truly, I have been like that since my mother conceived me.

⁶ What you desire is that in my inner being I desire what is true

in order that you can teach me in my inner being how to act wisely.

⁷ Forgive the guilt of my sins, and after that happens, I will be completely acceptable to you;

if you forgive me, then I will be absolutely right with you.

⁸ Allow me to rejoice again;

you have made me immeasurably sad,

but now let me rejoice again.

⁹ Do not continue to remember the sins that I have committed;

forget the evil things that I have done.

¹⁰ O God, make me want to do the things that you approve of.

Make me want to do only what is right.

¹¹ Do not reject me as one of your people,

and do not make your holy Spirit leave me.

¹² Make me happy again by rescuing me from my guilt,

and always help me by making me sincerely want to obey you.

¹³ If you do that, I will teach other sinners what you want them to do;

they will repent and obey you.

¹⁴ O God, you are the one who saves me;

forgive me for being guilty of causing someone who was not my enemy to die.

When you do that, I will sing joyfully about your being very good and righteous.

¹⁵ O Yahweh, help me to speak

in order that I may praise you.

¹⁶ When people only bring sacrifices to you, that does not please you.

If that were enough to please you, I would do the same.

But you are not pleased with burnt offerings alone.

¹⁷ The sacrifice that you really want is for people to be truly humble and sorry for having sinned.

O God, you will not refuse that kind of sacrifice.

¹⁸ O God, be good to the people who live in Jerusalem;

make them able to rebuild the city walls.

¹⁹ When that happens, they will bring you the proper sacrifices:

normal animal sacrifices and sacrifices to be completely burned.

They will burn young bulls on your altar,

and you will be pleased.

Psalm 52

¹ You proud man, you think that you are strong;

you boast about the trouble that you make for others,

but God faithfully protects people from you every day.

² All during the day you plan to get rid of others;

what you say is like a sharp blade,

and you are always deceiving others.

³ You like doing what is evil more than you like doing what is good,

and you like telling lies more than you like telling the truth.

⁴ You, the one who says things to deceive people,

you like to say things that hurt people!

⁵ But God will get rid of you forever;

he will grab you and drag you from your home

and take you away from this world where people are alive.

⁶ When righteous people see that, they will be awestruck,

and they will laugh at what happened to you, and say,

⁷ "Look what happened to the man who would not ask God to protect him;

he trusted that his great wealth would save him;

he grew more powerful by wickedly hurting other people."

⁸ But I am secure because I worship in God's temple;

I am like a strong green olive tree.

I trust in God, who faithfully loves us forever.

⁹ God, I will always thank you for everything you have done.

I will wait patiently because you are so good,

especially when I stand before your faithful people.

Psalm 53

¹ Only foolish people say to themselves, "There is no God!"

People who say that are corrupt; they commit terrible sins;

there is not one of them who does what is good.

² God looks down from heaven and sees humans;

he looks to see if any man is very wise

and seeks to know God.

³ But everyone has turned away from God. They are depraved and do disgusting, filthy things.

No one does what is good.

⁴ Will all these evil people never learn what God will do to them?

They hurt Yahweh's people with terrible violence. They had no guilt in what they did. They had the same expression on their faces as people eating bread at dinner.

And what is worse is that they never prayed to Yahweh.

⁵ But someday those people will become very terrified,

although they have nothing to fear.

For God will cause those who attack you to die,

and he will scatter their bones.

They have rejected God,

so he will cause them to be defeated and completely disgraced.

⁶ I wish that God would come and rescue the Israelite people!

God, when you bless your people again,

all the Israelite people, all the descendants of Jacob, will rejoice.

Psalm 54

¹ God, by your power save me from my enemies,

and show people that I have not done anything that is wrong!

² God, listen to my prayer;

listen to what I say to you

³ because strangers are trying to attack me;

proud men are wanting to kill me,

men who have no respect for you.

⁴ But God is the one who helps me;

Yahweh defends me from my enemies.

⁵ He will cause the evil things that they want to do to me to happen to them instead;

because you faithfully do what you have promised to me, destroy them.

⁶ Yahweh, I will gladly give an offering to you because I want to,

and I will thank you, for you are good to me;

⁷ you have rescued me from all my troubles,

and I have seen that you have defeated my enemies.

Psalm 55

¹ God, listen to my prayer,

and do not turn away from me while I am pleading with you.

² Listen to me and answer me

because I am overwhelmed by all my troubles.

³ My enemies terrify me;

wicked people oppress me.

They cause me to have great troubles;

they are angry with me, and they hate me.

⁴ I am terrified,

and I am very much afraid that I will die.

⁵ I am very fearful and I tremble;

I am completely terrified.

⁶ I said, "I wish that I had wings like a dove!

If I had wings, I would fly away and find a place to rest.

⁷ I would fly far away

and live in the wilderness.

⁸ I would quickly find a safe place

where my enemies could not strike me like a strong wind and rainstorm."

⁹ Lord, confuse my enemies and cause their plans to fail.

I saw them hurting others by their violence and causing riots throughout the city.

¹⁰ During each day and night they march around on top of its walls,

committing crimes and causing trouble.

¹¹ They destroy things everywhere.

They oppress people and defraud people in the marketplaces.

¹² If it were an enemy who was making fun of me,

I could endure it.

If it were someone who hates me, who despises me,

I could hide from him.

¹³ But it is someone who is just like me, my companion,

someone who was my friend who is doing this to me.

¹⁴ We previously had many good talks together;

we walked around together in God's temple.

¹⁵ I desire that my enemies will go down alive

to the place where the dead people are.

I want this because they do evil things in their homes.

¹⁶ But I will ask Yahweh, my God, to help me,

and he will save me.

¹⁷ Each morning, noontime, and evening I tell him what I am concerned about, and I moan,

and he hears my voice.

¹⁸ He saves my life and makes me safe

when I am fighting a terrible battle against my enemies.

There are many enemies coming to fight against me!

¹⁹ God is the one who has ruled everything forever,

and he will put those who fought against me in their place.

He will cause my enemies to be defeated and disgraced

because they do not change their evil behavior

and because they do not have any respect for God.

²⁰ My companion, whom I mentioned previously, betrayed his friends

and broke the agreement that he made with them.

²¹ What he said was as easy to listen to as butter is easy to swallow,

but in his inner being he hated people;

his words were as soothing as olive oil,

but they hurt people as sharp swords do.

²² Put your troubles in Yahweh's hands,

and he will take care of you;

he will never allow disaster to destroy righteous people.

²³ God, you will cause murderers and liars to die before they have lived half as long as they expect to live;

but as for me, I will trust in you.

Psalm 56

¹ God, act mercifully toward me because men are attacking me!

All day long an enemy presses closer and closer to me because they want to take my life.

² All day long my enemies seek to crush the life from me,

there are many enemies attacking me!

³ But whenever I am afraid,

I trust in you.

⁴ God, I praise you because you do what you have promised;

I trust in you, and then I am not afraid.

Ordinary humans certainly cannot harm me!

⁵ All day long my enemies claim that I said things that I did not say;

they are always thinking of ways to harm me.

⁶ In order to cause trouble for me, they hide

and watch everything that I do,

waiting for an opportunity to kill me.

⁷ So, God, punish them for the wicked things that they are doing;

show that you are angry by defeating those people!

⁸ You have counted all the times that I have been wandering alone;

it is as though you have put all my tears in a bottle

so that you can see how much I have cried.

You have counted my tears and written the number in your book.

⁹ When I call out to you, my God, my enemies will be defeated;

I know that will happen because you are fighting for me.

¹⁰ I praise you that you do what you have promised;

Yahweh, I will always praise you for that.

¹¹ I trust in you, and as a result, I will not be afraid.

I know that humans cannot really harm me!

¹² I will bring to you the offering that I promised;

I will bring an offering to you to thank you

¹³ because you have rescued me from being killed;

you have kept me from stumbling.

And so I will continue to live with God every day

in his light that gives me life.

Psalm 57

¹ God, act mercifully toward me!

Act mercifully toward me because I am coming to you to protect me.

I request you to protect me as little birds are protected under their mother's wings

until the storm is ended.

² God, you who are greater than all other gods,

I cry out to you, the one who enables me to be all that you desire.

³ You will answer me from heaven and rescue me,

but you will cause those who oppress me to be defeated and disgraced!

God will always faithfully love me as he has promised me.

⁴ Sometimes I am surrounded by my enemies, who are as ready to kill me as lions are to kill people;

they are like lions that chew to bits the animals that they kill.

But my enemies are human, and they have spears and arrows, not teeth;

they say false things about me.

⁵ God, show in the heavens that you are very great!

Show your glory to people all over the earth!

⁶ It is as if my enemies have spread a net to seize me,

and I became very distressed.

It is as if they have dug a deep pit along the path where I walk,

but they themselves fell into it!

⁷ God, I am very confident in you.

I will sing to you,

and I will praise you while I sing.

⁸ It is an honor to wake up and praise you.

I will arise before the sun rises

and praise you while I play my big harp or my lyre.

⁹ Lord, I will thank you among all the people;

and I will sing songs of praise about you to many people groups.

¹⁰ For your love for us is as great as the distance from the earth to the sky,

and your faithfulness to us goes up to the clouds.

¹¹ God, show in the heavens that you are very great!

Show your glory to people all over the earth!

Psalm 58

¹ When you rulers speak, you never say what is right;

you people never justly decide disputes.

² No, in your inner beings you think only about doing what is wrong,

and you commit violent crimes everywhere in this land of Israel.

³ Wicked people do wrong things and tell lies from the time that they are born.

⁴ What wicked people say injures people like the venom of a snake.

They refuse to listen to commands; it is as though they were deaf cobras.

⁵ As a result, like a snake that does not respond when a charmer plays a flute or when someone sings magic songs,

they do not pay attention when others rebuke them.

⁶ God, as for these enemies who want to attack me like young lions,

break the teeth in their mouths!

⁷ Cause them to disappear as water disappears in dry ground!

Cause the arrows that they shoot to have no heads!

⁸ Cause them to become like snails that disappear in the slime;

cause them to be like a baby that is born dead!

⁹ I hope that you will get rid of them

as fast as thornbushes are blown away after they are cut.

¹⁰ People who do what is right will rejoice when they see God punish the wicked people;

they will wash their feet in the blood of wicked people.

¹¹ Then people will say, "It is true that there is a reward for righteous people;

and there is indeed a God who judges people justly here on the earth!"

Psalm 59

¹ God, save me from my enemies!

Protect me from those who want to attack me!

² Keep me safe from men who want to do what is wicked,

from men who are murderers!

³ Look! They are waiting to kill me!

Fierce men have gathered to assault me.

Yahweh, they are doing that even though I have not done what is wrong!

⁴ It is not because I have committed any sin against them

that they run and get ready to attack me. Please look at my situation and help me.

⁵ Yahweh my God, commander of the angel armies, the one we Israelites worship,

arise and punish the people of all the nations who do not honor you;

do not act mercifully toward those wicked people who have acted treacherously toward us.

⁶ They return each evening,

snarling like vicious dogs as they prowl around this city.

⁷ They loudly say terrible things;

they say things that destroy as much as swords do,

because they are saying, "No one will hear us!"

⁸ But Yahweh, you laugh at them.

You scoff at the people of the pagan nations.

⁹ God, I have confidence in you because you are very strong;

you are my refuge.

¹⁰ Because you love me, you will come to save me as you have promised;

you will allow me to watch while you defeat my enemies.

¹¹ But do not kill them immediately;

it is good that my people should not forget how you punished them!

Instead, Lord, you who are like a shield that protects us,

scatter them by your power, and then defeat them.

¹² Because what they say is sinful,

allow them to be trapped for being proud.

Because they are always cursing and telling lies,

¹³ because you are angry, get rid of them;

destroy them completely

so that people will know that you rule over us, your Israelite people,

and that you rule over all the earth.

¹⁴ They return each evening,

snarling like vicious dogs as they prowl around this city.

¹⁵ They roam around, searching for food

and if they do not find enough, they growl like dogs.

¹⁶ But as for me, I will sing about your power;

every morning I will sing joyfully about your faithfully loving us.

I will sing about how you protected me when I was very distressed.

¹⁷ God, you are the one who enables me to be strong;

you are my refuge;

you faithfully love me, just as you have promised in your covenant.

Psalm 60

¹ I prayed, "God, you have rejected us Israelites!

Because you have been angry with us,

you have enabled our enemies to break through our ranks.

Please enable us to be strong again!

² It was as though you made a big earthquake in which the ground split open.

So now, make us strong again,

because it is as though our country is falling apart.

³ You have caused us, your people, to suffer very much;

it is as though you had taken away our strength by making us drink strong wine.

⁴ But you have raised a battle flag for those who honor you.

They will show your banner when they face the enemies' arrows.

⁵ Answer our prayers and enable us by your power to defeat our enemies

so that we, the people you love, will be saved."

⁶ Then God answered my prayer and spoke from his temple, saying,

"Because I have conquered your enemies, I will divide the city of Shechem,

and I will distribute among my people the land in Succoth Valley.

⁷ The region of Gilead is mine;

the people of the tribe of Manasseh are mine;

the tribe of Ephraim is like my helmet;

and the tribe of Judah is like the scepter with which I rule.

⁸ The region of Moab is like my washbasin;

I throw my sandal into the region of Edom to show that it belongs to me;

I shout triumphantly because I have defeated the people of all the region of Philistia.

⁹ Because I want to defeat the people of Edom,

who will lead my army to their capital city that has strong walls around it?"

¹⁰ So, God, it seems that you have truly abandoned us;

it seems that you do not go with us when our armies march out to fight our enemies.

¹¹ We need you to help us when we fight against our enemies

because the help that humans can give us is worthless.

¹² But with you helping us, we will win;

you will enable us to defeat our enemies.

Psalm 61

¹ God, listen to me

and answer my prayer.

² While I am discouraged and far from my home,

I am calling out to you.

Lead me to a place that will be like a high rock

on top of which I will be safe.

³ You have been my refuge;

you have been like a strong tower

in which my enemies cannot attack me.

⁴ Allow me to live close to your sacred tent all during my life!

Allow me to be safe as a little bird is safe under its mother's wings.

⁵ God, you heard me when I solemnly promised to give offerings to you;

you have given to me the blessings that belong to those who have an awesome respect for you.

⁶ I am the king of Israel;

please allow me to live and rule for many years,

and allow my descendants to rule also.

⁷ Allow us to rule forever while you observe us;

watch over us while you faithfully love us and do for us what you promised.

⁸ If you do that, I will always sing to praise you

while I offer to you each day the sacrifices that I promised to give to you.

Psalm 62

¹ God is the only one who can give me peace in my inner being,

and he is the one who saves me from my enemies.

² Only he is like a huge rock on which I can be safe;

he is like a fortress high up that my enemies cannot climb.

³ When will you, my enemies, stop attacking me?

I feel that I am as weak against you as a leaning wall or a broken-down fence.

⁴ My enemies plan to remove me from my important position so that people no longer honor me.

They delight in telling lies.

They bless people by what they say,

but in their inner beings they curse those people.

⁵ God is the only one who gives me peace in my inner being;

he is the one whom I confidently expect to help me.

⁶ Only he is like a huge rock on which I can be safe;

he is like a shelter; my enemies can never reach me there.

⁷ God is the one who saves me and honors me.

He is like a huge, strong rock on which I can find shelter.

⁸ You my people, always trust in him.

Tell him all your troubles

because we go to him for safety.

⁹ People who are considered to be unimportant are as unreliable as a breath of air;

people who are considered to be important also really amount to nothing.

If you put them all on a scale, it would be as if they weighed less than a puff of air.

¹⁰ Do not trust in money gained by extorting it from others;

do not try to gain anything by robbing others.

If you become very wealthy, do not trust in your money.

¹¹ I have heard God say more than once that he is the one who really has power,

¹² and that he is the one who faithfully loves us, as he promised.

He rewards every one of us according to the deeds that we do.

Psalm 63

¹ God, you are the God whom I worship.

I greatly desire to be with you

as a person in a dry hot wilderness greatly desires some water.

² I have been with you in your temple

In order to see that you are loving and powerful.

³ You always love me, as you promised in your covenant; this is worth more than my entire life,

so I will always praise you.

⁴ I will praise you all the time that I live;

I will lift up my hands to you while I pray.

⁵ You fill me up and you meet every need I have.

My response to you is much like when I eat a delicious banquet of rich foods

and the food fills me.

I will have great happiness when I praise you with the words that I speak about you.

⁶ While I lie on my bed, I think about you.

I think about you all during the night.

⁷ For you have always helped me,

and I sing joyfully knowing that you protect me

as a bird protects her young under her wings.

⁸ I follow you closely,

and your hand protects me.

⁹ But those who are trying to kill me

will die and descend into the place of the dead;

¹⁰ they will be killed in battles

and their corpses will be eaten by dogs.

¹¹ But I, the king of Israel, will rejoice in what God has done;

and all those who ask God to confirm their word will praise him,

but he will not allow liars to say anything.

Psalm 64

¹ God, listen to me as I tell you the things about which I am worried.

I am afraid of my enemies; please save me from them.

² Protect me from what wicked men are planning to do to me;

protect me from that group of men who do what is evil.

³ The hostile things they say are like sharp swords;

their cruel words are like arrows.

⁴ They are not afraid of anyone; they lie about people and slander those who have done no wrong.

They are like someone who suddenly jumps up from where he is hiding and shoots arrows at his enemies.

⁵ They encourage each other about doing the evil things that they are planning to do;

they talk with each other about where they can set traps to catch people.

They say, "No one will see what we are doing

⁶ because we have planned very well the things that we are going to do."

What people can think and plan in their inner beings is truly amazing!

⁷ But it will be as though God will shoot his arrows at them,

and suddenly they will be wounded.

⁸ Because what they say proves they are guilty, God will get rid of them.

Everyone who sees what has happened to them will shake their heads to mock them.

⁹ Then everyone will be afraid to sin because of what might happen to them also;

they will tell others what God has done,

and they themselves will think much about it.

¹⁰ Righteous people should rejoice because of what Yahweh has done;

they should go to him to find refuge;

and all those who honor him will praise him.

Psalm 65

¹ God, it is right for us to praise you in Jerusalem

and to do what we have promised you that we would do

² because you answer our prayers.

People everywhere will come to you

³ Our many sins are like a very heavy burden to us,

but you forgive us.

⁴ How fortunate are those whom you have chosen

to always be in your temple courtyards.

We will be satisfied with all the blessings that you will give us because we worship you in your sacred temple.

⁵ God, when we pray to you, you answer us and save us by doing awesome deeds;

you are the one who rescues us;

people who live in very remote places on the earth, on the other side of the oceans, trust in you.

⁶ You are the one who put the mountains in their places,

showing that you are very powerful.

⁷ You are the one who calms the seas when they roar,

and stop the waves from pounding on the shore;

you also calm people when they cause a lot of trouble.

⁸ People who live in very remote places on the earth

are awed by the miracles that you perform;

because of what you do,

people who live far to the west and far to the east shout joyfully.

⁹ You take care of the soil and send rain,

causing many good things to grow;

you fill the streams with water

and cause grain to grow.

This is what you have determined would happen.

¹⁰ You send plenty of rain on the fields that have been plowed,

and you fill the furrows with water.

With showers you soften the hard clods of soil,

and you bless the soil by causing young plants to grow.

¹¹ Because you bless the soil, there are very good crops at harvest season;

wherever you have gone, good crops are very abundant.

¹² The pastures in the wilderness are wet with the morning dew,

it is as though the hills are singing joyful songs.

¹³ The meadows are covered with sheep and goats,

and the valleys are full of grain;

it is as though they also sing and shout joyfully.

Psalm 66

¹ Tell everyone on the earth

that they should sing joyfully to praise God!

² They should sing songs that say that God is very great,

and they should tell everyone that he is very glorious!

³ They should say to God, "The things that you do are awesome!

Your power is very great,

with the result that your enemies cringe in front of you."

⁴ Everyone on the earth will worship God,

sing to praise him,

and honor him.

⁵ Come and think about what God has done!

Think about the awesome things that he has done among people.

⁶ He caused the sea to become dry land,

with the result that our ancestors were able to walk right through it.

There we rejoiced because of what he had done.

⁷ He rules forever by his power,

and he keeps watching all the nations to see what evil things they do.

The nations that want to rebel against him should not be proud.

⁸ You people of all nations, praise our God!

Praise him loudly in order that people will hear you as you praise him.

⁹ He has kept us alive,

and he has not allowed us to fall into disaster.

¹⁰ God, you have tested us;

you have allowed us to experience great difficulties to make our lives become pure

as people put precious metals in a hot fire to burn out what is impure.

¹¹ It is as if you allowed us to fall into traps,

and you forced us to endure difficult things that were like heavy loads to carry on our backs.

¹² You allowed our enemies to trample on us;

we experienced difficulties walking through fires and floods,

but now you have made us safe.

¹³ I will bring to your temple offerings that are to be completely burned on the altar;

I will offer to you what I promised.

¹⁴ When I was experiencing much trouble, I said that I would bring offerings to you if you rescued me;

and you did rescue me, so I will bring to you what I promised.

¹⁵ I will bring sheep to be burned on the altar,

and I will also sacrifice bulls and goats;

when they are burning, you will be pleased as the smoke rises up to you.

¹⁶ All you people who have a reverential respect for God, come and listen,

and I will tell you what he has done for me.

¹⁷ I called out to him to help me,

and I praised him while I was speaking to him.

¹⁸ If I had ignored the sins that I had committed,

the Lord would not have paid any attention to me.

¹⁹ But because I confessed my sins, God has listened to me

and has paid attention to my prayers.

²⁰ I praise God

because he has not ignored my prayers;

he continues to love me as he promised in his covenant to do.

Psalm 67

¹ God, act mercifully toward us and bless us;

act kindly toward us.

² Do this in order that everyone in the world may know what you want them to do,

and the people of all nations may know that you have the power to save them.

³ God, I desire that all people groups may praise you;

I want them all to praise you!

⁴ I desire that the people of all nations will be glad and sing joyfully

because you judge the people groups equally,

and you guide all the nations in the world.

⁵ God, I desire that the people groups may praise you;

I want them all to praise you!

⁶ Good crops have grown on our land;

God, our God, has blessed us.

⁷ Because God has blessed us,

I desire that all people everywhere on the earth may have an awesome respect for him.

Psalm 68

¹ God, arise and scatter your enemies,

and cause those who hate you to run away from you.

² As wind blows smoke away,

you chase your enemies away.

As wax melts when it is near a fire,

may you cause wicked people to disappear.

³ But may the righteous people be joyful;

may they rejoice when they are in God's presence;

may they be happy and very joyful.

⁴ Sing to God; sing to praise him;

sing a song for him who rides in the desert plains;

his name is Yahweh; be glad when you are in his presence.

⁵ God, who lives in his sacred temple, is like a father to those who are orphans,

and he is the one who protects widows.

⁶ He provides families for those who have no one to live with.

He frees prisoners and enables them to be successful,

but those who rebel against him will be forced to live in a very hot and dry land.

⁷ God, you led your people out of Egypt,

and then you marched with them through the desert.

⁸ After you did that,

the earth shook at Mount Sinai when you appeared to your people,

and rain poured down from the sky, and your people worshiped you.

⁹ You caused plenty of rain to fall there in the wilderness,

and so you enabled good crops to grow again on that land that you gave to us Israelites.

¹⁰ Your people built homes there;

because you were good to them, you provided food for those who were poor.

¹¹ The Lord spoke this message,

and many people took his message to other places.

^12-13 They proclaimed, "Many kings and their armies are running away from our army!"

When our army brought back to their homes the things that they captured,

the women who were at home divided up those things among themselves and among their families.

They got statues of pigeons whose wings were covered with silver

and whose feathers were covered with pure yellow gold. But some of the people stayed with the sheep and did not go to fight in the battle. Why did you not go?

¹⁴ When Almighty God scattered the enemy kings and their armies,

it reminded me of a snowstorm on Mount Zalmon!

¹⁵ There is a very high mountain in the Bashan hills,

a mountain that has many peaks.

¹⁶ But the people who live near that mountain should not envy those who live near Mount Zion,

the mountain on which God chose to live!

Yahweh will live there forever!

¹⁷ After we defeated all our enemies,

it was as though the Lord, surrounded by many thousands of strong chariots, descended from Mount Sinai

and came into the sacred temple in Jerusalem.

¹⁸ He ascended the sacred mountain where his temple is

and took with him many people who had been captured in battles;

he received gifts from the enemies whom he had defeated.

He received gifts even from those who had rebelled against him,

and Yahweh, our God, will live there in his sacred temple forever.

¹⁹ Praise the Lord, who helps us carry our heavy loads every day;

he is the one who saves us.

²⁰ Our God is the God who saves us;

He is Yahweh, our Lord, the one who allows us to escape from dying in battles.

²¹ But God will smash the heads of his enemies,

the long-haired skulls of those who continue to behave sinfully.

²² The Lord said, "I will bring back the corpses of my enemies who were killed in Bashan,

and I will bring back those who sank deep in the ocean and drowned.

²³ I will do that so that you may wash your feet in their blood,

and your dogs can also lap up some of your enemies' blood."

²⁴ God, many people see you march triumphantly into your sacred temple,

celebrating that you have defeated your enemies.

You march like a king does, and a large crowd walks with you.

²⁵ The singers are in front, and the people who play stringed instruments are at the rear,

and young women who are beating their tambourines are between them.

²⁶ They are all singing, "You Israelite people, praise God when you gather together;

praise Yahweh, all you who are descendants of Jacob!"

²⁷ First come the people of the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe,

and following them come the leaders of the tribe of Judah and their group,

and following them come the leaders of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali.

²⁸ You people of Israel, God made our tribes very strong.

God, help us with your power as you helped us in the past.

²⁹ Show us that you are strong, there where you are in your temple in Jerusalem;

kings bring gifts to you there.

³⁰ Shout as you defeat your enemies, such as those in Egypt, who are like wild animals living in the reeds.

Shout as you defeat the powerful nations, who are like herds of bulls.

Shame them; make them bow down and give you gifts.

Drive away and scatter the people groups who love to attack other nations.

³¹ Then the leaders of Egypt will bring gifts to you.

then the people in Ethiopia will rush to lift up their hands to praise you.

³² You people who are citizens of kingdoms all over the world, sing to God!

Sing praises to Yahweh!

³³ Sing to the God, the one who rides in the sky,

the sky that he created long ago.

Listen as he shouts with a very powerful voice.

³⁴ Proclaim that God is very powerful;

he is the king that rules over Israel,

and in the skies he also shows that he is powerful.

³⁵ God is awesome as he comes out of his sacred temple;

he is the God whom we Israelite people worship.

He gives power and strength to his people.

Praise God!

Psalm 69

¹ O God, save me

because I am in great danger.

It is as though the flood water were up to my neck, and I were about to drown.

² I continue to sink in the deep mud,

and there is no solid ground for me to stand on.

I am in deep water,

and the flood is swirling around me.

³ I am exhausted from calling out for help;

my throat is very dry.

Because I have cried so much as I have waited for God to help me,

my eyes are swollen from tears.

⁴ Those who hate me when there is no reason to hate me

are more than the number of hairs on my head!

Those who want to get rid of me are strong,

and they tell lies about me.

They demand that I return to them things that I did not steal!

⁵ O God, you see the sins that I have committed.

You know that I have foolishly disobeyed your laws.

⁶ O Yahweh God, commander of the angel armies,

do not allow the wrong things that I have done

cause those who trust in you to be disappointed.

O God, whom we Israelite people worship,

do not allow me to cause them to be shamed.

⁷ People have insulted me because I am devoted to you.

They have thoroughly humiliated me.

⁸ Even my own older brothers act as if they do not know me;

they treat me like a foreigner.

⁹ Some people have despised your temple;

but because I have tried to keep your temple holy, people have caused trouble for me.

So it is as though those who are insulting you are also insulting me.

¹⁰ When I have humbled myself and fasted

to show my sadness about the disgraceful things that they have done to your temple,

they just insult me.

¹¹ When I put on rough sackcloth to show that I am sad,

they laugh at me.

¹² Even the elders of the city say bad things about me.

The drunkards of the city sing disgusting songs about me.

¹³ But Yahweh, I will continue praying to you.

At the time that you choose, answer me and rescue me

because you faithfully love me, as you have promised to do.

¹⁴ Do not allow me to sink anymore in the mud.

Rescue me from those who hate me!

Lift me up out of these deep waters!

¹⁵ Do not allow the floods to swirl around me;

do not allow the deep mud to swallow me;

keep me from sinking into the pit of death.

¹⁶ O Yahweh, answer my prayer and help me

because you are good

and I can depend on your love for me.

You have not punished me for what I deserve.

I know you will listen to me!

¹⁷ Do not hide yourself from me;

answer me quickly

because I am in great trouble.

¹⁸ Come near to me and save me;

rescue me from my enemies.

¹⁹ You know that I am insulted

and that people shame and dishonor me;

you know who all my enemies are.

²⁰ Their insults have deeply offended me,

and I feel helpless.

I searched for someone who would pity me,

but there was no one.

I wanted someone to encourage me,

but there was no one.

²¹ Instead, they gave me food that tasted like poison,

and when I was thirsty, they gave me sour wine to drink.

²² I hope their own food will kill them;

I hope that this will happen when they think that they are completely safe.

²³ I hope that their eyes become dim so that they cannot see anything

and that their backs will become weaker and weaker.

²⁴ Show them that you are very angry with them!

Because of your great anger, chase them and catch them.

²⁵ Cause their towns to become abandoned;

may there be no one to live in their tents.

²⁶ Do this because they persecute those whom you have punished,

they look at how those whom you have punished suffer, and they tell others about it.

²⁷ Keep making a record of all their sins,

do not fail to punish them for the evil things that they have done.

²⁸ Erase their names from the book containing the names of those who have eternal life;

do not include them in the list of righteous people.

²⁹ As for me, I have pain and am suffering.

O God, protect me and rescue me.

³⁰ When God does that, I will sing as I praise God,

and I will honor him by thanking him.

³¹ My doing that will please Yahweh more than sacrificing oxen,

more than offering him full grown bulls.

³² Oppressed people will see that God has rescued me,

and they will be glad.

I desire that all who request God to help them may be encouraged.

³³ Yahweh listens to those who are needy;

he does not ignore those who have suffered for him.

³⁴ I desire that everything will praise God—

everything that is in heaven and on earth and all the creatures that are in the seas.

³⁵ God will rescue the people of Jerusalem from their enemies,

and he will rebuild the towns that are in Judah.

His people will live there and again possess the land.

³⁶ The descendants of his people will inherit it,

and those who love him will live there safely.

Psalm 70

¹ God, please save me!

Yahweh, come quickly to help me!

² Disgrace those who are happy about my troubles, those who are trying to kill me.

Chase them away; make everyone shame them, for they want to see me suffer.

³ I hope that you will cause them to become dismayed and ashamed

because they have been happy about my troubles.

⁴ But I hope that everyone who prays to you will rejoice because of you.

I hope that everyone who waits for you to rescue them will say,

"God is great!"

⁵ As for me, I am poor and needy;

so God, come quickly to help me!

Yahweh, you are the one who saves and helps me,

so please come quickly!

Psalm 71

¹ Yahweh, I have come to you to be safe;

never allow me to become ashamed.

² Because you always do what is right, help me and rescue me;

listen to me, and save me!

³ Be like a huge rock on top of which I can be safe;

be like a strong fortress in which I am safe.

You have commanded your angels to rescue me.

⁴ God, rescue me from wicked people,

from the power of unjust and evil men.

⁵ Yahweh, my Lord, you are the one whom I confidently expect to help me;

I have trusted in you ever since I was young.

⁶ I have depended on you all my life;

you have taken care of me since the day that I was born,

so I will always praise you.

⁷ The manner in which you have rescued me has been an example to many people

because they realize that you have been my strong defender.

⁸ I praise you all during the day,

and I proclaim that you are glorious.

⁹ Now when I have become an old man, do not reject me;

do not abandon me now when I am not strong anymore.

¹⁰ My enemies say that they want to kill me;

they talk together and plan how they can do that.

¹¹ They say, "God has abandoned him;

so now we can pursue him and seize him

because there is no one who will rescue him."

¹² God, do not stay far away from me;

hurry to help me!

¹³ Cause those who accuse me to be defeated and destroyed;

cause those who want to harm me to be shamed and disgraced.

¹⁴ But as for me, I will continually and confidently expect you to do great things for me,

and I will praise you more and more.

¹⁵ I will tell people that you do what is right;

all during the day I will tell people how you have saved me,

although what you have done is more than I can fully understand.

¹⁶ Yahweh, my Lord, I will praise you for your mighty deeds;

I will proclaim that only you always act justly.

¹⁷ God, you have taught me many things ever since I was young,

and I still tell people about your wonderful deeds.

¹⁸ Now, God, when I am old and my hair is gray,

do not abandon me.

Stay with me while I continue to proclaim to my children and grandchildren.

¹⁹ God, you do many righteous deeds;

it is as though they extend up to the sky.

You have done great things;

there is no one like you.

²⁰ You have caused us to have many troubles and to suffer much,

but you will cause us to become strong again;

when I am almost dead, you will keep us alive.

²¹ You will cause me to be greatly honored,

and you will encourage me again.

²² I will also praise you while I play my harp;

I will praise you, my God, for faithfully doing what you have promised to do.

I will play hymns to praise you, the holy God whom we Israelites worship.

²³ I will shout joyfully while I sing;

with my entire inner being I will sing

because you have rescued me.

²⁴ All during the day I will tell people that you act righteously

because those who wanted to harm me will have been defeated and disgraced.

Psalm 72

¹ O God, enable the king whom you appointed in Israel to rule justly.

Show him how to judge matters fairly

² so that he may judge your people fairly

and that he may govern your oppressed people justly.

³ I desire that all over the country—even on the hills and mountains —

people will live peacefully and righteously.

⁴ Help your king to defend the poor people

and to rescue needy people and to defeat those who oppress them.

⁵ I desire that your king may live as long as the sun shines,

as long as the moon shines, forever.

⁶ I desire that his rule may be enjoyed by the people

as they enjoy rain on the growing crops,

as they enjoy the showers that fall on the land.

⁷ I hope that people may live righteously during the years that he rules

and that the people may live peacefully and prosperously as long as the moon shines.

⁸ I hope that the king of Israel may rule the people

in all the area from one sea in the east to another in the west

and from the Euphrates River to the most remote places on earth.

⁹ I hope that those who live in the wilderness may bow down before him

and that his enemies may throw themselves on the ground in submission to our king.

¹⁰ I hope that the king of the land of Tarshish and the kings of the islands in the sea may pay taxes to the king of Israel.

I hope that the king of Sheba to the south and the king of Seba to the southwest may bring him gifts.

¹¹ I hope that all the other kings in the world may bow before the king of Israel

and that people of all nations may serve our king.

¹² He rescues poor people when they cry out for help,

and he helps those who are needy and those who have no one to help them.

¹³ He pities those who are weak and needy;

he saves the people's lives.

¹⁴ Our king rescues people from being oppressed and from being treated cruelly

because their lives are precious to our king.

¹⁵ I hope that our king may live a long time!

I hope that he may be given gold from Sheba.

I desire that people may always pray for our king

and praise him all the time, every day.

¹⁶ I hope that the fields may produce plenty of grain everywhere, even on the tops of the hills in the land where he rules,

like the grain that grows on the hills in Lebanon.

I hope that the cities in Israel will be as full of people

as the fields are full of grass.

¹⁷ I desire that the name of the king may never be forgotten.

I hope that people may remember him as long as the sun shines.

I hope that all people will praise Yahweh, the God of Israel,

just as he has blessed the king of Israel.

¹⁸ Praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship;

he is the only one who does wonderful things.

¹⁹ Praise him forever!

I desire that his glory may fill the whole world!

Amen! May it be so!

²⁰ This is the end of the prayers written by David, son of Jesse.

Psalm 73

¹ God truly is good to us Israelite people,

to those who, with all their inner being, want to do all that he desires.

² As for me, I almost stopped trusting in God;

I was almost guilty of committing a great sin against him

³ because I saw those who proudly said that they did not need God, and I wanted to be like them.

I saw that they became wealthy even though they were wicked.

⁴ Those people do not suffer from sickness;

they are always strong and healthy.

⁵ They do not have the troubles that other people have;

they do not have problems as others do.

⁶ So they are proud, as proud as a woman with a beautiful necklace.

They are as proud of their violent actions as some people are proud of their beautiful robes.

⁷ From their inner beings pour out evil deeds,

and in their inner beings they are always thinking about more evil things to do.

⁸ They scoff at other people, and they talk about doing evil things to them;

they are proud while they plan to oppress others.

⁹ They say evil things about God, who is in heaven,

and they talk boastfully about things that they have done here on the earth.

¹⁰ The result is that people pay attention to them

and listen to everything they say.

¹¹ Wicked people say to themselves, "God will certainly not know what we have done;

people say that he is greater than any other god, but he cannot find out."

¹² That is what wicked people are like;

they never worry about anything, and they are always becoming richer.

¹³ So, God, I think it is useless that I have always done what you want me to

and that I have not committed sins.

¹⁴ During each day I have problems,

and every morning you punish me.

¹⁵ But if I had said these things out loud in front of others,

I would have been sinning against your people.

¹⁶ When I tried to think completely about these things,

it was too hard for me to understand them.

¹⁷ But when I went to your temple, you spoke to me,

and I understood what will happen to the wicked people after they die.

¹⁸ Now I know that you will surely put them in dangerous places

where they will fall down and die.

¹⁹ They will be destroyed instantly;

they will die in terrible ways.

²⁰ They will disappear as quickly as a dream disappears when a person awakes in the morning;

Lord, when you arise, you will cause them to disappear.

²¹ When I felt sad in my inner being

and my feelings were hurt,

²² I was stupid and ignorant,

and I behaved like an animal toward you.

²³ But I am always close to you,

and you hold my hand.

²⁴ You guide me by teaching me,

and at the end of my life, you will receive me and honor me.

²⁵ You are in heaven, and I belong to you;

there is nothing on this earth that I desire more than that.

²⁶ My body and my mind may become very weak,

but, God, you continue to enable me to be strong;

I belong to you forever.

²⁷ Those who remain far from you will be destroyed;

you will get rid of those who abandon you.

²⁸ But as for me, it is wonderful to be near to God

and to have Yahweh protect me

and to proclaim to others all that he has done for me.

Psalm 74

¹ God, why have you abandoned us?

Will you keep rejecting us forever?

Why are you angry with us

since we are like sheep in your pasture and you are like our shepherd?

² Do not forget your people whom you chose long ago,

the people whom you freed from being slaves in Egypt and caused to become your tribe.

Do not forget Jerusalem, which is your home on this earth.

³ Walk along and see where everything has been totally ruined;

our enemies have destroyed everything in the sacred temple.

⁴ Your enemies shouted triumphantly in this sacred place;

they erected their banners to show they had defeated us.

⁵ They cut down all the engraved objects in the temple as woodsmen cut down trees.

⁶ Then they smashed all the carved wood with their axes and hammers.

⁷ Then they burned your temple to the ground;

they caused that place where you were worshiped to be unfit for people to worship in.

⁸ They said to themselves, "We will destroy the Israelites completely,"

and they also burned down all the other places where we gathered to worship you.

⁹ All our sacred symbols are gone;

there are no prophets now,

and no one knows how long this situation will continue.

¹⁰ God, how long will our enemies make fun of you?

Will they insult you?

¹¹ Why do you refuse to help us?

Why do you keep your hand inside your cloak instead of using it to destroy our enemies?

¹² God, you have been our king during all the years since we came out of Egypt,

and you have enabled us to defeat our enemies in the land of Israel.

¹³ By your power you caused the sea to divide;

it was as though you had smashed the heads of the rulers of Egypt who were like huge sea dragons.

¹⁴ It was as though you crushed the head of the king of Egypt

and gave his body to the animals in the desert to eat.

¹⁵ You caused springs and streams to flow,

and you also dried up rivers that had never dried up previously.

¹⁶ You created the days and the nights,

and you put the sun and the moon in their places.

¹⁷ You determined where the oceans end and the land begins,

and you created the summer season and the winter season.

¹⁸ Yahweh, do not forget that your enemies laugh at you

and that it is foolish people who despise you.

¹⁹ Do not abandon your helpless people into the hands of their cruel enemies;

do not forget your suffering people.

²⁰ Continue thinking about the covenant that you made with us;

remember that there are violent people in every dark place on the earth.

²¹ Do not allow your oppressed people to be disgraced;

help those poor and needy people in order that they will again praise you.

²² God, arise and defend yourself by defending your people!

Do not forget that foolish people laugh at you all during the day!

²³ Do not forget that your enemies shout angrily at you;

the uproar that they make while they oppose you never stops.

Psalm 75

¹ We give thanks to you;

our God, we thank you.

You are close to us,

and we proclaim to others the wonderful things that you have done for us.

² You have said, "I have appointed a time when I will judge people,

and I will judge everyone fairly.

³ When the earth shakes

and all the creatures on the earth tremble,

I am the one who will keep its foundations steady.

⁴ I say to people who boast, 'Stop bragging!'

and I say to wicked people, 'Do not proudly do things to show how great you are!'"

⁵ Do not be arrogant,

and do not speak so boastfully!

⁶ The one who judges people does not come from the east or from the west,

and he does not come from the desert.

⁷ God is the one who judges people;

he shames and punishes some, and he honors others.

⁸ It is as though Yahweh held a cup in his hand;

it is filled with wine that has spices mixed in it to cause those who drink it to become more drunk;

and when Yahweh pours it out, he will force all the wicked people to drink it;

they will drink every drop of it; yes, he will punish them fully.

⁹ But as for me, I will never stop saying what the God whom Jacob worshiped has done;

I will never stop singing to praise him.

¹⁰ He promises this: "I will destroy the power of wicked people,

but I will increase the power of righteous people."

Psalm 76

¹ God has made the people in Judah to know him;

the Israelite people honor him.

² In Jerusalem is where he resides;

he lives on Mount Zion.

³ There he broke the flaming arrows that his enemies shot,

and he also broke their shields and swords and other weapons that they used in battles.

⁴ God, you are powerful! You are like a great king

as you return from the mountains where you defeated your enemies.

⁵ Their brave soldiers were killed, and then those who killed them took away everything that those soldiers had.

Those enemies died;

indeed, none of them were able to fight any longer.

⁶ When you, the God whom Jacob worshiped, rebuked your enemies,

their horses and their riders fell down dead.

⁷ Truly, you cause everyone to be afraid.

When you are angry and you punish people, no one can endure it.

⁸ From heaven you proclaimed that you would judge people,

and then everyone on the earth was afraid and did not say anything more

⁹ when you arose to declare that you would punish wicked people

and rescue all those whom they had oppressed.

¹⁰ When you punish those with whom you are angry, your people will praise you,

and your enemies who survive will worship you on your festival days.

¹¹ So give to Yahweh the offerings that you promised to give to him;

all the people of nearby people groups should also bring gifts to him, the one who is awesome.

¹² He humbles the leaders,

and terrifies all the kings.

Psalm 77

¹ I will cry out to God;

I will cry aloud to him, and he will listen to me.

² At the time that I had trouble, I prayed to the Lord;

all during the night I lifted up my hands while I prayed,

but nothing could comfort me.

³ When I thought about God, I despaired;

when I meditated about him, I grew discouraged.

⁴ All during the night he prevented me from sleeping;

I was so worried that I did not know what to say.

⁵ I thought about days that had passed;

I remembered what had happened in previous years.

⁶ I spent all the night thinking about things;

I meditated, and this is what I asked myself:

⁷ "Will the Lord always reject me?

Will he never again be pleased with me?

⁸ Has he stopped faithfully loving me?

Will he not do for me what he promised to do?

⁹ God promised to act mercifully toward me; has he forgotten that?

Because he is angry with me, has he decided not to be kind to me?"

¹⁰ I said, "What causes me to be sad the most is that

it seems that God, who is greater than any other god, is no longer using his power for us."

¹¹ But then, Yahweh, I recall your great deeds;

I remember the wonderful things that you did in the past.

¹² I meditate on all that you have done,

and I think about your mighty acts.

¹³ God, everything that you do is amazing;

there is certainly no god who is great like you are!

¹⁴ You are God, the one who performs miracles;

you showed to the people of many people groups that you are powerful.

¹⁵ By your power you rescued your people from Egypt;

you saved those who were descendants of Jacob and his son Joseph.

¹⁶ It was as though the waters saw you and became very afraid,

and even the deepest part of the water shook.

¹⁷ Rain poured down from the clouds;

it thundered very loudly,

and lightning flashed in all directions.

¹⁸ Thunder crashed in the whirlwind—your voice!

Lightning lit up,

and the earth shook violently.

¹⁹ Then you walked through the sea

in a path that you made through the deep water,

but your footprints could not be seen.

²⁰ You led your people as a shepherd leads his flock of sheep

while Moses and Aaron were the leaders of your people.

Psalm 78

¹ My friends, listen to what I am going to teach you;

pay careful attention to what I will say.

² I am going to give you some sayings that wise people have said.

They will be sayings about things that happened long ago,

things that were difficult to understand.

³ These are things that we have heard and known previously,

things that our parents and grandparents told us.

⁴ We will tell these things to our children,

but we will also tell our grandchildren

about Yahweh's power and the glorious things that he has done.

⁵ He gave laws and commandments to the Israelite people,

those who are the descendants of Jacob,

and he told our ancestors to teach them to their children.

⁶ He commanded this so that their children would also know them

and so that they would teach them to their own children.

⁷ In that way, they also would trust in God

and would not forget the things that he has done;

instead, they would obey his commandments.

⁸ They would not be like their ancestors,

who were very stubborn and kept rebelling against God;

they did not continue firmly trusting in God,

and they did not worship him alone.

⁹ The soldiers of the tribe of Ephraim had bows and arrows,

but they ran away from their enemies on the day that they fought with their enemies.

¹⁰ They did not do what they had agreed with God that they would do;

they refused to obey his laws.

¹¹ They forgot what he had done;

they forgot about the miracles that they had seen him perform.

¹² While our ancestors were watching,

God performed miracles in the area around the city of Zoan in Egypt.

¹³ Then he caused the Sea of Reeds to divide,

causing the water on each side to pile up like a wall,

with the result that our ancestors walked through it on dry ground.

¹⁴ He led them by a bright cloud during the day

and by a fiery light during the night.

¹⁵ He split rocks open in the wilderness

and gave to our ancestors plenty of water from deep inside the earth.

¹⁶ He caused a stream of water to flow from the rock;

the water flowed like a river.

¹⁷ But our ancestors continued to sin against God;

in the wilderness they rebelled against the one who is greater than any other god.

¹⁸ By demanding that God give them the food that they desired,

they tried to find out if he would always do what they requested him to do.

¹⁹ They insulted God by saying, "Can God supply food for us here in this desert?

²⁰ It is true that he struck the rock,

with the result that water gushed out,

but can he also provide bread and meat for us, his people?"

²¹ So when Yahweh heard that, he became very angry,

and he sent a fire to burn up some of his Israelite people.

²² He did that because they did not trust in him,

and they did not believe that he would rescue them.

²³ But God spoke to the sky above them

and commanded it to open like a door,

²⁴ and then food fell down like rain,

food that they named "manna."

God gave them grain from heaven.

²⁵ So the people ate the food that angels eat,

and God gave to them all the manna that they wanted.

²⁶ Later, he caused the wind to blow from the east,

and by his power he also sent wind from the south,

²⁷ and the wind brought birds

which were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore.

²⁸ God caused those birds to fall in the middle of their camp.

There were birds all around their tents.

²⁹ So the people cooked the birds and ate the meat; their stomachs were full

because God had given them what they wanted.

³⁰ But they had not yet eaten all that they wanted.

³¹ At that point, God was still very angry with them,

and he caused their strongest men to die;

he got rid of many of the finest young Israelite men.

³² In spite of all this, the people continued to sin;

in spite of all the miracles that God had performed,

they still did not trust that he would take care of them.

³³ So he made them terrified all their lives;

he made them die young.

³⁴ Whenever God caused some of the Israelites to die,

the others would repent;

they would be sorry and seriously ask God to save them.

³⁵ They would remember that God was like a huge rock on which they would be safe,

and that he, who was greater than any other god, was the one who protected them.

³⁶ But they tried to deceive God by what they said;

their words were all lies.

³⁷ They were not loyal to him;

they ignored the covenant that he had made with them.

³⁸ But God acted mercifully toward his people.

He forgave them for having sinned

and did not get rid of them.

Many times he refrained from becoming angry with them

and restrained himself from furiously punishing them.

³⁹ He remembered that they were only humans who die,

humans who disappear as quickly as a wind that blows by and then is gone.

⁴⁰ Many times our ancestors rebelled against God in the wilderness

and made him very sad.

⁴¹ Many times they did evil things to find out if they could do those things without God punishing them.

They frequently caused the holy God of Israel to become angry.

⁴² They forgot about his great power,

and they forgot about the time when he rescued them from their enemies.

⁴³ They forgot about when he performed many miracles

in the area near the city of Zoan in Egypt.

⁴⁴ He caused the Nile River to become red like blood

so that the people of Egypt had no water to drink.

⁴⁵ He sent among the people of Egypt swarms of flies that bit them,

and he sent frogs that ate up everything.

⁴⁶ He sent locusts to eat their crops

and the other things that grew in their fields.

⁴⁷ He sent hail that destroyed the grapevines,

and he sent more hail that ruined the figs on the sycamore trees.

⁴⁸ He sent hail that killed their cattle

and lightning that killed their sheep and cows.

⁴⁹ Because God was fiercely angry with the people of Egypt,

he caused them to be very distressed.

The disasters that struck them were like a group of angels that destroyed everything.

⁵⁰ He did not lessen his anger with them,

and he did not spare their lives;

he sent a plague that killed many of them.

⁵¹ In that plague he caused all the firstborn sons of the people of Egypt to die.

⁵² Then he led his people out of Egypt as a shepherd leads his sheep,

and he guided them while they walked through the wilderness.

⁵³ He led them safely, and they were not afraid,

but their enemies were drowned in the sea.

⁵⁴ Later he brought them to Canaan, his sacred land,

to Mount Zion,

and by his power he enabled them to conquer the people who were living there.

⁵⁵ He expelled the people groups while his people were advancing;

he assigned part of the land for each tribe to possess,

and he gave the houses of those people to the Israelites.

⁵⁶ However, the Israelites rebelled against God, who is greater than any other God,

and they did many evil things to see if they could do those things without God punishing them;

they did not obey his commandments.

⁵⁷ Instead, as their ancestors did, they rebelled against God and were not loyal to him;

they were as unreliable as a bow that breaks when you try to shoot with it.

⁵⁸ Because they worshiped carved images of their gods on the tops of hills,

they caused God to become angry.

⁵⁹ He saw what they were doing and became very angry,

so he rejected the Israelite people.

⁶⁰ He no longer appeared to them at Shiloh

in the sacred tent where he had lived among them.

⁶¹ He allowed their enemies to capture the sacred chest,

which was the symbol of his power and his glory.

⁶² Because he was angry with his people,

he allowed their enemies to kill them.

⁶³ Young men were killed in battles,

with the result that the young women had no one to marry.

⁶⁴ Many priests were killed by their enemies' swords,

and the people did not allow the priests' widows to mourn.

⁶⁵ Later, it was as though the Lord awoke from sleeping;

he was like a strong man who became angry because he drank a lot of wine.

⁶⁶ He pushed his enemies back

and caused them to be very ashamed for a long time

because they had been defeated.

⁶⁷ But he did not set up his tent where the people of the tribe of Ephraim lived;

he did not choose their area to do that.

⁶⁸ Instead he chose the area where the tribe of Judah lived;

he chose Mount Zion, which he loves.

⁶⁹ He decided to have his temple built there, high up, like his home in heaven;

he caused it to be firm, like the earth,

and intended that his temple would last forever.

⁷⁰ He chose David, who served him faithfully,

and took him from the pastures

⁷¹ where he was taking care of his father's sheep,

and appointed him to be the leader of the Israelites,

the people who would always belong to God.

⁷² David took care of the Israelite people sincerely and wholeheartedly,

and he guided them skillfully.

Psalm 79

¹ God, other people groups have invaded your own land.

They have desecrated your temple,

and they have destroyed all the buildings in Jerusalem.

² Instead of burying the corpses of your people whom they killed,

they allowed the vultures to eat the flesh of those corpses,

and they also allowed wild animals to eat the corpses of your people.

³ When they killed your people,

your people's blood flowed like water through the streets of Jerusalem,

and there was almost no one left to bury their corpses.

⁴ The people groups that live in countries that surround our land insult us;

they laugh at us and mock us.

⁵ Yahweh, how long will this continue?

Will you be angry with us forever?

Will your anger be like a fire burning within you?

⁶ Instead of being angry with us,

be angry with the people groups that do not know you!

Be angry with kingdoms whose people do not pray to you

⁷ because they have killed Israelite people

and they have ruined your country.

⁸ Do not punish us because of the sins that our ancestors committed!

Act mercifully toward us now

because we are very discouraged.

⁹ God, you have saved us many times,

so help us now;

rescue us and forgive us for having sinned

so that other people will honor you.

¹⁰ It is not right that the other people groups say about us,

"If their God is very powerful, why does he not help them?"

Allow us to see you punishing the people of other nations in return for their shedding our blood

and killing many of us, your people.

¹¹ Listen to your people groaning while they are in prison,

and by your great power, free those whom our enemies say they will certainly execute.

¹² In return for their having often insulted you,

punish them seven times as much!

¹³ After you do that, we, whom you take care of as a shepherd takes care of his sheep, will continue praising you;

we will continue to praise you from generation to generation forever.

Psalm 80

¹ Yahweh, you who lead us as a shepherd leads his flock of sheep,

you who sit on your throne in the Very Holy Place in the temple, above the figures of winged creatures,

come and do powerful things for us Israelite people.

² Show yourself to the people of the tribes of Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh!

Show us that you are powerful

and come and rescue us!

³ God, cause our nation to be strong like it was before;

act kindly toward us so that we may be saved from our enemies!

⁴ Yahweh, commander of the angel armies,

how long will you be angry with us, your people, when we pray to you?

⁵ It is as though the only food and drink that you have given us is a cup full of our tears!

⁶ You have allowed the people groups that surround us to argue with each other to decide which part of our land each of them will take;

they laugh at us.

⁷ God, Commander of the angel armies,

make our nation strong as it was before!

Act kindly toward us so that we may be saved!

⁸ Our ancestors were like a grapevine that you brought out of Egypt;

you drove out the other people groups from this land,

and you put your people in their land.

⁹ As people clear ground to plant a grapevine,

you cleared out the people who were living in this land for us to live in it.

As the roots of a grapevine go deep down into the ground and spread,

you enabled our ancestors to prosper and start living in towns all over this land.

¹⁰ As huge grapevines cover the hills with their shade

and as their branches are taller than big cedar trees,

¹¹ your people ruled all of Canaan, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Euphrates River in the east.

¹² So why have you abandoned us

and allowed our enemies to tear down our walls?

You are like someone who tears down the fences around his vineyard,

so that all the people who pass by can steal the grapes;

¹³ wild pigs can trample the vines,

and wild animals can also eat the grapes.

¹⁴ You who are the commander of the angel armies, turn to us!

Look down from heaven and see what is happening to us!

Come and rescue us who are like your grapevine,

¹⁵ who are like the young vine that you planted and caused to grow!

¹⁶ Our enemies have torn down and burned everything in our land;

look at them angrily and get rid of them!

¹⁷ But strengthen us people whom you have chosen,

us Israelite people, whom you previously caused to be very strong.

¹⁸ When you do that, we will never turn away from you again;

revive us, and then we will praise you.

¹⁹ Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, restore us;

act kindly toward us and rescue us from our enemies!

Psalm 81

¹ Sing songs to praise God, who enables us to be strong when we fight our enemies;

shout joyfully to God, whom we descendants of Jacob worship!

² Start playing the music, and beat the tambourines;

play nice music on the harps and lyres.

³ Blow the trumpets during the festival to celebrate each new moon,

each time the moon is full, and during our other festivals.

⁴ Do that because that is a decree for us Israelite people;

it is a command that God made for the descendants of Jacob.

⁵ He made it a law under at the time when God led the descendants of Joseph out of the land of Egypt.

I heard a voice I did not recognize, and it said:

⁶ "After the rulers of Egypt forced you Israelites to work as slaves,

I took those heavy burdens off your backs,

and I enabled you to lay down those heavy baskets of bricks that you were carrying.

⁷ When you were greatly distressed, you called out to me, and I rescued you;

I answered you out of a thundercloud.

Later I tested whether you would trust me to give you water when you were in the desert at Meribah.

⁸ You who are my people, listen while I warn you!

I wish that you Israelite people would pay attention to what I say to you!

⁹ You must not have any idols of other gods among you;

you must never bow to worship any of them!

¹⁰ I am Yahweh, your God;

It was not any of those gods who brought you out of Egypt;

I am the one who did it!

So request what you want me to do for you, and I will do it.

¹¹ But my people would not listen to me;

they would not obey me.

¹² So because they were very stubborn,

I allowed them to do whatever they wanted to do.

¹³ I wish that my people would listen to me,

that the Israelite people would behave as I want them to do.

¹⁴ If they did that, I would quickly defeat their enemies;

I would strike dead those who are oppressing them.

¹⁵ Then all those who hate me would cringe before me,

and then I would punish them forever.

¹⁶ But I would give you Israelites very good wheat,

and I would fill your stomachs with wild honey."

Psalm 82

¹ God stands in heaven in a meeting of all the spirits whom he has placed in charge of what he created.

He tells them that he has decided this:

² "You must stop judging people unfairly;

you must no longer make decisions that favor wicked people!

³ You must defend people who are poor and orphans;

you must act fairly toward those who are needy and those who have no one to help them.

⁴ Rescue them from the power of the wicked people!"

⁵ Those rulers do not know or understand anything!

They are very corrupt,

and as a result of their corrupt behavior,

it is as though the foundation of the world is being shaken!

⁶ I previously said to them, "You think you are gods!

It is as though you are all my sons,

⁷ but you will die as people do;

your lives will end as the lives of all rulers end."

⁸ God, arise and judge everyone on the earth

because all the people groups belong to you!

Psalm 83

¹ God, do not continue to be silent!

Do not be quiet and say nothing

² because your enemies are rioting against you;

those who hate you are rebelling against you!

³ They are secretly planning to do things to harm us, your people;

they are conspiring together against the people whom you protect.

⁴ They say, "Come, we must destroy their nation

so that no one will remember that Israel ever existed!"

⁵ They have agreed on what they want to do to destroy Israel,

and they have agreed to attack you together.

⁶ Your enemies are the people who live in the tents of Edom—

the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, they conspire together with ⁷ the people of Gebal, and the Ammonites, and the Amalekites,

and the Philistines, and the people of the city of Tyre.

⁸ The people of Assyria have joined them;

they are strong allies of the Moab and Ammon people groups, who are descendants of Abraham's nephew Lot.

⁹ God, do to those people things as you did to the Midian people group,

as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon.

¹⁰ You destroyed them at the town of Endor,

and their corpses lay on the ground and decayed.

¹¹ Do to them things like you did to kings Oreb and Zeeb;

defeat their leaders like you defeated Zebah and Zalmunna,

¹² who said, "We will take for ourselves the land that the Israelites say belongs to God!"

¹³ My God, cause them to disappear quickly like whirling dust,

like chaff that the wind blows away!

¹⁴ As a fire completely burns a forest

and as flames burn in the mountains,

¹⁵ expel them with your storms

and cause them to be terrified by your big storms!

¹⁶ Cause them to be very ashamed

so that they will admit that you are very powerful.

¹⁷ Cause them to be forever disgraced because of being defeated,

and cause them to die while they are still disgraced.

¹⁸ Cause them to know that you, whose name is Yahweh,

are the supreme ruler over everything on the earth.

Psalm 84

¹ Yahweh, commander of the angel armies,

your temple is very beautiful!

² I would like to be there;

Yahweh, I desire that very much.

With all my inner being I sing joyfully to you, the all-powerful God.

³ Even sparrows and swallows have built nests near your temple;

they take care of their young babies near the altars where people offer sacrifices to you,

Commander of the angel armies, my king and my God.

⁴ How fortunate are those who are always in your temple,

constantly singing to praise you.

⁵ How fortunate are those whom you make strong,

those who desire very much to make the trip up to Mount Zion.

⁶ While they travel through the dryValley of Tears,

you cause it to become a place where there are springs of water,

where the rains in the autumn fill the valley with water, a blessing from you.

⁷ As a result, those who travel through there become stronger

knowing that they will appear in your presence on Mount Zion.

⁸ Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, listen to my prayer;

God, whom we descendants of Jacob worship, hear what I am saying!

⁹ God, act kindly toward our king, the one who protects us,

the one whom you have chosen to rule us.

¹⁰ For me, spending one day in your temple

is better than spending a thousand days somewhere else;

standing at the entrance to your temple, ready to go inside,

is better than living in the tents where wicked people live.

¹¹ Yahweh our God is like the sun that shines on us and like a shield that protects us;

he acts favorably toward us and honors us.

Yahweh does not refuse to give any good thing to those who do what is right.

¹² Yahweh, commander of the angel armies,

how fortunate are those who trust in you!

Psalm 85

¹ Yahweh, you have acted kindly toward us people who live in this land;

you have enabled us Israelite people to become prosperous again.

² You forgave us, your people, for the sins that we had committed;

you pardoned us for all our sins.

³ You stopped being angry with us

and turned away from severely punishing us.

⁴ Now, God, the only one who can save us, stop being angry with us

and help us.

⁵ Will you continue to be angry with us forever?

⁶ Please enable us to prosper again

so that we, your people, will rejoice about what you have done for us.

⁷ Yahweh, by rescuing us from our troubles,

show us that you faithfully love us.

⁸ I want to listen to what Yahweh our God says

because he promises that he will enable us, his people, to live peacefully

if we do not return to doing foolish things.

⁹ He is surely ready to save those who have an awesome respect for him,

so that his glory will remain in our land.

¹⁰ When that happens, he will both faithfully love us and faithfully do for us what he promised to do;

we will act righteously, and he will give us peace,

which will be like a kiss that he gives us.

¹¹ Here on earth, we will be loyal to God,

and from heaven, God will act justly toward us.

¹² Yes, Yahweh will do good things for us,

and there will be great harvests in our land.

¹³ Yahweh always acts righteously;

he acts righteously wherever he goes.

Psalm 86

¹ Yahweh, listen to what I say and answer me

because I am weak and needy.

² Prevent me from dying now because I am loyal to you;

save me because I serve you and I trust in you, my God.

³ Lord, act kindly toward me

because I cry out to you all during each day.

⁴ Lord, cause me to be glad,

because I pray to you.

⁵ Lord, you are good to us, and you forgive us;

you faithfully love very much all those who pray to you.

⁶ Yahweh, listen to my prayer;

hear me when I cry out to you to help me.

⁷ When I have troubles, I call out to you

because you answer me.

⁸ Lord, among all the gods whom the heathen nations worship,

there is no one like you;

not one of them has done the great things that you have done.

⁹ Lord, someday people from all the nations that you have established will come and bow down in front of you,

and they will praise you.

¹⁰ You are great, and you do wonderful things;

only you are God.

¹¹ Yahweh, teach me what you want me to do

so that I may conduct my life according to what you say, all of which is right.

Cause me to have an awesome respect for you with all my inner being.

¹² Lord, my God, I will thank you with all my inner being,

and I will praise you forever.

¹³ You faithfully love me very much as you have promised;

you have prevented me from dying and going to the place where dead people are.

¹⁴ But God, proud men are trying to attack me;

a gang of cruel men are wanting to kill me;

they are men who do not have any respect for you.

¹⁵ But Lord, you always act mercifully and kindly;

you do not become angry quickly;

you faithfully love us very much

and always do for us what you have promised to do.

¹⁶ Look down toward me and act mercifully to me;

cause me to be strong and save me,

the one who serves you faithfully as my mother did.

¹⁷ Yahweh, do something to show me that you are being good to me

so that those who hate me will see that you have encouraged me and helped me;

as a result, they will be ashamed.

Psalm 87

¹ The city is established on his holy mountain.

² Yahweh loves that city, Jerusalem, more than he loves any other place in Israel.

³ All you people in Jerusalem,

other people say wonderful things about your city.

⁴ And Yahweh said, "I will talk of Rahab and Babyon

and the people there who know me.

There are some who know me among the people of Egypt and Babylonia,

and they live in the lands of Philistia and Tyre and Ethiopia,

and they will say, 'Our home is Jerusalem and our land is Zion.'"

⁵ Concerning Zion, people will say,

"All of these people who were born far away,

they call Jerusalem their home,

and Almighty God will cause that city to remain strong."

⁶ Yahweh will write a list of the names of the people of various groups who belong to him,

and he will say that he considers them all to be citizens of Jerusalem.

⁷ They will all dance and sing, saying,

"Jerusalem is the source of all our blessings."

Psalm 88

¹ Yahweh God, you who rescue me, all during each day I call out to you to help me,

and I cry out to you during each night also.

² Listen to my prayer

while I cry out to you for help!

³ I have experienced many troubles,

and I am about to die and go where dead people are.

⁴ Because I have no more strength,

other people believe that I will soon die.

⁵ I am like a corpse that has been abandoned;

I am like dead people who lie in their graves,

people who have been completely forgotten

because you do not take care of them anymore.

⁶ It is as though you have thrown me into a deep, dark pit,

into a place where they throw corpses.

⁷ It seems as though you are very angry with me,

and it is as though you have crushed me as ocean waves crash down on people.

⁸ You have caused my friends to avoid me;

I have become repulsive to them.

It is as though I were in a prison and cannot escape.

⁹ My eyes cannot see well because I cry very much.

Yahweh, every day I call out to you to help me;

I lift up my hands to you while I pray.

¹⁰ You certainly do not perform miracles for dead people!

Their spirits do not arise to praise you!

¹¹ Corpses in the grave certainly do not tell about your faithfully loving us,

and in the place where people are finally destroyed,

no one tells about what you faithfully do for us.

¹² No one in the deep, dark pit ever sees the miracles that you perform,

and no one in the place where people have been completely forgotten tells about your being good to us.

¹³ But as for me, Yahweh, I cry out to you to help me;

each morning I pray to you.

¹⁴ Yahweh, why do you reject me?

Why do you turn away from me?

¹⁵ All the time since I was young, I have suffered and have often almost died;

I am in despair because of enduring the terrible things that you have done to me.

¹⁶ I feel that you have crushed me because of your being angry with me;

the terrible things that you are doing to me are almost destroying me.

¹⁷ It is as though they surround me like a flood;

they are closing in on me from all sides.

¹⁸ You have caused even my friends and others whom I love to avoid me,

and it is as though the only friend that I have is darkness.

Psalm 89

¹ Yahweh, I will sing forever about the ways you faithfully love me;

people not yet born will hear that you faithfully do all that you have promised.

² I will tell people that you will faithfully love us forever,

and that your being faithful to do what you have promised is as permanent as the sky.

³ Yahweh said, "I have made an agreement with David, whom I chose to serve me.

I have made this solemn agreement with him:

⁴ 'I will enable various ones of your descendants to always be kings;

the line of kings descended from you will never end.'"

⁵ Yahweh, I desire that all those beings who are in heaven will praise you for the wonderful things that you do,

and that all your holy angels will sing about how you faithfully do what you promise.

⁶ There is no one in heaven who can be compared with you, Yahweh.

There are no angels in heaven who are equal to you.

⁷ When your holy angels gather together,

they declare that you must be revered;

they say that you are more awesome than all the angels that surround your throne!

⁸ O Yahweh God, commander of the angel armies, there is no one who is as powerful as you are;

your faithfully doing all that you promise is like a cloak that always surrounds you.

⁹ You rule over the powerful seas;

when their waves rise up, you calm them.

¹⁰ You are the one who crushed and killed the great sea monster named Rahab.

You defeated and scattered your enemies with your great power.

¹¹ The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours;

everything on the earth is yours because you created it all.

¹² You created everything from the north to the south.

Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon joyfully praise you .

¹³ You are very powerful;

you are extremely strong.

¹⁴ You rule over people fairly and justly;

you are always faithfully loving us and doing what you promised.

¹⁵ Yahweh, how fortunate are those who worship you with joyful shouts in their festivals,

who live knowing that you are always watching over them.

¹⁶ Every day, throughout the day, they rejoice in what you have done,

and they praise you for being very good to them.

¹⁷ You give us your glorious strength;

because you act in our favor, we defeat our enemies.

¹⁸ Yahweh, you gave us the one who protects us;

you, the holy God whom we Israelites worship, he gave us our king.

¹⁹ Long ago you spoke in a vision to one of your servants, saying,

"I have crowned a famous soldier;

I chose him from among all the people to be a king.

²⁰ That man is David, the one who will serve me faithfully,

and I anointed him with sacred olive oil to make him king.

²¹ My strength will always be with him;

with my power, I will make him strong.

²² His enemies will never find ways to outwit him,

and wicked people will never defeat him.

²³ I will crush his enemies in front of him

and get rid of those who hate him.

²⁴ I will always be loyal to him and faithfully love him

and enable him to defeat his enemies.

²⁵ I will cause his kingdom to include all the land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River.

²⁶ He will say to me, 'You are my Father,

my God, the one who protects and saves me.'

²⁷ I will give him the rights as my firstborn son;

he will be the greatest king on the earth.

²⁸ I will always be loyal to him,

and my agreement to bless him will last forever.

²⁹ I will establish a line of his descendants that will never end,

various ones of his descendants will always be kings.

³⁰ But if some of his descendants disobey my laws

and do not behave as my commands say that they should,

³¹ if they disregard my requirements

and do not do the right things that I have told them to do,

³² I will punish them severely

and cause them to suffer for doing wrong.

³³ But I will not stop faithfully loving David,

and I will always do what I promised him.

³⁴ I will not break the agreement that I made with him;

I will not change even one word that I spoke to him.

³⁵ Once I made a solemn promise to David, and that will never change;

because I am God, I will never lie to David.

³⁶ I promised that the line of kings descended from him will go on forever;

it will last as long as the sun shines.

³⁷ That line will be as permanent as the moon

that is always watching everything here on earth."

³⁸ But Yahweh, now you have rejected him!

You are very angry with the king whom you appointed.

³⁹ It seems that you have broken the agreement that you made with your servant, David;

it seems as though you have thrown his crown into the dust.

⁴⁰ You have torn down the walls that protect his city

and allowed all his forts to become ruins.

⁴¹ All those who pass by plunder his possessions;

his neighbors laugh at him.

⁴² You have enabled his enemies to defeat him;

you have made them all happy.

⁴³ You have caused his sword to become useless,

and you have not helped him in his battles.

⁴⁴ You have caused his splendor to end

and knocked his throne to the ground.

⁴⁵ You have caused him to become old when he is still young

and caused him to be very shamed.

⁴⁶ O Yahweh, how long will this continue?

Will you hide yourself from us forever?

How long will your anger against us burn like a fire?

⁴⁷ Do not forget that life is very short;

Do not forget that you have created all of us to die uselessly.

⁴⁸ No one can keep on living and never die;

no one can bring himself back from the place of the dead.

⁴⁹ Yahweh, you promised long ago

that you would faithfully love me;

why are you not doing that?

You solemnly promised this to David!

⁵⁰ Yahweh, do not forget that people insult us!

Heathen people curse me!

⁵¹ Yahweh, your enemies insult your chosen king!

They insult him wherever he goes.

⁵² I hope that Yahweh will be praised forever!

Amen! May it be so!

Psalm 90

¹ Lord, you have always been like a home for us.

² Before you created the mountains,

before you formed the earth and everything that is in it,

you were eternally God,

and you will be God forever.

³ When people die, you cause their corpses to become soil again;

you change their corpses to become dirt like that from which the first man was created.

⁴ When you consider time,

a thousand years are as short as one day that passes;

you consider that they are as short as a few hours in the night.

⁵ You cause people to die suddenly;

they live only a short time as a dream lasts only a short time.

They are like grass that grows up.

⁶ In the morning the grass sprouts and grows well,

but in the evening it dries up and completely withers.

⁷ Similarly, because of the sins that we commit, you become angry with us;

you terrify us and then you destroy us.

⁸ It is as though you place our sins in front of you;

you spread out even our secret sins where you can see them.

⁹ Because you are angry with us, you cause our lives to end;

the years that we live pass as quickly as a sigh does.

¹⁰ People live for only seventy years;

if they are strong, some of them live for eighty years.

But even during good years we have much pain and troubles;

our lives soon end, and we die.

¹¹ No one has really experienced the powerful things you can do to them when you are angry with them,

and people are not afraid that you will punish them because of your being angry with them.

¹² So teach us to realize that we live for only a short time

in order that we may use our time wisely.

¹³ Yahweh, how long will you be angry with us?

Pity us who serve you.

¹⁴ Each morning, show us that it is enough for us if you love us faithfully as you have promised you would do.

Show us this so that we may shout joyfully and be happy all during the years that we live.

¹⁵ Cause us to be now as happy for as many years as you afflicted us and we experienced troubles.

¹⁶ Enable us to see the great things that you do,

and enable our descendants to see your glorious power also.

¹⁷ Lord, our God, give us your blessings

and enable us to be successful;

yes, cause us to be successful in everything that we do!

Psalm 91

¹ Those who live under the protection of God Almighty,

will be able to rest safely under his care.

² I will declare to Yahweh,

"You protect me;

you are like a fort in which I am safe.

You are my God, the one in whom I trust."

³ He will rescue you from all hidden traps

and save you from deadly diseases.

⁴ He will shield you as a bird protects her young under her wings.

You will be safe in his care.

His faithfully doing what he has promised is like a shield that will protect you.

⁵ You will not be afraid of things that happen during the night that could terrorize you

or of arrows that your enemies will shoot at you during the day.

⁶ You will not be afraid of plagues that demons cause when they attack people at night

or of other evil forces that kill people at midday.

⁷ Even if a thousand people fall dead alongside you,

even if ten thousand people are dying around you,

you will not be harmed.

⁸ Look and see

that wicked people are being punished!

⁹ Yahweh protects me;

trust God Almighty to shelter you, too.

¹⁰ If you do, nothing evil will happen to you;

no plague will come near your house

¹¹ because Yahweh will command his angels

to protect you in whatever you are doing.

¹² They will hold you up with their hands

so that you will not hurt your foot on a big stone.

¹³ You will be kept safe from being harmed by your enemies;

it will be as though you were killing strong lions and poisonous snakes by stepping on them!

¹⁴ Yahweh says, "I will rescue those who love me;

I will protect them because they acknowledge that I am Yahweh.

¹⁵ When they call out to me, I will answer them.

I will help them when they are experiencing trouble;

I will rescue them and honor them.

¹⁶ I will reward them by enabling them to live a long time,

and I will save them."

Psalm 92

¹ Yahweh, it is good for people to thank you

and to sing praise to you who are greater than any other god.

² It is good to proclaim every morning that you faithfully love us

and to sing songs each night that declare that you always do what you have promised to do,

³ accompanied by musicians playing harps that have ten strings

and by the sounds made by a lyre.

⁴ Yahweh, you have caused me to be glad;

I sing joyfully because of what you have done.

⁵ Yahweh, the things that you do are great!

But it is difficult to understand all that you think.

⁶ There are things that you do that foolish people cannot know about,

things that stupid people cannot understand.

⁷ They do not understand that although the number of wicked people increases as blades of grass do

and that those who do what is evil prosper,

they will be completely destroyed.

⁸ But Yahweh, you will be king forever.

⁹ Yahweh, your enemies will certainly die,

and those who do wicked things will be defeated.

¹⁰ But you have caused me to be as strong as a wild ox;

you have caused me to be very joyful.

¹¹ I have seen you defeat my enemies,

and I have heard those evil men wail while they were being slaughtered.

¹² But righteous people will prosper like palm trees that grow well,

like the cedar trees that grow in Lebanon.

¹³ They are like the trees that people plant at the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem,

the trees that are close to the courtyard of the temple of our God.

¹⁴ Even when righteous people become old, they do many things that please God.

They remain strong and full of energy like trees that remain full of sap.

¹⁵ That shows that Yahweh is just;

he is like a huge rock on which I am safe,

and he never does anything that is wicked.

Psalm 93

¹ Yahweh, you have become the King!

The majesty and the power that you have are like robes that a king wears.

You put the world firmly in place, and it will never be moved out of its place.

² You started to rule as king a very long time ago;

you have always existed.

³ Yahweh, when you created the world, you separated the water from the chaotic mass and formed oceans,

and the waves of the waters of those oceans still roar,

⁴ but you are greater than the roar of those oceans,

more powerful than the ocean waves!

You are Yahweh, the one who is greater than any other god!

⁵ Yahweh, your laws never change,

and your temple has always been holy.

That will be true forever.

Psalm 94

¹ Yahweh, you are able to get revenge on your enemies.

So show them that you are going to punish them!

² You are the one who judges all people on the earth;

so arise and give them what they deserve.

³ Yahweh, how long will those wicked people be glad?

It is not right that they continue being glad!

⁴ They do evil things, and they boast about doing them;

how long will they be allowed to continue doing that?

⁵ Yahweh, it is as though those wicked people were crushing us, your people;

they oppress the nation that you have made and that belongs to you alone.

⁶ They murder widows and orphans

and people from other countries who think it is safe to live in our land.

⁷ Those wicked people say, "Yahweh does not see anything;

the God whom those Israelites worship does not see the evil things that we do."

⁸ You evil people who rule Israel, you are foolish and stupid;

when will you become wise?

⁹ God made our ears;

do you think that he cannot hear what you say?

He created our eyes;

do you think that he cannot see the evil things that you do?

¹⁰ He corrects the leaders of other nations;

do you think that he will not punish you?

He is the one who knows everything;

why do you think that he does not know what you do?

¹¹ Yahweh knows everything that people are thinking;

he knows that what they think is evil and useless.

¹² Yahweh, how fortunate are those who allow you to discipline them,

those who want you to teach them your laws.

¹³ When those people have had troubles, you cause those troubles to cease,

and someday it will be as though you will dig pits for the wicked people,

and that they will fall into those pits and die.

¹⁴ Yahweh will not abandon his people;

he will not desert those who belong to him .

¹⁵ Someday judges will decide matters fairly for people,

and all honest people will be pleased about that.

¹⁶ But when wicked people oppressed me,

no one defended me!

No one stood up to testify for me against those evil people.

¹⁷ If Yahweh had not helped me at that time,

I would have been executed;

my life would have gone to the place where dead people say nothing.

¹⁸ I said, "I am falling into disaster,"

but, Yahweh, you held me up by faithfully loving me.

¹⁹ Whenever I am very worried,

you comfort me and cause me to be happy.

²⁰ You have nothing to do with wicked judges,

those who establish laws that allow people to do what is not right.

²¹ They plan to get rid of righteous people,

and they declare that innocent people must be executed.

²² But Yahweh has become like my fortress;

my God is like a huge rock on which I am protected.

²³ He will punish those wicked leaders in return for the things that they have done;

he will get rid of them because of the sins that they have committed;

yes, Yahweh our God will wipe them out.

Psalm 95

¹ Come, sing to Yahweh;

sing joyfully to the one who protects us and saves us!

² We should thank him as we come before him

and sing joyful songs as we praise him.

³ Because Yahweh is a great God,

he is a great king who rules over all other gods.

⁴ He rules over the whole earth

from the deepest places to the highest mountains.

⁵ The seas are his because he made them.

He is the one who made the dry land.

⁶ We should come, worship, and bow down before him.

We should kneel before Yahweh, the one who made us.

⁷ He is our God,

and we are the people whom he protects,

like sheep that a shepherd takes care of.

I desire that today you may hear what Yahweh is saying to you.

⁸ He says, "Do not become stubborn as your ancestors did at Meribah,

and as they did at Massah in the wilderness.

⁹ There your ancestors wanted to see if they could do evil things without my punishing them.

Even though they had seen me perform many miracles, they tested whether I would continue to be patient with them.

¹⁰ For forty years I was angry with those people,

and I said, 'Those people are unreliable.

They refuse to obey my commands.'

¹¹ So because I was very angry; I solemnly said about them,

'They will never enter the land of Canaan where I would have allowed them to rest!'"

Psalm 96

¹ Sing to Yahweh a new song!

You people throughout the earth, sing to Yahweh!

² Sing to Yahweh and praise him!

Every day proclaim to others that he has saved us.

³ Tell about his glory to all people groups;

tell all people groups the marvelous things that he has done.

⁴ Yahweh is great, and he deserves to be praised very much;

he should be revered more than all the gods.

⁵ All the gods the other people groups worship are only idols,

but Yahweh is truly great; he created the skies!

⁶ God shows his splendor and majesty; they shine out from where he rules.

Strength and beauty are in his holy house.

⁷ You people in nations all over the earth, praise Yahweh!

Praise Yahweh for his glorious power!

⁸ Praise Yahweh as he deserves to be praised;

bring an offering and come to his temple.

⁹ Bow down before Yahweh because his holiness shines out from him with wonderful beauty.

Everyone on earth should be very afraid in his presence, because he is good and powerful, completely different than us.

¹⁰ Say to all the people groups, "Yahweh is the king!

He put the world in its place, and nothing will ever be able to move it.

He will judge all the people groups fairly."

¹¹ All the beings that are in the heavens should be glad, and all the people on the earth should rejoice.

The oceans and all the creatures that are in the oceans should roar to praise Yahweh.

¹² The fields and everything that grows in them should rejoice.

When they do that, it will be as though all the trees in the forests are singing joyfully

¹³ in front of Yahweh.

That will happen when he comes to judge everyone on the earth.

He will judge all the people fairly according to what he knows is true.

Psalm 97

¹ Yahweh is the king!

I want everyone on the earth to be glad

and the people who live on the islands in the oceans to also rejoice about that!

² There are very dark clouds around him;

he rules completely, justly, and fairly.

³ He sends fire in front of him,

and he completely burns all his enemies in that fire.

⁴ All around the world he sends lightning to flash;

people on the earth see it, and it causes them to be afraid and to tremble.

⁵ The mountains melt like wax in front of Yahweh,

in front of the one who is the Lord, who rules over all the earth.

⁶ The angels in heaven proclaim that he acts righteously,

and all the people groups see his glory.

⁷ Everyone who worships idols should be ashamed;

all those who are proud of their false gods should realize that their gods are useless.

All those gods will bow down to worship Yahweh.

⁸ The people of Jerusalem heard that God is just, and they rejoiced;

people in the other cities in Judah also rejoiced

because Yahweh judges and punishes wicked people.

⁹ Yahweh is the supreme King over all the earth;

he has very great power, and none of the other gods has any power.

¹⁰ Yahweh loves those who hate what people do that is evil;

he protects the lives of his people,

and he rescues them when the wicked people try to harm them.

¹¹ He makes the righteous people truly live;

he causes those who are righteous in their inner beings to rejoice.

¹² You righteous people, rejoice about what Yahweh has done,

and thank him, our holy God!

Psalm 98

¹ Sing to Yahweh a new song

because he has done wonderful things!

By his power he has defeated his enemies.

² Yahweh has declared to people that he has defeated his enemies;

he has revealed that he has punished his enemies,

and people in all the world have seen that he has done it.

³ As he promised to us Israelite people,

he has faithfully loved us and been loyal to us.

People who live in very remote places in all the earth

have seen that our God has defeated his enemies.

⁴ All you people everywhere should sing joyfully to Yahweh;

praise him while you sing and shout joyfully!

⁵ Praise Yahweh while you play the lyres,

playing delightful music.

⁶ Some of you should blow trumpets and other horns

while others shout joyfully to Yahweh, our king.

⁷ The oceans and all the creatures that are in the oceans should roar to praise Yahweh.

Everyone on the earth should sing!

⁸ It should seem as though the rivers were clapping their hands to praise Yahweh

and that the hills were singing together joyfully in front of Yahweh

⁹ because he will come to judge everyone on the earth!

He will judge all the people groups in the world justly and fairly.

Psalm 99

¹ Yahweh is the supreme king,

so all the people groups should tremble in his presence!

He sits on his throne in the temple above the statues of winged creatures,

so the earth should quake!

² Yahweh is a mighty king in Jerusalem;

he is also the supreme ruler of all the people groups.

³ They should praise him because he is very great;

he is holy!

⁴ He is a mighty king who loves what is just;

he has acted justly and fairly in Israel.

⁵ Praise Yahweh, our God!

Worship him in front of his footstool, the sacred chest in his temple,

where he rules people.

He is holy!

⁶ Moses and Aaron were two of his priests;

Samuel also was someone who prayed to him.

Those three cried out to Yahweh to help them,

and he answered them.

⁷ He spoke to Moses and Aaron from the cloud that was like a huge pillar;

they obeyed all the laws and commandments that he gave to them.

⁸ Yahweh, our God, you answered your people

when they cried out to you to help them;

you are a God who forgave them for the sins that they had committed,

even though you punished them for the things that they did that were wrong.

⁹ Praise Yahweh, our God,

and worship him at the temple on his sacred hill;

it is right to do that because Yahweh, our God, is holy!

Psalm 100

¹ Everyone in the world should shout joyfully to Yahweh!

² We should worship Yahweh gladly!

We should come before him singing joyful songs.

³ We should acknowledge that Yahweh is God;

it is he who made us, and so we belong to him.

We are the people that he takes care of;

we are like sheep that their shepherd cares for.

⁴ Enter the gates of his temple thanking him;

enter the courtyard of the temple singing songs to praise him!

Thank him and praise him

⁵ because Yahweh always does good things for us.

He faithfully loves us as he promised us,

and he is faithful.

Psalm 101

¹ Yahweh, I will sing to you!

I will sing about your faithful and just loyalty to us.

² I promise that while I rule people,

I will behave in such a way that no one will be able to criticize me.

Yahweh, when will you come to help me?

I will do things that are right.

³ I will not allow anyone who does what is evil to come to me.

I hate the deeds of those who turn away from you;

I will completely avoid those people.

⁴ I will not be dishonest,

and I will not have anything to do with evil.

⁵ I will get rid of anyone who secretly slanders someone else,

and I will not let anyone near me who is proud and arrogant.

⁶ I will approve of people in this land who are loyal to God,

and I will allow them to live with me.

I will allow to serve me those who behave in such a way that no one can criticize them.

⁷ I will not allow anyone who deceives others to work in my palace,

and no one who tells lies will be allowed to continually come to work for me.

⁸ Every day I will try to get rid of all the wicked people in this land;

I will expel them from this city, which is Yahweh's city.

Psalm 102

¹ Yahweh, listen to what I am praying;

hear me while I cry out to you!

² Do not turn away!

Listen to me,

and answer me quickly now when I am calling out to you!

³ My life is ending like smoke that disappears;

I have a big fever which burns my body as a fire burns.

⁴ I feel as though I am drying up like grass that has been mown,

and I do not even think about eating any food.

⁵ I groan loudly,

and my bones can be seen under my skin because I have become very thin.

⁶ I am like a lonely and despised vulture in the desert,

like an owl by itself in the abandoned ruins of a building.

⁷ I lie awake at night;

because there is no one to comfort me,

I am like a lonely bird sitting on a housetop.

⁸ All during each day my enemies insult me;

those who make fun of me mention my name

and say, "May you be like him" when they curse people.

^9-10 Because you are very angry with me,

I sit in ashes while I am suffering greatly;

those ashes fall on the bread that I eat,

and what I drink has my tears mixed with it.

It is as though you have picked me up and thrown me away!

¹¹ My time to remain alive is short

like an evening shadow that will soon be gone.

I am withering as grass withers in the hot sun.

¹² But Yahweh, you are our king who rules forever;

people who are not yet born will remember you.

¹³ You will arise and act mercifully toward the people of Jerusalem;

it is now time for you to do that;

this is the time for you to be kind to them.

¹⁴ Even though the city has been destroyed,

we who serve you still love the stones that were formerly in the city walls;

because now there is rubble everywhere,

we, your people, are very sad when we see it.

¹⁵ Yahweh, someday the people of other nations will have an awesome respect for you;

all the kings on the earth will see that you are very glorious.

¹⁶ You will rebuild Jerusalem,

and you will appear there with your glory.

¹⁷ You will listen to the prayers of your people who are homeless,

and you will not ignore them

when they plead with you to help them.

¹⁸ Yahweh, I want to write these words

so that people in future years will know what you have done,

in order that people who are not born yet will praise you.

¹⁹ They will know that you looked down from your own place in heaven

and saw what was happening on the earth.

²⁰ They will know that you hear prisoners groaning

and that you will set free those who have been told, "You will be executed."

²¹ As a result, people in Jerusalem will praise you for what you have done.

²² Many people from other people groups and those who are citizens of other kingdoms will gather to worship you.

²³ But now you have caused me to become weak while I am still young;

I think that I will not remain alive very long.

²⁴ I say to you, "My God, do not take me away from the earth now

before I become old!

You, on the other hand, live forever!

²⁵ You created the world long ago,

and you made the heavens with your own hands.

²⁶ The earth and the heavens will disappear, but you will remain.

They will wear out as clothes wear out.

You will get rid of them as people get rid of old clothes,

and they will no longer exist.

²⁷ But you are not like the things that you created

because you are always the same;

you never die.

²⁸ Someday our children will live safely in Jerusalem,

and their descendants will be protected as they live in your presence."

Psalm 103

¹ I tell myself that I should praise Yahweh.

I will praise him because he is holy.

² I tell myself that I should praise Yahweh

and never forget all the kind things he has done for me.

³ He forgives all my sins,

and he heals me from all my diseases;

⁴ he keeps me from dying,

and he blesses me by faithfully loving me and acting mercifully to me as he promised to do.

⁵ He gives me good things during my entire life.

He makes me feel young and strong like eagles.

⁶ Yahweh judges justly all those who have been treated unfairly.

⁷ Long ago he revealed to Moses what he planned to do;

he showed to the ancestors of us Israelites the mighty things that he was able to do.

⁸ Yahweh acts mercifully and kindly;

he does not quickly get angry when we sin;

he is always showing us that he faithfully loves us.

⁹ He will not keep rebuking us,

and he will not remain angry forever.

¹⁰ He has not punished us for our sins as we deserved.

¹¹ The skies are very high above the earth,

and Yahweh's faithful love for all those who revere him is just as great.

¹² He has taken away the guilt for our sins

and put it as far from us as the east is from the west.

¹³ Just as parents act mercifully toward their children,

Yahweh is kind to those who revere him.

¹⁴ He knows what our bodies are like;

he remembers that he created us from dust

and that we therefore quickly fail to do what pleases him .

¹⁵ We humans do not live forever;

we are like grass which withers and dies.

We are like wild flowers that bloom for a short while;

¹⁶ but then the hot wind blows over them, and they disappear;

no one sees them again.

¹⁷ But Yahweh will faithfully keep loving forever

all those who revere him, as he promised.

He will act fairly to our children and to their children;

¹⁸ he will act that way to all those who obey the covenant he made with them to bless them if they did what he told them to do,

to all those who obey what he has commanded.

¹⁹ Yahweh has taken his seat in the heavens where he rules as king;

from there he rules over everything.

²⁰ You angels who belong to Yahweh, praise him!

You are powerful creatures who do what he tells you to do;

you obey what he commands.

²¹ Praise Yahweh, you armies of angels who serve him and do what he desires.

²² All you things that Yahweh has created, praise him;

praise him in every place where he rules, everywhere!

I also will praise Yahweh!

Psalm 104

¹ I tell myself that I should praise Yahweh.

Yahweh, my God, you are very great!

As a king has on his royal robes,

you have honor and majesty all around you!

² You created light and you hide behind it.

You spread out the whole sky as someone sets up a tent.

³ You built your palace on the clouds.

You made the clouds to be like chariots to carry you.

⁴ You caused the winds to be like your messengers,

and flames of fire to be like your servants.

⁵ You placed the world firmly on its foundation

so that it can never be moved.

⁶ Later, you covered the earth with a flood, like a blanket;

and the water covered the mountains.

⁷ But when you rebuked the water, the oceans receded;

your voice spoke like thunder,

and then the waters rushed away.

⁸ Mountains rose up from the water,

and the valleys sank down

to the levels that you had determined for them.

⁹ Then you set a boundary for the oceans, a boundary that they cannot cross;

their water will never again cover the whole earth.

¹⁰ You make springs to pour water into ravines;

their water flows down between the mountains.

¹¹ Those streams provide water for all the animals to drink;

the wild donkeys drink the water and are no longer thirsty.

¹² Birds make their nests alongside the streams,

and they sing among the branches of the trees.

¹³ From the heavens you send rain down on the mountains,

and you fill the earth with many good things that you create.

¹⁴ You make grass to grow for the cattle to eat,

and you make plants to grow for people.

In that way, animals and people get their food from what grows in the soil.

¹⁵ We get grapes to make wine to drink and to make us cheerful;

we get olives to make our face shine,

and we get grain to make bread to give us strength.

¹⁶ Yahweh, you send plenty of rain to water your trees,

the cedar trees that you planted in Lebanon.

¹⁷ Birds make their nests in those trees,

and storks make their nests in pine trees.

¹⁸ High up in the mountains the wild goats live,

and hyraxes live in the rocks.

¹⁹ Yahweh, you made the moon to indicate the times for our festivals,

and you made the sun that knows when to go down.

²⁰ You bring darkness, and it becomes night

when all the animals in the forest prowl around looking for food.

²¹ At night the young lions roar as they seek their prey,

but they depend on you to give them food.

²² At dawn, they go back to their dens and lie down.

²³ During the daytime, people go to their work;

they work until it is evening.

²⁴ Yahweh, you have made so many different kinds of things!

You were very wise as you made them all.

The earth is full of the creatures that you made.

²⁵ We see the ocean which is very vast!

It is full of many kinds of living creatures,

big ones and little ones.

²⁶ We see the ships which sail along!

We see the huge sea monster which you made to splash around in the sea.

²⁷ All of these creatures depend on you

to give them the food that they need.

²⁸ When you give them the food that they need,

they gather it.

You give them what you have in your hand,

and they eat it and are satisfied.

²⁹ But if you refuse to give food to them,

they become terrified.

When you cause them to stop breathing, they die;

their bodies decay and become soil again.

³⁰ When you cause newborn creatures to begin to breathe,

they start to live;

You give new life to all the living creatures on the earth.

³¹ May the glory of Yahweh last forever.

May he rejoice about all the things that he has created.

³² He makes the earth shake just by looking at it!

By merely touching the mountains he makes them pour out fire and smoke!

³³ I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live.

I will praise my God until the day that I die.

³⁴ May Yahweh be pleased by all these things that I have thought about him

because I rejoice about knowing him.

³⁵ However, may sinners disappear from the earth;

may there will be no more wicked people!

But as for me, I will praise Yahweh!

Praise him!

Psalm 105

¹ Give thanks to Yahweh; worship him and pray to him.

Tell everyone in the world what he has done!

² Sing to him; praise him as you sing to him;

tell others about his wonderful miracles.

³ Be proud of Yahweh, who alone is God.

You people who worship Yahweh, rejoice!

⁴ Ask Yahweh to help you and give you his strength,

and always seek to be with him!

^5-6 You people who are descendants of God's servant Abraham,

you descendants of Jacob, the people whom God has chosen,

think about all the wonderful things that he has done;

he performed miracles, and he punished all our enemies.

⁷ He is Yahweh, our God.

He rules and judges people throughout the earth.

⁸ He never forgets the covenant that he made;

he made a promise that will last for a thousand generations.

⁹ That is the covenant that he made with Abraham,

and he repeated that covenant with Isaac.

¹⁰ Later he confirmed it again to Jacob

as a covenant for the Israelite people that would last forever.

¹¹ What he said was, "I will give you the region of Canaan;

it will belong to you and your descendants forever."

¹² He said that to them when there were only a few of them,

a tiny group of people who were living in that land like strangers.

¹³ They continued to wander from one place to another,

from one kingdom to another.

¹⁴ But he did not allow others to oppress them.

He warned those kings by saying to them,

¹⁵ "Do not do harm to the people whom I have chosen!

Do not harm my prophets!"

¹⁶ He sent a famine to Canaan, and as a result all the people had no food to eat.

¹⁷ So his people went to Egypt, but first he sent someone there.

He sent Joseph, who had been sold to be a slave.

¹⁸ Later, while Joseph was in prison in Egypt,

they put his legs in shackles that hurt his feet,

and they put an iron collar around his neck.

¹⁹ Joseph was in prison until the time

the events he predicted came to pass.

This was how Yahweh tested Joseph.

²⁰ The king of Egypt sent servants, who set him free;

this ruler released Joseph from prison.

²¹ Then he appointed him to take care of everything in the king's household,

to take care of everything that the king possessed.

²² Joseph was permitted to command the king's important servants

to do anything that Joseph wanted them to do,

and even to tell the king's advisors the things that they should do for the people of Egypt.

²³ Later, Joseph's father Jacob arrived in Egypt.

He lived like a foreigner in the land that belonged to the descendants of Ham.

²⁴ Years later Yahweh caused the descendants of Jacob to become very numerous.

As a result, their enemies, the Egyptians, considered that the Israelites were too strong.

²⁵ So Yahweh caused the rulers of Egypt to turn against the Israelite people,

and they began to oppress his people.

²⁶ But then Yahweh sent his servant Moses

along with Moses' older brother Aaron, whom Yahweh had also chosen to be his servant.

²⁷ Those two performed amazing miracles among the people of Egypt

in that land where the descendants of Ham lived.

²⁸ Yahweh sent darkness so that the people of Egypt could not see anything,

but the rulers of Egypt refused to obey when Moses and Aaron commanded them to let the Israelite people leave Egypt.

²⁹ Yahweh caused all the water in Egypt to become blood,

and his doing that caused all the fish to die.

³⁰ Then he caused the land to become full of frogs;

the king and his officials even had frogs in their bedrooms.

³¹ Then Yahweh commanded that flies come, and swarms of them descended on the people of Egypt,

and gnats also swarmed across the whole country.

³² Yahweh sent rain, rain that became hail that fell upon them,

and he sent wild fires that burned throughout their land.

³³ The hail ruined their grapevines and fig trees

and shattered all the other trees.

³⁴ He commanded locusts to come, and hordes of them came;

so many came that they could not be counted.

³⁵ The locusts ate every green plant in the land,

ruining all the crops.

³⁶ Then Yahweh killed the oldest son in every house of the people of Egypt.

³⁷ Then he brought the Israelite people out from Egypt;

they were carrying heavy loads of jewelry made of silver and gold that the people of Egypt had given to them.

No one was left behind because of being sick.

³⁸ The people of Egypt were glad when the Israelite people left

because they had become very afraid of the Israelites.

³⁹ Then Yahweh spread a cloud to cover the Israelites;

and at night it became a big fire in the sky to give them light.

⁴⁰ Later the Israelites asked for meat to eat,

and Yahweh sent flocks of quail to them,

and he gave them plenty of manna, food from the sky, each morning.

⁴¹ One day he caused a rock to open up, and water poured out for them to drink;

it was like a river flowing in that desert.

⁴² He did that because he kept thinking about the sacred promise that he had given to his servant, Abraham.

⁴³ So his people were joyful as he brought them out from Egypt;

these people whom he had chosen were shouting joyfully as they went.

⁴⁴ He gave to them the land that belonged to the people groups that lived there in Canaan,

and the Israelites took all their wealth.

⁴⁵ Yahweh did all these things

so that his people would do all the things that he had commanded them to do.

Praise Yahweh!

Psalm 106

¹ Praise Yahweh!

Praise Yahweh because he everything he does is good;

he faithfully loves us forever as he promised us!

² Because Yahweh has done many great things,

no one can tell all the great things that Yahweh has done,

and no one can praise him enough.

³ How fortunate are those who act fairly,

those who always do what is right.

⁴ Yahweh, be kind to me when you help your people;

help me when you rescue them.

⁵ Allow me to see your people become prosperous again

and to see all the people of your nation, Israel, become happy again;

allow me to be happy with them!

I want to praise you along with all those others who belong to you.

⁶ We and our ancestors have sinned;

we have done what is wicked and evil.

⁷ When our ancestors were in Egypt,

they did not pay attention to the wonderful things that Yahweh did;

they forgot about the many times that he showed that he faithfully loved them.

Instead, when they were at the Sea of Reeds,

they rebelled against God, who is greater than any other god.

⁸ But he rescued them for the sake of his own reputation

so that he could show that he is very powerful.

⁹ He rebuked the Sea of Reeds and it became dry,

and then while he led our ancestors,

they walked through it as though it were as dry as a desert.

¹⁰ In that way he rescued them from the power of their enemies.

¹¹ Then their enemies were drowned in the water of the Sea of Reeds;

not one of them was left.

¹² When that happened, our ancestors believed that Yahweh had truly done for them what he had promised to do,

and they sang to praise him.

¹³ But they soon forgot what he had done for them;

they did things without waiting to find out what Yahweh wanted them to do.

¹⁴ They intensely wanted food like they formerly ate in Egypt.

They did evil things to find out whether God would punish them or not.

¹⁵ So he gave them what they requested,

but he also caused a terrible disease to afflict them.

¹⁶ Later when some of the men became jealous of Moses

and his older brother Aaron, who was dedicated to serve Yahweh by being a priest,

¹⁷ the ground opened up and swallowed Dathan

and also buried Abiram and his family.

¹⁸ God sent down from heaven a fire

which burned up all the wicked people who supported them.

¹⁹ Then the Israelite leaders made a gold statue of a calf at Mount Sinai

and worshiped it.

²⁰ Instead of worshiping our glorious God,

they started to worship a statue of an ox that eats grass!

²¹ They forgot about God, who had rescued them by the great miracles that he performed in Egypt.

²² They forgot about the wonderful things that he did for them in Egypt

and the amazing things that he did for them at the Sea of Reeds.

²³ Because of that, God said that he would get rid of the Israelites;

but Moses, whom God had chosen to serve him, stood up to persuade God not to do that.

As a result, God did not destroy them.

²⁴ Later, our ancestors refused to enter the beautiful land of Canaan

because they did not believe that God would do as he promised and would enable them to take the land from the people who were living there.

²⁵ They stayed in their tents and grumbled

and would not pay attention to what Yahweh said that they should do.

²⁶ So he solemnly told them

that he would cause them to die there in the wilderness,

²⁷ that he would scatter their descendants among the people of other nations and groups who did not believe in him,

and that he would allow them to die in those lands.

²⁸ Later the Israelite people started to worship the idol of Baal at Mount Peor,

and they ate meat that had been sacrificed to Baal and those other lifeless gods.

²⁹ Yahweh became very angry because of what they had done,

so again he sent a terrible disease to attack them.

³⁰ But Phinehas stood up and punished the ones who had sinned greatly,

and as a result the plague ended.

³¹ People have remembered that righteous deed that Phinehas did,

and in future years people will remember it.

³² Then at the springs of Meribah our ancestors caused Yahweh to become angry again,

and as a result Moses had trouble.

³³ They caused Moses to become very angry,

and he said things that were foolish.

³⁴ Our ancestors did not destroy the other people groups

as he told them to do.

³⁵ Instead, the men took women from those people groups,

and they started to do the evil things that those people did.

³⁶ Our ancestors worshiped the idols of those people,

which resulted in their being destroyed.

³⁷ Some of the Israelites sacrificed their sons and daughters to the demons that those idols represented.

³⁸ They killed children who had done nothing wrong,

and offered them as sacrifices to the idols in Canaan.

As a result, the land of Canaan was polluted by those murders.

³⁹ So by their deeds they made it impossible for God to accept them;

because they did not faithfully worship only God,

they became like women who sleep with other men instead of sleeping only with their husbands.

⁴⁰ So Yahweh became very angry with his people;

he was completely disgusted with them.

⁴¹ As a result, he allowed people groups who did not believe in him to conquer them,

so those who hated our ancestors started to rule over them.

⁴² Their enemies oppressed them

and completely controlled them.

⁴³ Many times Yahweh rescued his people,

but they continued to rebel against him,

and they were finally destroyed because of the sins that they committed.

⁴⁴ However, Yahweh always heard them when they cried out to him,

and he listened to them when they were distressed.

⁴⁵ For their sake, he thought about the covenant that he had made to bless them;

because he never stopped loving them very much,

he changed his mind about punishing them more.

⁴⁶ He caused all those who had taken the Israelites to Babylonia to feel sorry for them.

⁴⁷ Yahweh our God, rescue us

and bring us back to Israel from among those people groups

so that we may thank you

and joyfully praise you.

⁴⁸ Praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship,

praise him now and forever!

All the people should agree!

Praise Yahweh!

Psalm 107

¹ Give thanks to Yahweh because he always does good things for us!

His faithful love for us lasts forever, as he has promised us!

² Those whom Yahweh has saved should tell others

that he has rescued them from their enemies.

³ He has gathered those of you who were exiled to many lands;

he has gathered you together from the east and the west,

from the north and from the south.

⁴ Some of those who returned from those countries wandered in the desert;

they were lost and had no homes to live in.

⁵ They were hungry and thirsty,

and they even collapsed in exhaustion.

⁶ When they were in trouble, they called out to Yahweh,

and he rescued them from being distressed.

⁷ He led them along a straight road where they walked safely

to cities in Canaan where they could live.

⁸ They should praise Yahweh for loving them faithfully

and for the wonderful things that he does for people.

⁹ He gives thirsty people plenty of water to drink,

and he gives hungry people plenty of good things to eat.

¹⁰ Some of them were in very dark prisons;

they were prisoners, suffering because of chains fastened to their hands and feet.

¹¹ They were in prison because they had rebelled against the message of God;

they were there because they had despised the advice given by God,

who is greater than all other gods.

¹² That is why God made them suffer hardships so that they would no longer be proud;

when they got into trouble, there was no one who would help them.

¹³ When they were in trouble, they called out to Yahweh,

and he rescued them from being distressed.

¹⁴ He broke the chains that were on their hands and feet

and brought them out of those very dark prisons.

^15-16 He broke down the prison gates that were made of bronze;

he cut through the prison bars that were made of iron.

They should praise Yahweh for loving them faithfully

and for the wonderful things that he does for people.

¹⁷ Some of them foolishly rebelled against God,

so they suffered for their sins.

¹⁸ They did not want to eat any food,

and they almost died.

¹⁹ When they were in trouble, they called out to Yahweh,

and he rescued them from being distressed.

²⁰ When he commanded that they be healed, they were healed;

he saved them from dying.

²¹ They should praise Yahweh for loving them faithfully

and for the wonderful things that he does for people.

²² They should give offerings to him to show that they are thankful,

and they should sing joyfully about the miracles that he has performed.

²³ Some of them sailed in ships;

they were selling things in cities far away.

²⁴ As they were sailing, they also saw the miracles that Yahweh performed,

the wonderful things that he did when they were on very deep seas.

²⁵ He gave orders to the winds, and they became strong

and stirred up high waves.

²⁶ The ships in which they were sailing were tossed high in the air,

and then they sank into the troughs between the high waves;

then the sailors were terrified at the danger.

²⁷ They stumbled about and staggered like drunken men,

and they did not know what to do.

²⁸ When they were in trouble, they called out to Yahweh,

and he rescued them from being distressed.

²⁹ He calmed the storm

and he stilled the waves.

³⁰ They were very glad when it became calm;

and Yahweh brought them safely into a harbor as they wished.

³¹ They should praise Yahweh for loving them faithfully

and for the wonderful things that he does for people.

³² They should praise him among the Israelite people when they have gathered together,

and they should praise him in front of the leaders of the country.

³³ Sometimes Yahweh causes rivers to become dry,

with the result that the land becomes a wilderness,

and springs of water become dry land.

³⁴ Sometimes he causes land that has produced lots of crops to become salty wastelands,

with the result that they do not produce crops.

He does that because the people who live there are very wicked.

³⁵ But sometimes he causes pools of water to appear in deserts,

and he causes springs to flow in very dry ground.

³⁶ He brings hungry people into that land, to live there and to build cities there.

³⁷ They plant seeds in their fields,

and they plant grapevines that produce large crops of grapes.

³⁸ He blesses the people, and the women give birth to many children,

and they have large herds of cattle.

³⁹ When the number of people became smaller and they were humiliated by their enemies

by being oppressed and caused to suffer,

⁴⁰ Yahweh shows contempt for the leaders who oppress them,

and makes them to wander in a wilderness where there are no roads.

⁴¹ But he rescues poor people from being in misery

and causes their families to increase in number like flocks of sheep.

⁴² People who live rightly see God do these things, and they rejoice;

wicked people hear about these things, too,

but they have nothing to say against Yahweh in reply.

⁴³ Those who are wise should think carefully about these things;

they should consider all the things that Yahweh has done to show that he faithfully loves them.

Psalm 108

¹ God, I am very confident in you.

I will sing to praise you.

It is an honor to wake up and praise you.

² I will arise before the sun rises,

and I will praise you while I play my harp and my lyre.

³ I prayed, "Yahweh, I will thank you among all the people groups;

I will sing to praise you among the nations

⁴ because your faithful love for us reaches up to the heavens,

and you are as faithful in keeping your promises as the clouds are high above the earth.

⁵ Yahweh, show in the heavens that you are very great!

Show your glory to people all over the earth!

⁶ Answer our prayers and, by your powe,r help us to defeat our enemies

so that we, the people whom you love, may be saved."

⁷ Yahweh answered our prayers and spoke from his temple, saying, "Because I have conquered your enemies, I will joyfully divide the city of Shechem,

and I will distribute among my people the land in the Valley of Succoth.

⁸ The region of Gilead is mine;

the people of the tribe of Manasseh are mine;

and the tribe of Judah is like my scepter.

⁹ The region of Moab is like my washbasin;

I throw my sandal over the region of Edom to show that it belongs to me;

I shout triumphantly because I have defeated the people of the region of Philistia."

¹⁰ Because we want to attack the people of Edom,

who will lead my army to their capital city that has strong walls around it?

¹¹ God, we do not want you to abandon us;

we want you to go with us when our army marches out to fight our enemies.

¹² We need you to help us when we fight against our enemies

because the help that humans can give us is worthless.

¹³ But with you helping us, we shall win;

you will enable us to defeat our enemies.

Psalm 109

¹ God, you are the one whom I praise,

so please answer my prayer

² because wicked people slander me

and tell lies about me.

³ They are constantly saying that they hate me,

and they harm me for no reason.

⁴ I show them that I love them

and that I pray for them,

but instead of being kind to me, they say that I have done evil things.

⁵ In return for my doing good things for them and loving them,

they do evil things to me and hate me.

⁶ So appoint a wicked judge who will judge my enemy,

and bring in one of his enemies who will stand up and accuse him.

⁷ When the trial ends,

cause the judge to declare that he is guilty

and cause even his plea for mercy to be considered a sin.

⁸ Then cause him to die soon;

bring someone else to take over his work.

⁹ Cause his children not to have a father anymore,

and cause his wife to become a widow.

¹⁰ Cause his children to leave the ruined homes that they have been living in

and to wander around begging for food.

¹¹ Cause all the people to whom he owed money to seize his property;

cause strangers to take away everything that he worked to acquire.

¹² Make sure that no one acts with any loyalty toward his memory for the sake of your covenant;

make sure that no one pities his children.

¹³ Cause all his children to die,

so that no one will live to carry on his name.

¹⁴ Yahweh, remember and do not forgive his ancestors for the evil things that they did,

and do not even forgive the sins that his mother committed.

¹⁵ Think about his sins continually,

but cause everyone living to completely forget who he was.

¹⁶ I pray these things because that man, my enemy, never acted toward anyone as your covenant says we must;

he persecuted poor and needy people

and even killed helpless people.

¹⁷ He liked to curse people.

So those terrible things that he requested to happen to others—cause them to happen to him!

He did not want to bless others,

so make sure that no one blesses him!

¹⁸ He often cursed other people, also;

cause the terrible things that he wanted to happen to others to happen to him and enter his body as water does,

as olive oil soaks into a person's bones when it is rubbed on his skin.

¹⁹ Cause those terrible things to cling to him like his clothes

and be around him like the belt that he wears every day.

²⁰ Yahweh, I wish that you will punish all my enemies that way,

those who say evil things about me.

²¹ But Yahweh, my God, do good things for me

in order that I may honor you;

rescue me from my enemies

because you faithfully love me as you promised.

²² I request you to do this because I am poor and needy

and my inner being is full of pain.

²³ I think that my time to remain alive is as short

as an evening shadow that will soon disappear.

I will be blown away as a locust is blown by the wind.

²⁴ My knees are weak because I have fasted very often,

and my body has become very thin.

²⁵ The people who accuse me make fun of me;

when they see me, they insult me by shaking their heads at me.

²⁶ Yahweh, my God, help me!

Because you faithfully love me, rescue me!

²⁷ When you save me,

cause my enemies to know that you are the one who has done it!

²⁸ They may curse me, but I ask that you bless me.

Cause those who persecute me to be defeated and disgraced,

but cause me to be glad!

²⁹ Cause those who accuse me to be completely disgraced;

cause other people to see that they are disgraced as easily as they see the clothes that they wear!

³⁰ But I will thank Yahweh very much;

I will praise him when I am among the crowd of people who are worshiping him.

³¹ I will do that because he defends poor people like me

and because he saves us from those who have said that we must die.

Psalm 110

¹ Yahweh said to my lord the king,

"Sit here, close to me, in the place of highest honor

until I completely defeat your enemies

and make them like a stool for your feet!"

² Yahweh will extend your power as king

from Jerusalem to other lands;

you will rule over all your enemies.

³ On the day that you lead your armies into battle,

many of your people will volunteer to join your army.

Your youthful strength will act for you like the dew that waters the earth early in the morning."

⁴ Yahweh has made a solemn promise

and he will never change his mind;

he has said to the king, "You will be a priest forever

like Melchizedek."

⁵ The Lord stands at your right side;

when he becomes angry, he will defeat many kings.

⁶ He will judge and punish the people of many nations;

many bodies of the killed enemy soldiers will lie on the ground.

He will crush kings all over the earth.

⁷ But the king will drink from the stream alongside the road;

he will be refreshed after defeating his enemies.

Psalm 111

¹ Praise Yahweh!

I will thank Yahweh with my entire inner being

every time that those who do what is right come together.

² The things that Yahweh has done are wonderful!

All those who are delighted with those things

desire to study them.

³ Because he is a great king and does wonderful things,

people greatly honor him and respect him;

the righteous things that he does will endure forever.

⁴ He has done wonderful things that people will always remember;

Yahweh always acts kindly and mercifully.

⁵ He provides food for those who have an awesome respect for him;

he never forgets the covenant that he made with our ancestors.

⁶ By enabling his people to capture the lands that belonged to other people groups,

he has shown to us, his people, that he is very powerful.

⁷ He does everything fairly, as he has promised us,

and we can depend on him to help us when he commands us to do things.

⁸ What he commands must be obeyed forever;

and he acted in a true and righteous manner when he gave us those commands.

⁹ He rescued us, his people, from being slaves in Egypt,

and he made a covenant with us that will last forever.

He is holy and awesome!

¹⁰ Having an awesome respect for Yahweh is the way to become wise.

All those who obey his commands will know what is good for them to decide to do.

We should praise him forever!

Psalm 112

¹ Praise Yahweh!

How fortunate are those who have an awesome respect for him,

those who happily obey his commands.

² Their children will prosper in their land;

God will bless their descedants.

³ Their families will be wealthy,

and their righteous deeds will endure forever.

⁴ For those who honor God, it is as if a light were shining on them in the darkness,

on those who are kind, merciful and righteous.

⁵ Things will go well for those who generously lend money to others

and who conduct their businesses honestly.

⁶ Righteous people will not be overwhelmed because of their troubles;

other people will always treasure their memories of them.

⁷ They are not afraid when they receive bad news;

they confidently trust in Yahweh.

⁸ They are confident and not afraid

because they know that they will see God defeat their enemies.

⁹ They give things generously to poor people;

their kind deeds will endure forever,

and they will be exalted and honored.

¹⁰ Wicked people see those things and are angry;

they gnash their teeth angrily,

but they will disappear and die.

The wicked things that they want to do will never happen.

Psalm 113

¹ Praise Yahweh!

You people who serve Yahweh, praise him!

Praise him!

² Everyone should praise Yahweh now and forever!

³ People who live in the east and people who live in the west,

everyone, should praise Yahweh!

⁴ Yahweh rules over all the nations,

and high in the heavens he shows that his glory is very great.

⁵ There is no one who is like Yahweh, our God,

who lives in the highest heaven

⁶ and looks far down through the heavens and sees the people on the earth.

⁷ He lifts poor people up so that they no longer sit in the dirt;

he lifts needy people up so that they no longer sit on heaps of ashes

⁸ and causes them to be honored by sitting next to leaders,

leaders who rule his own people.

⁹ He also enables women who have no children to live in their houses

as happy as mothers with children.

Praise Yahweh!

Psalm 114

¹ When the Israelite people left Egypt,

when the descendants of Jacob left people who spoke a foreign language,

² the land of Judah became the place where people worshiped God;

and Israel became the land that he ruled over.

³ When they came to the Sea of Reeds,

it was as though the water saw them and ran away!

When they came to the Jordan River,

the water in the river stopped flowing so that the Israelites could cross it.

⁴ When they came to Mount Sinai and there was a big earthquake,

it was as though the mountains skipped like goats

and the hills jumped around like lambs.

⁵ If someone asks, "What happened at the Sea of Reeds that caused the water to run away?

What happened that caused the water in the Jordan River to stop flowing?

⁶ What happened that caused the mountains to skip like goats

and caused the hills to jump around like lambs?"

⁷ Indeed, all the earth will tremble before the Lord!

Everyone will tremble in the presence of the God whom Jacob worshiped!

⁸ He is the one who caused pools of water to flow from a rock for the Israelite people to drink,

and he is the one who caused a spring to flow from a solid rock cliff!

Psalm 115

¹ Yahweh, people should praise you alone;

they must praise you, not us,

because you faithfully love us and always do what you have promised to do.

² It is not right that other people groups should say about us,

"They claim that their God is very powerful,

but if that is true, why does he not help them?"

³ Our God is in heaven,

and he does whatever he wants!

⁴ But their idols are only statues made of silver and gold,

things that humans have made.

⁵ Their idols have mouths, but they cannot say anything;

they have eyes, but they cannot see anything.

⁶ They have ears, but they cannot hear anything;

they have noses, but they cannot smell anything.

⁷ They have hands, but they cannot feel anything;

they have feet, but they cannot walk,

and they cannot even make any sounds in their throats!

⁸ The people who make those idols are as powerless as those idols,

and those who trust in those idols can accomplish nothing, just like their idols!

⁹ You, my fellow Israelite people, trust in Yahweh!

He is the one who helps you and protects you like a shield.

¹⁰ You priests, descendants of Aaron, trust in Yahweh!

He is the one who helps you and protects you like a shield.

¹¹ All you who have a reverential respect for Yahweh, trust in him!

He is the one who helps you and protects you like a shield.

¹² Yahweh has not forgotten us;

he will bless us Israelite people!

He will bless the priests,

¹³ and he will bless all those who have a reverential respect for him;

he will bless important people and people who are considered to be unimportant, everyone!

¹⁴ I wish that Yahweh may give many children

to you, my fellow Israelite people, and to your descendants.

¹⁵ I wish that Yahweh, the one who made heaven and the earth, may bless all of you!

¹⁶ The highest heavens belong to Yahweh,

but he gave everything that is on the earth to us people.

¹⁷ Dead people are not able to praise Yahweh;

when they descend into the place where dead people are,

they are unable to speak and cannot praise him.

¹⁸ But we who are alive will thank him,

now and forever.

Praise Yahweh!

Psalm 116

¹ I love Yahweh

because he hears me when I cry to him for help.

² He listens to me,

so I will call out to him all during my life.

³ Everything around me caused me to think that I would die;

I was very afraid that I would die and go to the place where dead people are.

I was very distressed and afraid.

⁴ But then I called out to Yahweh, saying,

"Yahweh, I plead with you to save me!"

⁵ Yahweh is kind and does what is right;

he is our God, and he acts mercifully to us.

⁶ He protects those who are helpless;

when I thought that I would die, he saved me.

⁷ I must encourage myself

because Yahweh has done very good things for me.

⁸ Yahweh has saved me from dying

and has kept me from troubles that would cause me to cry.

He has kept me from disaster.

⁹ So here on the earth where people are still alive,

I live, knowing that Yahweh is directing me.

¹⁰ I continued to believe in Yahweh,

even when I said, "I am greatly afflicted."

¹¹ Even when I was distressed and said, "I cannot trust anyone,"

I continued to trust in Yahweh.

¹² So now I will tell you what I will offer to Yahweh

because of all the good things that he has done for me.

¹³ I will offer to him a cup of wine

to thank him for saving me.

¹⁴ When I am together with many people who belong to Yahweh,

I will give to him the offerings that I solemnly promised to give to him.

¹⁵ Yahweh is very grieved when one of his people dies.

¹⁶ I am one of those who serves Yahweh;

I serve him like my mother did.

He has ended my troubles.

¹⁷ So I will offer to him a sacrifice to thank him,

and I will pray to him.

^18-19 When I am together with many of the people who belong to Yahweh

in the courtyard outside his temple in Jerusalem,

I will give to him the offerings that I solemnly promised to give to him.

Praise Yahweh!

Psalm 117

¹ You people of all nations, praise Yahweh!

All you people groups, praise him

² because he faithfully loves us as he promised to do,

and he will forever do for us what he promised that he would do.

Praise Yahweh!

Psalm 118

¹ Tell Yahweh that you thank him very much for the good things that he has done for you!

He faithfully loves us, his people, forever.

² You Israelite people should repeatedly shout,

"He faithfully loves us, his people, forever!"

³ You priests who are descendants of Aaron should repeatedly shout,

"He faithfully loves us, his people, forever!"

⁴ All you who revere him should repeatedly shout,

"He faithfully loves us, his people, forever!"

⁵ When I was distressed, I called out to Yahweh,

and he answered me and set me free from my worries.

⁶ Yahweh is on my side,

so I will not be afraid of anything.

No one can do anything that will prevent God from blessing me forever.

⁷ Yes, Yahweh is on my side,

so I will look triumphantly at my enemies while he defeats them.

⁸ It is better to trust in Yahweh

than to depend on people.

⁹ It is better to trust Yahweh to protect us

than to trust that influential people will protect us.

¹⁰ Armies of many nations surrounded us,

but Yahweh enabled us to defeat them by his power.

¹¹ They completely surrounded us,

but we defeated them all by Yahweh's power.

¹² They swarmed around me like angry bees;

they were like a fire that flares up in a thornbush,

but we defeated them by Yahweh's power.

¹³ Our enemies attacked us fiercely and almost defeated us,

but Yahweh helped us.

¹⁴ Yahweh is the one who makes me strong,

and he is the one about whom I always sing;

he has saved us from my enemies.

¹⁵ Listen to the joyful songs of victory being sung in the tents of the people who honor God!

They sing, "Yahweh has defeated our enemies by his mighty power;

¹⁶ he has raised his strong right arm to show he is happy over defeating his enemies.

Yahweh has completely defeated them!"

¹⁷ I will not be killed in battle;

I will live to proclaim the great things that Yahweh has done.

¹⁸ Yahweh has punished me severely,

but he has not allowed me to die.

¹⁹ You gatekeepers, open for me the gates of the temple

so that I may enter and thank Yahweh.

²⁰ Those are the gates through which we enter the temple to worship Yahweh;

those who honor God enter through those gates.

²¹ Yahweh, I thank you that you answered my prayer

and that you saved me from my enemies.

²² Yahweh's chosen king is like a stone that the builders rejected

when they were building a house,

but that stone became the cornerstone.

²³ This was done by Yahweh,

and it is a wonderful thing for us to see.

²⁴ This is the day on which we remember that Yahweh acted powerfully to defeat our enemies;

we will rejoice and be glad today.

²⁵ Yahweh, we plead with you to keep rescuing us from our enemies.

Yahweh, please help us accomplish what we want to do.

²⁶ Yahweh, bless the one who will come with your power.

From the temple we bless all of you.

²⁷ Yahweh is God,

and he has caused his light to come to us.

Come, bring animal sacrifice and tie it to the horns of the altar.

²⁸ Yahweh, you are the God whom I worship, and I will praise you!

You are my God, and I will tell everyone that you are great!

²⁹ Thank Yahweh because he does good things for us!

He will faithfully love us forever as he has promised.

Psalm 119

¹ How fortunate are those about whom no one can say truthfully that they have done things that are wrong,

those who always obey the laws of Yahweh.

² How fortunate are those who obey his weighty commands,

those who request him with their entire inner beings to help them to do that.

³ They do not do things that are wrong;

they behave as Yahweh wants them to.

⁴ Yahweh, you have given us your principles of behavior,

and you told us to obey them faithfully.

⁵ I want so much to faithfully keep everything that you command.

⁶ If I did that, I would not be ashamed

when I thought about your commands.

⁷ When I learn all of your just regulations,

I will praise you with a pure inner being.

⁸ I will obey all your statutes;

do not desert me!

⁹ I know how a young person can live in a pure way;

it is by obeying your commands.

¹⁰ I try to serve you with my entire inner being;

do not allow me to wander away from what you have commanded.

¹¹ I have memorized your commands

so that I will not sin against you.

¹² Yahweh, I praise you;

teach me your statutes.

¹³ I have announced to the people all the things that you have commanded us to do.

¹⁴ I delight in obeying your requirements;

I enjoy that more than being very rich.

¹⁵ I will study everything you have commanded,

and I will pay attention to how you have shown me to live.

¹⁶ I will be happy to obey your statutes,

and I will not forget your words.

¹⁷ Do good things for me, the one who serves you,

so that I may continue to live and obey your words during all my life.

¹⁸ Help me to understand with my mind,

to know the wonderful things that are written in your laws.

¹⁹ I am living here on the earth for only a short time;

do not keep me from understanding.

²⁰ In my inner being I strongly desire to know your decrees all the time.

²¹ You rebuke those who are proud;

you curse those who disobey your commands.

²² Do not allow them to continue to insult and scorn me;

I request this because I have obeyed your requirements.

²³ Rulers gather together and plan ways to harm me,

but I will meditate on what you have commanded.

²⁴ I am delighted with your requirements;

it is as though they were my advisors.

²⁵ I think that I will soon die;

save my life as you have promised me that you would.

²⁶ When I told you about all the things I did, you answered me;

teach me your statutes.

²⁷ Help me to understand how you want me to behave,

and then I will meditate on your amazing instructions.

²⁸ I am very sad, with the result that I have no strength;

enable me to be strong again as you promised me that you would do.

²⁹ Prevent me from telling lies,

and be kind to me by teaching me your laws.

³⁰ I have decided that I will faithfully obey you;

I am determined to follow your commands.

³¹ Yahweh, I try to carefully cling to your requirements;

do not abandon me or let me be disgraced.

³² I will eagerly obey your commands

because you have helped me understand better and better what you want me to do.

³³ Yahweh, teach me the meaning of your statutes,

and then I will completely obey them.

³⁴ Help me to understand your laws

so that I may obey them with all my inner being.

³⁵ I am happy with your commands,

so lead me along the paths that you have chosen for me.

³⁶ Cause me to want to do what you command

and not to want to become rich.

³⁷ Do not allow me to look at things that are worthless;

make me able to live as you want me to live.

³⁸ Because I am one who serves you, do what you promised to do for me,

which is what you also promise to do for all those who honor you.

³⁹ I become afraid when my enemies insult me;

stop them!

But you are right when you punish my enemies.

⁴⁰ I very much desire to obey your principles of behavior;

because you are righteous, allow me to continue to live.

⁴¹ Yahweh, show me that you faithfully love me,

and rescue me as you promised you would.

⁴² After you do that, I will be able to reply to those who insult me

because I trust in your word.

⁴³ Never prevent me from speaking your truth

because I have confidence in your regulations.

⁴⁴ I will always obey your laws

forever and ever.

⁴⁵ I will always be safe

because I have tried to obey your principles of behavior.

⁴⁶ I will tell to kings what you require,

and because they are unable to prove me wrong, they will not cause me to be ashamed.

⁴⁷ I am delighted to obey your commands,

and I love them.

⁴⁸ I respect your commandments,

and I love them;

I will meditate on everything you require us to do.

⁴⁹ Do not forget what you said you would do for me, the one who serves you,

because what you have said has caused me to confidently expect good things from you.

⁵⁰ When I have been suffering, you comforted me;

you did what you promised me, and that kept me alive.

⁵¹ Proud people are always making fun of me,

but I do not turn away from obeying your laws.

⁵² Yahweh, when I think about your regulations that you gave to us long ago,

I am comforted.

⁵³ When I see wicked people disregard your laws,

I become very angry.

⁵⁴ While I have been living here on the earth for a short time,

I have written songs about your statutes.

⁵⁵ Yahweh, during the night I think about you,

and so I obey your laws.

⁵⁶ What I have always done is to obey your principles of behavior.

⁵⁷ Yahweh, you are the one whom I have chosen,

and I promise to obey your words.

⁵⁸ With all my inner being I plead with you to be good to me;

act kindly to me as you promised that you would do.

⁵⁹ I have thought about my behavior,

and I have decided to return to obeying your requirements.

⁶⁰ I hurry to obey your commands;

I do not delay at all.

⁶¹ Wicked people have tried to seize me as a hunter tries to catch an animal with a net,

but I do not forget your laws.

⁶² In the middle of the night I awake,

and I praise you for your commands

because they are fair.

⁶³ I am a friend of all those who have an awesome respect for you,

those who obey your principles of behavior.

⁶⁴ Yahweh, you faithfully love people all over the earth;

teach me your statutes.

⁶⁵ Yahweh, you have done good things for me

as you promised that you would do.

⁶⁶ Teach me to think carefully before I decide what to do,

and teach me other things that I need to know

because I believe that it is right for us to obey your commands.

⁶⁷ Before you afflicted me, I did things that were wrong,

but now I obey your words.

⁶⁸ You are very good, and what you do is good;

teach me your statutes.

⁶⁹ Proud people have told many lies about me,

but as for me, I obey your principles of behavior.

⁷⁰ Those people are stubborn,

but as for me, I am delighted with your laws.

⁷¹ It was good for me that you afflicted me

because the result was that I learned your statutes.

⁷² The laws that you give to us are worth more to me than gold,

more than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.

⁷³ You created me and formed my body;

help me to be wise so that I may learn your commands.

⁷⁴ Those who have an awesome respect for you will see what you have done for me,

because they have confidence in the promises of your word.

⁷⁵ Yahweh, I know that your regulations are right

and that you have made me suffer because you love me without end.

⁷⁶ Comfort me by showing that you faithfully love me

as you said to me that you would do.

⁷⁷ Act mercifully to me so that I may continue to live

because I am delighted with your laws.

⁷⁸ Cause the proud people who falsely accuse me to be shamed;

but as for me, I will continue meditating on what you have commanded I should do.

⁷⁹ Cause those who have an awesome respect for you to come back to me

so that they may learn what you command.

⁸⁰ Enable me to perfectly obey your statutes

so that I may not be ashamed because of not doing that.

⁸¹ I am waiting for you to save me from my enemies;

I confidently expect that you will tell me what you will do.

⁸² My eyes are tired from waiting a long time for you to do what you promised that you would do,

and I ask, "When will you help me?"

⁸³ I have become as useless as a wineskin that is shriveled from hanging a long time in the smoke inside a house,

but I have not forgotten your statutes.

⁸⁴ How long must I wait?

When will you punish those who persecute me?

⁸⁵ It is as though proud people, those who do not obey your laws, have dug deep pits for me to fall into. ⁸⁶ All your commands are trustworthy;

but people are persecuting me by telling lies about me, so please help me.

⁸⁷ Those people almost killed me,

but I have not stopped obeying your principles of behavior.

⁸⁸ Because you faithfully love me, allow me to continue to live

so that I may continue to obey your requirements that you have spoken.

⁸⁹ Yahweh, your word will last forever;

it is firmly fixed in heaven.

⁹⁰ You will faithfully continue to act for people who are not yet born;

you have put the earth in its place, and it remains firmly there.

⁹¹ To this day, all things on the earth remain because you decided that they should remain;

everything on the earth serves you.

⁹² If I had not been delighted in obeying your laws,

I would have died because of what I was suffering.

⁹³ I will never forget your principles of behavior

because as a result of my obeying them, you have enabled me to continue to live.

⁹⁴ I belong to you; save me from my enemies

because I have tried to obey your principles of behavior.

⁹⁵ Wicked men are waiting to kill me,

but I will think about your requirements.

⁹⁶ I have learned that there is a limit for everything,

but your commands have no limit.

⁹⁷ I love your laws very much.

I meditate on them all during the day.

⁹⁸ Because I know your commands

and because I think about them all the time,

I have become wiser than my enemies.

⁹⁹ I understand more than my teachers do

because I meditate on what you command.

¹⁰⁰ I understand more than many old people do

because I obey your principles of behavior.

¹⁰¹ I have avoided all evil behavior

so that I may obey your words.

¹⁰² I have not refused to obey them

because you have taught me while I have studied them.

¹⁰³ When I read your words,

they are like honey that I eat;

yes, they are even sweeter than honey.

¹⁰⁴ Because I have learned your principles of behavior,

I am able to understand many things;

therefore I hate all evil things that some people do.

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to guide me;

it is like a light that shows me where to walk.

¹⁰⁶ I have solemnly promised, and I am solemnly promising it again,

that I will always obey your regulations;

they are all fair.

¹⁰⁷ Yahweh, I am suffering very much;

cause me to be strong again as you have promised to do.

¹⁰⁸ Yahweh, when I thank you while I pray, it is like a sacrifice to you;

please accept it,

and teach me your regulations.

¹⁰⁹ My enemies are often trying to kill me,

but I do not forget your laws.

¹¹⁰ Wicked people have tried to seize me as a hunter tries to catch little animals with a trap,

but I have not disobeyed your principles of behavior.

¹¹¹ I have your requirements forever;

because of them, I am joyful in my inner being.

¹¹² I have decided to always obey your commands, every one of them.

¹¹³ I hate people who only say they love you,

but I love your laws.

¹¹⁴ You are like a place where I can hide from my enemies,

and you are like a shield behind which I am protected from them;

I trust in your promises.

¹¹⁵ You evil people, go away from me

so than I may obey my God's commands!

¹¹⁶ Enable me to be strong as you promised that you would do,

so that I may continue to live.

I am confidently expecting that you will restore me;

do not disappoint me.

¹¹⁷ Hold me up so that I may be safe

and always pay attention to your commands.

¹¹⁸ You reject all those who disobey your statutes;

because they make deceitful plans and they do not keep their word.

¹¹⁹ You get rid of all the wicked people on the earth as people get rid of trash;

therefore I love your requirements.

¹²⁰ I tremble because I am afraid of you;

I am afraid because you punish those who do not obey your regulations.

¹²¹ But I have done what is right and fair;

so do not allow people to oppress me.

¹²² Be responsible for doing good things for me,

and do not allow proud people to oppress me.

¹²³ My eyes are tired from waiting a long time for you to rescue me,

for you to save me as you promised that you would.

¹²⁴ Do something for me to show that you faithfully love me,

and teach me your statutes.

¹²⁵ I am one who serves you;

enable me to understand what you want me to know

so that I may learn your requirements.

¹²⁶ Yahweh, now is the time for you to punish people

because they have disobeyed your laws.

¹²⁷ Truly, I love your commands more than I love gold;

I love them more than I love very pure gold.

¹²⁸ So I conduct my life by your principles of behavior,

and I hate all the evil things that some people do.

¹²⁹ Your requirements are wonderful,

so I obey them with all my inner being.

¹³⁰ When someone explains your words,

it is as though they are lighting a light;

what they say causes even people who have not learned your laws to be wise.

¹³¹ I eagerly desire to know your commands

as a dog pants with its mouth open, wanting to be fed.

¹³² Listen to me and act kindly to me

as you do to all those who love you.

¹³³ Guide me as you promised;

do not allow evil people to control what I do.

¹³⁴ Rescue me from those who oppress me

so that I may obey your principles of behavior.

¹³⁵ Act kindly toward me

and teach me your statutes.

¹³⁶ I cry very much

because many people do not obey your laws.

¹³⁷ Yahweh, you are righteous

and your regulations are just.

¹³⁸ You did what was right when you gave us the laws of your covenant promise,

and you can be trusted when you made those promises to us.

¹³⁹ I am furious

because my enemies disregard your words.

¹⁴⁰ I have found that your promises are dependable,

and I love them.

¹⁴¹ I am not important, and people despise me,

but I do not forget your principles of behavior.

¹⁴² You are righteous and you will be righteous forever,

and your laws will never be changed.

¹⁴³ I constantly have troubles and I am worried,

but your commands cause me to be happy.

¹⁴⁴ Your requirements are always fair;

help me to understand them so that I may continue to live.

¹⁴⁵ Yahweh, with all my inner being I call out to you;

answer me and I will obey your statutes.

¹⁴⁶ I call out to you,

"Save me, and I will keep your commandments."

¹⁴⁷ Each morning I arise before dawn and call to you to help me;

I confidently expect you to do what you have promised.

¹⁴⁸ All during the night I am awake,

and I meditate on your commands and your promises.

¹⁴⁹ Yahweh, because you faithfully love me,

listen to me while I pray;

keep me safe because I keep your regulations.

¹⁵⁰ Those evil people who oppress me are coming closer to me;

they do not pay any attention to your laws.

¹⁵¹ But Yahweh, you are near to me,

and I know that your commands will never be changed.

¹⁵² Long ago I found out about your requirements,

and I know that you intended them to last forever.

¹⁵³ Look at me, see that I am suffering very much, and heal me

because I do not forget your laws.

¹⁵⁴ Defend me when others accuse me and rescue me from them;

allow me to continue to live as you promised that you would.

¹⁵⁵ Wicked people do not obey your statutes,

so you will certainly not save them.

¹⁵⁶ Yahweh, you have been merciful by helping me in many ways;

allow me to continue to live as you have done until now.

¹⁵⁷ Many people are my enemies; many people cause me to suffer,

but I do not neglect your commands.

¹⁵⁸ When I look at those who are not faithful to you, I am disgusted

because they do not obey your requirements.

¹⁵⁹ Yahweh, notice that I love your principles of behavior;

because you faithfully love me, allow me to continue to live.

¹⁶⁰ I can rely on everything that you have said;

all your regulations will endure forever.

¹⁶¹ Rulers persecute me for no reason,

but in my inner being I have a very awesome respect for your words.

¹⁶² I am happy about your words,

as happy as someone who has found a great treasure.

¹⁶³ I thoroughly hate all lies

but I love your laws.

¹⁶⁴ I praise you seven times a day

for your commandments because they are all just.

¹⁶⁵ Things go well for those who love your laws;

nothing will make them abandon your laws.

¹⁶⁶ Yahweh, I confidently expect that you will rescue me from my troubles,

and I obey your commands.

¹⁶⁷ I obey what you require us to do;

I love it all very much.

¹⁶⁸ I obey your principles of behavior,

and you see everything that I do.

¹⁶⁹ Yahweh, listen while I pray for you to help me;

help me to understand your words.

¹⁷⁰ Hear me while I pray,

and rescue me as you said you would.

¹⁷¹ I will always praise you

because you teach me your rules.

¹⁷² I will sing about your words

because all your commands are just.

¹⁷³ I request you to always be ready to help me

because I have chosen to obey your principles of behavior.

¹⁷⁴ Yahweh, I eagerly desire for you to rescue me from my enemies;

I am delighted with your laws.

¹⁷⁵ Allow me to continue to live in order that I can continue to praise you

so that your regulations will continue to help me.

¹⁷⁶ I have sinned and turned away from you like a sheep that has left its flock;

search for me because I have not forgotten your commands.

Psalm 120

¹ When I was distressed, I called out to Yahweh

and he answered me.

² I prayed,

"Yahweh, rescue me from those who lie to me and try to deceive me!"

³ You people who lie to me, I will tell you what God will do to you

and what he will do to punish you.

⁴ He will punish you when soldiers shoot sharp arrows at you;

arrows that were hardened and made sharp

over hot coals from the wood of a broom tree.

⁵ It is terrible for me, living among cruel people

like those who live in the regions of Meshech or Kedar.

⁶ I have lived for a long time among people who hate to live with others peacefully.

⁷ Every time I talk about living together peacefully,

they talk about starting a war.

Psalm 121

¹ When we travel toward Jerusalem,

I look up toward the hills and I ask myself, "Who will help me?"

² My answer is that Yahweh is the one who helps me;

he is the one who made heaven and the earth.

³ He will not allow us to fall;

God, who protects us, will not fall asleep.

⁴ The one who protects us Israelite people

never gets sleepy or sleeps.

⁵ Yahweh watches over us;

he is like the shade that protects us from the sun.

⁶ He will not allow the sun to harm us during the day,

and he will not allow the moon to harm us during the night.

⁷ Yahweh will protect us from being harmed in any manner;

he will keep us safe.

⁸ He will protect us from the time that we leave our houses in the morning until we return in the evening;

he will protect us now and he will protect us forever.

Psalm 122

¹ I was glad when people said to me,

"We should go to the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem!"

² Now we are here,

standing inside the gates of Jerusalem.

³ We can see that Jerusalem was a carefully built city.

Every part of the city was built to fit together

within the city as a whole.

⁴ We people of the tribes of Israel

who belong to Yahweh can now go up there,

as Yahweh commanded that we should do,

so we can thank him.

⁵ There are the thrones,

the thrones that the kings of Israel sat

when they ruled Israel.

These are the thrones of the descendants of King David.

⁶ Pray that there will be peace in Jerusalem!

"I pray that those who love Jerusalem will succeed in life.

⁷ I pray that there may be peace inside the walls of the city

and that people who are inside the palaces may be safe."

⁸ For the sake of my relatives and friends,

"I pray that people will live peacefully inside Jerusalem."

⁹ And because I love the temple of Yahweh our God,

"I pray that things will go well for the people who live in Jerusalem."

Psalm 123

¹ Yahweh, I look up toward you,

up to heaven, from where you rule.

² As servants ask their masters for what they need

and as maids ask their mistresses for what they need,

we ask you, Yahweh our God, for what we need,

until you act mercifully toward us.

³ Yahweh, act very mercifully toward us

because our enemies have acted very contemptuously toward us.

⁴ Arrogant people have made fun of us for a long time,

and proud people have oppressed us and have acted as though we were worthless.

Psalm 124

¹ You Israelite people, answer this question:

What would have happened to us if Yahweh had not been helping us?

² When our enemies attacked us,

if Yahweh had not been fighting for us,

³ we would have all been killed

because they were very angry with us!

⁴ They would have been like a flood of water sweeping us away;

it would have been as though the water had covered us,

⁵ and we would all have drowned in the flood.

⁶ But we praise Yahweh

because he has not allowed our enemies to destroy us.

⁷ We have escaped from our enemies as a bird escapes from the trap that hunters have set;

it is as though the trap that our enemies set for us was broken

and we have escaped from it!

⁸ Yahweh is the one who helps us;

he is the one who made heaven and the earth.

Psalm 125

¹ Those who trust in Yahweh are like Mount Zion,

which cannot be shaken or moved out of its place.

² As the hills that surround Jerusalem protect it,

so Yahweh protects us, his people,

and he will protect us forever.

³ Wicked people should not be allowed to rule over the land where righteous people live.

If they did that, those righteous people would think of doing wrong themselves.

⁴ Yahweh, do good things to those who do good things to others

and to those who sincerely obey your commands.

⁵ But when you punish the Israelites who no longer obey you,

you will punish them the same as you punish all the other evildoers.

I wish that things may go well for people in Israel!

Psalm 126

¹ When Yahweh made Jerusalem prosperous again,

it was wonderful;

it seemed as though we were dreaming.

² We were extremely happy,

and we continued shouting joyfully.

Then the other people groups said about us,

"Yahweh has done great things for them!"

³ We said, "Yes, Yahweh truly has done great things for us,

and we are very happy."

⁴ Restore us, O Yahweh, like the rains that fill the streams in the southern Judean wilderness.

Enable our nation to become great again like it was before.

⁵ We cried when we planted seeds because it was hard work preparing the soil that had not been plowed for many years;

now we want to shout joyfully because we are gathering a big harvest.

⁶ Those who cried as they carried the bags of seeds to the fields will shout joyfully

when they bring the crops to their houses at harvest time.

Psalm 127

¹ If people are building a house without Yahweh helping them,

they are building it in vain.

Similarly, if Yahweh does not protect a city,

it is useless for guards to stay awake at night.

² It is also useless to arise very early and go to sleep late at night

so that you can work hard all day to earn money to buy food

because Yahweh gives food to those whom he loves even while they sleep.

³ Children are a gift that comes to parents from Yahweh;

they are a reward from him.

⁴ If a man has sons while he is still young,

when they grow up, they will be able to help him defend his family

as a soldier can defend himself if he has a bow and arrows in his hand.

⁵ How fortunate is a man who has many sons;

he is like a soldier who has many arrows in his quiver.

If a man with his many grown sons is taken by his enemies to the place where they decide matters, his enemies will never be able to defeat that man

because his sons will help to defend him.

Psalm 128

¹ How fortunate are you who have an awesome respect for him

and do what he wants you to do.

² You will be able to enjoy the food you provide yourself with;

you will be fortunate and prosperous.

³ Your wife will be like a grapevine that bears many grapes;

she will give birth to many children.

Your children who sit around your table;

you will be like a strong olive tree that has many shoots growing up around it.

⁴ Like that, Yahweh will bless every man who has an awesome respect for him.

⁵ I wish that God in his temple on Mount Zion may help you greatly,

and that you will see the people of Jerusalem prospering every day that you live!

⁶ I wish that you may live many years

and that you may have grandchildren and be able to see them.

I wish that things may go well for people in Israel!

Psalm 129

¹ I say that my enemies have afflicted me ever since I was young.

Now I ask you, my fellow Israelites, to repeat those same words:

² "Our enemies have afflicted us since our nation began,

but they have not defeated us!

³ Our enemies struck us with whips that cut into our backs

as a farmer uses a plow to cuts deep furrows into the ground."

⁴ But Yahweh is righteous,

and he has freed us from being slaves to wicked people.

⁵ I wish that they may all be shamed because we will defeat them—all of Jerusalem's enemies.

⁶ I hope that they may be of no value, like grass that grows on the roofs of houses,

that dries up and does not grow tall;

⁷ no one wants to cut it and tie it up as bundles and carry it away.

⁸ People who pass by and see men harvesting grain usually greet them by saying to them,

"We wish that Yahweh may bless you!"

But this will not happen to the enemies of Israel.

We, acting as Yahweh's representatives, bless you, our fellow Israelites!

Psalm 130

¹ Yahweh, I have great troubles, so I call out to you.

² Yahweh, hear me

while I call out to you to have mercy on me!

³ Yahweh, if you kept a record of the sins that we have committed,

not one of us would escape from being condemned and punished!

⁴ But you forgive us,

with the result that we have an awesome respect for you.

⁵ Yahweh has said that he would help me;

I trust what he said, and I wait eagerly for him to do that.

⁶ I wait for Yahweh to help me

more than watchmen wait for the morning to come;

yes, I wait more eagerly than they do!

⁷ You, my fellow Israelites, confidently expect that Yahweh will bless us.

He will bless us because he has mercy on us,

and he is very willing to save us.

⁸ It is he who will save us Israelite people from being punished for all the sins that we have committed.

Psalm 131

¹ Yahweh, I am not proud;

I do not deserve to achieve impressive things in life.

I do not worry about problems that are too difficult for me to solve.

² Instead, I am calm and peaceful in my inner being

like a small child who no longer nurses but is happy to be with its mother.

In the same way, I am peaceful within my inner being.

³ You, my fellow Israelites, confidently expect that Yahweh will do good things for you

now and forever!

Psalm 132

¹ Yahweh, do not forget King David

and all the hardships he endured!

² He made a solemn promise to you,

the mighty God whom our ancestor Jacob worshiped.

³ He said, "I will not go home,

I will not rest on my bed,

⁴ and I will not sleep at all

⁵ until I build a place for Yahweh,

a home for the mighty God whom Jacob worshiped."

⁶ In Ephrathah we heard where the sacred chest was.

So we went and found it near the city of Kiriath Jearim, and we took it to Jerusalem.

⁷ Later we said, "Let us go to the sacred tent of Yahweh in Jerusalem;

let us worship there in front of the throne where he is sitting."

⁸ Yahweh, come to the place where you live eternally,

to the place where your sacred chest is,

to the place that shows that you are very powerful.

⁹ I want that the righteous behavior of your priests will always be evident,

and that your people will always shout joyfully.

¹⁰ You chose David to serve you as king of Israel;

do not reject him!

¹¹ Yahweh, you made a solemn promise to David,

a promise that you will not break.

You said, "I will cause your descendants to rule as kings like you.

¹² If they obey my covenant with them

and obey all the commands that I will give them,

the line of kings descended from you will never end."

¹³ Yahweh has chosen Jerusalem;

that is where he wants to rule from.

¹⁴ He said, "This is the city where I will live forever;

this is the place where I want to stay.

¹⁵ I will give to the people of Jerusalem all that they need;

I will give enough food to satisfy even the poor people there.

¹⁶ I will cause the priests to behave in a manner worthy of ones whom I have saved;

and all my people who live there will shout joyfully.

¹⁷ There in Jerusalem I will cause one of David's descendants to become a great king;

he also will be my chosen king,

It is there that I will make David's line of descendants continue.

¹⁸ I will defeat his enemies and cause them to be very ashamed;

but the crown that my king wears will always shine."

Psalm 133

¹ It is very good and very pleasant

for God's people to gather together in peace.

² It is as delightful as the precious oil

that ran down from the high priest Aaron's head onto his beard when Moses anointed him,

that ran down onto the collar of his robes.

³ Gathering together in peace is as delightful as the dew that falls on Mount Hermon

and the dew that falls on Mount Zion.

Yahweh has promised to bless his people there in Jerusalem

by making their nation last forever.

Psalm 134

¹ All you people who serve Yahweh,

who stand up and serve him at night in his temple,

come and praise him!

² Lift up your hands to pray to him in the temple

and praise him!

³ I hope that Yahweh, who created heaven and the earth,

may bless you from where he lives in the temple on Mount Zion!

Psalm 135

¹ Praise Yahweh!

You who worship Yahweh,

praise him!

² You who stand at the temple of Yahweh our God in its courtyards, ready to serve him,

praise him !

³ Praise Yahweh because he does good things for us;

sing to him because it is a joyful thing to do so.

⁴ He has chosen us, the descendants of Jacob;

he has chosen us Israelites to belong to him.

⁵ I say these things because I know that Yahweh is great;

he is greater than all the gods.

⁶ Yahweh does whatever he desires to do

in heaven, on the earth,

and in the seas, down to the bottom of the seas.

⁷ He is the one who causes clouds to appear from very distant places on the earth;

he makes lightning bolts to flash with the rain,

and he brings the winds from the places where he stores them.

⁸ He is the one who killed all the firstborn males in Egypt,

the firstborn of people and of animals.

⁹ There he performed many kinds of miracles

to punish the king and all his officials.

¹⁰ He attacked many nations

and killed the powerful kings who ruled them:

¹¹ Sihon, the king of the Amor people group,

Og, the king of Bashan,

and all the other kings in the land of Canaan.

¹² Yahweh gave us their land,

so that it would belong to us, his people Israel, forever.

¹³ Yahweh, your name will endure forever,

and people who are not yet born will remember the great things that you have done.

¹⁴ Yahweh declares that we, his people, are innocent,

and he acts mercifully toward us.

¹⁵ But the idols that the other people groups worship are only statues made of silver and gold,

things that humans have made.

¹⁶ Their idols have mouths, but they cannot say anything;

they have eyes, but they cannot see anything.

¹⁷ They have ears, but they cannot hear anything,

and they are not even able to breathe.

¹⁸ The people who make those idols are as powerless as those idols,

and those who trust in those idols can accomplish no more than their idols can!

¹⁹ My fellow Israelites, praise Yahweh!

You priests who are descended from Aaron, praise Yahweh!

²⁰ You men who are descended from Levi, you who assist the priests, praise Yahweh!

All you who have a reverential respect for Yahweh, praise him!

²¹ Praise Yahweh in the temple on Mount Zion in Jerusalem

where he lives!

Praise Yahweh!

Psalm 136

¹ Thank Yahweh because he does good things for us;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

² Thank God, the one who is greater than all other gods;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

³ Thank the Lord who is greater than all other lords;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

⁴ He is the only one who performs great miracles;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

⁵ He is the one who, by being very wise, created the heavens;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

⁶ He is the one who caused the ground to rise up above the deep waters;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

⁷ He is the one who created great lights in the sky;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

⁸ He created the sun to shine in the daytime;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

⁹ He created the moon and stars to shine during the nighttime;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

¹⁰ He is the one who killed the firstborn males in Egypt;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

¹¹ He led the Israelite people out of Egypt;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

¹² With his strong hand he led them out;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

¹³ He is the one who caused the Sea of Reeds to divide;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

¹⁴ He enabled the Israelite people to walk through it on dry land;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

¹⁵ But he caused the king of Egypt and his army to drown in it;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

¹⁶ He is the one who led his people safely through the wilderness;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

¹⁷ He killed powerful kings;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

¹⁸ He killed kings who were famous;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

¹⁹ He killed Sihon, the king of the Amor people group;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

²⁰ He killed Og, the king of the region of Bashan;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

²¹ He gave their lands to us, his people;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

²² He gave those lands to us people of Israel, who serve him;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

²³ He is the one who did not forget about us when our enemies had defeated us;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

²⁴ He rescued us from our enemies;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

²⁵ He is the one who gives food to all living creatures;

he will love us forever as he has promised.

²⁶ So thank God, who lives in heaven

because he will love us forever as he has promised.!

Psalm 137

¹ When we had been taken to Babylonia far from Jerusalem,

we sat down by the rivers there,

and we cried when we thought about the temple on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

² On the willow trees alongside the rivers we hung our harps

because we did not want to play them anymore and because we were very sad.

³ The soldiers who had captured us and taken us to Babylonia forced us to sing for them;

they told us to entertain them; they said,

"Sing for us one of the songs that you previously sang in Jerusalem!"

⁴ But we thought to ourselves,

"We are sad because we have been punished by Yahweh and brought to this foreign land;

we cannot sing songs about Yahweh while we are here!"

⁵ If I forget about Jerusalem, I hope that my right hand will wither

so that I will be unable to play my harp!

⁶ I hope that I will not be able to sing again

if I forget about Jerusalem,

if I do not consider that Jerusalem causes me to be more joyful than anything else does.

⁷ Yahweh, punish the people of the Edom people group

for what they did on the day that the army of Babylon captured Jerusalem.

Do not forget that they said,

"Tear down all the buildings! Destroy them completely! Leave only the foundations!"

⁸ You people of Babylon, you will certainly be destroyed!

How fortunate are those who punish you for what you did to us;

⁹ How fortunate are those who take your babies

and smash them to pieces on the rocks.

Psalm 138

¹ Yahweh, I thank you with all my inner being.

I sing to praise you, even though many people worship idols.

² When I look toward your sacred temple, I bow down

and thank you because you faithfully love us and do all that you have promised.

You have given cause for people everywhere to honor you and what you have said more than anything else.

³ When I called out to you, you answered me;

you enabled me to be strong and brave.

⁴ Yahweh, someday all the kings of this earth will praise you

because they will have heard what you have said.

⁵ They will sing about what you have done;

they will sing and say that you are very great.

⁶ Yahweh, you are supreme,

but you take care of people who are considered to be unimportant.

However, you do not show yourself to proud people as faithful.

⁷ When I am in the middle of many troubles,

you save me.

With your hand you rescue me from my enemies who are angry at me.

⁸ Yahweh, you will do for me everything that you promised;

you faithfully love us forever.

Finish what you started to do for us, your Israelite people!

Psalm 139

¹ Yahweh, you have examined what is in my inner being,

and you know everything about me.

² You know when I sit down and when I stand up.

Even though you are far away from me,

you know what I am thinking.

³ From the time that I rise in the morning until I lie down to sleep at night,

you know everything that I do.

⁴ Yahweh, even before I say anything,

you know everything that I am going to say!

⁵ You protect me on all sides;

you put your hand on me to protect me with your power.

⁶ I am not able to understand that you know everything about me.

That is too hard for me to really understand.

⁷ Where could I go to escape from your Spirit?

Where could I go to get away from you?

⁸ If I go up to heaven, you will be there.

If I lie down in the place where the dead people are, you will be there.

⁹ If the sun could carry me across the sky,

if I flew west and made a place to live on an island in the ocean,

¹⁰ you would be there also to lead me by your hand,

and you would help me.

¹¹ I could wish for the darkness to hide me,

or I could wish for the light around me to become darkness.

¹² But even if that happened, you would still see me.

For you the night is as bright as the daytime,

because daylight and darkness are no different to you.

¹³ You created all the parts of my body;

you put the parts of my body together when I was still in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because you made my body very awesomely and wonderfully.

Everything that you do is amazing!

I certainly know that very well.

¹⁵ When my body was being formed,

while it was being put together where no one else could see it,

you saw it!

¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.

You wrote in your book the number of days that you had decided that I would live.

You did that before any of those days had even started!

¹⁷ God, what you think about me is very valuable.

There are a huge amount of things that you think about.

¹⁸ If I could count them, I would see that they are more than the grains of sand at the seashore.

When I awake, I am still with you.

¹⁹ God, I wish that you would kill the wicked people!

I wish that violent men would all leave me.

²⁰ They say wicked things about you;

they slander your name.

²¹ Yahweh, I certainly hate those who hate you!

I despise those who rebel against you.

²² I hate them completely,

and I consider that they are my enemies.

²³ God, search my inner being;

find out what I am thinking!

²⁴ Find out whether there is anything evil in my inner being,

and lead me along the road that leads to my being with you forever.

Psalm 140

¹ Yahweh, rescue me from being attacked by evil men;

even more, keep me safe from being attacked by violent people.

² They are always planning to do evil things,

and they are always encouraging people to start quarrels.

³ By what they say, they injure people as poisonous snakes do.

⁴ Yahweh, protect me from the power of wicked people.

Keep me safe from violent men who plan to ruin me.

⁵ It is as though proud people have set a trap for me;

it is as though they have spread their nets to catch me;

it is as though they have put these things along the road to catch me.

⁶ I say to you, "Yahweh, you are my God.

Listen to me while I cry out to you to help me."

⁷ Yahweh, my Lord, you are the one who strongly defends me;

you have protected me during battles as though you had put a helmet on my head.

⁸ Yahweh, do not give to wicked people the things that they desire,

and do not allow them to do the evil things that they plan to do.

⁹ Do not allow my enemies to become proud;

cause the evil things that they say they will do to me to happen to them instead.

¹⁰ Cause burning coals to fall on their heads!

Cause them to be thrown into deep pits from which they cannot climb out!

¹¹ Do not allow those who slander others to succeed;

cause evil things to happen to violent men and destroy them!

¹² Yahweh, I know that you will defend those who are oppressed,

and that you will do what is just.

¹³ Righteous people will surely thank you,

and they will live in your presence.

Psalm 141

¹ Yahweh, I call out to you;

please help me quickly!

Listen to me when I am calling to you.

² Accept my prayer as though it were incense being burned as an offering to you.

Accept me while I lift up my hands to pray to you,

just as you accept sacrifices that are offered to you in the evening.

³ Yahweh, do not allow me to say things that are wrong;

guard what I say as a sentry guards a door.

⁴ Prevent me from wanting to do anything that is wrong

and from joining with wicked men when they want to do evil deeds.

Do not even allow me to share in eating delightful food with them!

⁵ It is all right if righteous people strike me or rebuke me

because they are trying to act kindly toward me to teach me to do what is right;

if they do that, it will be as if someone honored me by anointing my head with olive oil;

but I am always praying that you will punish the wicked because of the wicked deeds that they do.

⁶ When their rulers are thrown down from the top of rocky cliffs,

they will know that what I am saying here is good.

⁷ They will know one day that their bodies will lie scattered on the ground in the place of the dead,

just as one scatters clods of earth when he plows a field.

⁸ But Yahweh God, I continue to request that you help me.

I ask you to protect me;

do not allow me to die now!

⁹ It is as though people have set traps for me;

protect me from falling into those traps.

It is as though they have spread nets to catch me;

keep me from being caught in those nets.

¹⁰ I wish that wicked people may fall into the traps they have set to catch me

while I escape from them.

Psalm 142

¹ Yahweh, I cry out to you;

I plead for you to help me.

² I am bringing to you all my problems;

I am telling you all my troubles.

³ When I am very discouraged,

you know what I should do.

Wherever I walk, it is as though my enemies have hidden traps for me to fall into.

⁴ I look around,

but there is no one who sees me,

no one who will protect me,

and no one who cares about what happens to me.

⁵ So Yahweh, I cry out to you to help me;

you are the one who protects me;

you are all that I need while I am alive.

⁶ Listen to me while I cry out to you for help

because I am very distressed.

Rescue me

because those who make me suffer are very strong;

I cannot escape from them.

⁷ Free me from my troubles

so that I may thank you.

If you do that, when I am with others who live rightly,

I will praise you for having been very good to me.

Psalm 143

¹ Yahweh, hear me while I pray to you!

Because you are righteous

and because you faithfully do what you have promised,

listen to what I am pleading for you to do for me.

² I am one who worships you;

do not judge me

because you do not consider anyone to be completely innocent.

³ My enemies have pursued me;

they have completely defeated me.

It is as though they have put me in a dark prison

where I have nothing good to hope for.

⁴ So I am very discouraged in my inner being;

I am very dismayed.

⁵ I remember what has happened previously;

I meditate on all the things that you have done;

I consider all the great deeds that you have performed.

⁶ I lift up my hands to you while I pray;

I want very much to be with you as much as I would thirst for water in a vast wilderness.

⁷ Yahweh, I am very discouraged,

so please answer me right now!

Do not keep away from me

because if you do that, I will soon be among those who descend to where the dead people are.

⁸ Every morning cause me to remember that you faithfully love me

because I trust in you.

I pray to you;

show me the things that I should do.

⁹ Yahweh, I have gone to you for you to protect me,

so rescue me from my enemies.

¹⁰ You are my God;

teach me to do what you want me to do.

I want your good Spirit to show me the right things to do.

¹¹ Yahweh, restore me when I am close to dying as you promised to do

because you are righteous!

¹² I am one who serves you;

so because you faithfully love me as you promised to do,

kill my enemies

and get rid of all those who oppress me.

Psalm 144

¹ I praise Yahweh, who is like a huge rock on which I am safe!

He trains my hands so that I can use them to fight battles;

he trains my fingers so that I can shoot arrows in a war.

² He is the one who protects me as he promised;

he is like a fortress in which I am safe,

he protects me as shields protect soldiers,

and he gives me refuge.

He defeats other nations and then puts them under my power.

³ Yahweh, we people are so insignificant! Why do you notice us?

It is amazing to me that you pay attention to humans.

⁴ The time that we live is as short as a puff of wind;

our time to live disappears as a shadow does.

⁵ Yahweh, tear open the sky and come down!

Touch the mountains so that smoke may pour out from them!

⁶ Cause lightning to flash with the result that your enemies will run away!

Shoot your arrows at them and cause them to run away in panic.

⁷ It is as though my enemies are like a flood around me;

reach your hand down from heaven

and rescue me from them.

They are men from foreign countries

⁸ who always tell lies.

Even when they swear to tell the truth,

they tell lies.

⁹ God, I will sing a new song to you,

and I will play my ten-stringed harp while I sing to you.

¹⁰ You enable kings to defeat their enemies;

you rescue those who serve you as I did.

¹¹ So I ask you to save me from being killed by the swords that those evil people carry.

Rescue me from the power of those men from foreign countries

who always tell lies.

Even when they swear to tell the truth,

they tell lies.

¹² I wish that our sons may all grow to full adulthood;

I wish that our daughters may grow up to be as straight and tall

as the pillars that stand in the corners of palaces.

¹³ I wish that our barns may be full of many different crops.

I wish that the sheep in our fields may give birth to tens of thousands of baby lambs.

¹⁴ I wish that our cattle may give birth to many calves

without having any miscarriages or deaths when they are born.

I wish that there may not be any time when the people in our streets cry out in distress

because foreign armies are invading.

¹⁵ If good things like that happen to a nation,

the people will be very fortunate.

How fortunate are those who worship Yahweh as God!

Psalm 145

¹ My God and King, I will proclaim that you are very great;

I will praise you now and forever.

² Every day I will praise you;

Yes, I will praise you forever.

³ Yahweh, you are great, and you ought to be praised very much;

we cannot fully realize how great you are.

⁴ Parents will tell their children the things that you have done;

they will tell their children about your mighty deeds.

⁵ I will think about how you are very glorious and majestic,

and I will meditate on all your wonderful deeds.

⁶ People will speak about your powerful and awesome deeds,

and I will proclaim that you are very great.

⁷ People will remember and proclaim that you are very good to us,

and they will sing joyfully that you always act justly.

⁸ Yahweh, you act kindly and mercifully toward us;

you do not quickly become angry;

you faithfully love us very much as you have promised to do.

⁹ Yahweh, you are good to everyone,

and you act mercifully to everything that you have made.

¹⁰ Yahweh, all the creatures that you made will thank you,

and all your people will praise you.

¹¹ They will tell others that you rule very gloriously as our king

and that you are very powerful.

¹² They will do that so that everyone will know about your powerful deeds

and that you rule over us gloriously.

¹³ You will never stop being king;

you will rule throughout all generations.

¹⁴ Yahweh, you help all those who are discouraged,

and you lift up all those who have lost hope.

¹⁵ All of the creatures that you made expect that you will provide food for them,

and you give them food when they need it.

¹⁶ You give food to all living creatures generously,

and you cause them to be satisfied.

¹⁷ Everything that Yahweh does, he does justly;

all that he does, he does mercifully.

¹⁸ Yahweh comes near to all those who call out to him,

to those who call to him sincerely.

¹⁹ To all those who have an awesome respect for him he gives what they need.

He hears them when they cry out to him and saves them.

²⁰ Yahweh protects all those who love him,

but he will get rid of all the wicked people.

²¹ I will always praise Yahweh;

I wish that all people everywhere may praise him forever, for he does everything perfectly.

Psalm 146

¹ Praise Yahweh.

With my whole inner being I will praise Yahweh.

² I will praise Yahweh as long as I am alive;

I will sing to praise my God all the rest of my life.

³ You people, do not trust in your leaders;

do not trust humans because they cannot save.

⁴ When they die, their corpses decay and become soil again.

After they die, they can no longer do the things that they planned to do.

⁵ But how fortunate are those whom God helps, the God whom Jacob worshiped.

These are the people who confidently expect Yahweh, their God, to help them.

⁶ He is the one who created the heavens and the earth,

the oceans and all the creatures that are in them.

He always does what he has promised to do.

⁷ He decides matters fairly for those who are treated unfairly,

and he provides food for those who are hungry.

He frees those who are in prison.

⁸ Yahweh enables those who are blind to see again.

He lifts up those who have fallen down.

He loves the righteous people.

⁹ Yahweh takes care of those from other countries who live in our land,

and he helps widows and orphans.

But he stops wicked people from what they are doing.

¹⁰ Yahweh will continue to be our king forever;

you people of Israel, your God will rule forever!

Praise Yahweh!

Psalm 147

¹ Praise Yahweh!

It is good to sing praises to our God.

It is a delightful thing to do and the right thing to do.

² Jerusalem was destroyed, but Yahweh is enabling us to build Jerusalem again.

He is bringing back the people who were taken to other lands.

³ He enables those who were very discouraged to be encouraged again;

it is as though they have wounds and he bandages them.

⁴ He has determined how many stars there will be

and gives names to all of them.

⁵ Yahweh is great and very powerful,

and no one can measure how much he understands.

⁶ Yahweh lifts up those who have been oppressed,

and he throws the wicked down to the ground.

⁷ Thank Yahweh while you are singing to him to praise him;

on the harps, play music to our God.

⁸ He covers the sky with clouds,

and then he sends rain to the earth

and causes grass to grow on the hills.

⁹ He gives to animals the food that they need;

he gives food to young crows when they cry out because they are hungry.

¹⁰ He is not impressed with strong horses

or with men who can run fast.

¹¹ Instead, what pleases him are those who have an awesome respect for him,

those who confidently expect him to continue to love them as he promised to do.

¹² You people of Jerusalem, praise Yahweh!

Praise your God!

¹³ He guards your city by keeping its gates strong.

He blesses the people who live there.

¹⁴ He causes your people to become wealthy.

He gives you plenty of very good wheat to eat.

¹⁵ He commands things to happen throughout the earth;

his words quickly reach the place to which he sends them.

¹⁶ He sends snow to cover the ground like a white wool blanket,

and he scatters frost on the ground as wind scatters ashes.

¹⁷ He sends hail down like pebbles;

when that happens, it is very difficult to endure because the air becomes very cold.

¹⁸ But he commands the wind to blow, and it blows.

Then the hail melts and the water flows into the streams.

¹⁹ He sends his message to the descendants of Jacob;

he tells to his Israelite people the things that he has decreed and what he has decided.

²⁰ He has not done that for any other nation;

the other nations do not know his laws.

Praise Yahweh!

Psalm 148

¹ Praise Yahweh!

Praise him, you angels who are in the heavens;

praise him, you angels up in the sky!

² All you angels who belong to him, praise him!

All you who are in the armies of Yahweh, praise him!

³ Sun and moon, you also must praise him!

You shining stars, you praise him!

⁴ You highest heavens, praise him!

You waters that are high above the sky, praise him!

⁵ I want all of these to praise Yahweh

because by commanding that they exist, he created them.

⁶ He set them in place;

he commanded that they should be there forever.

They cannot disobey that command!

⁷ Everything on the earth, praise Yahweh!

You huge creatures and everything else that is deep in the ocean,

⁸ fire and hail, snow and frost,

and strong winds that obey what he commands,

I tell all of you to praise Yahweh!

⁹ Hills and mountains,

fruit trees and cedar trees,

¹⁰ all the wild animals and all tame animals,

reptiles and other things that creep on the ground,

and all the birds, I tell all of you to praise Yahweh!

¹¹ You kings on this earth and all the people that you rule,

you princes and all other rulers,

¹² you young men and young women,

you old people and children, everyone, praise Yahweh!

¹³ I want them all to praise Yahweh

because he is greater than anyone else.

His power controls everything on the earth and in the heavens.

¹⁴ He caused us, his people, to be strong

so that we Israelite people who are very precious to him

should praise him,

So praise Yahweh!

Psalm 149

¹ Praise Yahweh!

Sing a new song to Yahweh;

praise him whenever his faithful people gather together!

² You Israelite people, be glad because of what God, who created you, has done for you!

You people of Jerusalem, rejoice because of what God, your king, has done for you!

³ Praise Yahweh by dancing, by beating tambourines,

and by playing harps to praise him!

⁴ Yahweh is pleased with his people;

he honors humble people by helping them to defeat their enemies.

⁵ Because they have won battles, God's people should rejoice

and sing joyfully all during the night!

⁶ They should shout loudly to praise God;

but they should also hold sharp swords in their hands,

⁷ ready to use them to defeat the soldiers of nations that do not worship God

and to punish the people of those nations.

⁸ They will fasten their kings and other leaders with iron chains.

⁹ They will judge and punish the people of those nations as God wrote should be done.

Everyone else will honor God's faithful people for doing that!

Praise Yahweh!

Psalm 150

¹ Praise Yahweh!

Praise God in his temple!

Praise him who is in his fortress in heaven!

² Praise him for the mighty deeds that he has performed;

praise him because he is very great!

³ Praise him by blowing trumpets loudly;

praise him by playing harps and small stringed instruments!

⁴ Praise him by beating drums and by dancing.

Praise him by playing stringed instruments and by playing flutes!

⁵ Praise him by clashing cymbals;

praise him by clashing very loud cymbals!

⁶ I want all living creatures to praise Yahweh!

Praise Yahweh!