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¹To the Chief Musician; on Muth-labben. A Psalm of David. I will give thanks and praise the LORD, with all my heart; I will tell aloud all Your wonders and marvelous deeds.

²I will rejoice and exult in you; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies turn back, They stumble and perish before You.

⁴For You have maintained my right and my cause; You have sat on the throne judging righteously.

⁵You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked and unrepentant; You have wiped out their name forever and ever.

⁶The enemy has been cut off and has vanished in everlasting ruins, You have uprooted their cities; The very memory of them has perished.

⁷But the LORD will remain and sit enthroned forever; He has prepared and established His throne for judgment.

⁸And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the nations with fairness (equity).

⁹The LORD also will be a refuge and a stronghold for the oppressed, A refuge in times of trouble;

¹⁰And those who know Your name [who have experienced Your precious mercy] will put their confident trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not abandoned those who seek You.

¹¹Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; Declare among the peoples His [great and wondrous] deeds.

¹²For He who avenges blood [unjustly shed] remembers them (His people); He does not forget the cry of the afflicted and abused.

¹³Have mercy on me and be gracious to me, O LORD; See how I am afflicted by those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴That I may tell aloud all Your praises, That in the gates of the daughter of Zion (Jerusalem) I may rejoice in Your salvation and Your help.

¹⁵The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made; In the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught.

¹⁶The LORD has made Himself known; He executes judgment; The wicked are trapped by the work of their own hands. Higgaion (meditation) Selah.

¹⁷The wicked will turn to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), Even all the nations who forget God.

¹⁸For the poor will not always be forgotten, Nor the hope of the burdened perish forever.

¹⁹Arise, O LORD, do not let man prevail; Let the nations be judged before You.

²⁰Put them in [reverent] fear of You, O LORD, So that the nations may know they are but [frail and mortal] men. Selah.

¹Why do You stand far away, O LORD? Why do You hide [Yourself, veiling Your eyes] in times of trouble?

²In pride and arrogance the wicked hotly pursue and persecute the afflicted; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

³For the wicked boasts and sings the praises of his heart's desire, And the greedy man curses and spurns [and even despises] the LORD.

⁴The wicked, in the haughtiness of his face, will not seek nor inquire for Him; All his thoughts are, "There is no God [so there is no accountability or punishment]."

⁵His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments [LORD] are on high, out of his sight [so he never thinks about them]; As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.

⁶He says to himself, "I will not be moved; For throughout all generations I will not be in adversity [for nothing bad will happen to me]."

⁷His mouth is full of curses and deceit (fraud) and oppression; Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness [injustice and sin].

⁸He lurks in ambush in the villages; In hiding places he kills the innocent; He lies in wait for the unfortunate [the unhappy, the poor, the helpless].

⁹He lurks in a hiding place like a lion in his lair; He lies in wait to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net.

¹⁰He crushes [his prey] and crouches; And the unfortunate fall by his mighty claws.

¹¹He says to himself, "God has [quite] forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see my deed."

¹²Arise, O LORD! O God, lift up Your hand [in judgment]; Do not forget the suffering.

¹³Why has the wicked spurned and shown disrespect to God? He has said to himself, "You will not require me to account."

¹⁴You have seen it, for You have noted mischief and vexation (irritation) to take it into Your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find no more.

¹⁶The LORD is King forever and ever; The nations will perish from His land.

¹⁷O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble and oppressed; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear to hear,

¹⁸To vindicate and obtain justice for the fatherless and the oppressed, So that man who is of the earth will no longer terrify them.

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. In the LORD I take refuge [and put my trust]; How can you say to me, "Flee like a bird to your mountain;

²For look, the wicked are bending the bow; They take aim with their arrow on the string To shoot [by stealth] in darkness at the upright in heart.

³"If the foundations [of a godly society] are destroyed, What can the righteous do?"

⁴The LORD is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of men.

⁵The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, And His soul hates the [malevolent] one who loves violence.

⁶Upon the wicked (godless) He will rain coals of fire; Fire and brimstone and a dreadful scorching wind will be the portion of their cup [of doom].

⁷For the LORD is [absolutely] righteous, He loves righteousness (virtue, morality, justice); The upright shall see His face.

¹To the Chief Musician; set an octave below. A Psalm of David. Save and help and rescue, LORD, for godly people cease to be, For the faithful vanish from among the sons of men.

²They speak deceitful and worthless words to one another; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

³May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things [in boasting];

⁴Who have said, "With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; who is lord and master over us?"

⁵"Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, Now I will arise," says the LORD; "I will place him in the safety for which he longs."

⁶The words and promises of the LORD are pure words, Like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times.

⁷You, O LORD, will preserve and keep them; You will protect him from this [evil] generation forever.

⁸The wicked strut about [in pompous self-importance] on every side, As vileness is exalted and baseness is prized among the sons of men.

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?

²How long must I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart day after day? How long will my enemy exalt himself and triumph over me?

³Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; Give light (life) to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,

⁴And my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.

⁵But I have trusted and relied on and been confident in Your lovingkindness and faithfulness; My heart shall rejoice and delight in Your salvation.

⁶I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The [spiritually ignorant] fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they have committed repulsive and unspeakable deeds; There is no one who does good.

²The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the children of men To see if there are any who understand (act wisely), Who [truly] seek after God, [longing for His wisdom and guidance].

³They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.

⁴Have all the workers of wickedness and injustice no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call upon the LORD?

⁵There they tremble with great fear, For God is with the [consistently] righteous generation.

⁶You [evildoers] shamefully plan against the poor, But the LORD is his safe refuge.

⁷Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores His captive people, Then Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.

¹A Psalm of David. O LORD, who may lodge [as a guest] in Your tent? Who may dwell [continually] on Your holy hill?

²He who walks with integrity and strength of character, and works righteousness, And speaks and holds truth in his heart.

³He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

⁴In his eyes an evil person is despised, But he honors those who fear the LORD [and obediently worship Him with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder]. He keeps his word even to his own disadvantage and does not change it [for his own benefit];

⁵He does not put out his money at interest [to a fellow Israelite], And does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

¹A Mikhtam of David [probably intended to record memorable thoughts]. Keep and protect me, O God, for in You I have placed my trust and found refuge.

²I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good besides You."

³As for the saints (godly people) who are in the land, They are the majestic and the noble and the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

⁴The sorrows [pain and suffering] of those who have chosen another god will be multiplied [because of their idolatry]; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

⁵The LORD is the portion of my inheritance, my cup [He is all I need]; You support my lot.

⁶The [boundary] lines [of the land] have fallen for me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

⁷I will bless the LORD who has counseled me; Indeed, my heart (mind) instructs me in the night.

⁸I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad and my glory [my innermost self] rejoices; My body too will dwell [confidently] in safety,

¹⁰For You will not abandon me to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

¹¹You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

¹A Prayer of David. Hear the just (righteous) cause, O LORD; listen to my loud [piercing] cry; Listen to my prayer, that comes from guileless lips.

²Let my verdict of vindication come from Your presence; May Your eyes look with equity and behold things that are just.

³You have tried my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tested me and You find nothing [evil in me]; I intend that my mouth will not transgress.

⁴Concerning the deeds of men, by the word of Your lips I have kept away from the paths of the violent.

⁵My steps have held closely to Your paths; My feet have not staggered.

⁶I have called upon You, for You, O God, will answer me; Incline Your ear to me, hear my speech.

⁷Wondrously show Your [marvelous and amazing] lovingkindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at Your right hand From those who rise up against them.

⁸Keep me [in Your affectionate care, protect me] as the apple of Your eye; Hide me in the [protective] shadow of Your wings

⁹From the wicked who despoil and deal violently with me, My deadly enemies who surround me.

¹⁰They have closed their unfeeling heart [to kindness and compassion]; With their mouths they speak proudly and make presumptuous claims.

¹¹They track us down and have now surrounded us in our steps; They set their eyes to force us to the ground,

¹²He is like a lion eager to tear [his prey], And like a young lion lurking in hiding places.

¹³Arise, O LORD, confront him, cast him down; Save my soul from the wicked with Your sword,

¹⁴From men with Your hand, O LORD, From men of the world [these moths of the night] whose portion [of enjoyment] is in this life—idle and vain, And whose belly You fill with Your treasure; They are satisfied with children, And they leave what they have left [of wealth] to their children.

¹⁵As for me, I shall see Your face in righteousness; I will be [fully] satisfied when I awake [to find myself] seeing Your likeness.