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¹Vindicate me, God, and champion my cause against an unfaithful nation; rescue me from the deceitful and unjust person.

²For you are the God of my refuge. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?

³Send your light and your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy mountain, to your dwelling place.

⁴Then I will come to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise you with the lyre, God, my God.

⁵Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.

¹For the choir director. A of the sons of Korah. [1] God, we have heard with our ears — our ancestors have told us — the work you accomplished in their days, in days long ago:

²In order to plant them, you displaced the nations by your hand; in order to settle them, you brought disaster on the peoples.

³For they did not take the land by their sword — their arm did not bring them victory — but by your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable toward them.

⁴You are my King, my God, who ordains victories for Jacob.

⁵Through you we drive back our foes; through your name we trample our enemies.

⁶For I do not trust in my bow, and my sword does not bring me victory.

⁷But you give us victory over our foes and let those who hate us be disgraced.

⁸We boast in God all day long; we will praise your name forever. Selah

⁹But you have rejected and humiliated us; you do not march out with our armies.

¹⁰You make us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have taken plunder for themselves.

¹¹You hand us over to be eaten like sheep and scatter us among the nations.

¹²You sell your people for nothing; you make no profit from selling them.

¹³You make us an object of reproach to our neighbors, a source of mockery and ridicule to those around us.

¹⁴You make us a joke among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

¹⁵My disgrace is before me all day long, and shame has covered my face,

¹⁶because of the taunts of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy and avenger.

¹⁷All this has happened to us, but we have not forgotten you or betrayed your covenant.

¹⁸Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from your path.

¹⁹But you have crushed us in a haunt of jackals and have covered us with deepest darkness.

²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God and spread out our hands to a foreign god,

²¹wouldn’t God have found this out, since he knows the secrets of the heart?

²²Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.

²³Wake up, LORD! Why are you sleeping? Get up! Don’t reject us forever!

²⁴Why do you hide and forget our affliction and oppression?

²⁵For we have sunk down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground.

²⁶Rise up! Help us! Redeem us because of your faithful love.

¹For the choir director: according to “The Lilies.” A of the sons of Korah. A love song. [1] My heart is moved by a noble theme as I recite my verses to the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

²You are the most handsome of men; grace flows from your lips. Therefore God has blessed you forever.

³Mighty warrior, strap your sword at your side. In your majesty and splendor  —

⁴in your splendor ride triumphantly in the cause of truth, humility, and justice. May your right hand show your awe-inspiring acts.

⁵Your sharpened arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies; the peoples fall under you.

⁶Your throne, God, is forever and ever; the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.

⁷You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy more than your companions.

⁸Myrrh, aloes, and cassia perfume all your garments; from ivory palaces harps bring you joy.

⁹Kings’ daughters are among your honored women; the queen, adorned with gold from Ophir, stands at your right hand.

¹⁰Listen, daughter, pay attention and consider: forget your people and your father’s house,

¹¹and the king will desire your beauty. Bow down to him, for he is your lord.

¹²The daughter of Tyre, the wealthy people, will seek your favor with gifts.

¹³In her chamber, the royal daughter is all glorious, her clothing embroidered with gold.

¹⁴In colorful garments she is led to the king; after her, the virgins, her companions, are brought to you.

¹⁵They are led in with gladness and rejoicing; they enter the king’s palace.

¹⁶Your sons will succeed your ancestors; you will make them princes throughout the land.

¹⁷I will cause your name to be remembered for all generations; therefore the peoples will praise you forever and ever.

¹For the choir director. A song of the sons of Korah. According to . [1] God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.

²Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas,

³though its water roars and foams and the mountains quake with its turmoil. Selah

⁴There is a river — its streams delight the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High.

⁵God is within her; she will not be toppled. God will help her when the morning dawns.

⁶Nations rage, kingdoms topple; the earth melts when he lifts his voice.

⁷The LORD of Armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah

⁸Come, see the works of the LORD, who brings devastation on the earth.

⁹He makes wars cease throughout the earth. He shatters bows and cuts spears to pieces; he sets wagons ablaze.

¹⁰“Stop your fighting, and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.”

¹¹The LORD of Armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah

¹For the choir director. A psalm of the sons of Korah. [1] Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with a jubilant cry.

²For the LORD, the Most High, is awe-inspiring, a great King over the whole earth.

³He subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet.

⁴He chooses for us our inheritance — the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. Selah

⁵God ascends among shouts of joy, the LORD, with the sound of trumpets.

⁶Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our King, sing praise!

⁷Sing a song of wisdom, for God is King of the whole earth.

⁸God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.

⁹The nobles of the peoples have assembled with the people of the God of Abraham. For the leaders of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.

¹A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. [1] The LORD is great and highly praised in the city of our God. His holy mountain,

²rising splendidly, is the joy of the whole earth. Mount Zion — the summit of Zaphon —  is the city of the great King.

³God is known as a stronghold in its citadels.

⁴Look! The kings assembled; they advanced together.

⁵They looked and froze with fear; they fled in terror.

⁶Trembling seized them there, agony like that of a woman in labor,

⁷as you wrecked the ships of Tarshish with the east wind.

⁸Just as we heard, so we have seen in the city of the LORD of Armies, in the city of our God; God will establish it forever. Selah

⁹God, within your temple, we contemplate your faithful love.

¹⁰Like your name, God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with justice.

¹¹Mount Zion is glad. Judah’s villages rejoice because of your judgments.

¹²Go around Zion, encircle it; count its towers,

¹³note its ramparts; tour its citadels so that you can tell a future generation:

¹⁴“This God, our God forever and ever — he will always lead us.”

¹For the choir director. A psalm of the sons of Korah. [1] Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who inhabit the world,

²both low and high, rich and poor together.

³My mouth speaks wisdom; my heart’s meditation brings understanding.

⁴I turn my ear to a proverb; I explain my riddle with a lyre.

⁵Why should I fear in times of trouble? The iniquity of my foes surrounds me.

⁶They trust in their wealth and boast of their abundant riches.

⁷Yet these cannot redeem a person or pay his ransom to God  —

⁸since the price of redeeming him is too costly, one should forever stop trying  —

⁹so that he may live forever and not see the Pit.

¹⁰For one can see that the wise die; the foolish and stupid also pass away. Then they leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their graves are their permanent homes, their dwellings from generation to generation, though they have named estates after themselves.

¹²But despite his assets, mankind will not last; he is like the animals that perish.

¹³This is the way of those who are arrogant, and of their followers, who approve of their words. Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are headed for Sheol; Death will shepherd them. The upright will rule over them in the morning, and their form will waste away in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.

¹⁵But God will redeem me from the power of Sheol, for he will take me. Selah

¹⁶Do not be afraid when a person gets rich, when the wealth of his house increases.

¹⁷For when he dies, he will take nothing at all; his wealth will not follow him down.

¹⁸Though he blesses himself during his lifetime — and you are acclaimed when you do well for yourself  —

¹⁹he will go to the generation of his fathers; they will never see the light.

²⁰Mankind, with his assets but without understanding, is like the animals that perish.