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¹A psalm of Asaph. [1] The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks; he summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

²From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God appears in radiance.

³Our God is coming; he will not be silent! Devouring fire precedes him, and a storm rages around him.

⁴On high, he summons heaven and earth in order to judge his people:

⁵“Gather my faithful ones to me, those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

⁶The heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God is the Judge. Selah

⁷“Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel. I am God, your God.

⁸I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or for your burnt offerings, which are continually before me.

⁹I will not take a bull from your household or male goats from your pens,

¹⁰for every animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹I know every bird of the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.

¹²If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and everything in it is mine.

¹³Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and pay your vows to the Most High.

¹⁵Call on me in a day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor me.”

¹⁶But God says to the wicked: “What right do you have to recite my statutes and to take my covenant on your lips?

¹⁷You hate instruction and fling my words behind you.

¹⁸When you see a thief, you make friends with him, and you associate with adulterers.

¹⁹You unleash your mouth for evil and harness your tongue for deceit.

²⁰You sit, maligning your brother, slandering your mother’s son.

²¹You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But I will rebuke you and lay out the case before you.

²²“Understand this, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to rescue you.

²³Whoever sacrifices a thank offering honors me, and whoever orders his conduct, I will show him the salvation of God.”

¹For the choir director. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba. [1] Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love; according to your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion.

²Completely wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.

³For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me.

⁴Against you — you alone — I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge.

⁵Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

⁶Surely you desire integrity in the inner self, and you teach me wisdom deep within.

⁷Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

⁸Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

⁹Turn your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt.

¹⁰God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

¹¹Do not banish me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

¹²Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.

¹³Then I will teach the rebellious your ways, and sinners will return to you.

¹⁴Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God — God of my salvation — and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

¹⁵Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

¹⁶You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it; you are not pleased with a burnt offering.

¹⁷The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.

¹⁸In your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

¹For the choir director. A of David. When Doeg the Edomite went and reported to Saul, telling him, “David went to Ahimelech’s house.” [1] Why boast about evil, you hero! God’s faithful love is constant.

²Like a sharpened razor, your tongue devises destruction, working treachery.

³You love evil instead of good, lying instead of speaking truthfully. Selah

⁴You love any words that destroy, you treacherous tongue!

⁵This is why God will bring you down forever. He will take you, ripping you out of your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

⁶The righteous will see and fear, and they will derisively say about that hero,

⁷“Here is the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, taking refuge in his destructive behavior.”

⁸But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God; I trust in God’s faithful love forever and ever.

⁹I will praise you forever for what you have done. In the presence of your faithful people, I will put my hope in your name, for it is good.

¹For the choir director: on . A of David. [1] The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.” They are corrupt, and they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good.

²God looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there is one who is wise, one who seeks God.

³All have turned away; all alike have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one.

⁴Will evildoers never understand? They consume my people as they consume bread; they do not call on God.

⁵Then they will be filled with dread — dread like no other  — because God will scatter the bones of those who besiege you. You will put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

⁶Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come from Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

¹For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A of David. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding among us?” [1] God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might!

²God, hear my prayer; listen to the words from my mouth.

³For strangers rise up against me, and violent men intend to kill me. They do not let God guide them. Selah

⁴God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my life.

⁵He will repay my adversaries for their evil. Because of your faithfulness, annihilate them.

⁶I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you. I will praise your name, LORD, because it is good.

⁷For he has rescued me from every trouble, and my eye has looked down on my enemies.

¹For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A of David. [1] God, listen to my prayer and do not hide from my plea for help.

²Pay attention to me and answer me. I am restless and in turmoil with my complaint,

³because of the enemy’s words, because of the pressure of the wicked. For they bring down disaster on me and harass me in anger.

⁴My heart shudders within me; terrors of death sweep over me.

⁵Fear and trembling grip me; horror has overwhelmed me.

⁶I said, “If only I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and find rest.

⁷How far away I would flee; I would stay in the wilderness. Selah

⁸I would hurry to my shelter from the raging wind and the storm.”

⁹Lord, confuse and confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city;

¹⁰day and night they make the rounds on its walls. Crime and trouble are within it;

¹¹destruction is inside it; oppression and deceit never leave its marketplace.

¹²Now it is not an enemy who insults me — otherwise I could bear it; it is not a foe who rises up against me — otherwise I could hide from him.

¹³But it is you, a man who is my peer, my companion and good friend!

¹⁴We used to have close fellowship; we walked with the crowd into the house of God.

¹⁵Let death take them by surprise; let them go down to Sheol alive, because evil is in their homes and within them.

¹⁶But I call to God, and the LORD will save me.

¹⁷I complain and groan morning, noon, and night, and he hears my voice.

¹⁸Though many are against me, he will redeem me from my battle unharmed.

¹⁹God, the one enthroned from long ago, will hear and will humiliate them Selah because they do not change and do not fear God.

²⁰My friend acts violently against those at peace with him; he violates his covenant.

²¹His buttery words are smooth, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords.

²²Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

²³God, you will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and treachery will not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.