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¹Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.

³For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.

⁵They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.

⁶Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.

⁷Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.

⁸They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.

⁹They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.

¹¹And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

¹²Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.

¹³All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,

¹⁷until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

¹⁸Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.

¹⁹How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!

²⁰Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

²¹When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,

²²I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.

²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.

²⁴You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

²⁷For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

²⁸But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

¹O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

²Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.

³Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

⁴Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs.

⁵They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees.

⁶And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

⁷They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.

⁸They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long.

¹⁰How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

¹¹Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!

¹²Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

¹³You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.

¹⁴You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

¹⁵You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams.

¹⁶Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.

¹⁷You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.

¹⁸Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name.

¹⁹Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever.

²⁰Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

²¹Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.

²²Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!

²³Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

¹We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.

²“At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity.

³When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah

⁴I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;

⁵do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with haughty neck.’”

⁶For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,

⁷but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.

⁸For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

⁹But I will declare it forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

¹In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel.

²His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.

³There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

⁴Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey.

⁵The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands.

⁶At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.

⁷But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?

⁸From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still,

⁹when God arose to establish judgment, to save all the humble of the earth. Selah

¹⁰Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt.

¹¹Make your vows to the LORD your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared,

¹²who cuts off the spirit of princes, who is to be feared by the kings of the earth.

¹I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.

²In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.

³When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

⁴You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

⁵I consider the days of old, the years long ago.

⁶I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search:

⁷“Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable?

⁸Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time?

⁹Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

¹⁰Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

¹¹I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

¹²I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.

¹³Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?

¹⁴You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.

¹⁵You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

¹⁶When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled.

¹⁷The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth thunder; your arrows flashed on every side.

¹⁸The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook.

¹⁹Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.

²⁰You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.