Psalm 146

¹ Praise the LORD.^[a]
   Praise the LORD, my soul.
 ² I will praise the LORD all my life;
   I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³ Do not put your trust in princes,
   in human beings, who cannot save.
⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
   on that very day their plans come to nothing.
⁵ Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
   whose hope is in the LORD their God.
 ⁶ He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
   the sea, and everything in them—
   he remains faithful forever.
⁷ He upholds the cause of the oppressed
   and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
 ⁸ the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
   the LORD loves the righteous.
⁹ The LORD watches over the foreigner
   and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
   but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
 ¹⁰ The LORD reigns forever,
   your God, O Zion, for all generations.
   Praise the LORD.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 146:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 10

Psalm 42

For the director of music. A maskil^[c] of the Sons of Korah.
 ¹ As the deer pants for streams of water,
   so my soul pants for you, my God.
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
   When can I go and meet with God?
³ My tears have been my food
   day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
   “Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember
   as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
   under the protection of the Mighty One^[d]
with shouts of joy and praise
   among the festive throng.
 ⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
   Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
   for I will yet praise him,
   my Savior and my God.
 ⁶ My soul is downcast within me;
   therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
   the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
   in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
   have swept over me.
 ⁸ By day the LORD directs his love,
   at night his song is with me—
   a prayer to the God of my life.
 ⁹ I say to God my Rock,
   “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
   oppressed by the enemy?”
¹⁰ My bones suffer mortal agony
   as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
   “Where is your God?”
 ¹¹ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
   Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
   for I will yet praise him,
   my Savior and my God.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 42:1 In many Hebrew manuscripts Psalms 42 and 43 constitute one psalm.
2. Psalm 42:1 In Hebrew texts 42:1-11 is numbered 42:2-12.
3. Psalm 42:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
4. Psalm 42:4 See Septuagint and Syriac; the meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.

Psalm 137

¹ By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
   when we remembered Zion.
² There on the poplars
   we hung our harps,
³ for there our captors asked us for songs,
   our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
   they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”  ⁴ How can we sing the songs of the LORD
   while in a foreign land?
⁵ If I forget you, Jerusalem,
   may my right hand forget its skill.
⁶ May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
   if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
   my highest joy.
 ⁷ Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did
   on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
   “tear it down to its foundations!”
⁸ Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
   happy is the one who repays you
   according to what you have done to us.
⁹ Happy is the one who seizes your infants
   and dashes them against the rocks.

Psalm 58

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.^[b]
 1 Do you rulers indeed speak justly?
   Do you judge people with equity?
² No, in your heart you devise injustice,
   and your hands mete out violence on the earth.
 ³ Even from birth the wicked go astray;
   from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.
⁴ Their venom is like the venom of a snake,
   like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,
⁵ that will not heed the tune of the charmer,
   however skillful the enchanter may be.
 ⁶ Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;
   LORD, tear out the fangs of those lions!
⁷ Let them vanish like water that flows away;
   when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.
⁸ May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along,
   like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.
 ⁹ Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns—
   whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.^[c]
10 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged,
   when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹ Then people will say,
   “Surely the righteous still are rewarded;
   surely there is a God who judges the earth.”

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 58:1 In Hebrew texts 58:1-11 is numbered 58:2-12.
2. Psalm 58:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
3. Psalm 58:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.

Psalm 149

¹ Praise the LORD.^[a]
   Sing to the LORD a new song,
   his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
 ² Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
   let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
³ Let them praise his name with dancing
   and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
⁴ For the LORD takes delight in his people;
   he crowns the humble with victory.
⁵ Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor
   and sing for joy on their beds.
 ⁶ May the praise of God be in their mouths
   and a double-edged sword in their hands,
⁷ to inflict vengeance on the nations
   and punishment on the peoples,
⁸ to bind their kings with fetters,
   their nobles with shackles of iron,
⁹ to carry out the sentence written against them—
   this is the glory of all his faithful people.
   Praise the LORD.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 149:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 9

Psalm 62

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
 ¹ Truly my soul finds rest in God;
   my salvation comes from him.
² Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
   he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
 ³ How long will you assault me?
   Would all of you throw me down—
   this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
⁴ Surely they intend to topple me
   from my lofty place;
   they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless,
   but in their hearts they curse.^[b]
 5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
   my hope comes from him.
⁶ Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
   he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God^[c];
   he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
⁸ Trust in him at all times, you people;
   pour out your hearts to him,
   for God is our refuge.
 ⁹ Surely the lowborn are but a breath,
   the highborn are but a lie.
If weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
   together they are only a breath.
¹⁰ Do not trust in extortion
   or put vain hope in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
   do not set your heart on them.
 ¹¹ One thing God has spoken,
   two things I have heard:
“Power belongs to you, God,
 ¹² and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”;
and, “You reward everyone
   according to what they have done.”

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 62:1 In Hebrew texts 62:1-12 is numbered 62:2-13.
2. Psalm 62:4 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 8.
3. Psalm 62:7 Or / God Most High is my salvation and my honor

Psalm 19

For the director of music. A psalm of David.
 ¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
   night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
   no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice^[b] goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
 ⁵ It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
   like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens
   and makes its circuit to the other;
   nothing is deprived of its warmth.
 ⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect,
   refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
   making wise the simple.
⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right,
   giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
   giving light to the eyes.
⁹ The fear of the LORD is pure,
   enduring forever.
The decrees of the LORD are firm,
   and all of them are righteous.
 ¹⁰ They are more precious than gold,
   than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
   than honey from the honeycomb.
¹¹ By them your servant is warned;
   in keeping them there is great reward.
¹² But who can discern their own errors?
   Forgive my hidden faults.
¹³ Keep your servant also from willful sins;
   may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
   innocent of great transgression.
 ¹⁴ May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
   be pleasing in your sight,
   LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 19:1 In Hebrew texts 19:1-14 is numbered 19:2-15.
2. Psalm 19:4 Septuagint, Jerome and Syriac; Hebrew measuring line

Psalm 9

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A psalm of David.
 ¹ I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart;
   I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
² I will be glad and rejoice in you;
   I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.
 ³ My enemies turn back;
   they stumble and perish before you.
⁴ For you have upheld my right and my cause,
   sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
⁵ You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
   you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
⁶ Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
   you have uprooted their cities;
   even the memory of them has perished.
 ⁷ The LORD reigns forever;
   he has established his throne for judgment.
⁸ He rules the world in righteousness
   and judges the peoples with equity.
⁹ The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
   a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰ Those who know your name trust in you,
   for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
 ¹¹ Sing the praises of the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
   proclaim among the nations what he has done.
¹² For he who avenges blood remembers;
   he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.
 ¹³ LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
   Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
¹⁴ that I may declare your praises
   in the gates of Daughter Zion,
   and there rejoice in your salvation.
 ¹⁵ The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
   their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
¹⁶ The LORD is known by his acts of justice;
   the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.^[c]
17 The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
   all the nations that forget God.
¹⁸ But God will never forget the needy;
   the hope of the afflicted will never perish.
 ¹⁹ Arise, LORD, do not let mortals triumph;
   let the nations be judged in your presence.
²⁰ Strike them with terror, LORD;
   let the nations know they are only mortal.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 9:1 Psalms 9 and 10 may originally have been a single acrostic poem in which alternating lines began with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.
2. Psalm 9:1 In Hebrew texts 9:1-20 is numbered 9:2-21.
3. Psalm 9:16 The Hebrew has Higgaion and Selah (words of uncertain meaning) here; Selah occurs also at the end of verse 20.

Psalm 120

A song of ascents.
 ¹ I call on the LORD in my distress,
   and he answers me.
² Save me, LORD,
   from lying lips
   and from deceitful tongues.
 ³ What will he do to you,
   and what more besides,
   you deceitful tongue?
⁴ He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows,
   with burning coals of the broom bush.
 ⁵ Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek,
   that I live among the tents of Kedar!
⁶ Too long have I lived
   among those who hate peace.
⁷ I am for peace;
   but when I speak, they are for war.

Psalm 150

¹ Praise the LORD.^[a]
   Praise God in his sanctuary;
   praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his acts of power;
   praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
   praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴ praise him with timbrel and dancing,
   praise him with the strings and pipe,
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals,
   praise him with resounding cymbals.
 ⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
   Praise the LORD.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 150:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 6

Psalm 65

For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.
 ¹ Praise awaits^[b] you, our God, in Zion;
   to you our vows will be fulfilled.
² You who answer prayer,
   to you all people will come.
³ When we were overwhelmed by sins,
   you forgave^[c] our transgressions.
⁴ Blessed are those you choose
   and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
   of your holy temple.
 ⁵ You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
   God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
   and of the farthest seas,
⁶ who formed the mountains by your power,
   having armed yourself with strength,
⁷ who stilled the roaring of the seas,
   the roaring of their waves,
   and the turmoil of the nations.
⁸ The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
   where morning dawns, where evening fades,
   you call forth songs of joy.
 ⁹ You care for the land and water it;
   you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
   to provide the people with grain,
   for so you have ordained it.^[d]
10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
   you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
¹¹ You crown the year with your bounty,
   and your carts overflow with abundance.
¹² The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
   the hills are clothed with gladness.
¹³ The meadows are covered with flocks
   and the valleys are mantled with grain;
   they shout for joy and sing.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 65:1 In Hebrew texts 65:1-13 is numbered 65:2-14.
2. Psalm 65:1 Or befits; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
3. Psalm 65:3 Or made atonement for
4. Psalm 65:9 Or for that is how you prepare the land

Psalm 71

¹ In you, LORD, I have taken refuge;
   let me never be put to shame.
² In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
   turn your ear to me and save me.
³ Be my rock of refuge,
   to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
   for you are my rock and my fortress.
⁴ Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
   from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.
 ⁵ For you have been my hope, Sovereign LORD,
   my confidence since my youth.
⁶ From birth I have relied on you;
   you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
   I will ever praise you.
⁷ I have become a sign to many;
   you are my strong refuge.
⁸ My mouth is filled with your praise,
   declaring your splendor all day long.
 ⁹ Do not cast me away when I am old;
   do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
¹⁰ For my enemies speak against me;
   those who wait to kill me conspire together.
¹¹ They say, “God has forsaken him;
   pursue him and seize him,
   for no one will rescue him.”
¹² Do not be far from me, my God;
   come quickly, God, to help me.
¹³ May my accusers perish in shame;
   may those who want to harm me
   be covered with scorn and disgrace.
 ¹⁴ As for me, I will always have hope;
   I will praise you more and more.
 ¹⁵ My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,
   of your saving acts all day long—
   though I know not how to relate them all.
¹⁶ I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign LORD;
   I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
¹⁷ Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
   and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray,
   do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
   your mighty acts to all who are to come.
 ¹⁹ Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens,
   you who have done great things.
   Who is like you, God?
²⁰ Though you have made me see troubles,
   many and bitter,
   you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
   you will again bring me up.
²¹ You will increase my honor
   and comfort me once more.
 ²² I will praise you with the harp
   for your faithfulness, my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
   Holy One of Israel.
²³ My lips will shout for joy
   when I sing praise to you—
   I whom you have delivered.
²⁴ My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
   all day long,
for those who wanted to harm me
   have been put to shame and confusion.

Psalm 116

¹ I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
   he heard my cry for mercy.
² Because he turned his ear to me,
   I will call on him as long as I live.
 ³ The cords of death entangled me,
   the anguish of the grave came over me;
   I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the LORD:
   “LORD, save me!”
 ⁵ The LORD is gracious and righteous;
   our God is full of compassion.
⁶ The LORD protects the unwary;
   when I was brought low, he saved me.
 ⁷ Return to your rest, my soul,
   for the LORD has been good to you.
 ⁸ For you, LORD, have delivered me from death,
   my eyes from tears,
   my feet from stumbling,
⁹ that I may walk before the LORD
   in the land of the living.
 ¹⁰ I trusted in the LORD when I said,
   “I am greatly afflicted”;
¹¹ in my alarm I said,
   “Everyone is a liar.”
 ¹² What shall I return to the LORD
   for all his goodness to me?
 ¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
   and call on the name of the LORD.
¹⁴ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
   in the presence of all his people.
 ¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the LORD
   is the death of his faithful servants.
¹⁶ Truly I am your servant, LORD;
   I serve you just as my mother did;
   you have freed me from my chains.
 ¹⁷ I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
   and call on the name of the LORD.
¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
   in the presence of all his people,
¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the LORD—
   in your midst, Jerusalem.
   Praise the LORD.^[a]

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 116:19 Hebrew Hallelu Yah