let my heart be undivided in reverence for Your name.
12I will praise You, O LORD, my God, with all my heart
and pay honor to Your name forever.
13For Your steadfast love toward me is great;
You have saved me from the depths of Sheol.
14O God, arrogant men have risen against me;
a band of ruthless men seek my life;
they are not mindful of You.
15But You, O LORD, are a God
compassionate and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
16Turn to me and have mercy on me;
grant Your strength to Your servant
and deliver the son of Your maidservant.
17Show me a sign of Your favor,
that my enemies may see and be frustrated
because You, O LORD, have given me aid and comfort.
87 a1-2Of the Korahites. A psalm. A song.
b-The LORD loves the gates of Zion,
His foundation on the holy mountains,-b
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God. Selah.
4I mention Rahabc and Babylon among those who acknowledge
Me;
Philistia, and Tyre, and Cush—each was born there.
5Indeed, it shall be said of Zion,
“Every man was born there.”
d-He, the Most High, will preserve it.-d
6The LORD will inscribe in the register of peoples
that each was born there. Selah.
7Singers and dancers alike [will say]:
“All my rootse are in You.”
88 A song. A psalm of the Korahites. For the leader; a-on mahalath
leannoth.-a A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
2O LORD, God of my deliverance,
b-when I cry out in the night-b before You,
3let my prayer reach You;
incline Your ear to my cry.
4For I am sated with misfortune;
I am at the brink of Sheol.
5I am numbered with those who go down to the Pit;
I am a helpless man
6abandonedc among the dead,
like bodies lying in the grave
of whom You are mindful no more,
and who are cut off from Your care.
7You have put me at the bottom of the Pit,
in the darkest places, in the depths.
8Your fury lies heavy upon me;
You afflict me with all Your breakers. Selah.
9You make my companions shun me;
You make me abhorrent to them;
I am shut in and do not go out.
10My eyes pine away from affliction;
I call to You, O LORD, each day;
I stretch out my hands to You.
11Do You work wonders for the dead?
Do the shades rise to praise You? Selah.
12Is Your faithful care recounted in the grave,
Your constancy in the place of perdition?
13Are Your wonders made known in the netherworld,d
Your beneficent deeds in the land of oblivion?
14As for me, I cry out to You, O LORD;
each morning my prayer greets You.
15Why, O LORD, do You reject me,
do You hide Your face from me?
16From my youth I have been afflicted
and near death;
I suffer Your terrors e-wherever I turn.-e
17Your fury overwhelms me;
Your terrors destroy me.
18They swirl about me like water all day long;
they encircle me on every side.
19You have put friend and neighbor far from me
and my companions out of my sight.f
89 A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
2I will sing of the LORD’s steadfast love forever;
to all generations I will proclaim Your faithfulness with my
mouth.
3I declare, “Your steadfast love is confirmed forever;
there in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness.”
4“I have made a covenant with My chosen one;
I have sworn to My servant David:
5I will establish your offspring forever,
I will confirm your throne for all generations.”
Selah.
6Your wonders, O LORD, are praised by the heavens,
Your faithfulness, too, in the assembly of holy beings.
7For who in the skies can equal the LORD,
can compare with the LORD among the divine beings,
8a God greatly dreaded in the council of holy beings,
held in awe by all around Him?
9O LORD, God of hosts,
who is mighty like You, O LORD?
Your faithfulness surrounds You;
10You rule the swelling of the sea;
when its waves surge, You still them.
11You crushed Rahab; he was like a corpse;
with Your powerful arm You scattered Your enemies.
12The heaven is Yours,
the earth too;
the world and all it holds—
You established them.
13North and south—
You created them;
Tabor and Hermon sing forth Your name.
14Yours is an arm endowed with might;
Your hand is strong;
Your right hand, exalted.
15Righteousness and justice are the base of Your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness stand before You.
16Happy is the people who know the joyful shout;
O LORD, they walk in the light of Your presence.
17They rejoice in Your name all day long;
they are exalted through Your righteousness.
18For You are their strength in which they glory;
our horn is exalted through Your favor.
19Truly our shield is of the LORD,
our king, of the Holy One of Israel.
20Thena You spoke to Your faithful ones in a vision
and said, “I have conferred power upon a warrior;
I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
21I have found David, My servant;
anointed him with My sacred oil.
22My hand shall be constantly with him,
and My arm shall strengthen him.
23No enemy shall b-oppress him,-b
no vile man afflict him.
24I will crush his adversaries before him;
I will strike down those who hate him.
25My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him;
his horn shall be exalted through My name.
26I will set his hand upon the sea,
his right hand upon the rivers.
27He shall say to Me,
‘You are my father, my God, the rock of my deliverance.’
28I will appoint him first-born,
highest of the kings of the earth.
29I will maintain My steadfast love for him always;
My covenant with him shall endure.
30I will establish his line forever,
his throne, as long as the heavens last.
31If his sons forsake My Teaching
and do not live by My rules;
32if they violate My laws,
and do not observe My commands,
33I will punish their transgression with the rod,
their iniquity with plagues.
34But I will not take away My steadfast love from him;
I will not betray My faithfulness.
35I will not violate My covenant,
or change what I have uttered.
36I have sworn by My holiness, once and for all;
I will not be false to David.
37His line shall continue forever,
his throne, as the sun before Me,
38as the moon, established forever,
an enduring witness in the sky.”
Selah.
39Yet You have rejected, spurned,
and become enraged at Your anointed.
40You have repudiated the covenant with Your servant;
You have dragged his dignity in the dust.
41You have breached all his defenses,
shattered his strongholds.
42All who pass by plunder him;
he has become the butt of his neighbors.
43You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries,
and made all his enemies rejoice.
44You have turned back the blade of his sword,
and have not sustained him in battle.
45You have brought b-his splendor-b to an end
and have hurled his throne to the ground.
46You have cut short the days of his youth;
You have covered him with shame.
Selah.
47How long, O LORD; will You forever hide Your face,
will Your fury blaze like fire?
48O remember b-how short my life is;-b
why should You have created every man in vain?
49What man can live and not see death,
can save himself from the clutches of Sheol?
Selah.
50O LORD, where is Your steadfast love of old
which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
51Remember, O LORD, the abuse flung at Your servants
b-that I have borne in my bosom [from] many peoples,-b
52how Your enemies, O LORD, have flung abuse,
abuse at Your anointed at every step.
53Blessed is the LORD forever;
Amen and Amen.
book four
90 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
O Lord, You have been our refuge in every generation.
2Before the mountains came into being,
before You brought forth the earth and the world,
from eternity to eternity You are God.
3You return man to dust;a
You decreed, “Return you mortals!”
4b-For in Your sight a thousand years
are like yesterday that has past,
like a watch of the night.
5You engulf men in sleep;-b
at daybreak they are like grass that renews itself;
6at daybreak it flourishes anew;
by dusk it withers and dries up.
7So we are consumed by Your anger,
terror-struck by Your fury.
8You have set our iniquities before You,
our hidden sins in the light of Your face.
9All our days pass away in Your wrath;
we spend our years like a sigh.
10The span of our life is seventy years,
or, given the strength, eighty years;
but the b-best of them-b are trouble and sorrow.
They pass by speedily, and we c-are in darkness.-c
11Who can know Your furious anger?
Your wrath matches the fear of You.
12Teach us to count our days rightly,
that we may obtain a wise heart.
13Turn, O LORD!
How long?
Show mercy to Your servants.
14Satisfy us at daybreak with Your steadfast love
that we may sing for joy all our days.
15Give us joy for as long as You have afflicted us,
for the years we have suffered misfortune.
16Let Your deeds be seen by Your servants,
Your glory by their children.
17May the favor of the LORD, our God, be upon us;
let the work of our hands prosper,
O prosper the work of our hands!
91 O you who dwell in the shelter of the Most High
and abide in the protection of Shaddai—
2I say of the LORD, my refuge and stronghold,
my God in whom I trust,
3that He will save you from the fowler’s trap,
from the destructive plague.
4He will cover you with His pinions;
you will find refuge under His wings;
His fidelity is an encircling shield.
5You need not fear the terror by night,
or the arrow that flies by day,
6the plague that stalks in the darkness,
or the scourge that ravages at noon.
7A thousand may fall at your left side,
ten thousand at your right,
but it shall not reach you.
8You will see it with your eyes,
you will witness the punishment of the wicked.
9Because you took the LORD—my refuge,
the Most High—as your haven,
10no harm will befall you,
no disease touch your tent.
11For He will order His angels
to guard you wherever you go.
12They will carry you in their hands
lest you hurt your foot on a stone.
13You will tread on cubs and vipers;
you will trample lions and asps.
14“Because he is devoted to Me I will deliver him;
I will keep him safe, for he knows My name.
15When he calls on Me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in distress;
I will rescue him and make him honored;
16I will let him live to a ripe old age,
and show him My salvation.”
92 A
