no wholeness in my bones because of my sin.
5For my iniquities have b-overwhelmed me;-b
they are like a heavy burden, more than I can bear.
6My wounds stink and fester
because of my folly.
7I am all bent and bowed;
I walk about in gloom all day long.
8For my sinews are full of fever;
there is no soundness in my flesh.
9I am all benumbed and crushed;
I roar because of the turmoil in my mind.
10O LORD, You are aware of all my entreaties;
my groaning is not hidden from You.
11My mind reels;
my strength fails me;
my eyes too have lost their luster.
12My friends and companions stand back from my affliction;
my kinsmen stand far off.
13Those who seek my life lay traps;
those who wish me harm speak malice;
they utter deceit all the time.
14But I am like a deaf man, unhearing,
like a dumb man who cannot speak up;
15I am like one who does not hear,
who has no retort on his lips.
16But I wait for You, O LORD;
You will answer, O Lord, my God.
17For I fear they will rejoice over me;
when my foot gives way they will vaunt themselves against
me.
18For I am on the verge of collapse;
my pain is always with me.
19I acknowledge my iniquity;
I am fearful over my sin;
20for my mortal enemies are numerous;
my treacherous foes are many.
21Those who repay evil for good
harass me for pursuing good.
22Do not abandon me, O LORD;
my God, be not far from me;
23hasten to my aid,
O Lord, my deliverance.
39 For the leader; for Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
2I resolved I would watch my step
lest I offend by my speech;
I would keep my mouth muzzled
while the wicked man was in my presence.
3I was dumb, silent;
I was verya still
while my pain was intense.
4My mind was in a rage,
my thoughts were all aflame;
I spoke out:
5Tell me, O LORD, what my term is,
what is the measure of my days;
I would know how fleeting my life is.
6You have made my life just handbreadths long;
its span is as nothing in Your sight;
b-no man endures any longer than a breath.-b
Selah.
7Man walks about as a mere shadow;
mere futility is his hustle and bustle,
amassing and not knowing who will gather in.
8What, then, can I count on, O Lord?
In You my hope lies.
9Deliver me from all my transgressions;
make me not the butt of the benighted.
10I am dumb, I do not speak up,
for it is Your doing.
11Take away Your plague from me;
I perish from Your blows.
12You chastise a man in punishment for his sin,
consuming like a moth what he treasures.
No man is more than a breath.
Selah.
13Hear my prayer, O LORD;
give ear to my cry;
do not disregard my tears;
for like all my forebears
I am an alien, resident with You.
14Look away from me, b-that I may recover,-b
before I pass away and am gone.
40 For the leader. A psalm of David.
2I put my hope in the LORD;
He inclined toward me,
and heeded my cry.
3He lifted me out of the miry pit,
the slimy clay,
and set my feet on a rock,
steadied my legs.
4He put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
May many see it and stand in awe,
and trust in the LORD.
5Happy is the man who makes the LORD his trust,
who turns not to the arrogant or to followers of falsehood.
6 a-You, O LORD my God, have done many things;
the wonders You have devised for us
cannot be set out before You;-a
I would rehearse the tale of them,
but they are more than can be told.
7 b-You gave me to understand that-b
You do not desire sacrifice and meal offering;
You do not ask for burnt offering and sin offering.
8Then I said,
b-“See, I will bring a scroll recounting what befell me.”-b
9To do what pleases You, my God, is my desire;
Your teaching is in my inmost parts.
10I proclaimed [Your] righteousness in a great congregation;
see, I did not withhold my words;
O LORD, You must know it.
11I did not keep Your beneficence to myself;
I declared Your faithful deliverance;
I did not fail to speak of Your steadfast love in a great
congregation.
12O LORD, You will not withhold from me Your compassion;
Your steadfast love will protect me always.
13For misfortunes without number envelop me;
my iniquities have caught up with me;
I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head;
c-I am at my wits’ end.-c
14 dO favor me, LORD, and save me;
O LORD, hasten to my aid.
15Let those who seek to destroy my life
be frustrated and disgraced;
let those who wish me harm
fall back in shame.
16Let those who say “Aha! Aha!” over me
be desolate because of their frustration.
17But let all who seek You be glad and rejoice in You;
let those who are eager for Your deliverance always say,
“Extolled be the LORD!”
18But I am poor and needy;
may the Lord devise [deliverance] for me.
You are my help and my rescuer;
my God, do not delay.
41 For the leader. A psalm of David.
2Happy is he who is thoughtful of the wretched;
in bad times may the LORD keep him from harm.
3May the LORD guard him and preserve him;
and may he be thought happy in the land.
Do not subject him to the will of his enemies.
4The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed;
a-You shall wholly transform his bed of suffering.-a
5I said, “O LORD, have mercy on me,
heal me, for I have sinned against You.”
6My enemies speak evilly of me,
“When will he die and his name perish?”
7If one comes to visit, he speaks falsely;
his mind stores up evil thoughts;
once outside, he speaks them.
8All my enemies whisper together against me,
imagining the worst for me.
9“Something baneful has settled in him;
he’ll not rise from his bed again.”
10My ally in whom I trusted,
even he who shares my bread,
a-has been utterly false to me.-a
11But You, O LORD, have mercy on me;
let me rise again and repay them.
12Then shall I know that You are pleased with me:
when my enemy cannot shout in triumph over me.
13You will support me because of my integrity,
and let me abide in Your presence forever.
14Blessed is the LORD, God of Israel,
from eternity to eternity.
Amen and Amen.
Book two
42 For the leader. A maskil of the Korahites.
2Like a hind crying for water,a
my soul cries for You, O God;
3my soul thirsts for God, the living God;
O when will I come to appear before God!
4My tears have been my food day and night;
I am ever taunted with, “Where is your God?”
5When I think of this, I pour out my soul:
how I b-walked with the crowd, moved with them,-b
the festive throng, to the House of God
with joyous shouts of praise.
6Why so downcast, my soul,
why disquieted within me?
Have hope in God;
I will yet praise Him
c-for His saving presence.-c
7O my God, my soul is downcast;
therefore I think of You
in this land of Jordan and Hermon,
in Mount Mizar,
8where deep calls to deep
in the roar of b-Your cataracts;-b
all Your breakers and billows have swept over me.
9By day may the LORD vouchsafe His faithful care,
so that at night a song to Him may be with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
10I say to God, my rock,
“Why have You forgotten me,
why must I walk in gloom,
oppressed by my enemy?”
11b-Crushing my bones,-b
my foes revile me,
taunting me always with, “Where is your God?”
12Why so downcast, my soul,
why disquieted within me?
Have hope in God;
I will yet praise Him,
my ever-present help, my God.
43 aVindicate me, O God,
champion my cause
against faithless people;
rescue me from the treacherous, dishonest man.
2For You are my God, my stronghold;
why have You rejected me?
Why must I walk in gloom,
oppressed by the enemy?
3Send forth Your light and Your truth;
they will lead me;
they will bring me to Your holy mountain,
to Your dwelling-place,
4that I may come to the altar of God,
God, my delight, my joy;
that I may praise You with the lyre,
O God, my God.
5Why so downcast, my soul,
why disquieted within me?
Have hope in God;
I will yet praise Him,
my ever-present help, my God.
44For the leader. Of the Korahites. A maskil.
2We have heard, O God,
our fathers have told us
the deeds You performed in their time,
in days of old.
3With Your hand You planted them,
displacing nations;
You brought misfortune on peoples,
and drove them out.
4It was not by their sword that they took the land,
their arm did not give them victory,
but Your right hand, Your arm, and Your goodwill,
for You favored them.
5You are my king, O God;
decree victories for Jacob!
6Through You we gore our foes;
by Your name we trample our adversaries;
7I do not trust in my bow;
it is not my sword that gives me victory;
8You give us victory over our foes;
You thwart those who hate us.
9In God we glory at all times,
and praise Your name unceasingly. Selah.
10Yet You have rejected and disgraced us;
You do not go with our armies.
11You make us retreat before our foe;
our enemies plunder us at will.
12You let them devour us like sheep;
You disperse us among the nations.
13You sell Your people for no fortune,
You set no high price on them.
14You make us the butt of our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.
15You make us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstocka among the peoples.
16I am always aware of my disgrace;
I am wholly covered with shame
17at the sound of taunting revilers,
in the presence of the vengeful foe.
18All this has come upon us,
yet we have not forgotten You,
or been false to Your covenant.
19Our hearts have not gone astray,
nor have our feet swerved from Your path,
20though You cast us, crushed, to where the b-sea monster-b
is,
and covered us over with deepest darkness.
21If we forgot the name of our God
and spread forth our hands to a foreign god,
22God would surely search it out,
for He knows the secrets of the heart.
23It is for Your sake that we are slain all day long,
that we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
24Rouse Yourself; why do You sleep, O Lord?
Awaken, do not reject us forever!
25Why do You hide Your face,
ignoring our affliction and distress?
26We lie prostrate in the dust;
our body clings to the ground.
27Arise and help us,
redeem us, as befits Your faithfulness.
45For the leader; a-on
