Your loving kindness, LORD, endures forever.
Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.
Psalm 139
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
1 LORD, you have searched me,
and you know me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
but behold, LORD, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in behind and before.
You laid your hand on me.
6 This knowledge is beyond me.
It’s lofty.
I can’t attain it.
7 Where could I go from your Spirit?
Or where could I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in Sheol,† behold, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand will lead me,
and your right hand will hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me.
The light around me will be night,”
12 even the darkness doesn’t hide from you,
but the night shines as the day.
The darkness is like light to you.
13 For you formed my inmost being.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to you,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful.
My soul knows that very well.
15 My frame wasn’t hidden from you,
when I was made in secret,
woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my body.
In your book they were all written,
the days that were ordained for me,
when as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is their sum!
18 If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand.
When I wake up, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would kill the wicked.
Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 For they speak against you wickedly.
Your enemies take your name in vain.
21 LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you?
Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred.
They have become my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart.
Try me, and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the everlasting way.
Psalm 140
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
1 Deliver me, LORD, from evil men.
Preserve me from violent men:
2 those who devise mischief in their hearts.
They continually gather themselves together for war.
3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent.
Viper’s poison is under their lips.
Selah.
4 LORD, keep me from the hands of the wicked.
Preserve me from the violent men who have determined to trip my feet.
5 The proud have hidden a snare for me,
they have spread the cords of a net by the path.
They have set traps for me.
Selah.
6 I said to the LORD, “You are my God.”
Listen to the cry of my petitions, LORD.
7 LORD, the Lord, the strength of my salvation,
you have covered my head in the day of battle.
8 LORD, don’t grant the desires of the wicked.
Don’t let their evil plans succeed, or they will become proud.
Selah.
9 As for the head of those who surround me,
let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
10 Let burning coals fall on them.
Let them be thrown into the fire,
into miry pits, from where they never rise.
11 An evil speaker won’t be established in the earth.
Evil will hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
12 I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
and justice for the needy.
13 Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name.
The upright will dwell in your presence.
Psalm 141
A Psalm by David.
1 LORD, I have called on you.
Come to me quickly!
Listen to my voice when I call to you.
2 Let my prayer be set before you like incense;
the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
3 Set a watch, LORD, before my mouth.
Keep the door of my lips.
4 Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing,
to practise deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity.
Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.
5 Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness;
let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head;
don’t let my head refuse it;
Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.
6 Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock.
They will hear my words, for they are well spoken.
7 “As when one ploughs and breaks up the earth,
our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.Ӡ
8 For my eyes are on you, LORD, the Lord.
I take refuge in you.
Don’t leave my soul destitute.
9 Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me,
from the traps of the workers of iniquity.
10 Let the wicked fall together into their own nets
while I pass by.
Psalm 142
A contemplation by David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.
1 I cry with my voice to the LORD.
With my voice, I ask the LORD for mercy.
2 I pour out my complaint before him.
I tell him my troubles.
3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
you knew my route.
On the path in which I walk,
they have hidden a snare for me.
4 Look on my right, and see;
for there is no one who is concerned for me.
Refuge has fled from me.
No one cares for my soul.
5 I cried to you, LORD.
I said, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
6 Listen to my cry,
for I am in desperate need.
Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me.
7 Bring my soul out of prison,
that I may give thanks to your name.
The righteous will surround me,
for you will be good to me.
Psalm 143
A Psalm by David.
1 Hear my prayer, LORD.
Listen to my petitions.
In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me.
2 Don’t enter into judgement with your servant,
for in your sight no man living is righteous.
3 For the enemy pursues my soul.
He has struck my life down to the ground.
He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
4 Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me.
My heart within me is desolate.
5 I remember the days of old.
I meditate on all your doings.
I contemplate the work of your hands.
6 I spread out my hands to you.
My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land.
Selah.
7 Hurry to answer me, LORD.
My spirit fails.
Don’t hide your face from me,
so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
8 Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning,
for I trust in you.
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
for I lift up my soul to you.
9 Deliver me, LORD, from my enemies.
I flee to you to hide me.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
Your Spirit is good.
Lead me in the land of uprightness.
11 Revive me, LORD, for your name’s sake.
In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble.
12 In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies,
and destroy all those who afflict my soul,
for I am your servant.
Psalm 144
By David.
1 Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
who trains my hands to war,
and my fingers to battle—
2 my loving kindness, my fortress,
my high tower, my deliverer,
my shield, and he in whom I take refuge,
who subdues my people under me.
3 LORD, what is man, that you care for him?
Or the son of man, that you think of him?
4 Man is like a breath.
His days are like a shadow that passes away.
5 Part your heavens, LORD, and come down.
Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
6 Throw out lightning, and scatter them.
Send out your arrows, and rout them.
7 Stretch out your hand from above,
rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters,
out of the hands of foreigners,
8 whose mouths speak deceit,
whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 I will sing a new song to you, God.
On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.
10 You are he who gives salvation to kings,
who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword.
11 Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners,
whose mouths speak deceit,
whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
12 Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants,
our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace.
13 Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision.
Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields.
14 Our oxen will pull heavy loads.
There is no breaking in, and no going away,
and no outcry in our streets.
15 Happy are the people who are in such a situation.
Happy are the people whose God is the LORD.
Psalm 145
A praise psalm by David.†
1 I will exalt you, my God, the King.
I will praise your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you.
I will extol your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised!
His greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation will commend your works to another,
and will declare your mighty acts.
5 I will meditate on the glorious majesty of your honour,
on your wondrous works.
6 Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts.
I will declare your greatness.
7 They will utter the memory of your great goodness,
and will sing of your righteousness.
8 The LORD is gracious, merciful,
slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
9 The LORD is good to all.
His tender mercies are over all his works.
10 All your works will give thanks to you, LORD.
Your saints will extol you.
11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom,
and talk about your power,
12 to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts,
the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
The LORD is faithful
