Psalms 1 - 14
1
Happy is the man
who does not take the wicked for his guide
nor walk the road that sinners tread
nor take his seat among the scornful;
the law of he LORD is his delight,
the law his meditation night and day.
He is like a tree
planted beside a watercourse,
which yields fruit in season
and its leaf never withers:
in all that he does he prospers.
Wicked men are not like this;
they are like chaff driven by the wind.
So when judgement comes the wicked shall not stand firm,
nor shall sinners stand in the assembly of the righteous.
The LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked is doomed.
2
Why are the nations in turmoil?
Why do the peoples hatch their futile plots?
The kings of the earth stand ready,
and the rulers conspire together
against the LORD and his anointed king.
'Let us break their fetters,' they cry,
'let us throw off their chains!'
The Lord who sits enthroned in heaven
laughs them to scorn;
then he rebukes them in anger,
he threatens them in his wrath.
Of me he says, 'I have enthroned my king
on Zion my holy mountain.'
I will repeat the LORD's decree:
'You are my son,' he said;
'this day I become your father.
Ask of me what you will:
I will give you nations as your inheritance,
the ends of the earth as your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron,
you shall shatter them like a clay pot.'
Be mindful then, you kings;
learn your lesson, rulers of earth;
worship the LORD with reverence;
tremble, and kiss the king,
lest the LORD be angry and you are struck down in mid course;
for his anger flares up in a moment.
Happy are all who find refuge in him.
3
LORD, how my enemies have multiplied!
Many rise up against me,
many there are who say of me,
'God will not bring him victory.'
But thou, LORD, art a shield to cover me:
thou art my glory, and thou dost raise my head high.
I cry aloud to the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
I lie down and sleep,
and I wake again, for the LORD upholds me.
I will not fear the nations in their myriads
who set on me from all sides.
Rise up, LORD; save me, O my God.
Thou dost strike all my foes across the face
and breakest the teeth of the wicked.
Thine is the victory, O LORD,
and may thy blessing rest upon thy people.
4
Answer me when I call, O God, maintainer of my right,
I was hard pressed, and thou didst set me at large;
be gracious to me now and hear my prayer.
Mortal men, how long will you pay me not honour but dishonour,
or set your heart on trifles and run after lies?
Know that that the LORD has shown me his marvellous love;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
However angry your hearts, do not do wrong;
though you lie abed resentful, do not break silence:
pay your due of sacrifice, and trust in the LORD.
There are many who say, 'If only we might be prosperous again!
but the light of thy presence has fled from us, O LORD.
Yet in my heart thou hast put more happiness
than they enjoyed when there was corn and wine in plenty.
Now I will lie down in peace, and sleep;
for thou alone, O LORD, makest me live unafraid.
5
Listen to my words, O LORD,
consider my inmost thoughts;
heed my cry for help, my king and my God.
In the morning, when I say my prayers,
thou wilt hear me.
I set out my morning sacrifice
and watch for thee, O LORD.
For thou art not a God who welcomes wickedness;
evil can be no guest of thine.
There is no place for arrogance before thee;
thou hatest evildoers,
thou makest an end of all liars.
The LORD detests traitors and men of blood.
But I, through thy great love, may come into thy house,
and bow low toward thy holy temple in awe of thee.
Lead me, LORD, in thy righteousness,
because my enemies are on the watch;
give me a straight path to follow.
There is no trusting what they say,
they are nothing but wind.
Their throats an ope sepulchre;
smooth talk runs off their tongues.
Bring ruin on them, O God;
let them fall by their own devices.
Cast them out, after all their rebellions,
for they have defied thee.
But let all who take refuge in thee rejoice,
let them forever break into shouts of joy;
shelter those who love thy name,
that they may exalt in thee.
For thou, O LORD, wilt bless the righteous;
thou wilt hedge him round with favour as with a shield.
6
O LORD, do not condemn me in thy anger,
do not punish me in thy fury.
Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am weak;
heal me, my very bones are shaken;
my soul quivers i dismay.
And thou, O LORD——how long?
Come back, O LORD; set my soul free,
deliver me for thy love's sake.
None talk of thee among the dead;
who praises thee in Sheol?
I am wearied with groaning;
all night long my pillow is wet with tears,
I soak the bed with weeping.
Grief dims my eyes;
they are worn out with all my woes.
Away from me, all you evildoers,
for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
The LORD has heard my entreaty;
the LORD will accept my prayer.
All my enemies shall be confounded and dismayed;
they shall turn away in sudden confusion.
7
O LORD my God, in thee I find refuge;
save me, rescue me from my pursuers,
before they tear at my throat like a lion
and carry me off beyond hope of rescue.
O LORD my God, if I have done any of these things——
if I have stained my hands with guilt,
if I have repaid a friend evil for good
or set free an enemy who attacked me without cause,
may my adversary come after me and overtake me,
trample my life to the ground
and lay my honour in the dust!
Arise, O LORD, in thy anger,
rouse thyself in wrath against my foes.
Awake, my God who hast ordered that justice be done;
let the people assemble around thee,
and take thou thy seat on high above them.
O LORD, thou who dost pass sentence on nations,
O LORD, judge me as my righteousness deserves,
for I am clearly innocent.
Let wicked men do no more harm,
establish the reign of righteousness,
thou who examinest both heart and mind,
thou righteous God.
God, the High God, is my shield
who saves men of honest heart.
God is a just judge,
every day he requites the raging enemy.
He sharpens his sword,
strings his bow and makes it ready.
He has prepared his deadly shafts
and tipped his arrows with fire.
But the enemy is in labour with iniquity;
he conceives mischief, and his brood is lies.
He has made a pit and dug it deep,
and he himself shall fall into the hole that he has made.
His mischief shall recoil upon himself,
and his violence fall on his own head.
I will praise the LORD for his righteousness
and sing a psalm to the name of the LORD Most High.
8
O LORD our sovereign,
how glorious is thy name in all the earth!
Thy majesty is praised high as the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes, of infants at the breast,
thou hast rebuked the mighty,
silencing enmity and vengeance to teach thy foes a lesson.
When I look up at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars set in their place by thee,
what is man that thou shouldst remember him,
mortal man that thou shouldst care for him?
Yet thou hast made him little less than a god,
crowning him with glory and honour.
Thou makest him master over all thy creatures;
thou has put everything under his feet:
all sheep and oxen, all the wild beasts,
the birds in the air and the fish in the sea,
and all that moves along the paths of ocean.
O LORD our sovereign,
how glorious is thy name in all the earth!
9-10
I will praise thee, O LORD, with all my heart,
I will tell the story of thy marvellous acts.
I will rejoice and exult in thee,
I will praise thy name in psalms, O thou Most High,
when my enemies turn back,
when they fall headlong, and perish at thy appearing;
for thou hast upheld my right ad my cause,
seated on thy throne, thou righteous judge.
Thou hast rebuked the nations and overwhelmed the ungodly,
thou hast blotted out their names for all time.
The strongholds of the enemy are thrown down for evermore;
thou hast laid their cities in ruins, all memory of them is lost.
The LORD thunders, he sits enthroned for ever:
he has set up his throne, his judgement-seat.
He it is who will judge the world with justice
and try the cause of the peoples fairly.
So may the LORD be a tower of strength for the oppressed,
a tower of strength in time of need,
that those who acknowledge thy name may trust in thee.
Sing psalms to the LORD who dwells in Zion,
proclaim his deeds among the nations.
For the Avenger of blood has remembered men's desire,
and has not forgotten the cry of the poor.
Have pity on me, O LORD; look upon my afflictions,
thou wo hast lifted me up and caught me back from the gates of death,
that I may repeat all thy praise
and exult at this deliverance in the gates of Zion's city.
The nations have plunged into a pit of their own making;
their own feet are entangled in the net which they hid.
Now the LORD makes himself know. Justice is done:
the wicked man is trapped in his own devices.
They rush blindly the Sheol, the wicked,
all the nations are heedless of God.
But the poor shall not always be unheeded
nor the hope of the destitute be always vain.
Arise, LORD, give man no chance to boast his strength;
summon the nations before thee for judgement.
Strike them with fear, O LORD,
let the nations know that they are but men.
10 Why stand so far off, LORD,
hiding thyself in time of need?
The wicked man in his pride hunts down the poor:
may his crafty schemes be his own undoing!
The wicked man is obsessed with his own desires,
and in his greed gives wickedness his blessing;
arrogant as he is, he scorns the LORD
and leaves no place for God in all his schemes.
His ways are always devious;
thy judgements are beyond his grasp,
and he scoffs at all restraint.
He says to himself, 'I shall never be shaken;
no misfortune can check my course.'
His mouth is full of lies and violence;
mischief and trouble lurk under his tongue.
He lies in ambush in the villages
and murders innocent men by stealth.
He is watching intently for some poor wretch;
he seizes him and drags him away in his net;
he crouches stealthily, like a lion in his lair
crouching to seize its victim;
the good man is struck down and sinks to the ground,
and poor wretches fall into his toils.
He says to himself, 'God has forgotten;
he has hidden his face and has seen nothing.'
Arise, LORD, set thy hand to the task;
do not forget the poor, O God.
Why, O God, has the wicked man rejected thee
and said to himself that thou dost not care?
Thou seest that mischief and trouble are is companions,
thou takest the matter into thy own hands.
The poor victim commits himself to thee;
fatherless, he finds in thee his helper.
Break the power of wickedness and wrong;
hunt out all wickedness until thou canst find no more.
The LORD is king for ever and ever;
the nations have vanished from his land.
Thou hast heard the lament of the humble, O LORD,
and art attentive to their heart's desire,
bringing justice to the orphan and the downtrodden
that fear may never drive men from their homes again.
11
In the LORD I have found my refuge; why do you say to me,
'Flee to the mountains like a bird;
see how the wicked string their bows
and fit the arrow to the string,
When foundations are undermined, what can the good man do?
The LORD is in his holy temple,
the LORD's throne is in heaven.
His eye is upon mankind, he takes their measure at a glance.
The LORD weighs just and unjust
and hates with all his soul the lover of violence.
He shall rain down red-hot coals upon the wicked;
brimstone and scorching winds shall be the cup they drink.
For the LORD is just and loves just dealing;
his face is turned towards the upright man.
12
Help, LORD, for loyalty is no more;
good faith between man and man is over.
one man lies to another:
they talk with smooth lip and double heart.
May the LORD make an end of such smooth lips
and the tongue that talks so boastfully!
They said, 'Our tongue can win the day.
Words are our ally; who can master us?'
'For the ruin of the poor, for the groans of the needy,
now I will arise,' says the LORD,
'I will place him in the safety for which he longs.'
The words of the LORD are pure words:
silver refined in a crucible,
gold seven times purified.
Do thou, LORD protect us
and guard us from a profligate and evil generation.
The wicked flaunt themselves on every side,
while profligacy stands high among mankind.
13
How long, O LORD, wilt thou quite forget me?
How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
How long must I suffer anguish in my soul,
grief in my heart, day and night?
How long shall my enemy lord it over me?
Look now and answer me, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my adversary say, 'I have overthrown him',
and my enemies rejoice at my downfall.
But for my part I trust in thy true love.
My heart shall rejoice, for thou hast set me free.
I will sing to the LORD, who has granted all my desire.
14
The impious fool says in his heart,
'There is no God.'
How vile men are, how depraved and loathsome;
not one does anything good!
The LORD looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if any act wisely,
if any seek out God.
But all are disloyal, all are rotten to the core;
not one does anything good,
no, not even one.
Shall they not rue it,
all evildoers who devour my people
as men devour bread,
and never call upon the LORD?
There they were in dire alarm;
for God was in the brotherhood of the godly.
The resistance of their victim was too much for them,
because the LORD was his only refuge.
If only Israel's deliverance might come out of Zion!
When the LORD restores his people's fortunes,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Jun 25, 2019, 7:01 PM UTC
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