Psalm 2; Psalms 4–10

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Psalm 2

The Reign of the Lord’s Anointed

rWhy do sthe nations rage1

and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the Lord and against his tAnointed, saying,

Let us uburst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us.

He who vsits in the heavens wlaughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

Then he will speak to them in his xwrath,

and terrify them in his fury, saying,

As for me, I have yset my King

on zZion, my aholy hill.

I will tell of the decree:

The Lord said to me, bYou are my Son;

today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

and cthe ends of the earth your possession.

You shall dbreak2 them with ea rod of iron

and dash them in pieces like fa potter’s vessel.

10  Now therefore, O kings, be wise;

be warned, O rulers of the earth.

11  gServe the Lord with hfear,

and irejoice with htrembling.

12  jKiss kthe Son,

lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,

for his lwrath is quickly kindled.

mBlessed are all who take refuge in him.


Psalms 4–10

Answer Me When I Call

To the echoirmaster: with estringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

Answer me when I call, O God of my frighteousness!

You have ggiven me relief when I was in distress.

Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

O men,1 how long shall my honor be turned into shame?

How long will you love vain words and seek after hlies? Selah

But know that the Lord has iset apart jthe godly for himself;

the Lord hears when I call to him.

kBe angry,2 and do not sin;

lponder in your own hearts mon your beds, and be silent. Selah

Offer nright sacrifices,

and put your otrust in the Lord.

There are many who say, Who will show us some good?

pLift up qthe light of your face upon us, O Lord!

You have put rmore joy in my heart

than they have when their grain and wine abound.

In peace I will both slie down and sleep;

for you alone, O Lord, make me tdwell in safety.

Lead Me in Your Righteousness

To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

Give ear to my words, O Lord;

consider my ugroaning.

Give attention to the sound of my cry,

my vKing and my God,

for wto you do I pray.

O Lord, in xthe morning you hear my voice;

in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you3 and ywatch.

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;

evil may not dwell with you.

The zboastful shall not astand before your eyes;

you bhate all evildoers.

You destroy those who speak clies;

the Lord abhors dthe bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,

will enter your house.

I will ebow down ftoward your gholy temple

in the fear of you.

hLead me, O Lord, in your righteousness

because of my enemies;

imake your way straight before me.

For there is no truth in their mouth;

their inmost self is jdestruction;

ktheir throat is lan open grave;

they mflatter with their tongue.

10  nMake them bear their guilt, O God;

let them ofall by their own counsels;

because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,

for they have rebelled against you.

11  But let all who ptake refuge in you qrejoice;

let them ever sing for joy,

and spread your protection over them,

that those who love your name may rexult in you.

12  For you sbless the righteous, O Lord;

you tcover him with favor as with ua shield.

O Lord, Deliver My Life

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to vThe Sheminith.4 A Psalm of David.

O Lord, wrebuke me not in your anger,

nor xdiscipline me in your wrath.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;

yheal me, O Lord, zfor my bones are troubled.

My asoul also is greatly troubled.

But you, O Lordbhow long?

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;

save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

For in cdeath there is no remembrance of you;

in Sheol who will give you praise?

I am dweary with my emoaning;

every night I flood my bed with tears;

I drench my couch with my weeping.

My feye wastes away because of grief;

it grows weak because of all my foes.

gDepart from me, all you hworkers of evil,

for the Lord ihas heard the sound of my weeping.

The Lord has heard my jplea;

the Lord accepts my prayer.

10  All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;

they shall kturn back and be put to shame in a moment.

In You Do I Take Refuge

A lShiggaion5 of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.

O Lord my God, in you do I mtake refuge;

nsave me from all my pursuers and deliver me,

lest like oa lion they tear my soul apart,

rending it in pieces, with pnone to deliver.

O Lord my God, qif I have done this,

if there is rwrong in my hands,

if I have repaid smy friend6 with evil

or tplundered my enemy without cause,

let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,

and let him utrample my life to the ground

and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

vArise, O Lord, in your anger;

wlift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;

xawake for me; you have appointed a judgment.

Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;

over it return on high.

The Lord yjudges the peoples;

zjudge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness

and according to the integrity that is in me.

Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,

and may you establish the righteous

you who atest bthe minds and hearts,7

O righteous God!

10  My shield is cwith God,

who saves dthe upright in heart.

11  God is ea righteous judge,

and a God who feels findignation every day.

12  If a man8 does not repent, God9 will gwhet his sword;

he has hbent and ireadied his bow;

13  he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,

making his jarrows kfiery shafts.

14  Behold, the wicked man lconceives evil

and is lpregnant with mischief

and gives birth to lies.

15  He makes ma pit, digging it out,

and falls into the hole that he has made.

16  His nmischief returns upon his own head,

and on his own skull his violence descends.

17  I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,

and I will osing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

How Majestic Is Your Name

To the choirmaster: according to The pGittith.10 A Psalm of David.

O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your qname in all the earth!

You have set your rglory above the heavens.

sOut of the mouth of babies and infants,

you have established tstrength because of your foes,

to still uthe enemy and the avenger.

When I vlook at your heavens, the work of your wfingers,

the moon and the stars, xwhich you have set in place,

ywhat is man that you are zmindful of him,

and athe son of man that you bcare for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than cthe heavenly beings11

and crowned him with dglory and honor.

You have given him edominion over the works of your hands;

fyou have put all things under his feet,

all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

I Will Recount Your Wonderful Deeds

12 To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben.13 A Psalm of David.

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;

I will recount all of your gwonderful deeds.

I will be glad and hexult in you;

I will ising praise to your name, jO Most High.

When my enemies turn back,

they stumble and perish before14 your presence.

For you have kmaintained my just cause;

you have lsat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.

You have mrebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;

you have nblotted out their name forever and ever.

The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;

their cities you rooted out;

the very memory of them has perished.

But the Lord sits enthroned forever;

he has established his throne for justice,

and he ojudges the world with righteousness;

he pjudges the peoples with uprightness.

The Lord is qa stronghold for rthe oppressed,

a stronghold in stimes of trouble.

10  And those who tknow your name put their trust in you,

for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

11  Sing praises to the Lord, who usits enthroned in Zion!

Tell among the peoples his vdeeds!

12  For he who wavenges blood is mindful of them;

he xdoes not forget the cry of the afflicted.

13  yBe gracious to me, O Lord!

See my affliction from those who hate me,

O you who lift me up from zthe gates of death,

14  that I may recount all your praises,

that in the gates of athe daughter of Zion

I may brejoice in your salvation.

15  The nations have sunk in cthe pit that they made;

in dthe net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.

16  The Lord has made himself eknown; he has executed judgment;

the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion.15 Selah

17  The wicked shall freturn to Sheol,

all the nations that gforget God.

18  For the needy shall not always be forgotten,

and hthe hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

19  iArise, O Lord! Let not jman prevail;

let the nations be judged before you!

20  Put them in fear, O Lord!

Let the nations know that they are but jmen! Selah

Why Do You Hide Yourself?

Why, O Lord, do you stand kfar away?

Why ldo you hide yourself in mtimes of trouble?

In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;

let them nbe caught in the schemes that they have devised.

For the wicked oboasts of the desires of his soul,

and the one greedy for gain pcurses16 and qrenounces the Lord.

In the pride of his face17 the wicked does not qseek him;18

all his thoughts are, rThere is no God.

His ways prosper at all times;

your judgments are on high, sout of his sight;

as for all his foes, he tpuffs at them.

He usays in his heart, I shall not be moved;

throughout all generations I vshall not meet adversity.

wHis mouth is filled with cursing and xdeceit and yoppression;

zunder his tongue are amischief and biniquity.

He sits in ambush in the villages;

in chiding places he murders the innocent.

His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;

he lurks in ambush like da lion in his ethicket;

he flurks that he may seize the poor;

he seizes the poor when he draws him into his gnet.

10  The helpless are crushed, sink down,

and fall by his might.

11  He says in his heart, God has forgotten,

he has hhidden his face, he iwill never see it.

12  jArise, O Lord; O God, klift up your hand;

lforget not the afflicted.

13  Why does the wicked mrenounce God

and say in his heart, You will not ncall to account?

14  But you do see, for you onote mischief and vexation,

that you may take it into your hands;

to you the helpless pcommits himself;

you have been qthe helper of the fatherless.

15  rBreak the arm of the wicked and evildoer;

scall his wickedness to account till you find none.

16  tThe Lord is king forever and ever;

the unations perish from his land.

17  O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;

you will vstrengthen their heart; you will incline your ear

18  to wdo justice to the fatherless and xthe oppressed,

so that yman who is of the earth may strike terror no more.