1  Give ear to my words, O Lord;

consider my ^ugroaning.

2  Give attention to the sound of my cry,

my ^vKing and my God,

for ^wto you do I pray.

3  O Lord, in ^xthe morning you hear my voice;

in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you¹ and ^ywatch.

4  For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;

evil may not dwell with you.

5  The ^zboastful shall not ^astand before your eyes;

you ^bhate all evildoers.

6  You destroy those who speak ^clies;

the Lord abhors ^dthe bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

7  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.

8  ^hLead me, O Lord, in your righteousness

because of my enemies;

ⁱmake your way straight before me.

9  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.

2  “No doubt you are the people,

and wisdom will die with you.

3  But I have ^bunderstanding as well as you;

I am not inferior to you.

Who does not know ^csuch things as these?

4  I am ^da laughingstock to my friends;

I, who ^ecalled to God and he answered me,

a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.

5  In the thought of one who is ^fat ease there is contempt for misfortune;

it is ready for those whose feet slip.

6  ^gThe tents of robbers are at peace,

and those who provoke God are secure,

who bring their god in their hand.¹

7  “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;

the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

8  or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;²

and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

9  Who among all these does not know

that ^hthe hand of the Lord has done this?

10  In ⁱhis hand is the life of every living thing

and the breath of all mankind.

11  Does not ^jthe ear test words

as the palate tastes food?

12  Wisdom is with ^kthe aged,

and understanding in length of days.

13  ^l“With God³ are wisdom and might;

he has counsel and understanding.

14  If he tears down, none can rebuild;

if he ^mshuts a man in, none can open.

15  If he ⁿwithholds the waters, they dry up;

if he ^osends them out, they overwhelm the land.

16  With him are strength and ^psound wisdom;

the deceived and the deceiver are his.

17  He leads ^qcounselors away stripped,

and ^rjudges he makes fools.

18  He ^slooses the bonds of kings

and binds a waistcloth on their hips.

19  He leads priests away stripped

and overthrows the mighty.

20  He deprives of speech those who are trusted

^tand takes away the discernment of the elders.

21  He ^upours contempt on princes

and loosens the belt of the strong.

22  He ^vuncovers the deeps out of darkness

and brings ^wdeep darkness to light.

23  He ^xmakes nations great, and he destroys them;

he enlarges nations, and ^yleads them away.

24  He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth

and ^zmakes them wander in a trackless waste.

25  They ^agrope in the dark without light,

and he makes them ^bstagger like a drunken man.