1  ^oThe Mighty One, God the Lord,

speaks and summons the earth

^pfrom the rising of the sun to its setting.

2  Out of Zion, ^qthe perfection of beauty,

^rGod shines forth.

3  Our God comes; he ^sdoes not keep silence;¹

before him is a devouring ^tfire,

around him a mighty tempest.

4  ^uHe calls to the heavens above

and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

5  “Gather to me my faithful ones,

who made ^va covenant with me by sacrifice!”

6  ^wThe heavens declare his righteousness,

for ^xGod himself is judge! Selah

7  ^y“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;

O Israel, I will testify against you.

^zI am God, your God.

8  Not for your sacrifices ^ado I rebuke you;

your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9  I will not accept a bull from your house

or goats from your folds.

10  For every beast of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

11  ^bI know all the birds of the hills,

and all that moves in the field is mine.

12  “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

^cfor the world and its fullness are mine.

13  Do I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of goats?

14  ^dOffer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,²

and ^eperform your vows to the Most High,

15  and ^fcall upon me in the day of trouble;

I will ^gdeliver you, and you shall ^hglorify me.”

16  But to the wicked God says:

“What right have you to recite my statutes

or take my covenant on your lips?

17  ⁱFor you hate discipline,

^jand you cast my words behind you.

18  If you see a thief, ^kyou are pleased with him,

^land you keep company with adulterers.

19  “You give your mouth free rein for evil,

^mand your tongue frames deceit.

20  You sit and speak against your brother;

you slander your own mother’s son.

21  These things you have done, and I ⁿhave been silent;

you thought that I³ was one like yourself.

But now I ^orebuke you and ^play the charge before you.

22  “Mark this, then, you who ^qforget God,

lest I tear you apart, and there be ^rnone to deliver!

23  The one who ^soffers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;

to one who ^torders his way rightly

I will show the ^usalvation of God!”

1  Truly God is good to ^cIsrael,

to those who are ^dpure in heart.

2  But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,

my steps had nearly slipped.

3  ^eFor I was ^fenvious of the arrogant

when I saw the ^gprosperity of the wicked.

4  For they have no pangs until death;

their bodies are fat and sleek.

5  They are not in trouble as others are;

they are not ^hstricken like the rest of mankind.

6  Therefore pride is ⁱtheir necklace;

violence covers them as ^ja garment.

7  Their ^keyes swell out through fatness;

their hearts overflow with follies.

8  They scoff and ^lspeak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

9  They set their mouths against the heavens,

and their tongue struts through the earth.

10  Therefore his people turn back to them,

and find ^mno fault in them.¹

11  And they say, ⁿ“How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

12  Behold, these are the wicked;

always at ease, they ^oincrease in riches.

13  All in vain have I ^pkept my heart clean

and ^qwashed my hands in innocence.

14  For all the day long I have been ^hstricken

and ^rrebuked ^severy morning.

15  If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

I would have betrayed ^tthe generation of your children.

16  But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me ^ua wearisome task,

17  until I went into ^vthe sanctuary of God;

then I discerned their ^wend.

18  Truly you set them in ^xslippery places;

you make them fall to ruin.

19  How they are destroyed ^yin a moment,

swept away utterly by ^zterrors!

20  Like ^aa dream when one awakes,

O Lord, when ^byou rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

21  When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

22  I was ^cbrutish and ignorant;

I was like ^da beast toward you.

23  Nevertheless, I am continually with you;

you ^ehold my right hand.

24  You ^fguide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will ^greceive me to glory.

25  ^hWhom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

26  ⁱMy flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is ^jthe strength² of my heart and my ^kportion ^lforever.

27  For behold, those who are ^mfar from you shall perish;

you put an end to everyone who is ⁿunfaithful to you.

28  But for me it is good to ^obe near God;

I have made the Lord God my ^prefuge,

that I may ^qtell of all your works.

1  O God, why do you ^scast us off forever?

Why does your anger ^tsmoke against ^uthe sheep of your pasture?

2  ^vRemember your congregation, which you have ^wpurchased of old,

which you have ^xredeemed to be ^ythe tribe of your heritage!

Remember Mount Zion, ^zwhere you have dwelt.

3  Direct your steps to ^athe perpetual ruins;

the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

4  Your foes have ^broared in the midst of your meeting place;

^cthey set up their ^down signs for ^esigns.

5  They were like those who swing ^faxes

in a forest of trees.²

6  And all its ^gcarved wood

they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

7  They ^hset your sanctuary on fire;

they ⁱprofaned ^jthe dwelling place of your name,

bringing it down to the ground.

8  They ^ksaid to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;

they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

9  We do not see our ^lsigns;

^mthere is no longer any prophet,

and there is none among us who knows how long.

10  How long, O God, ⁿis the foe to scoff?

Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

11  Why ^odo you hold back your hand, your right hand?

Take it from the fold of your garment³ and destroy them!

12  Yet ^pGod my King is from of old,

working salvation in the midst of the earth.

13  You ^qdivided the sea by your might;

you ^rbroke the heads of ^sthe sea monsters⁴ on the waters.

14  You crushed the heads of ^tLeviathan;

you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

15  You ^usplit open springs and brooks;

you ^vdried up ever-flowing streams.

16  Yours is the day, yours also the night;

you have established ^wthe heavenly lights and the sun.

17  You have ^xfixed all the boundaries of the earth;

you have made ^ysummer and winter.

18  ^zRemember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,

and ^aa foolish people reviles your name.

19  Do not deliver the soul of your ^bdove to the wild beasts;

^cdo not forget the life of your poor forever.

20  Have regard for ^dthe covenant,

for ^ethe dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

21  Let not ^fthe downtrodden ^gturn back in shame;

let ^hthe poor and needy praise your name.

22  Arise, O God, ⁱdefend your cause;

^jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!

23  Do not forget the clamor of your foes,

^kthe uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!