Psalms 137–145

Psalms 137–145 WEB

^137:1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion. ²On the willows in that land, we hung up our harps. ³For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” ⁴How can we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? ⁵If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. ⁶Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don’t remember you, if I don’t prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy. ⁷Remember, LORD, against the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said, “Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!” ⁸Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who repays you, as you have done to us. ⁹Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

^138:1I will give you thanks with my whole heart. Before the gods, I will sing praises to you. ²I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth; for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all. ³In the day that I called, you answered me. You encouraged me with strength in my soul. ⁴All the kings of the earth will give you thanks, LORD, for they have heard the words of your mouth. ⁵Yes, they will sing of the ways of the LORD, for the LORD’s glory is great! ⁶For though the LORD is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but he knows the proud from afar. ⁷Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me. ⁸The LORD will fulfill that which concerns me. Your loving kindness, LORD, endures forever. Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.

^139:1LORD, you have searched me, and you know me. ²You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. ³You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. ⁴For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, LORD, you know it altogether. ⁵You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me. ⁶This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it. ⁷Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence? ⁸If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there! ⁹If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, ¹⁰even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me. ¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,” ¹²even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you. ¹³For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well. ¹⁵My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶Your 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. ¹⁷How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum! ¹⁸If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you. ¹⁹If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men! ²⁰For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain. ²¹LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? ²²I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies. ²³Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. ²⁴See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

^140:1Deliver me, LORD, from evil men. Preserve me from violent men: ²those who devise mischief in their hearts. They continually gather themselves together for war. ³They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper’s poison is under their lips. Selah. ⁴LORD, keep me from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent men who have determined to trip my feet. ⁵The 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. ⁶I said to the LORD, “You are my God.” Listen to the cry of my petitions, LORD. ⁷LORD, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle. ⁸LORD, don’t grant the desires of the wicked. Don’t let their evil plans succeed, or they will become proud. Selah. ⁹As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them. ¹⁰Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise. ¹¹An evil speaker won’t be established on the earth. Evil will hunt the violent man to overthrow him. ¹²I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the needy. ¹³Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name. The upright will dwell in your presence.

^141:1LORD, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you. ²Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice. ³Set a watch, LORD, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. ⁴Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies. ⁵Let 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. ⁶Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock. They will hear my words, for they are well spoken. ⁷“As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.” ⁸For my eyes are on you, LORD, the Lord. I take refuge in you. Don’t leave my soul destitute. ⁹Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, from the traps of the workers of iniquity. ¹⁰Let the wicked fall together into their own nets while I pass by.

^142:1I cry with my voice to the LORD. With my voice, I ask the LORD for mercy. ²I pour out my complaint before him. I tell him my troubles. ³When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my route. On the path in which I walk, they have hidden a snare for me. ⁴Look 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. ⁵I cried to you, LORD. I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” ⁶Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. ⁷Bring 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.

^143:1Hear my prayer, LORD. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me. ²Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous. ³For 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. ⁴Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate. ⁵I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands. ⁶I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah. ⁷Hurry 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. ⁸Cause 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. ⁹Deliver me, LORD, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me. ¹⁰Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness. ¹¹Revive me, LORD, for your name’s sake. In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble. ¹²In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am your servant.

^144:1Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands to war, and my fingers to battle— ²my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me. ³LORD, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him? ⁴Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away. ⁵Part your heavens, LORD, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke. ⁶Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them. ⁷Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners, ⁸whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. ⁹I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you. ¹⁰You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword. ¹¹Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. ¹²Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace. ¹³Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields. ¹⁴Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets. ¹⁵Happy are the people who are in such a situation. Happy are the people whose God is the LORD.

^145:1I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever. ²Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever. ³Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable. ⁴One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts. ⁵I will meditate on the glorious majesty of your honor, on your wondrous works. ⁶Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts. I will declare your greatness. ⁷They will utter the memory of your great goodness, and will sing of your righteousness. ⁸The LORD is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness. ⁹The LORD is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works. ¹⁰All your works will give thanks to you, LORD. Your saints will extol you. ¹¹They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk about your power, ¹²to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, the glory of the majesty of his kingdom. ¹³Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and loving in all his deeds. ¹⁴The LORD upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down. ¹⁵The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season. ¹⁶You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing. ¹⁷The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works. ¹⁸The LORD is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. ¹⁹He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them. ²⁰The LORD preserves all those who love him, but he will destroy all the wicked. ²¹My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD. Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.