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Book I

Psalms 1–41

Blessed is the person who obeys the law of the Lord.
    They don’t follow the advice of evil people.
They don’t make a habit of doing what sinners do.
    They don’t join those who make fun of the Lord and his law.
Instead, the law of the Lord gives them joy.
    They think about his law day and night.
That kind of person is like a tree that is planted near a stream of water.
    It always bears its fruit at the right time.
Its leaves don’t dry up.
    Everything godly people do turns out well.

Sinful people are not like that at all.
    They are like straw
    that the wind blows away.
When the Lord judges them, their life will come to an end.
    Sinners won’t have any place among those who are godly.

The Lord watches over the lives of godly people.
    But the lives of sinful people will lead to their death.

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

13 Lord, how long must I wait? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you turn your face away from me?
How long must I struggle with my thoughts?
    How long must my heart be sad day after day?
    How long will my enemies keep winning the battle over me?

Lord my God, look at me and answer me.
    Give me new life, or I will die.
Then my enemies will say, “We have beaten him.”
    They will be filled with joy when I die.

But I trust in your faithful love.
    My heart is filled with joy because you will save me.
I will sing praise to the Lord.
    He has been so good to me.

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

14 Foolish people say in their hearts,
    “There is no God.”
They do all kinds of horrible and evil things.
    No one does anything good.

The Lord looks down from heaven
    on all people.
He wants to see if there are any who understand.
    He wants to see if there are any who trust in God.
All of them have turned away.
    They have all become evil.
No one does anything good,
    no one at all.

Do all these people who do evil know nothing?
    They eat up my people as if they were eating bread.
    They never call out to the Lord.
But just look at them! They are filled with terror
    because God is among those who do right.
You who do evil keep poor people from succeeding.
    But the Lord is their place of safety.

How I pray that the God who saves Israel will come out of Zion!
    Then the Lord will bless his people with great success again.
    So let the people of Jacob be filled with joy! Let Israel be glad!

A psalm of David.

15 Lord, who can live in your sacred tent?
    Who can stay on your holy mountain?

Anyone who lives without blame
    and does what is right.
They speak the truth from their heart.
    They don’t tell lies about other people.
They don’t do wrong to their neighbors.
    They don’t say anything bad about them.
They hate evil people.
    But they honor those who have respect for the Lord.
They keep their promises even when it hurts.
    They do not change their mind.
They lend their money to poor people without charging interest.
    They don’t accept money to harm those who aren’t guilty.

Anyone who lives like that
    will always be secure.

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