Psalm 3-14

New International Version - UK

³ But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
    my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
⁴ I call out to the Lord,
    and he answers me from his holy mountain.

⁵ I lie down and sleep;
    I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
⁶ I will not fear though tens of thousands
    assail me on every side.

⁷ Arise, Lord!
    Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
    break the teeth of the wicked.

⁸ From the Lord comes deliverance.
    May your blessing be on your people.

² How long will you people turn my glory into shame?
    How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?^[d][e]
3 Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.

⁴ Tremble and^[f] do not sin;
    when you are on your beds,
    search your hearts and be silent.
⁵ Offer the sacrifices of the righteous
    and trust in the Lord.

⁶ Many, Lord, are asking, ‘Who will bring us prosperity?’
    Let the light of your face shine on us.
⁷ Fill my heart with joy
    when their grain and new wine abound.

⁸ In peace I will lie down and sleep,
    for you alone, Lord,
    make me dwell in safety.

³ In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
    in the morning I lay my requests before you
    and wait expectantly.
⁴ For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
    with you, evil people are not welcome.
⁵ The arrogant cannot stand
    in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
⁶     you destroy those who tell lies.
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
    you, Lord, detest.
⁷ But I, by your great love,
    can come into your house;
in reverence I bow down
    towards your holy temple.

⁸ Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies –
    make your way straight before me.
⁹ Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
    their heart is filled with malice.
Their throat is an open grave;
    with their tongues they tell lies.
¹⁰ Declare them guilty, O God!
    Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
    for they have rebelled against you.
¹¹ But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
    let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
    that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

¹² Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;
    you surround them with your favour as with a shield.

⁴ Turn, Lord, and deliver me;
    save me because of your unfailing love.
⁵ Among the dead no one proclaims your name.
    Who praises you from his grave?

⁶ I am worn out from my groaning.

All night long I flood my bed with weeping
    and drench my couch with tears.
⁷ My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
    they fail because of all my foes.

⁸ Away from me, all you who do evil,
    for the Lord has heard my weeping.
⁹ The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
    the Lord accepts my prayer.
¹⁰ All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;
    they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

³ Lord my God, if I have done this
    and there is guilt on my hands –
⁴ if I have repaid my ally with evil
    or without cause have robbed my foe –
⁵ then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;
    let him trample my life to the ground
    and make me sleep in the dust.^[l]

⁶ Arise, Lord, in your anger;
    rise up against the rage of my enemies.
    Awake, my God; decree justice.
⁷ Let the assembled peoples gather round you,
    while you sit enthroned over them on high.
⁸     Let the Lord judge the peoples.
Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness,
    according to my integrity, O Most High.
⁹ Bring to an end the violence of the wicked
    and make the righteous secure –
you, the righteous God
    who probes minds and hearts.

¹⁰ My shield^[m] is God Most High,
    who saves the upright in heart.
¹¹ God is a righteous judge,
    a God who displays his wrath every day.
¹² If he does not relent,
    he^[n] will sharpen his sword;
    he will bend and string his bow.
¹³ He has prepared his deadly weapons;
    he makes ready his flaming arrows.

¹⁴ Whoever is pregnant with evil
    conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.
¹⁵ Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
    falls into the pit they have made.
¹⁶ The trouble they cause recoils on them;
    their violence comes down on their own heads.

¹⁷ I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness;
    I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
² Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?^[q]

⁵ You have made them^[r] a little lower than the angels^[s]
    and crowned them^[t] with glory and honour.
⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their^[u] feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

³ My enemies turn back;
    they stumble and perish before you.
⁴ For you have upheld my right and my cause,
    sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
⁵ You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
    you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
⁶ Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
    you have uprooted their cities;
    even the memory of them has perished.

⁷ The Lord reigns for ever;
    he has established his throne for judgment.
⁸ He rules the world in righteousness
    and judges the peoples with equity.
⁹ The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰ Those who know your name trust in you,
    for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹ Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion;
    proclaim among the nations what he has done.
¹² For he who avenges blood remembers;
    he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.

¹³ Lord, see how my enemies persecute me!
    Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
¹⁴ that I may declare your praises
    in the gates of Daughter Zion,
    and there rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵ The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
    their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
¹⁶ The Lord is known by his acts of justice;
    the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.^[x]
17 The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
    all the nations that forget God.
¹⁸ But God will never forget the needy;
    the hope of the afflicted will never perish.

¹⁹ Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph;
    let the nations be judged in your presence.
²⁰ Strike them with terror, Lord;
    let the nations know they are only mortal.

² In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
    who are caught in the schemes he devises.
³ He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
    he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.
⁴ In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
    in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
⁵ His ways are always prosperous;
    your laws are rejected by^[z] him;
    he sneers at all his enemies.
⁶ He says to himself, ‘Nothing will ever shake me.’
    He swears, ‘No one will ever do me harm.’

⁷ His mouth is full of lies and threats;
    trouble and evil are under his tongue.
⁸ He lies in wait near the villages;
    from ambush he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
⁹     like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
    he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
¹⁰ His victims are crushed, they collapse;
    they fall under his strength.
¹¹ He says to himself, ‘God will never notice;
    he covers his face and never sees.’

¹² Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.
¹³ Why does the wicked man revile God?
    Why does he say to himself,
    ‘He won’t call me to account’?
¹⁴ But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
    you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
    you are the helper of the fatherless.
¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked man;
    call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
    that would not otherwise be found out.

¹⁶ The Lord is King for ever and ever;
    the nations will perish from his land.
¹⁷ You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
¹⁸ defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
    so that mere earthly mortals
    will never again strike terror.

⁴ The Lord is in his holy temple;
    the Lord is on his heavenly throne.
He observes everyone on earth;
    his eyes examine them.
⁵ The Lord examines the righteous,
    but the wicked, those who love violence,
    he hates with a passion.
⁶ On the wicked he will rain
    fiery coals and burning sulphur;
    a scorching wind will be their lot.

⁷ For the Lord is righteous,
    he loves justice;
    the upright will see his face.

³ May the Lord silence all flattering lips
    and every boastful tongue –
⁴ those who say,
    ‘By our tongues we will prevail;
    our own lips will defend us – who is lord over us?’

⁵ ‘Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan,
    I will now arise,’ says the Lord.
    ‘I will protect them from those who malign them.’
⁶ And the words of the Lord are flawless,
    like silver purified in a crucible,
    like gold^[ac] refined seven times.

⁷ You, Lord, will keep the needy safe
    and will protect us for ever from the wicked,
⁸ who freely strut about
    when what is vile is honoured by the human race.

³ Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
⁴ and my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.

² The Lord looks down from heaven
    on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
    any who seek God.
³ All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
    there is no one who does good,
    not even one.

⁴ Do all these evildoers know nothing?

They devour my people as though eating bread;
    they never call on the Lord.
⁵ But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
    for God is present in the company of the righteous.
⁶ You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
    but the Lord is their refuge.

⁷ Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
    When the Lord restores his people,
    let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!