Psalm 9-16

New King James Version

Prayer and Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Righteous Judgments

To the Chief Musician. To the tune of ^[a]“Death of the Son.” A Psalm of David.

9 I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
²I will be glad and ^(A)rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, ^(B)O Most High.

³When my enemies turn back,
They shall fall and perish at Your presence.
⁴For You have maintained my right and my cause;
You sat on the throne judging in righteousness.
⁵You have rebuked the ^[b]nations,
You have destroyed the wicked;
You have ^(C)blotted out their name forever and ever.

⁶O enemy, destructions are finished forever!
And you have destroyed cities;
Even their memory has ^(D)perished.
⁷^(E)But the Lord shall endure forever;
He has prepared His throne for judgment.
⁸^(F)He shall judge the world in righteousness,
And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.

⁹The Lord also will be a ^(G)refuge^[c] for the oppressed,
A refuge in times of trouble.
¹⁰And those who ^(H)know Your name will put their trust in You;
For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

¹¹Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion!
^(I)Declare His deeds among the people.
¹²^(J)When He avenges blood, He remembers them;
He does not forget the cry of the ^[d]humble.

¹³Have mercy on me, O Lord!
Consider my trouble from those who hate me,
You who lift me up from the gates of death,
¹⁴That I may tell of all Your praise
In the gates of ^[e]the daughter of Zion.
I will ^(K)rejoice in Your salvation.

¹⁵^(L)The ^[f]nations have sunk down in the pit which they made;
In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught.
¹⁶The Lord is ^(M)known by the judgment He executes;
The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.
^(N)Meditation.^[g] Selah

¹⁷The wicked shall be turned into hell,
And all the ^[h]nations ^(O)that forget God.
¹⁸^(P)For the needy shall not always be forgotten;
^(Q)The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.

¹⁹Arise, O Lord,
Do not let man prevail;
Let the ^[i]nations be judged in Your sight.
²⁰Put them in fear, O Lord,
That the ^[j]nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah

A Song of Confidence in God’s Triumph over Evil

10 Why do You stand afar off, O Lord?
Why do You hide in times of trouble?
²The wicked in his pride ^[k]persecutes the poor;
^(R)Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

³For the wicked ^(S)boasts of his heart’s desire;
^[l]He ^(T)blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord.
⁴The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God;
^[m]God is in none of his ^(U)thoughts.

⁵His ways ^[n]are always prospering;
Your judgments are far above, out of his sight;
As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.
⁶^(V)He has said in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
^(W)I shall never be in adversity.”
⁷^(X)His mouth is full of cursing and ^(Y)deceit and oppression;
Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.

⁸He sits in the lurking places of the villages;
In the secret places he murders the innocent;
His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.
⁹He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den;
He lies in wait to catch the poor;
He catches the poor when he draws him into his net.
¹⁰So ^[o]he crouches, he lies low,
That the helpless may fall by his ^[p]strength.
¹¹He has said in his heart,
“God has forgotten;
He hides His face;
He will never see.”

¹²Arise, O Lord!
O God, ^(Z)lift up Your hand!
Do not forget the ^(AA)humble.
¹³Why do the wicked renounce God?
He has said in his heart,
“You will not require an account.”

¹⁴But You have ^(AB)seen, for You observe trouble and grief,
To repay it by Your hand.
The helpless ^(AC)commits^[q] himself to You;
^(AD)You are the helper of the fatherless.
¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man;
Seek out his wickedness until You find none.

¹⁶^(AE)The Lord is King forever and ever;
The nations have perished out of His land.
¹⁷Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will prepare their heart;
You will cause Your ear to hear,
¹⁸To ^[r]do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
That the man of the earth may ^[s]oppress no more.

Faith in the Lord’s Righteousness

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

11 In ^(AF)the Lord I put my trust;
How can you say to my soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
²For look! ^(AG)The wicked bend their bow,
They make ready their arrow on the string,
That they may shoot ^[t]secretly at the upright in heart.
³^(AH)If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?

⁴The Lord is in His holy temple,
The Lord’s ^(AI)throne is in heaven;
^(AJ)His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men.
⁵The Lord ^(AK)tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
⁶Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
^(AL)Shall be ^[u]the portion of their cup.

⁷For the Lord is righteous,
He ^(AM)loves righteousness;
^[v]His countenance beholds the upright.

Man’s Treachery and God’s Constancy

To the Chief Musician. ^(AN)On ^[w]an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.

12 Help,^[x] Lord, for the godly man ^(AO)ceases!
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
²^(AP)They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and ^[y]a double heart they speak.

³May the Lord ^[z]cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks ^[aa]proud things,
⁴Who have said,
“With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?”

⁵“For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”

⁶The words of the Lord are ^(AQ)pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
⁷You shall keep them, O Lord,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.

⁸The wicked prowl on every side,
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.

Trust in the Salvation of the Lord

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
^(AR)How long will You hide Your face from me?
²How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

³Consider and hear me, O Lord my God;
^(AS)Enlighten my eyes,
^(AT)Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
⁴Lest my enemy say,
“I have prevailed against him”;
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

⁵But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
⁶I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Folly of the Godless, and God’s Final Triumph^(AU)

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

14 The ^(AV)fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good.

²^(AW)The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
³^(AX)They have all turned aside,
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.

⁴Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And ^(AY)do not call on the Lord?
⁵There they are in great fear,
For God is with the generation of the righteous.
⁶You shame the counsel of the poor,
But the Lord is his ^(AZ)refuge.

⁷^(BA)Oh,^[ab] that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
^(BB)When the Lord brings back ^[ac]the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

The Character of Those Who May Dwell with the Lord

A Psalm of David.

15 Lord, ^(BC)who may ^[ad]abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

²He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the ^(BD)truth in his heart;
³He who ^(BE)does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
^(BF)Nor does he ^[ae]take up a reproach against his friend;
⁴^(BG)In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the Lord;
He who ^(BH)swears to his own hurt and does not change;
⁵He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things ^(BI)shall never be moved.

The Hope of the Faithful, and the Messiah’s Victory

A ^(BJ)Michtam of David.

16 Preserve^[af] me, O God, for in You I put my trust.

²O my soul, you have said to the Lord,
“You are my Lord,
^(BK)My goodness is nothing apart from You.”
³As for the saints who are on the earth,
“They are the excellent ones, in ^(BL)whom is all my delight.”

⁴Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
Their drink offerings of ^(BM)blood I will not offer,
^(BN)Nor take up their names on my lips.

⁵O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You ^[ag]maintain my lot.
⁶The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.

⁷I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;
My ^[ah]heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
⁸^(BO)I have set the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will ^[ai]rest in hope.
¹⁰^(BP)For You will not leave my soul in ^[aj]Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to ^[ak]see corruption.
¹¹You will show me the ^(BQ)path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.