Psalm 7-16

English Standard Version

³ O Lord my God, ^(F)if I have done this,
    if there is ^(G)wrong in my hands,
⁴ if I have repaid ^(H)my friend^[b] with evil
    or ^(I)plundered my enemy without cause,
⁵ let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
    and let him ^(J)trample my life to the ground
    and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

^6 (K)Arise, O Lord, in your anger;
    ^(L)lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
    ^(M)awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
⁷ Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
    over it return on high.

⁸ The Lord ^(N)judges the peoples;
    ^(O)judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
    and according to the integrity that is in me.
⁹ Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
    and may you establish the righteous—
you who ^(P)test ^(Q)the minds and hearts,^[c]
    O righteous God!
¹⁰ My shield is ^(R)with God,
    who saves ^(S)the upright in heart.
¹¹ God is ^(T)a righteous judge,
    and a God who feels ^(U)indignation every day.

¹² If a man^[d] does not repent, God^[e] will ^(V)whet his sword;
    he has ^(W)bent and ^(X)readied his bow;
¹³ he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
    making his ^(Y)arrows ^(Z)fiery shafts.
¹⁴ Behold, the wicked man ^(AA)conceives evil
    and is ^(AB)pregnant with mischief
    and gives birth to lies.
¹⁵ He makes ^(AC)a pit, digging it out,
    and falls into the hole that he has made.
¹⁶ His ^(AD)mischief returns upon his own head,
    and on his own skull his violence descends.

¹⁷ I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
    and I will ^(AE)sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

³ When I ^(AL)look at your heavens, the work of your ^(AM)fingers,
    the moon and the stars, ^(AN)which you have set in place,
^4 (AO)what is man that you are ^(AP)mindful of him,
    and ^(AQ)the son of man that you ^(AR)care for him?

⁵ Yet you have made him a little lower than ^(AS)the heavenly beings^[g]
    and crowned him with ^(AT)glory and honor.
⁶ You have given him ^(AU)dominion over the works of your hands;
    ^(AV)you have put all things under his feet,
⁷ all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
⁸ the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

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

³ When my enemies turn back,
    they stumble and perish before^[j] your presence.
⁴ For you have ^(BA)maintained my just cause;
    you have ^(BB)sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.

⁵ You have ^(BC)rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
    you have ^(BD)blotted out their name forever and ever.
⁶ The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
    their cities you rooted out;
    the very memory of them has perished.

⁷ But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
    he has established his throne for justice,
⁸ and he ^(BE)judges the world with righteousness;
    he ^(BF)judges the peoples with uprightness.

⁹ The Lord is ^(BG)a stronghold for ^(BH)the oppressed,
    a stronghold in ^(BI)times of trouble.
¹⁰ And those who ^(BJ)know your name put their trust in you,
    for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹ Sing praises to the Lord, who ^(BK)sits enthroned in Zion!
    Tell among the peoples his ^(BL)deeds!
¹² For he who ^(BM)avenges blood is mindful of them;
    he ^(BN)does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

^13 (BO)Be gracious to me, O Lord!
    See my affliction from those who hate me,
    O you who lift me up from ^(BP)the gates of death,
¹⁴ that I may recount all your praises,
    that in the gates of ^(BQ)the daughter of Zion
    I may ^(BR)rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵ The nations have sunk in ^(BS)the pit that they made;
    in ^(BT)the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
¹⁶ The Lord has made himself ^(BU)known; he has executed judgment;
    the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion.^[k] Selah

¹⁷ The wicked shall ^(BV)return to Sheol,
    all the nations that ^(BW)forget God.

¹⁸ For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
    and ^(BX)the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

^19 (BY)Arise, O Lord! Let not ^(BZ)man prevail;
    let the nations be judged before you!
²⁰ Put them in fear, O Lord!
    Let the nations know that they are but ^(CA)men! Selah

² In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
    let them ^(CE)be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
³ For the wicked ^(CF)boasts of the desires of his soul,
    and the one greedy for gain ^(CG)curses^[l] and ^(CH)renounces the Lord.
⁴ In the pride of his face^[m] the wicked does not ^(CI)seek him;^[n]
    all his thoughts are, ^(CJ)“There is no God.”
⁵ His ways prosper at all times;
    your judgments are on high, ^(CK)out of his sight;
    as for all his foes, he ^(CL)puffs at them.
⁶ He ^(CM)says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
    throughout all generations I ^(CN)shall not meet adversity.”
^7 (CO)His mouth is filled with cursing and ^(CP)deceit and ^(CQ)oppression;
    ^(CR)under his tongue are ^(CS)mischief and ^(CT)iniquity.
⁸ He sits in ambush in the villages;
    in ^(CU)hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
⁹     he lurks in ambush like ^(CV)a lion in his ^(CW)thicket;
he ^(CX)lurks that he may seize the poor;
    he seizes the poor when he draws him into his ^(CY)net.
¹⁰ The helpless are crushed, sink down,
    and fall by his might.
¹¹ He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
    he has ^(CZ)hidden his face, he ^(DA)will never see it.”

^12 (DB)Arise, O Lord; O God, ^(DC)lift up your hand;
    ^(DD)forget not the afflicted.
¹³ Why does the wicked ^(DE)renounce God
    and say in his heart, “You will not ^(DF)call to account”?
¹⁴ But you do see, for you ^(DG)note mischief and vexation,
    that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless ^(DH)commits himself;
    you have been ^(DI)the helper of the fatherless.
^15 (DJ)Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
    ^(DK)call his wickedness to account till you find none.

^16 (DL)The Lord is king forever and ever;
    the ^(DM)nations perish from his land.
¹⁷ O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you will ^(DN)strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
¹⁸ to ^(DO)do justice to the fatherless and ^(DP)the oppressed,
    so that ^(DQ)man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

^4 (DV)The Lord is in his holy temple;
    the Lord's ^(DW)throne is in heaven;
    his eyes see, his eyelids ^(DX)test the children of man.
⁵ The Lord ^(DY)tests the righteous,
    but ^(DZ)his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
⁶ Let him rain coals on the wicked;
    ^(EA)fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be ^(EB)the portion of their cup.
⁷ For the Lord is righteous;
he ^(EC)loves righteous deeds;
    ^(ED)the upright shall behold his face.

³ May the Lord cut off all ^(EI)flattering lips,
    the tongue that makes ^(EJ)great boasts,
⁴ those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
    our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

⁵ “Because ^(EK)the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
    ^(EL)I will now arise,” says the Lord;
    “I will place him in the ^(EM)safety for which he longs.”
^6 (EN)The words of the Lord are pure words,
    like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
    purified seven times.

⁷ You, O Lord, will keep them;
    you will guard us^[q] from this generation forever.
⁸ On every side the wicked prowl,
    as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

^3 (ES)Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
    ^(ET)light up my eyes, lest ^(EU)I sleep the sleep of death,
^4 (EV)lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
    lest my foes rejoice because I am ^(EW)shaken.

⁵ But I have ^(EX)trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall ^(EY)rejoice in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

² The Lord ^(FE)looks down from heaven on the children of man,
    to see if there are any who understand,^[r]
    who ^(FF)seek after God.

³ They have all turned aside; together they have become ^(FG)corrupt;
    there is none who does good,
    not even one.

⁴ Have they no ^(FH)knowledge, all the evildoers
    who ^(FI)eat up my people as they eat bread
    and ^(FJ)do not call upon the Lord?

⁵ There they are in great terror,
    for God is with ^(FK)the generation of the righteous.
⁶ You would shame the plans of the poor,
    but^[s] the Lord is his ^(FL)refuge.

⁷ Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
    When the Lord ^(FM)restores the fortunes of his people,
    let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

² He who ^(FQ)walks blamelessly and ^(FR)does what is right
    and ^(FS)speaks truth in his heart;
³ who ^(FT)does not slander with his tongue
    and does no evil to his neighbor,
    nor ^(FU)takes up a reproach against his friend;
^4 (FV)in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
    but who honors those who fear the Lord;
who ^(FW)swears to his own hurt and does not change;
⁵ who ^(FX)does not put out his money at interest
    and ^(FY)does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be ^(FZ)moved.

³ As for ^(GD)the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
    in whom is all my delight.^[u]

⁴ The sorrows of those who run after^[v] another god shall multiply;
    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
    or ^(GE)take their names on my lips.

⁵ The Lord is ^(GF)my chosen portion and my ^(GG)cup;
    you hold my ^(GH)lot.
^6 (GI)The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷ I bless the Lord who ^(GJ)gives me counsel;
    in ^(GK)the night also my ^(GL)heart instructs me.^[w]
8 (GM)I have ^(GN)set the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my ^(GO)right hand, I shall not be ^(GP)shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my ^(GQ)whole being^[x] rejoices;
    my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰ For you will not abandon my soul to ^(GR)Sheol,
    ^(GS)or let your ^(GT)holy one see ^(GU)corruption.^[y]

¹¹ You make known to me ^(GV)the path of life;
    in your presence there is ^(GW)fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are ^(GX)pleasures forevermore.