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Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1  In you, O LORD, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    in your righteousness deliver me!
2  Incline your ear to me;
    rescue me speedily!
Be a rock of refuge for me,
    a strong fortress to save me!

3  For you are my rock and my fortress;
    and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;
4  you take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
    for you are my refuge.
5  Into your hand I commit my spirit;
    you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

6  I hate ^{1 31:6 Masoretic Text; one Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome You hate} those who pay regard to worthless idols,
    but I trust in the LORD.
7  I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
    because you have seen my affliction;
    you have known the distress of my soul,
8  and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
    you have set my feet in a broad place.

9  Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;
    my eye is wasted from grief;
    my soul and my body also.
10  For my life is spent with sorrow,
    and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
    and my bones waste away.

11  Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,
    especially to my neighbors,
and an object of dread to my acquaintances;
    those who see me in the street flee from me.
12  I have been forgotten like one who is dead;
    I have become like a broken vessel.
13  For I hear the whispering of many—
    terror on every side!—
as they scheme together against me,
    as they plot to take my life.

14  But I trust in you, O LORD;
    I say, “You are my God.”
15  My times are in your hand;
    rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
16  Make your face shine on your servant;
    save me in your steadfast love!
17  O LORD, let me not be put to shame,
    for I call upon you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
    let them go silently to Sheol.
18  Let the lying lips be mute,
    which speak insolently against the righteous
    in pride and contempt.

19  Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
    which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
    in the sight of the children of mankind!
20  In the cover of your presence you hide them
    from the plots of men;
you store them in your shelter
    from the strife of tongues.

21  Blessed be the LORD,
    for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
    when I was in a besieged city.
22  I had said in my alarm, ^{2 31:22 Or in my haste}
    “I am cut off from your sight.”
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
    when I cried to you for help.

23  Love the LORD, all you his saints!
    The LORD preserves the faithful
    but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
24  Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
    all you who wait for the LORD!

Blessed Are the Forgiven

A Maskil ^{3 32:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term} of David.

1  Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.
2  Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,
    and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3  For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
4  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
    my strength was dried up ^{4 32:4 Hebrew my vitality was changed} as by the heat of summer. Selah

5  I acknowledged my sin to you,
    and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

6  Therefore let everyone who is godly
    offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
    they shall not reach him.
7  You are a hiding place for me;
    you preserve me from trouble;
    you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

8  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9  Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    or it will not stay near you.

10  Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
    but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
11  Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,
    and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

The Steadfast Love of the LORD

1  Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!
    Praise befits the upright.
2  Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre;
    make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3  Sing to him a new song;
    play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

4  For the word of the LORD is upright,
    and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5  He loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.

6  By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
    and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7  He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
    he puts the deeps in storehouses.

8  Let all the earth fear the LORD;
    let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9  For he spoke, and it came to be;
    he commanded, and it stood firm.

10  The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
    he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11  The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
    the plans of his heart to all generations.
12  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
    the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

13  The LORD looks down from heaven;
    he sees all the children of man;
14  from where he sits enthroned he looks out
    on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15  he who fashions the hearts of them all
    and observes all their deeds.
16  The king is not saved by his great army;
    a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17  The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
    and by its great might it cannot rescue.

18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
    on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19  that he may deliver their soul from death
    and keep them alive in famine.

20  Our soul waits for the LORD;
    he is our help and our shield.
21  For our heart is glad in him,
    because we trust in his holy name.
22  Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
    even as we hope in you.

Taste and See That the LORD Is Good

^{5 34:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each verse beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet} Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

1  I will bless the LORD at all times;
    his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2  My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
    let the humble hear and be glad.
3  Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
    and let us exalt his name together!

4  I sought the LORD, and he answered me
    and delivered me from all my fears.
5  Those who look to him are radiant,
    and their faces shall never be ashamed.
6  This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
    and saved him out of all his troubles.
7  The angel of the LORD encamps
    around those who fear him, and delivers them.

8  Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
9  Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,
    for those who fear him have no lack!
10  The young lions suffer want and hunger;
    but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

11  Come, O children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12  What man is there who desires life
    and loves many days, that he may see good?
13  Keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from speaking deceit.
14  Turn away from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.

15  The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
    and his ears toward their cry.
16  The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
    to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17  When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18  The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.

19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
    but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
20  He keeps all his bones;
    not one of them is broken.
21  Affliction will slay the wicked,
    and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22  The LORD redeems the life of his servants;
    none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Great Is the LORD

Of David.

1  Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
    fight against those who fight against me!
2  Take hold of shield and buckler
    and rise for my help!
3  Draw the spear and javelin ^{6 35:3 Or and close the way}
    against my pursuers!
Say to my soul,
    “I am your salvation!”

4  Let them be put to shame and dishonor
    who seek after my life!
Let them be turned back and disappointed
    who devise evil against me!
5  Let them be like chaff before the wind,
    with the angel of the LORD driving them away!
6  Let their way be dark and slippery,
    with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!

7  For without cause they hid their net for me;
    without cause they dug a pit for my life. ^{7 35:7 The word pit is transposed from the preceding line; Hebrew For without cause they hid the pit of their net for me; without cause they dug for my life}
8  Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
    let him fall into it—to his destruction!

9  Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD,
    exulting in his salvation.
10  All my bones shall say,
    “O LORD, who is like you,
delivering the poor
    from him who is too strong for him,
    the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

11  Malicious ^{8 35:11 Or Violent} witnesses rise up;
    they ask me of things that I do not know.
12  They repay me evil for good;
    my soul is bereft. ^{9 35:12 Hebrew it is bereavement to my soul}
13  But I, when they were sick—
    I wore sackcloth;
    I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed ^{10 35:13 Or my prayer shall turn back} on my chest.
14      I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
    I bowed down in mourning.

15  But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
    they gathered together against me;
wretches whom I did not know
    tore at me without ceasing;
16  like profane mockers at a feast, ^{11 35:16 The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain}
    they gnash at me with their teeth.

17  How long, O Lord, will you look on?
    Rescue me from their destruction,
    my precious life from the lions!
18  I will thank you in the great congregation;
    in the mighty throng I will praise you.

19  Let not those rejoice over me
    who are wrongfully my foes,
and let not those wink the eye
    who hate me without cause.
20  For they do not speak peace,
    but against those who are quiet in the land
    they devise words of deceit.
21  They open wide their mouths against me;
    they say, “Aha, Aha!
    Our eyes have seen it!”

22  You have seen, O LORD; be not silent!
    O Lord, be not far from me!
23  Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication,
    for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24  Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,
    according to your righteousness,
    and let them not rejoice over me!
25  Let them not say in their hearts,
    “Aha, our heart's desire!”
Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”

26  Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether
    who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
    who magnify themselves against me!

27  Let those who delight in my righteousness
    shout for joy and be glad
    and say evermore,
“Great is the LORD,
    who delights in the welfare of his servant!”
28  Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
    and of your praise all the day long.

How Precious Is Your Steadfast Love

To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the LORD.

1  Transgression speaks to the wicked
    deep in his heart; ^{12 36:1 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Jerome (compare Septuagint); most Hebrew manuscripts in my heart}
there is no fear of God
    before his eyes.
2  For he flatters himself in his own eyes
    that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3  The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
    he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
4  He plots trouble while on his bed;
    he sets himself in a way that is not good;
    he does not reject evil.

5  Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the clouds.
6  Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
    your judgments are like the great deep;
    man and beast you save, O LORD.

7  How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8  They feast on the abundance of your house,
    and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9  For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light do we see light.

10  Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
    and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
11  Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
    nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12  There the evildoers lie fallen;
    they are thrust down, unable to rise.