I Will Give Thanks to the LORD

¹I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart;I will recount all Your wonders.

²I will be glad and rejoice in You;I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies retreat,they stumble and perish before You.

⁴For You have upheld my just cause;You sit on Your throne judging righteously.

⁵You have rebuked the nations;You have destroyed the wicked;You have erased their name forever and ever.

⁶The enemy has come to eternal ruin,and You have uprooted their cities;the very memory of them has vanished.

⁷But the LORD abides forever;He has established His throne for judgment.

⁸He judges the world with justice;He governs the people with equity.

⁹The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,a stronghold in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know Your name trust in You,for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

¹¹Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion;proclaim His deeds among the nations.

¹²For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers;He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

¹³Be merciful to me, O LORD;see how my enemies afflict me!Lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴that I may declare all Your praises—that within the gates of Daughter ZionI may rejoice in Your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have fallen into a pit of their making;their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

¹⁶The LORD is known by the justice He brings;the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.Higgaion Selah

¹⁷The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God.

¹⁸For the needy will not always be forgotten;nor the hope of the oppressed forever dashed.

¹⁹Rise up, O LORD, do not let man prevail;let the nations be judged in Your presence.

²⁰Lay terror upon them, O LORD;let the nations know they are but men.Selah

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The Prayer of the Afflicted

¹Hear my prayer, O LORD;let my cry for help come before You.

²Do not hide Your face from mein my day of distress.Incline Your ear to me;answer me quickly when I call.

³For my days vanish like smoke,and my bones burn like glowing embers.

⁴My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass;I even forget to eat my bread.

⁵Through my loud groaningmy skin hangs on my bones.

⁶I am like a desert owl,like an owl among the ruins.

⁷I lie awake;I am like a lone bird on a housetop.

⁸All day long my enemies taunt me;they ridicule me and curse me.

⁹For I have eaten ashes like breadand mixed my drink with tears

¹⁰because of Your indignation and wrath,for You have picked me up and cast me aside.

¹¹My days are like lengthening shadows,and I wither away like grass.

¹²But You, O LORD, sit enthroned forever;Your renown endures to all generations.

¹³You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,for it is time to show her favor—the appointed time has come.

¹⁴For Your servants delight in her stonesand take pity on her dust.

¹⁵So the nations will fear the name of the LORD,and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory.

¹⁶For the LORD will rebuild Zion;He has appeared in His glory.

¹⁷He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute;He will not despise their prayer.

¹⁸Let this be written for the generation to come,so that a people not yet created may praise the LORD.

¹⁹For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary;the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth

²⁰to hear a prisoner’s groaning,to release those condemned to death,

²¹that they may proclaim the name of the LORD in Zionand praise Him in Jerusalem,

²²when peoples and kingdoms assembleto serve the LORD.

²³He has broken my strength on the way;He has cut short my days.

²⁴I say: “O my God, do not take me in the midst of my days!Your years go on through all generations.

²⁵In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth,and the heavens are the work of Your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but You remain;they will all wear out like a garment.Like clothing You will change them,and they will be passed on.

²⁷But You remain the same,and Your years will never end.

²⁸The children of Your servants will dwell securely,and their descendants will be established before You.”

I Take Refuge in You

¹O LORD my God, I take refuge in You;save me and deliver me from all my pursuers,

²or they will shred my soul like a lionand tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

³O LORD my God, if I have done this,if injustice is on my hands,

⁴if I have rewarded my allywith evil,if I have plundered my foe without cause,

⁵then may my enemy pursue me and overtake me;may he trample me to the groundand leave my honor in the dust.Selah

⁶Arise, O LORD, in Your anger;rise up against the fury of my enemies.Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.

⁷Let the assembled peoples gather around You;take Your seat over them on high.

⁸The LORD judges the peoples;vindicate me, O LORD,according to my righteousness and integrity.

⁹Put an end to the evil of the wicked,but establish the righteous,O righteous God who searches hearts and minds.

¹⁰My shield is with God,who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹God is a righteous judgeand a God who feels indignation each day.

¹²If one does not repent,God will sharpen His sword;He has bent and strung His bow.

¹³He has prepared His deadly weapons;He ordains His arrows with fire.

¹⁴Behold, the wicked man travails with evil;he conceives trouble and births falsehood.

¹⁵He has dug a hole and hollowed it out;he has fallen into a pit of his own making.

¹⁶His trouble recoils on himself,and his violence falls on his own head.

¹⁷I will thank the LORD for His righteousnessand sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.