581 Is there righteousness in your mouths, O you gods? are you upright judges, O you sons of men? 2 The purposes of your hearts are evil; your hands are full of cruel doings on the earth. 3 The evil-doers are strange from the first; from the hour of their birth they go out of the true way, saying false words. 4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake; they are like the adder, whose ears are shut; 5 Who will not be moved by the voice of the wonder-worker, however great are his powers.
6 O God, let their teeth be broken in their mouths; let the great teeth of the young lions be pulled out, O Lord. 7 Let them be turned to liquid like the ever-flowing waters; let them be cut off like the grass by the way. 8 Let them be like an after-birth which is turned to water and comes to an end; like the fruit of a woman who gives birth before her time, let them not see the sun. 9 Before they are conscious of it, let them be cut down like thorns; let a strong wind take them away like waste growth. 10 The upright man will be glad when he sees their punishment; his feet will be washed in the blood of the evil-doer. 11 So that men will say, Truly there is a reward for righteousness; truly there is a God who is judge on the earth.
591 Take me out of the hands of the cruel ones, O my God; keep me safe from those who come up against me. 2 Take me out of the power of the workers of evil, and keep me safe from the men of blood. 3 For see, they are watching in secret for my soul; the strong have come together against me? but not because of my sin, or my evil-doing, O Lord. 4 For no sin of mine they go quickly and get themselves ready; be awake and come to my help, and see. 5 You, O Lord God of armies, are the God of Israel; come now and give punishment to the nations; have no mercy on any workers of deceit. (Selah.) 6 They come back in the evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go round the town. 7 See, hate is dropping from their lips; curses are on their tongues: they say, Who gives attention to it?
8 But you are laughing at them, O Lord; you will make sport of all the nations. 9 O my strength, I will put my hope in you; because God is my strong tower. 10 The God of my mercy will go before me: God will let me see my desire effected on my haters. 11 Put them not to death, for so my people will keep the memory of them: let them be sent in all directions by your power; make them low, O Lord our saviour. 12 Because of the sin of their mouths and the word of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride; and for their curses and their deceit, 13 Put an end to them in your wrath, put an end to them, so that they may not be seen again; let them see that God is ruling in Jacob and to the ends of the earth. (Selah.) 14 And in the evening let them come back, and make a noise like a dog, and go round the town. 15 Let them go wandering up and down in search of food, and be there all night if they have not enough. 16 But I will make songs of your power; yes, I will give cries of joy for your mercy in the morning; because you have been my strength and my high tower in the day of my trouble. 17 To you, O my strength, will I make my song: because God is my high tower, even the God of my mercy.
601 God, you have put us away from you, you have sent us in all directions, you have been angry; O be turned to us again. 2 By the power of your hand the earth is shaking and broken; make it strong again, for it is moved. 3 You have made the people see hard times; you have given us the wine of shaking for our drink. 4 Give a safe place to those who have fear of you, where they may go in flight from before the bow. (Selah.) 5 So that your loved ones may be made safe, let your right hand be my salvation, and give me an answer.
6 God has said in his holy place, I will be glad: I will make a division of Shechem, and the valley of Succoth will be measured out. 7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; and Ephraim is the strength of my head; Judah is my law-giver; 8 Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I put out my shoe; over Philistia will a glad cry be sounded. 9 Who will take me into the strong town? who will be my guide into Edom? 10 Have not you put us away, O God? and you have not gone out with our armies. 11 Give us help in our trouble; for there is no help in man. 12 Through God we will do great things, for through him our haters will be crushed under our feet.
611 Let my cry come to you, O God; let your ears be open to my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth will I send up my cry to you, when my heart is overcome: take me to the rock which is over-high for me. 3 For you have been my secret place, and my high tower from those who made war on me. 4 I will make your tent my resting-place for ever: I will keep myself under the cover of your wings. (Selah.)
5 For you, O God, have made answer to my prayers; you have given me the heritage of those who give honour to your name. 6 You will give the king long life; and make his years go on through the generations. 7 May the seat of his authority be before God for ever; may mercy and righteousness keep him safe. 8 So will I make songs in praise of your name for ever, giving to God that which is right day by day.
621 My soul, put all your faith in God; for from him comes my salvation. 2 He only is my Rock and my salvation; he is my high tower; I will not be greatly moved. 3 How long will you go on designing evil against a man? running against him as against a broken wall, which is on the point of falling? 4 Their only thought is to put him down from his place of honour; their delight is in deceit: blessing is in their mouths but cursing in their hearts. (Selah.) 5 My soul, put all your faith in God; for from him comes my hope. 6 He only is my Rock and my salvation; he is my high tower; I will not be greatly moved. 7 In God is my salvation, and my glory; the Rock of my strength, and my safe place.
8 Have faith in him at all times, you people; let your hearts go flowing out before him: God is our safe place. (Selah.) 9 Truly men of low birth are nothing, and men of high position are not what they seem; if they are put in the scales together they are less than a breath. 10 Have no faith in the rewards of evil-doing, or in profits wrongly made: if your wealth is increased, do not put your hopes on it. 11 Once has God said, twice has it come to my ears, that power is God's: 12 And mercy, O Lord, is yours, for you give to every man the reward of his work.
631 O God, you are my God; early will I make my search for you: my soul is dry for need of you, my flesh is wasted with desire for you, as a dry and burning land where no water is; 2 To see your power and your glory, as I have seen you in the holy place.
3 Because your mercy is better than life, my lips will give you praise. 4 So will I go on blessing you all my life, lifting up my hands in your name. 5 My soul will be comforted, as with good food; and my mouth will give you praise with songs of joy; 6 When the memory of you comes to me on my bed, and when I give thought to you in the night-time.
7 Because you have been my help, I will have joy in the shade of your wings. 8 My soul keeps ever near you: your right hand is my support. 9 But those whose desire is my soul's destruction will go down to the lower parts of the earth. 10 They will be cut off by the sword; they will be food for foxes. 11 But the king will have joy in God; everyone who takes an oath by him will have cause for pride; but the false mouth will be stopped.
641 O God, let the voice of my grief come to your ear: keep my life from the fear of those who are against me. 2 Keep me safe from the secret purpose of wrongdoers; from the band of the workers of evil; 3 Who make their tongues sharp like a sword, and whose arrows are pointed, even bitter words; 4 So that in secret they may let loose their arrows at the upright, suddenly and unseen. 5 They make themselves strong in an evil purpose; they make holes for secret nets; they say, Who will see it, 6 Or make discovery of our secret purpose? The design is framed with care; and the inner thought of a man, and his heart, is deep.
7 But God sends out an arrow against them; suddenly they are wounded. 8 The evil of their tongues is the cause of their fall; all those who see them are shaking their heads at them. 9 And in fear men make public the works of God; and giving thought to his acts they get wisdom. 10 The upright will be glad in the Lord and have hope in him; and all the lovers of righteousness will give him glory.
651 It is right for you, O God, to have praise in Zion: to you let the offering be made. 2 To you, O hearer of prayer, let the words of all flesh come. 3 Evils have overcome us: but as for our sins, you will take them away. 4 Happy is the man of your selection, to whom you give a resting-place in your house; we will be full of the good things out of your holy place. 5 You will give us an answer in righteousness by great acts of power, O God of our salvation; you who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of the far-off lands of the sea;
6 The God by whose strength the mountains are fixed; who is robed with power: 7 Who makes the loud voice of the sea quiet, and puts an end to the sound of its waves. 8 Those in the farthest parts of the earth have fear when they see your signs: the outgoings of the morning and evening are glad because of you. 9 You have given your blessing to the earth, watering it and making it fertile; the river of God is full of water: and having made it ready, you give men grain. 10 You make the ploughed lands full of water; you make smooth the slopes: you make the earth soft with showers, sending your blessing on its growth. 11 The year is crowned with the good you give; life-giving rain is dropping from your footsteps, 12 Falling on the grass of the waste land: and the little hills are glad on every side. 13 The grass-land is thick with flocks; the valleys are full of grain; they give glad cries and songs of joy.
