A Protestation of Integrity

261 Judge me, Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity.
I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering. 2 Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me.
Try my heart and my mind. 3 For your loving kindness is before my eyes.
I have walked in your truth. 4 I have not sat with deceitful men,
neither will I go in with hypocrites. 5 I hate the assembly of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.

6 I will wash my hands in innocence,
so I will go about your altar, Yahweh; 7 that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard,
and tell of all your wondrous works. 8 Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house,
the place where your glory dwells. 9 Don’t gather my soul with sinners,
nor my life with bloodthirsty men; 10 in whose hands is wickedness,
their right hand is full of bribes. 11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity.
Redeem me, and be merciful to me. 12 My foot stands in an even place.
In the congregations I will bless Yahweh.

The LORD Is My Light and My Salvation

271 Yahweh is my light and my salvation.
Whom shall I fear?
Yahweh is the strength of my life.
Of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh,
even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army should encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear.
Though war should rise against me,
even then I will be confident. 4 One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after,
that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life,
to see Yahweh’s beauty,
and to inquire in his temple. 5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion.
In the covert of his tabernacle he will hide me.
He will lift me up on a rock. 6 Now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me.
I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tent.
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Yahweh.

7 Hear, Yahweh, when I cry with my voice.
Have mercy also on me, and answer me. 8 When you said, “Seek my face,”
my heart said to you, “I will seek your face, Yahweh.” 9 Don’t hide your face from me.
Don’t put your servant away in anger.
You have been my help.
Don’t abandon me,
neither forsake me, God of my salvation. 10 When my father and my mother forsake me,
then Yahweh will take me up. 11 Teach me your way, Yahweh.
Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies. 12 Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries,
for false witnesses have risen up against me,
such as breathe out cruelty. 13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living. 14 Wait for Yahweh.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage.
Yes, wait for Yahweh.

A Prayer for Help and Praise for Its Answer

281 To you, Yahweh, I call.
My rock, don’t be deaf to me;
lest, if you are silent to me,
I would become like those who go down into the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you,
when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place. 3 Don’t draw me away with the wicked,
with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors,
but mischief is in their hearts. 4 Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings.
Give them according to the operation of their hands.
Bring back on them what they deserve. 5 Because they don’t respect the works of Yahweh,
nor the operation of his hands,
he will break them down and not build them up.

6 Blessed be Yahweh,
because he has heard the voice of my petitions. 7 Yahweh is my strength and my shield.
My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped.
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices.
With my song I will thank him. 8 Yahweh is their strength.
He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed. 9 Save your people,
and bless your inheritance.
Be their shepherd also,
and bear them up forever.

The Voice of the LORD in the Storm

291 Ascribe to Yahweh, you sons of the mighty,
ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due to his name.
Worship Yahweh in holy array. 3 Yahweh’s voice is on the waters.
The God of glory thunders, even Yahweh on many waters. 4 Yahweh’s voice is powerful.
Yahweh’s voice is full of majesty. 5 The voice of Yahweh breaks the cedars.
Yes, Yahweh breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes them also to skip like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion like a young, wild ox. 7 Yahweh’s voice strikes with flashes of lightning. 8 Yahweh’s voice shakes the wilderness.
Yahweh shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 Yahweh’s voice makes the deer calve,
and strips the forests bare.
In his temple everything says, “Glory!” 10 Yahweh sat enthroned at the Flood.
Yes, Yahweh sits as King forever. 11 Yahweh will give strength to his people.
Yahweh will bless his people with peace.

Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death

301 I will extol you, Yahweh, for you have raised me up,
and have not made my foes to rejoice over me. 2 Yahweh my God, I cried to you,
and you have healed me. 3 Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol.
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4 Sing praise to Yahweh, you saints of his.
Give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment.
His favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may stay for the night,
but joy comes in the morning.

6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I shall never be moved.” 7 You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong;
but when you hid your face, I was troubled. 8 I cried to you, Yahweh.
To Yahweh I made supplication: 9 “What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise you?
Shall it declare your truth? 10 Hear, Yahweh, and have mercy on me.
Yahweh, be my helper.” 11 You have turned my mourning into dancing for me.
You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness, 12 To the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent.
Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

A Profession of Trust

311 In you, Yahweh, I take refuge.
Let me never be disappointed.
Deliver me in your righteousness. 2 Bow down your ear to me.
Deliver me speedily.
Be to me a strong rock,
a house of defense to save me. 3 For you are my rock and my fortress,
therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me. 4 Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me,
for you are my stronghold. 5 Into your hand I commend my spirit.
You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth. 6 I hate those who regard lying vanities,
but I trust in Yahweh. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness,
for you have seen my affliction.
You have known my soul in adversities. 8 You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.
You have set my feet in a large place.

9 Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am in distress.
My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief. 10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
my years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
My bones are wasted away. 11 Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,
A fear to my acquaintances.
Those who saw me on the street fled from me. 12 I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.
I am like broken pottery. 13 For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side,
while they conspire together against me,
they plot to take away my life. 14 But I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.” 15 My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. 16 Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness. 17 Let me not be disappointed, Yahweh, for I have called on you.
Let the wicked be disappointed.
Let them be silent in Sheol. 18 Let the lying lips be mute,
which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.

19 Oh how great is your goodness,
which you have laid up for those who fear you,
which you have worked for those who take refuge in you,
before the sons of men! 20 In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man.
You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues. 21 Praise be to Yahweh,
for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city. 22 As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.”
Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you. 23 Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints!
Yahweh preserves the faithful,
and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly. 24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who hope in Yahweh.