Study Desk

For the choir director: on the Gittith.^(a) A Davidic psalm.

Yahweh, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth!^(b) You have covered the heavens with Your majesty.^[a](c)

Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold^[b] from the mouths of children and nursing infants^(d) to silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You set in place,^(e)

what is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him?^(f)

You made him little less than God^[c][d] and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet:^[e](g)

all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild,

the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas.^(h)

Yahweh, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth!

For the choir director: according to Muth-labben.^[a] A Davidic psalm.

I will thank Yahweh with all my heart; I will declare all Your wonderful works.^(a)

I will rejoice and boast about You;^(b) I will sing about Your name, Most High.^(c)

When my enemies retreat, they stumble and perish before You.^(d)

For You have upheld my just cause;^[b](e) You are seated on Your throne as a righteous judge.^(f)

You have rebuked the nations:^(g) You have destroyed the wicked;^(h) You have erased their name forever and ever.⁽ⁱ⁾

The enemy has come to eternal ruin; You have uprooted the cities, and the very memory of them has perished.^(j)

But the Lord sits enthroned forever;^(k) He has established His throne for judgment.^(l)

He judges the world with righteousness; He executes judgment on the nations with fairness.^(m)

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.⁽ⁿ⁾

Those who know Your name trust in You because You have not abandoned those who seek You, Yahweh.^(o)

Sing to the Lord , who dwells in Zion;^(p) proclaim His deeds among the nations.^(q)

For the One who seeks an accounting for bloodshed remembers them;^(r) He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.^(s)

Be gracious to me, Lord ; consider my affliction at the hands of those who hate me.^(t) Lift me up from the gates of death,^(u)

so that I may declare all Your praises. I will rejoice in Your salvation^(v) within the gates of Daughter Zion.

The nations have fallen into the pit they made; their foot is caught in the net they have concealed.^(w)

The Lord has revealed Himself; He has executed justice,^(x) striking down^[c] the wicked^[d] by the work of their hands.^(y) Higgaion. Selah

The wicked will return to Sheol^(z)— all the nations that forget God.^(aa)

For the oppressed will not always be forgotten; the hope of the afflicted^[e] will not perish forever.^(ab)

Rise up, Lord ! Do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your presence.^(ac)

Put terror in them, Lord ;^(ad) let the nations know they are only men.^(ae) Selah

Lord ,^[a][b] why do You stand so far away?^(a) Why do You hide in times of trouble?^(b)

In arrogance the wicked relentlessly pursue the afflicted; let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.^(c)

For the wicked one boasts about his own cravings;^(d) the one who is greedy curses^[c] and despises the Lord .^(e)

In all his scheming, the wicked arrogantly thinks:^[d] "There is no accountability, since God does not exist."^(f)

His ways are always secure;^[e] Your lofty judgments are beyond his sight; he scoffs at all his adversaries.^(g)

He says to himself, "I will never be moved— from generation to generation without calamity."^(h)

Cursing, deceit, and violence fill his mouth; trouble and malice are under his tongue.⁽ⁱ⁾

He waits in ambush near the villages;^(j) he kills the innocent in secret places. His eyes are on the lookout for the helpless;^(k)

he lurks in secret like a lion in a thicket. He lurks in order to seize the afflicted; he seizes the afflicted and drags him in his net.

So he is oppressed and beaten down; the helpless fall because of his strength.^(l)

He says to himself, "God has forgotten; He hides His face and will never see."^(m)

Rise up, Lord God! Lift up Your hand.⁽ⁿ⁾ Do not forget the afflicted.^(o)

Why has the wicked person despised God? He says to himself, "You will not demand an account."^(p)

But You Yourself have seen trouble and grief, observing it in order to take the matter into Your hands.^(q) The helpless entrusts himself to You; You are a helper of the fatherless.^(r)

Break the arm of the wicked and evil person;^(s) call his wickedness into account until nothing remains of it.^[f](t)

The Lord is King forever and ever;^(u) the nations will perish from His land.^(v)

Lord , You have heard the desire of the humble;^[g] You will strengthen their hearts. You will listen carefully,^(w)

doing justice for the fatherless and the oppressed so that men of the earth may terrify them no more.^(x)