Psalm 35; Psalm 54; Psalm 63; Psalm 18

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Psalm 35

Great Is the Lord

Of David.

Contend, O Lord, with those who ycontend with me;

zfight against those who fight against me!

Take hold of ashield and buckler

and rise for my help!

Draw the spear and javelin1

against my pursuers!

Say to my soul,

I am your salvation!

bLet them be cput to shame and dishonor

who seek after my life!

Let them be dturned back and disappointed

who devise evil against me!

Let them be like echaff before the wind,

with the angel of the Lord driving them away!

Let their way be dark and fslippery,

with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!

For gwithout cause hthey hid their net for me;

without cause they dug ia pit for my life.2

Let jdestruction come upon him kwhen he does not know it!

And let the net that he hid ensnare him;

let him fall into itto his destruction!

Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord,

lexulting in his salvation.

10  All my mbones shall say,

O Lord, nwho is like you,

delivering the poor

from him who is too strong for him,

the poor and needy from him who robs him?

11  oMalicious3 witnesses rise up;

they ask me of things that I do not know.

12  pThey repay me evil for good;

my soul is bereft.4

13  But I, qwhen they were sick

I rwore sackcloth;

I safflicted myself with fasting;

I prayed twith head bowed5 on my chest.

14  I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;

as one who laments his mother,

I ubowed down in mourning.

15  But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;

they gathered together against me;

vwretches whom I did not know

tore at me without ceasing;

16  like profane mockers at a feast,6

they wgnash at me with their teeth.

17  How long, O Lord, will you xlook on?

Rescue me from their destruction,

ymy precious life from the lions!

18  I will thank you in zthe great congregation;

in the mighty throng I will praise you.

19  aLet not those rejoice over me

who are bwrongfully my foes,

and let not those cwink the eye

who dhate me ewithout cause.

20  For they do not speak peace,

but against those who are quiet in the land

they devise words of deceit.

21  They fopen wide their mouths against me;

they say, gAha, Aha!

Our eyes have seen it!

22  hYou have seen, O Lord; ibe not silent!

O Lord, jbe not far from me!

23  Awake and krouse yourself for lmy vindication,

for my cause, my God and my Lord!

24  mVindicate me, O Lord, my God,

according to your righteousness,

and nlet them not rejoice over me!

25  Let them not say in their hearts,

oAha, our heart’s desire!

Let them not say, pWe have swallowed him up.

26  Let them be qput to shame and disappointed altogether

who rejoice at my calamity!

Let them be rclothed with shame and dishonor

who smagnify themselves against me!

27  Let those who delight in my righteousness

shout for joy and be glad

tand say evermore,

uGreat is the Lord,

who vdelights in the welfare of his servant!

28  Then my wtongue shall tell of your righteousness

and of your praise all the day long.


Psalm 54

The Lord Upholds My Life

To the choirmaster: with tstringed instruments. A Maskil1 of David, uwhen the Ziphites went and told Saul, Is not David hiding among us?

O God, save me by your vname,

and vindicate me by your might.

O God, whear my prayer;

give ear to the words of my mouth.

xFor ystrangers2 have risen against me;

ruthless men zseek my life;

they do not set God before themselves. Selah

Behold, aGod is my helper;

the Lord is the upholder of my life.

He will return the evil to my enemies;

in your bfaithfulness cput an end to them.

With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;

I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, dfor it is good.

For he has delivered me from every trouble,

and my eye has elooked in triumph on my enemies.


Psalm 63

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David, swhen he was in the wilderness of Judah.

O God, you are my God; tearnestly I seek you;

umy soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you,

as in va dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

beholding wyour power and glory.

Because your xsteadfast love is better than life,

my lips will praise you.

So I will bless you yas long as I live;

in your zname I will alift up my hands.

My soul will be bsatisfied as with fat and rich food,

and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,

when I remember you cupon my bed,

and meditate on you in cthe watches of the night;

for you have been my help,

and in dthe shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

My soul eclings to you;

your right hand fupholds me.

But those who seek to destroy my life

gshall go down into hthe depths of the earth;

10  they shall be given over to the power of the sword;

they shall be a portion for jackals.

11  But ithe king shall rejoice in God;

all who jswear by him shall exult,

kfor the mouths of lliars will be stopped.


Psalm 18

The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, fthe servant of the Lord, gwho addressed the words of this hsong to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:

I love you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my irock and my jfortress and my deliverer,

my God, my irock, in kwhom I take refuge,

my lshield, and mthe horn of my salvation, my nstronghold.

I call upon the Lord, who is oworthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies.

pThe cords of death encompassed me;

qthe torrents of destruction assailed me;1

pthe cords of Sheol entangled me;

the snares of death confronted me.

rIn my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I cried for help.

From his stemple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

Then the earth treeled and rocked;

the foundations also of the mountains trembled

and quaked, because he was angry.

Smoke went up from his nostrils,2

and devouring ufire from his mouth;

glowing coals flamed forth from him.

He vbowed the heavens and wcame down;

xthick darkness was under his feet.

10  He rode on a cherub and flew;

he came swiftly on zthe wings of the wind.

11  He made darkness his covering, his acanopy around him,

thick clouds bdark with water.

12  Out of the brightness before him

chailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

13  The Lord also dthundered in the heavens,

and the Most High uttered his evoice,

hailstones and coals of fire.

14  And he sent out his farrows and scattered them;

he flashed forth lightnings and grouted them.

15  Then hthe channels of the sea were seen,

and the foundations of the world were laid bare

at your irebuke, O Lord,

at the blast of jthe breath of your nostrils.

16  He ksent from on high, he took me;

he ldrew me out of mmany waters.

17  He rescued me from my strong enemy

and from those who hated me,

for they were ntoo mighty for me.

18  They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

but the Lord was my support.

19  He brought me out into oa broad place;

he rescued me, because he pdelighted in me.

20  The Lord dealt with me qaccording to my righteousness;

according to rthe cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.

21  For I have skept the ways of the Lord,

and have not wickedly departed from my God.

22  For tall his rules3 were before me,

and his statutes I did not put away from me.

23  I was ublameless before him,

and I kept myself from my guilt.

24  So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

25  With vthe merciful you show yourself merciful;

with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;

26  with the purified you show yourself pure;

and with wthe crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.

27  For you save xa humble people,

but ythe haughty eyes you bring down.

28  For it is you who light my zlamp;

the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

29  For by you I can run against a troop,

and by my God I can aleap over ba wall.

30  This Godhis way is cperfect;4

the word of the Lord dproves true;

he is ea shield for all those who ftake refuge in him.

31  For gwho is God, but the Lord?

And who is ha rock, except our God?

32  the God who iequipped me with strength

and made my way jblameless.

33  He made my feet like the feet of a kdeer

and set me secure on lthe heights.

34  He mtrains my hands for war,

so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35  You have given me the shield of your salvation,

and your right hand nsupported me,

and your ogentleness made me great.

36  You pgave a wide place for my steps under me,

and my feet did not slip.

37  I pursued my enemies and overtook them,

and did not turn back till they were consumed.

38  I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;

they fell under my feet.

39  For you equipped me with strength for the battle;

you made those who rise against me sink under me.

40  You made my enemies qturn their backs to me,5

and those who hated me I destroyed.

41  rThey cried for help, but there was none to save;

they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.

42  I beat them fine as sdust before the wind;

I cast them out like tthe mire of the streets.

43  You delivered me from ustrife with the people;

you made me vthe head of the nations;

wpeople whom I had not known served me.

44  As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;

xforeigners ycame cringing to me.

45  xForeigners lost heart

and zcame trembling out of their fortresses.

46  The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,

and exalted be the God of my salvation

47  the God who gave me vengeance

and asubdued peoples under me,

48  who rescued me from my enemies;

yes, you bexalted me above those who rose against me;

you delivered me from cthe man of violence.

49  dFor this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,

and esing to your name.

50  Great fsalvation he brings to his king,

and shows steadfast love to his ganointed,

to hDavid and his offspring forever.