The Bible New Revised Standard Version pg. 958-1129

INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 958


INTRODUCTION TO THE
POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS


Contents and Placement

The Poetical and Wisdom Books — Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
and the Song of Solomon — do not form a totally coherent unit,
especially when compared to other canonical divisions, such as the
Historical Books or the Prophetic Books. These fives books were written
or collected at widely different times and consist of a number of
literary types: love poetry (the Song of Solomon), Temple liturgy
(Psalms), and wisdom literature (Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes). It is
also likely that they entered the canon for quite different reasons:
Psalms was used for prayers; the Song of Solomon was probably first
canonized as an ancient erotic poem used in wedding ceremonies;
while Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes may have been placed together in
the canon because all three belong to a category of writings known as
wisdom literature.

"Wisdom literature" describes works that do not focus on the nation
Israel, on its great formative historical memories, such as Exodus and
conquest, on the Temple and Jerusalem, and on covenant as the
central theological notion binding together God, the people Israel, and
the land of Israel. Wisdom books are thus in some ways a departure
from the concerns of other biblical books. They share, rather, as their
focus, reflection on universal human concerns, especially the
understanding of individual experiences and the maintenance of
ordered relationships that lead both to success on the human (social)
plane and to divine approval. In more recent scholarship, the concept
of "wisdom" has been criticized as too elastic and amorphous. Indeed,
the three wisdom books in this collection are remarkably different
from one another and do not form a clear unit: Proverbs, in contrast to
Job, suggest that the righteous are rewarded and do not suffer, while
Ecclesiastes, in contrast to both Job and Proverbs, is deeply skeptical of

958



INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 959

INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 959

As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife (26.21).

The inevitability of the natural occurrence is mirrored in the
inevitability of the social one. This kind of thinking then was extended
to moral behavior, with the argument that good behavior, like good
farming practice, will be rewarded:

Anyone who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and anyone who takes care of a master will be honored
(27.18).

Job and Ecclesiastes relate to this normative tradition in different ways.
Job denies the inevitability of rewards for living an upright life and
decisively refutes the idea that human suffering is always deserved.
Ecclesiastes treats the idea of inevitability in another way: The natural
repetitions of seasons, tasks, and occupations become the image of
futility. Each therefore, depends on the reader's acquaintance with the
normative tradition. It should be noted that the themes of the wisdom
tradition are continued in the Apocryphal/ Deuterocanonical books of
the Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), both of which
combine didactic themes and style familiar especially from the book of
Proverbs with retrospective summaries of Israel's history.

Though these five books are loosely described as Poetical Books, they
are not all poetry, nor are all biblical poetic works found in this
canonical section. Although Ecclesiastes contains some poetical
sections, such as the poem of 3.1-8 ("For everything there is a

959



INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 960

INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 960

The creation of a canonical division called the "Poetical Books" is a
relatively late development. In Jewish tradition these five books are
included in the Writings, the third division of the canon; their order
varies in different sources. The earliest evidence for seeing these five
books as a unit comes from the second century CE, though it took
many centuries for these five books, in the order found here, to be
recognized as the third section of the Bible. The order of these books
was variable, and some traditions placed them at the end of the
Christian Old Testament, while others put them as the second part of
that book immediately following the Pentateuch. Its current placement
in English Bibles follows some manuscript traditions which most likely
sought to organize the first section of the Bible by placing the Torah,
the most authoritative section, first, followed by works about the past
(the Historical Books), books about the present (the Poetical Books),
and books about the future (the Prophetic Books). This arrangement,
which places the prophets last, would be especially significant once the
Hebrew Bible became the Old Testament and was seen as a kind of
introduction to the New Testament. The Prophetic Books would then
immediately precede the Gospels as prophecy followed by fulfillment.

Authorship

At least four of the five Poetical Books cohere in terms of traditionally
ascribed authorship. Many of the Psalms contain superscriptions or
titles incorporating "of David," and many early Jewish and Christian
traditions ascribe the Psalter as a whole to David. Proverbs 1.1 ("The
proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel"), 10.1, and 25.1
explicitly ascribe (sections of) that book to Solomon. Ecclesiastes, in its
opening chapter, presents itself as the work of "the Teacher, when
king over Israel in Jerusalem" (1.12; cf. 1.1); Jewish and Christian
tradition understands this royal teacher to be Solomon, who is
described in 1 Kings as being exceedingly rich, just like the protagonist

960



INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 961

INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 961

The Characteristics of Biblical Poetry

These books do, as noted above, incorporate a large amount of poetry,
so it is appropriate to here examine the basic structures of biblical
poetry. Poetry is a cross-cultural phenomenon: Most cultures
distinguish between an everyday type of discourse (prose), and
heightened discourse (poetry, and also philosophy). This heightening
may be accomplished in a number of different ways, which include the
use of figuration (e.g., metaphor, simile), meter, and certain types of
sound patterning, such as alliteration and rhyme. Yet there is no cross-
cultural pattern for poetry. Thus Hebrew poetry, unlike its classical
English counterpart, has neither (true) rhythm nor rhyme; nevertheless,
it is poetic in that it uses certain devices in significant enough
concentration to distinguish it from everyday speech, or prose.
Obviously, the prose-poetry distinction is relative rather than absolute;
as in English, we may speak of poetic prose or prosaic poetry. Thus,
"pure prose" and "pure poetry" should be seen as opposites on a
continuum, within which a large variety of possibilities evince
themselves in the Bible as in other literary traditions.

The main shared characteristic between typical English poetry and
biblical poetry is the use of figuration. This may be seen, for example,
in Ps 23. The central image of this psalm is introduced by the metaphor,
"The Lord is my shepherd" (v. 1). The following verses unveil or clarify
the meaning of this metaphor, noting in vv. 22-3 how God, the ideal
shepherd, tends his people/sheep:

961



INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 962


He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name's sake.


Psalm 1 is characterized by a set of two contrasting similes: the
righteous

 ...are like trees

planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

and their leaves do not wither (v. 3),

while the wicked "are like chaff that the wind drives away" (v. 4). The
Song of Solomon is especially rich in similes and metaphors, as in the
beginning of ch 2:

I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
As a lily among brambles,
so is my love among maidens.
As an apple tree among the trees of the wood,
so is my beloved among young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.


The main characteristic of biblical poetry, nevertheless, is not
figuration, but parallelism, in which most poetic lines may be divided
into two (or sometimes three) parts; the second part of the line is
intimately connected to the first part, and typically seconds it in some
way. For example, Ps 6.2 reads:

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.

The verse clearly divides into two more or less equal sections, and each
element in the first part is mirrored, seconded, or paralleled in the

962



INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 963

INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 963

Since the eighteenth century, it has been customary to see three main
types of parallelism in the Bible: synonymous, antithetical, and
synthetic. The quotation above from Ps 6.2 is an example of
synonymous parallelism. Antithetical parallelism can be seen in Prov
10.1:

A wise child makes a glad father,
but a foolish child is a mother's grief.


In this balanced, two-part line, "a wise child" is antithetical, or
opposite, to "a foolish child," and "makes a glad father" is antithetical
to "is a mother's grief." In synthetic parallelism, the second part of the
line completes the thought of the first part, and is neither the same
nor the opposite. For example, Song 1.9 reads:

I compare you, my love,
to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots.


Here the second part concludes the thought of the first.

The appropriateness of the three labels — synonymous, antithetical,
and synthetic — which were accepted in biblical scholarship for two
centuries, has now been called into question on several grounds. First,
some have noted that languages have no true synonyms; thus
"synonymous parallelism" is a misleading term. Furthermore, very
often two parallel words can be similar, but are not truly synonymous,
as may be seen in the example of Ps 6.2: "I am languishing" || "my
bones are shaking with terror." The term antithetical parallelism has
been questioned because not all elements of part B are the antithesis
of part A. This may be seen in the example from Prov 10.1, where
"child" is used in both parts A and B; a true antithesis might contrast a
"wise child" with a "foolish parent." Finally, "synthetic" has been
criticized as too vague a term. These criticisms should not be

963



INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 964


underestimated. Nevertheless, the three terms, if understood as ideal
types from which actual lines may deviate to a greater or lesser extent,
remain useful.

A much more serious criticism of the classical model emerged in the
mid-1980s when several scholars began to question the notion that
parallelism is formulaic in that the second half of the poetic line
typically adds little to the line, but merely seconds it. Several scholars
have suggested just the opposites, that the second part heightens or
extends the first. Thus, the typical biblical verse should be read "A, and
even more so, B." According to this model, which has gained
substantial support in the last two decades, we would not read Ps 6.2b,
"O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror" as a type of
filler that merely restates "Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am
languishing." Rather we would understand the verse as a whole as: "Be
gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing," and moreover, "O Lord,
heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror," where the claim "for
my bones are shaking with terror" is a more vivid description that
intensifies the verse's opening "for I am languishing."

Sometimes it is quite clear that the second part of the verse does not
merely parallel the first but does go beyond it in some significant
fashion, and thus justifies this newer model. Yet, there are a
substantial number of cases in which the second part actually does
seem to function as a mere filler, carrying little if any semantic weight,
let alone intensifying the first. For example, the major image of Ps 121 is
the ability of God to protect the individual. This is expressed at the
psalm's center, where God is imagined metaphorically as a "shade" (v.

5) from the intense Mediterranean heat. The psalm continues (v. 6):
"The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night." Clearly,
the second part, "nor the moon by night" is not an intensification; in
fact, it makes no sense, since no one in ancient Israel was afflicted with
moonburn or moonstroke. The second part here is probably an
antithetical filler and carries no semantic weight. It should be seen as
part of an ancient Near Eastern and biblical patter of word pairs,
where a particular word (e.g., "sun" or "father") automatically evokes
a realted ("synonymous" or "antithetical") word (e.g., "moon" or
"mother").
964



INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 965

INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 965

Another area that has engendered significant controversy over the last
few decades concerns the extent to which meter or rhythm existed in
biblical poetry. Much of this debate concerns the definition of meter.
In English and other modern Western languages, meter is generally
understood as a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables; if this is
how we should understand it in biblical poetic texts, these texts in their
current form lack meter or rhythm. Metrical patterns can only be found
in biblical texts if they are emended or reconstructed extensively. There
is, however, a tendency for the parts of each line, in most poetic
genres, to be approximately the same length. There is some possibility
that this reflects the remnant of some metrical system, and that at an
earlier time, each part had not only the same length, but the same
meter, but this pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables has been
lost as a result of changes in the pronunciation of ancient Hebrew.
More likely, the similarity of length is part of the larger system of
parallelism, which encouraged each part to mirror its counterpart in
length, as well as in semantic, syntactic, and phonological structure.
Scholars have until recently been primarily concerned with the line as
the main unit of biblical poetry. This is not really surprising, given how
foreign biblical parallelism is to the modern Western (but not the

965



INTRO TO THE POETICAL AND WISDOM BOOKS 966


ancient Near Eastern) ear. This interest in the line has obscured the
significance of the strophe or stanza and of the poem as a whole. But
the last few decades have seen a legitimate return to these larger
units. For example, it had become a habit when studying passages like
Job 3 to concentrate solely on the parallelism of lines like v. 5:

Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.
Let clouds settle upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.


Now, in addition to this type of analysis, scholars study how the poet
uses images of day and night, light and darkness, throughout the
chapter, in order to create this exquisite poem. This is not, however, an
either-or proposition: By studying how the individual line functions as
poetry and how these lines join together into stanzas, which combine
into complete poems, we gain a much fuller appreciation and
understanding of these Poetical Books.

Copyright ©2001, New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha: New Revised Standard
Version. Ed. Michael D. Coogan. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.

966



JOB 967


JOB


Introduction

The book of Job is named after its protagonist, innocent man who
suffered loss and endured pain through no fault of his own. For many,
the man Job is most well-known through the cliché about "the
patience of Job," derived from the traditional translation of Jas 5.11.
The Greek term that is translated as "patience," however, means not so
much patience as "endurance," "persistence," or "steadfastness." And,
indeed, the Job that one encounters in the book that bears his name is
not patient, but he is persistent in his claim that he has suffered
undeservedly.

The provenance of the book is unknown. Its author is anonymous,
while its date and place of origin are matters of debate. Most scholars
places the bulk of the book, if not its final form, somewhere between
the seventh and the fourth centuries BCE, although also recognizing
that the final form is the result of a complex history of transmission.
The prose framework, what are now the book's prologue (1.1-2.13) and
epilogue (42.7.17), consists of a narrative that is likely based on an
ancient folktale about the undeserved suffering and final restoration
of the protagonist. The rest of the book consists of dialogues (written
in poetic style) between Job and the friends who had ostensibly come
to comfort him (3.1-31.40), and between Job and God (38.1-42.6).
Intruding into this material are a poetic interlude on the inaccessibility
of Wisdom (28.1-28) and the speeches of Elihu (32.1-37.24) that appear
to have been added at a later time. Interpreters have called attention
to certain linguistic and stylistic shifts, as well as occasional
inconsistencies in the story line. Such discrepancies have bee explained
in terms of multiple authors, a single author with multiple sources, a
primary work that has been redacted two or three times, or a single
author who has worked with the materials over a long period of time.

967



JOB 968

JOB 968

Although the book of Job in its entirety is unique in ancient literature,
it draws on a variety of traditions and genres that were known
throughout the ancient Near East. The character of Job himself is
presented as a non-Israelite from the land of Uz (perhaps northern
Arabia), and it is likely that versions of the story of Job were told by
many of the peoples of the region. In the sixth century BCE the
prophet Ezekiel mentions Job, along with Noah and Dan'el, as heroes
of antiquity who saved others by their righteousness (Ezek 14.14, 20).
Despite its mention by Ezekiel, this Dan'el (spelled "Daniel" in the
NRSV translation, but footnoted as "Danel") is not the same Daniel as
the biblical book of that name, but an ancient Canaanite king whose
story is known from the tablets found in the ruins of the second
millennium BCE city of Ugarit. Similar to Ezekiel's setting of Job among
the legendary figures of antiquity is the way in which the prose tale
presents Job as someone who apparently lived in the remote ancestral
period.

The influence of ancient Near Eastern literary forms and traditions are
also evident in the poetic dialogues. The problem of enigmatic
suffering was one that was explored in Mesopotamian literature in
poetic compositions in whihc a righteous or emblematic sufferer
described his sufferings, his confusion about the cause of his misery,
and his passionate desire for restoration (e.g., "I will Praise the Lord of
Wisdom" and the "Sumerian Job"). The most striking similarity,
however, exists between the dialogue sections of Job and "The
Babylonian Theodicy." In this composition an unnamed sufferer and his
friend speak alternately in a cycle of twenty-seven speeches. The
sufferer protests his misery, describing the injustice of the world and
the unfairness of the gods. His friend attempts to defend the
rationality of the world and urges his friend to seek the mercy of the
gods. In contrast to Job, however, "The Babylonian Theodicy" ends
without any appearance of the deity or narrative resolution.

968



JOB 969

JOB 969

Like other wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible, the book of Job does
not make reference to specific Israelite legal or historical traditions. It
does, however, make a rich use of psalmic and other wisdom traditions.
In the dialogues the characters often make use of proverbs (e.g., 5.10,
17; 8.11; 12.11) or hymns (e.g., 5.8-16). Job is particularly adept at evoking
a hymn or psalm only to parody it. Although the clearest example is his
parody of Psalm 8 in 7.17-19, he uses this technique often (9.5-12; 12.1325).


The enigma of the suffering of the righteous and the good fortune of
the wicked was one addressed by Israelite literature, both in the psalms
and in other wisdom texts. Although not prominent in the book of
Proverbs, it emerges more strongly in the later wisdom books of
Ecclesiastes and Sirach. Several Psalms also address aspects of these
issues (Ps 37; 39; 49; 73), but they do not exhibit the radical protest and
questioning that one finds in the book of Job.

Distinctive to the book of Job is the way it situates these issues. The
book is neither a treatise on innocent suffering, as often supposed, nor
an apology for God's justice in the face of inexplicable human
suffering. Rather, the principal theological issue that the book raises is,
ironically, the question posed by the adversary in the divine council
(see 1.9): Will mortals be religious ("fear God") apart from rewards and
punishment? As the dialogue develops, however, the questions of
divine justice that torture Job's mind are not satisfactorily met by the
arguments of the friends. Job himself seeks to imagine a way in which
he might go to trial with God for a vindication of his righteousness and

969



JOB 970


perhaps an acknowledgment from God of God's mistreatment of Job
(9.2-35; 13.13-28; 16.18-22; 19.23-27; 23.1-7; 31.35-37). Yet when God
answers Job, it is neither as the friends have imagined God would
speak nor as Job had hoped God would answer him. The meaning and
significance of the divine speeches continue to be among the most
debated issues of the book. Some interpret the speeches as a
repudiation of a human's right to question God. Others understand
them as a necessary correction to Job's too limited understanding of
the nature of the cosmos as a place where all suffering can be reduced
to legal categories of guilt or innocence. All agree that the
extraordinary beauty of the poetry is part of its meaning. Perhaps the
very elusiveness of the divine speeches implies that no answer from
God to Job's questions can satisfy the human intellect. But as is known
by anyone, that is not true to our experience as humans. We yearn for
a response to the problem of evil, and continue to in part because the
book of Job provided no answer for us. Yet the ending suggest that
there is a resolution to be found in the depths of a pious life lived
before a mysterious God.

[Job 1]
The prologue


1 There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That
man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away
from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3
He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred
yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that
this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used
to go and hold feasts in one another's houses in turn; and they would
send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And
when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify
them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings
according to the number of them all; for Job said, "It may be that my
children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." This is what Job
always did.

970



JOB 971

JOB 971

13 One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking
wine in the eldest brother's house, 14 a messenger came to Job and
said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside
them, 15 and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed
the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell
you." 16 While he was still speaking, another came and said, "The fire
of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants,
and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you." 17 While he was
still speaking, another came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three
columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed
the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell
you." 18 While he was still speaking, another came and said, "Your
sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest
brother's house, 19 and suddenly a great wind came across the desert,
struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people,
and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you."

20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the
ground and worshiped. 21 He said, "Naked I came from my mother's
womb, and naked shall I return there; the LORD gave, and the LORD has
taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.

971



JOB 972


[Job 2]

1 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the
LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the
LORD. 2 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan
answered the LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from
walking up and down on it." 3 The LORD said to Satan, "Have you
considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a
blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.
He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to
destroy him for no reason." 4 Then Satan answered the LORD, "Skin for
skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. 5 But stretch
out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse
you to your face." 6 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, he is in your
power; only spare his life."

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and inflicted
loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his
head. 8 Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat
among the ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse
God, and die." 10 But he said to her, "You speak as any foolish woman
would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not
receive the bad?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all these troubles that had
come upon him, each of them set out from his home — Eliphaz the
Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met
together to go and console and comfort him. 12 When they saw him
from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their
voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air
upon their heads. 13 They sat with him on the ground seven days and
seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his
suffering was very great.

972



JOB 973


[Job 3]
Job's curse of the day of his birth


1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 Job
said:
3 "Let the day perish in which I was born,


and the night that said,
'A man-child is conceived.'


4 Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
or light shine on it.

5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.
Let clouds settle upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.

6 That night — let thick darkness seize it!
let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not come into the number of the months.

7 Yes, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry be heard in it.
8 Let those curse it who curse the Sea,
those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.

9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none;
may it not see the eyelids of the morning —

10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb,
and hide trouble from my eyes.

11 "Why did I not die at birth,
come forth from the womb and expire?
12 Why were there knees to receive me,
or breasts for me to suck?
13 Now I would be lying down and quiet;
I would be asleep; then I would be at rest
14 with kings and counselors of the earth
who rebuild ruins for themselves,
15 or with princes who have gold,
who fill their houses with silver.

973



JOB 974


16 Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child,
like an infant that never sees the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at rest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together;
they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there,
and the slaves are free from their masters.

20 "Why is light given to one in misery,
and life to the bitter in soul,
21 who long for death, but it does not come,
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;
22 who rejoice exceedingly,
and are glad when they find the grave?
23 Why is light given to one who cannot see the way,
whom God has fenced in?
24 For my sighing comes like my bread,
and my groanings are poured out like water.
25 Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest; but trouble comes."

[Job 4]
Eliphaz's first discourse


1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 "If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended?
But who can keep from speaking?
3 See, you have instructed many;
you have strengthened the weak hands.
4 Your words have supported those who were stumbling,
and you have made firm the feeble knees.
5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6 Is not your fear of God your confidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?

974



JOB 975


7 "Think now, who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
and the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.
12 "Now a word came stealing to me,

my ear received the whisper of it.
13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on mortals,


14 dread came upon me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
15 A spirit glided past my face;
the hair of my flesh bristled.
16 It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
there was silence, then I heard a voice:
17 'Can mortals be righteous before God?
Can human beings be pure before their Maker?
18 Even in his servants he puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;

19 how much more those who live in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like a moth.

20 Between morning and evening they are destroyed;
they perish forever without any regarding it.
21 Their tent-cord is plucked up within them,
and they die devoid of wisdom.'

975



JOB 976


[Job 5]

1 "Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 Surely vexation kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the simple.
3 I have seen fools taking root,
but suddenly I cursed their dwelling.

4 Their children are far from safety,
they are crushed in the gate,
and there is no one to deliver them.

5 The hungry eat their harvest,
and they take it even out of the thorns;
and the thirsty pant after their wealth.

6 For misery does not come from the earth,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground;
7 but human beings are born to trouble
just as sparks fly upward.

8 "As for me, I would seek God,
and to God I would commit my cause.
9 He does great things and unsearchable,
marvelous things without number.
10 He gives rain on the earth
and sends waters on the fields;
11 he sets on high those who are lowly,
and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.
13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness;
and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,
and grope at noonday as in the night.
15 But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth,
from the hand of the mighty.
16 So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts its mouth.

976



JOB 977


17 "How happy is the one whom God reproves;
therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
18 For he wounds, but he binds up;
he strikes, but his hands heal.
19 He will deliver you from six troubles;
in seven no harm shall touch you.
20 In famine he will redeem you from death,
and in war from the power of the sword.
21 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,
and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth.
23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.
24 You shall know that your tent is safe,
you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
25 You shall know that your descendants will be many,
and your offspring like the grass of the earth.
26 You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,
as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season.
27 See, we have searched this out; it is true.
Hear, and know it for yourself."

[Job 6]
Job's response


1 Then Job answered:
2 "O that my vexation were weighed,
and all my calamity laid in the balances!
3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
therefore my words have been rash.

4 For the arrows of the Almighty are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

5 Does the wild ass bray over its grass,
or the ox low over its fodder?
6 Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,
or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows?

977



JOB 978


7 My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are like food that is loathsome to me.

8 "O that I might have my request,
and that God would grant my desire;
9 that it would please God to crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

10 This would be my consolation;
I would even exult in unrelenting pain;
for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should be patient?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones,
or is my flesh bronze?
13 In truth I have no help in me,
and any resource is driven from me.

14 "Those who withhold kindness from a friend
forsake the fear of the Almighty.
15 My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed,
like freshets that pass away,
16 that run dark with ice,
turbid with melting snow.
17 In time of heat they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18 The caravans turn aside from their course;
they go up into the waste, and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema look,
the travelers of Sheba hope.
20 They are disappointed because they were confident;
they come there and are confounded.
21 Such you have now become to me;
you see my calamity, and are afraid.
22 Have I said, 'Make me a gift'?
Or, 'From your wealth offer a bribe for me'?
23 Or, 'Save me from an opponent's hand'?
Or, 'Ransom me from the hand of oppressors'?

978



JOB 979


24 "Teach me, and I will be silent;
make me understand how I have gone wrong.
25 How forceful are honest words!
But your reproof, what does it reprove?
26 Do you think that you can reprove words,
as if the speech of the desperate were wind?
27 You would even cast lots over the orphan,
and bargain over your friend.

28 "But now, be pleased to look at me;
for I will not lie to your face.
29 Turn, I pray, let no wrong be done.
Turn now, my vindication is at stake.
30 Is there any wrong on my tongue?
Cannot my taste discern calamity?

[Job 7]

1 "Do not human beings have a hard service on earth,
and are not their days like the days of a laborer?
2 Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
and like laborers who look for their wages,
3 so I am allotted months of emptiness,
and nights of misery are apportioned to me.

4 When I lie down I say, 'When shall I rise?'
But the night is long,
and I am full of tossing until dawn.

5 My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;
my skin hardens, then breaks out again.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,
and come to their end without hope.

7 "Remember that my life is a breath;
my eye will never again see good.
8 The eye that beholds me will see me no more;
while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.
9 As the cloud fades and vanishes,
so those who go down to Sheol do not come up;

979



JOB 980


10 they return no more to their houses,
nor do their places know them any more.

11 "Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I the Sea, or the Dragon,
that you set a guard over me?
13 When I say, 'My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,'
14 then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than this body.
16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever.
Let me alone, for my days are a breath.
17 What are human beings, that you make so much of them,
that you set your mind on them,
18 visit them every morning,
test them every moment?
19 Will you not look away from me for a while,
let me alone until I swallow my spittle?

20 If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity?
Why have you made me your target?
Why have I become a burden to you?

21 Why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth;
you will seek me, but I shall not be."

[Job 8]
Bildad's first discourse


1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 "How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
3 Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

980



JOB 981


4 If your children sinned against him,
he delivered them into the power of their transgression.
5 If you will seek God
and make supplication to the Almighty,

6 if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore to you your rightful place.

7 Though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.
8 "For inquire now of bygone generations,
and consider what their ancestors have found;
9 for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing,
for our days on earth are but a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and utter words out of their understanding?

11 "Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
12 While yet in flower and not cut down,
they wither before any other plant.
13 Such are the paths of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless shall perish.
14 Their confidence is gossamer,
a spider's house their trust.
15 If one leans against its house, it will not stand;
if one lays hold of it, it will not endure.
16 The wicked thrive before the sun,
and their shoots spread over the garden.
17 Their roots twine around the stoneheap;
they live among the rocks.
18 If they are destroyed from their place,
then it will deny them, saying, 'I have never seen you.'
19 See, these are their happy ways,
and out of the earth still others will spring.

20 "See, God will not reject a blameless person,
nor take the hand of evildoers.

981



JOB 982


21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouts of joy.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more."

[Job 9]
Job's response


1 Then Job answered:
2 "Indeed I know that this is so;
but how can a mortal be just before God?
3 If one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength
— who has resisted him, and succeeded? —
5 he who removes mountains, and they do not know it,
when he overturns them in his anger;
6 who shakes the earth out of its place,
and its pillars tremble;
7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
8 who alone stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the Sea;
9 who made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
10 who does great things beyond understanding,
and marvelous things without number.
11 Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
12 He snatches away; who can stop him?
Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'

13 "God will not turn back his anger;
the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.
14 How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
15 Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

982



JOB 983


16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
17 For he crushes me with a tempest,
and multiplies my wounds without cause;
18 he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
20 Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21 I am blameless; I do not know myself;
I loathe my life.
22 It is all one; therefore I say,
he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
23 When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.

24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the eyes of its judges —
if it is not he, who then is it?

25 "My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away, they see no good.
26 They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.
27 If I say, 'I will forget my complaint;
I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,'
28 I become afraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 I shall be condemned;
why then do I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with soap
and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 yet you will plunge me into filth,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
32 For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
33 There is no umpire between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.

983



JOB 984


34 If he would take his rod away from me,
and not let dread of him terrify me,
35 then I would speak without fear of him,
for I know I am not what I am thought to be.

[Job 10]

1 "I loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
let me know why you contend against me.

3 Does it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands
and favor the schemes of the wicked?

4 Do you have eyes of flesh?
Do you see as humans see?
5 Are your days like the days of mortals,
or your years like human years,
6 that you seek out my iniquity
and search for my sin,
7 although you know that I am not guilty,
and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?
8 Your hands fashioned and made me;
and now you turn and destroy me.
9 Remember that you fashioned me like clay;
and will you turn me to dust again?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that this was your purpose.
14 If I sin, you watch me,
and do not acquit me of my iniquity.

984



JOB 985


15 If I am wicked, woe to me!
If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
and look upon my affliction.
16 Bold as a lion you hunt me;
you repeat your exploits against me.

17 You renew your witnesses against me,
and increase your vexation toward me;
you bring fresh troops against me.

18 "Why did you bring me forth from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,
19 and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not the days of my life few?
Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort
21 before I go, never to return,
to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
22 the land of gloom and chaos,
where light is like darkness."

[Job 11]
Zophar's first discourse


1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2 "Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
and should one full of talk be vindicated?
3 Should your babble put others to silence,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4 For you say, 'My conduct is pure,
and I am clean in God's sight.'
5 But O that God would speak,
and open his lips to you,
6 and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
For wisdom is many-sided.
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

985



JOB 986


7 "Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
8 It is higher than heaven — what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol — what can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth,
and broader than the sea.
10 If he passes through, and imprisons,
and assembles for judgment, who can hinder him?
11 For he knows those who are worthless;
when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
12 But a stupid person will get understanding,
when a wild ass is born human.

13 "If you direct your heart rightly,
you will stretch out your hands toward him.
14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.
15 Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
you will be secure, and will not fear.
16 You will forget your misery;
you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
17 And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.
18 And you will have confidence, because there is hope;
you will be protected and take your rest in safety.
19 You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid;
many will entreat your favor.

20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
all way of escape will be lost to them,
and their hope is to breathe their last."

[Job 12]
Job's response


1 Then Job answered:
2 "No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.

986



JOB 987


3 But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?

4 I am a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who called upon God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock.

5 Those at ease have contempt for misfortune,
but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.

6 The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hands.

7 "But ask the animals, and they will teach you;

the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.


9 Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.
11 Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
12 Is wisdom with the aged,
and understanding in length of days?

13 "With God are wisdom and strength;
he has counsel and understanding.
14 If he tears down, no one can rebuild;
if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.
15 If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
16 With him are strength and wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leads counselors away stripped,
and makes fools of judges.
18 He looses the sash of kings,
and binds a waistcloth on their loins.

987



JOB 988


19 He leads priests away stripped,
and overthrows the mighty.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted,
and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He pours contempt on princes,
and looses the belt of the strong.
22 He uncovers the deeps out of darkness,
and brings deep darkness to light.
23 He makes nations great, then destroys them;
he enlarges nations, then leads them away.
24 He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth,
and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25 They grope in the dark without light;
he makes them stagger like a drunkard.

[Job 13]

1 "Look, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 But I would speak to the Almighty,
and I desire to argue my case with God.
4 As for you, you whitewash with lies;
all of you are worthless physicians.
5 If you would only keep silent,
that would be your wisdom!
6 Hear now my reasoning,
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Will you speak falsely for God,
and speak deceitfully for him?
8 Will you show partiality toward him,
will you plead the case for God?
9 Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?
10 He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.

988



JOB 989


11 Will not his majesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes,
your defenses are defenses of clay.

13 "Let me have silence, and I will speak,
and let come on me what may.
14 I will take my flesh in my teeth,
and put my life in my hand.
15 See, he will kill me; I have no hope;
but I will defend my ways to his face.
16 This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him.
17 Listen carefully to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
18 I have indeed prepared my case;
I know that I shall be vindicated.
19 Who is there that will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.
20 Only grant two things to me,
then I will not hide myself from your face:
21 withdraw your hand far from me,
and do not let dread of you terrify me.
22 Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.
23 How many are my iniquities and my sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.
24 Why do you hide your face,
and count me as your enemy?
25 Will you frighten a windblown leaf
and pursue dry chaff?
26 For you write bitter things against me,
and make me reap the iniquities of my youth.

27 You put my feet in the stocks,
and watch all my paths;
you set a bound to the soles of my feet.

28 One wastes away like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.

989



JOB 990


[Job 14]

1 "A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
2 comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.
3 Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.

5 Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,

6 look away from them, and desist,
that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days.

7 "For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.

8 Though its root grows old in the earth,
and its stump dies in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.
10 But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?
11 As waters fail from a lake,
and a river wastes away and dries up,

12 so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.

13 O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

14 If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.

15 You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.

990



JOB 991


16 For then you would not number my steps,
you would not keep watch over my sin;
17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.

18 "But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
and the rock is removed from its place;

19 the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of mortals.

20 You prevail forever against them, and they pass away;
you change their countenance, and send them away.
21 Their children come to honor, and they do not know it;
they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.
22 They feel only the pain of their own bodies,
and mourn only for themselves."

[Job 15]
Eliphaz's second discourse


1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 "Should the wise answer with windy knowledge,
and fill themselves with the east wind?
3 Should they argue in unprofitable talk,
or in words with which they can do no good?
4 But you are doing away with the fear of God,
and hindering meditation before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
your own lips testify against you.

7 "Are you the firstborn of the human race?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Have you listened in the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

991



JOB 992


9 What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
those older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you,
or the word that deals gently with you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
13 so that you turn your spirit against God,
and let such words go out of your mouth?
14 What are mortals, that they can be clean?
Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous?
15 God puts no trust even in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not clean in his sight;
16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
one who drinks iniquity like water!

17 "I will show you; listen to me;
what I have seen I will declare —
18 what sages have told,
and their ancestors have not hidden,
19 to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them.
20 The wicked writhe in pain all their days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
21 Terrifying sounds are in their ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them.
22 They despair of returning from darkness,
and they are destined for the sword.
23 They wander abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?'
They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand;
24 distress and anguish terrify them;
they prevail against them, like a king prepared for battle.
25 Because they stretched out their hands against God,
and bid defiance to the Almighty,
26 running stubbornly against him
with a thick-bossed shield;

992



JOB 993


27 because they have covered their faces with their fat,
and gathered fat upon their loins,

28 they will live in desolate cities,
in houses that no one should inhabit,
houses destined to become heaps of ruins;

29 they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure,
nor will they strike root in the earth;

30 they will not escape from darkness;
the flame will dry up their shoots,
and their blossom will be swept away by the wind.

31 Let them not trust in emptiness, deceiving themselves;
for emptiness will be their recompense.
32 It will be paid in full before their time,
and their branch will not be green.
33 They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine,
and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree.
34 For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35 They conceive mischief and bring forth evil
and their heart prepares deceit."

[Job 16]
Job's response


1 Then Job answered:
2 "I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
3 Have windy words no limit?
Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?
4 I also could talk as you do,
if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you,
and shake my head at you.
5 I could encourage you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
6 "If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?

993



JOB 994


7 Surely now God has worn me out;
he has made desolate all my company.

8 And he has shriveled me up,
which is a witness against me;
my leanness has risen up against me,
and it testifies to my face.

9 He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.

10 They have gaped at me with their mouths;
they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
they mass themselves together against me.

11 God gives me up to the ungodly,
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, and he broke me in two;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target;
13 his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He bursts upon me again and again;
he rushes at me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,
and have laid my strength in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping,
and deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17 though there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.

18 "O earth, do not cover my blood;
let my outcry find no resting place.
19 Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven,
and he that vouches for me is on high.
20 My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21 that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God,
as one does for a neighbor.

994



JOB 995


22 For when a few years have come,
I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

[Job 17]

1 My spirit is broken, my days are extinct,
the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers around me,
and my eye dwells on their provocation.

3 "Lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is there that will give surety for me?
4 Since you have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 Those who denounce friends for reward —
the eyes of their children will fail.

6 "He has made me a byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom people spit.
7 My eye has grown dim from grief,
and all my members are like a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous hold to their way,
and they that have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.
10 But you, come back now, all of you,
and I shall not find a sensible person among you.
11 My days are past, my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.
12 They make night into day;
'The light,' they say, 'is near to the darkness.'
13 If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in darkness,
14 if I say to the Pit, 'You are my father,'
and to the worm, 'My mother,' or 'My sister,'
15 where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?

995



JOB 996


16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?"

[Job 18]
Bildad's second discourse


1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 "How long will you hunt for words?
Consider, and then we shall speak.
3 Why are we counted as cattle?
Why are we stupid in your sight?

4 You who tear yourself in your anger —
shall the earth be forsaken because of you,
or the rock be removed out of its place?

5 "Surely the light of the wicked is put out,
and the flame of their fire does not shine.
6 The light is dark in their tent,
and the lamp above them is put out.
7 Their strong steps are shortened,
and their own schemes throw them down.
8 For they are thrust into a net by their own feet,
and they walk into a pitfall.
9 A trap seizes them by the heel;
a snare lays hold of them.
10 A rope is hid for them in the ground,
a trap for them in the path.
11 Terrors frighten them on every side,
and chase them at their heels.
12 Their strength is consumed by hunger,
and calamity is ready for their stumbling.
13 By disease their skin is consumed,
the firstborn of Death consumes their limbs.
14 They are torn from the tent in which they trusted,
and are brought to the king of terrors.
15 In their tents nothing remains;
sulfur is scattered upon their habitations.

996



JOB 997


16 Their roots dry up beneath,
and their branches wither above.
17 Their memory perishes from the earth,
and they have no name in the street.
18 They are thrust from light into darkness,
and driven out of the world.
19 They have no offspring or descendant among their people,
and no survivor where they used to live.
20 They of the west are appalled at their fate,
and horror seizes those of the east.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly,
such is the place of those who do not know God."

[Job 19]
Job's response


1 Then Job answered:
2 "How long will you torment me,
and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4 And even if it is true that I have erred,
my error remains with me.
5 If indeed you magnify yourselves against me,
and make my humiliation an argument against me,
6 know then that God has put me in the wrong,
and closed his net around me.
7 Even when I cry out, 'Violence!' I am not answered;
I call aloud, but there is no justice.
8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9 He has stripped my glory from me,
and taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me,
and counts me as his adversary.

997



JOB 998


12 His troops come on together;
they have thrown up siegeworks against me,
and encamp around my tent.

13 "He has put my family far from me,

and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14 My relatives and my close friends have failed me;
15 the guests in my house have forgotten me;

my serving girls count me as a stranger;
I have become an alien in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must myself plead with him.
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own family.
18 Even young children despise me;
when I rise, they talk against me.
19 All my intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me!
22 Why do you, like God, pursue me,
never satisfied with my flesh?

23 "O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
24 O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,

27 whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!

998



JOB 999


28 If you say, 'How we will persecute him!'
and, 'The root of the matter is found in him';

29 be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
so that you may know there is a judgment."

[Job 20]
Zophar's second discourse


1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2 "Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer,
because of the agitation within me.
3 I hear censure that insults me,
and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.
4 Do you not know this from of old,
ever since mortals were placed on earth,
5 that the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?
6 Even though they mount up high as the heavens,
and their head reaches to the clouds,
7 they will perish forever like their own dung;
those who have seen them will say, 'Where are they?'
8 They will fly away like a dream, and not be found;
they will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye that saw them will see them no more,
nor will their place behold them any longer.
10 Their children will seek the favor of the poor,
and their hands will give back their wealth.
11 Their bodies, once full of youth,
will lie down in the dust with them.

12 "Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth,
though they hide it under their tongues,
13 though they are loath to let it go,
and hold it in their mouths,
14 yet their food is turned in their stomachs;
it is the venom of asps within them.

999



JOB 1000


15 They swallow down riches and vomit them up again;
God casts them out of their bellies.
16 They will suck the poison of asps;
the tongue of a viper will kill them.
17 They will not look on the rivers,
the streams flowing with honey and curds.
18 They will give back the fruit of their toil,
and will not swallow it down;
from the profit of their trading
they will get no enjoyment.
19 For they have crushed and abandoned the poor,
they have seized a house that they did not build.

20 "They knew no quiet in their bellies;
in their greed they let nothing escape.
21 There was nothing left after they had eaten;
therefore their prosperity will not endure.
22 In full sufficiency they will be in distress;
all the force of misery will come upon them.

23 To fill their belly to the full
God will send his fierce anger into them,
and rain it upon them as their food.

24 They will flee from an iron weapon;
a bronze arrow will strike them through.

25 It is drawn forth and comes out of their body,
and the glittering point comes out of their gall;
terrors come upon them.

26 Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures;
a fire fanned by no one will devour them;
what is left in their tent will be consumed.

27 The heavens will reveal their iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against them.
28 The possessions of their house will be carried away,
dragged off in the day of God's wrath.
29 This is the portion of the wicked from God,
the heritage decreed for them by God."

1000



JOB 1001


[Job 21]
Job's response


1 Then Job answered:
2 "Listen carefully to my words,
and let this be your consolation.
3 Bear with me, and I will speak;
then after I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals?
Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me, and be appalled,
and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 When I think of it I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live on,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
8 Their children are established in their presence,
and their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
and no rod of God is upon them.
10 Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and never miscarries.

11 They send out their little ones like a flock,
and their children dance around.
12 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre,


and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.
14 They say to God, 'Leave us alone!
We do not desire to know your ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what profit do we get if we pray to him?'
16 Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement?
The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.


17 "How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does calamity come upon them?
How often does God distribute pains in his anger?

1001



JOB 1002


18 How often are they like straw before the wind,
and like chaff that the storm carries away?
19 You say, 'God stores up their iniquity for their children.'
Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it.
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction,
and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what do they care for their household after them,
when the number of their months is cut off?
22 Will any teach God knowledge,
seeing that he judges those that are on high?
23 One dies in full prosperity,
being wholly at ease and secure,
24 his loins full of milk
and the marrow of his bones moist.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having tasted of good.
26 They lie down alike in the dust,
and the worms cover them.

27 "Oh, I know your thoughts,
and your schemes to wrong me.
28 For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?'
29 Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
and do you not accept their testimony,
30 that the wicked are spared in the day of calamity,
and are rescued in the day of wrath?
31 Who declares their way to their face,
and who repays them for what they have done?
32 When they are carried to the grave,
a watch is kept over their tomb.

33 The clods of the valley are sweet to them;
everyone will follow after,
and those who went before are innumerable.

34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood."

1002



JOB 1003


[Job 22]
Eliphaz's third discourse


1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 "Can a mortal be of use to God?
Can even the wisest be of service to him?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous,
or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you,
and enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your wickedness great?
There is no end to your iniquities.
6 For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason,
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 The powerful possess the land,
and the favored live in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty-handed,
and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.
10 Therefore snares are around you,
and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11 or darkness so that you cannot see;
a flood of water covers you.

12 "Is not God high in the heavens?
See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 Therefore you say, 'What does God know?
Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14 Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see,
and he walks on the dome of heaven.'
15 Will you keep to the old way
that the wicked have trod?
16 They were snatched away before their time;
their foundation was washed away by a flood.
17 They said to God, 'Leave us alone,'
and 'What can the Almighty do to us?'

1003



JOB 1004


18 Yet he filled their houses with good things —
but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
19 The righteous see it and are glad;
the innocent laugh them to scorn,
20 saying, 'Surely our adversaries are cut off,
and what they left, the fire has consumed.'

21 "Agree with God, and be at peace;
in this way good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored,
if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,
24 if you treat gold like dust,
and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,
25 and if the Almighty is your gold
and your precious silver,
26 then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,
and lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 When others are humiliated, you say it is pride;
for he saves the humble.
30 He will deliver even those who are guilty;
they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands."

[Job 23]
Job's response


1 Then Job answered:
2 "Today also my complaint is bitter;
his hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his dwelling!

1004



JOB 1005


4 I would lay my case before him,
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn what he would answer me,
and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; but he would give heed to me.
7 There an upright person could reason with him,
and I should be acquitted forever by my judge.

8 "If I go forward, he is not there;
or backward, I cannot perceive him;
9 on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured in my bosom the words of his mouth.
13 But he stands alone and who can dissuade him?
What he desires, that he does.
14 For he will complete what he appoints for me;
and many such things are in his mind.
15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16 God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me;
17 If only I could vanish in darkness,
and thick darkness would cover my face!

[Job 24]

1 "Why are times not kept by the Almighty,
and why do those who know him never see his days?
2 The wicked remove landmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

1005



JOB 1006


4 They thrust the needy off the road;
the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

5 Like wild asses in the desert
they go out to their toil,
scavenging in the wasteland
food for their young.

6 They reap in a field not their own
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They lie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains,
and cling to the rock for want of shelter.

9 "There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast,
and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
though hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11 between their terraces they press out oil;
they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.

12 From the city the dying groan,
and the throat of the wounded cries for help;
yet God pays no attention to their prayer.

13 "There are those who rebel against the light,
who are not acquainted with its ways,
and do not stay in its paths.

14 The murderer rises at dusk
to kill the poor and needy,
and in the night is like a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
saying, 'No eye will see me';
and he disguises his face.

16 In the dark they dig through houses;
by day they shut themselves up;
they do not know the light.

17 For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

1006



JOB 1007


18 "Swift are they on the face of the waters;
their portion in the land is cursed;
no treader turns toward their vineyards.

19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them;
the worm finds them sweet;
they are no longer remembered;
so wickedness is broken like a tree.

21 "They harm the childless woman,
and do no good to the widow.
22 Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
they rise up when they despair of life.
23 He gives them security, and they are supported;
his eyes are upon their ways.

24 They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
they wither and fade like the mallow;
they are cut off like the heads of grain.

25 If it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
and show that there is nothing in what I say?"

[Job 25]
Bildad speaks

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 "Dominion and fear are with God;
he makes peace in his high heaven.
3 Is there any number to his armies?
Upon whom does his light not arise?
4 How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?
5 If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his sight,
6 how much less a mortal, who is a maggot,
and a human being, who is a worm!"

1007



JOB 1008


[Job 26]
Job interrupts


1 Then Job answered:
2 "How you have helped one who has no power!
How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!
3 How you have counseled one who has no wisdom,
and given much good advice!
4 With whose help have you uttered words,
and whose spirit has come forth from you?

Bildad continues

5 The shades below tremble,
the waters and their inhabitants.
6 Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon has no covering.
7 He stretches out Zaphon over the void,
and hangs the earth upon nothing.
8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
and the cloud is not torn open by them.
9 He covers the face of the full moon,
and spreads over it his cloud.
10 He has described a circle on the face of the waters,
at the boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble,
and are astounded at his rebuke.
12 By his power he stilled the Sea;
by his understanding he struck down Rahab.
13 By his wind the heavens were made fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

14 These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways;
and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?"

1008



JOB 1009


[Job 27]
Job continues


1 Job again took up his discourse and said:
2 "As God lives, who has taken away my right,
and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
3 as long as my breath is in me
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak falsehood,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me to say that you are right;
until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6 I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go;
my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

7 "May my enemy be like the wicked,
and may my opponent be like the unrighteous.
8 For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts them off,
when God takes away their lives?
9 Will God hear their cry
when trouble comes upon them?
10 Will they take delight in the Almighty?
Will they call upon God at all times?
11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
that which is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 All of you have seen it yourselves;
why then have you become altogether vain?

13 "This is the portion of the wicked with God,
and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
14 If their children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
and their offspring have not enough to eat.
15 Those who survive them the pestilence buries,
and their widows make no lamentation.
16 Though they heap up silver like dust,
and pile up clothing like clay —
17 they may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
and the innocent will divide the silver.

1009



JOB 1010


18 They build their houses like nests,
like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.
19 They go to bed with wealth, but will do so no more;
they open their eyes, and it is gone.
20 Terrors overtake them like a flood;
in the night a whirlwind carries them off.
21 The east wind lifts them up and they are gone;
it sweeps them out of their place.
22 It hurls at them without pity;
they flee from its power in headlong flight.
23 It claps its hands at them,
and hisses at them from its place.

[Job 28]
A poem on Wisdom


1 "Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place for gold to be refined.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.

3 Miners put an end to darkness,
and search out to the farthest bound
the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

4 They open shafts in a valley away from human habitation;
they are forgotten by travelers,
they sway suspended, remote from people.

5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread;
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6 Its stones are the place of sapphires,
and its dust contains gold.

7 "That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon's eye has not seen it.
8 The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
the lion has not passed over it.

9 "They put their hand to the flinty rock,
and overturn mountains by the roots.

1010



JOB 1011


10 They cut out channels in the rocks,
and their eyes see every precious thing.
11 The sources of the rivers they probe;
hidden things they bring to light.
12 "But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Mortals do not know the way to it,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, 'It is not in me,'
and the sea says, 'It is not with me.'
15 It cannot be gotten for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19 The chrysolite of Ethiopia cannot compare with it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.

20 "Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Abaddon and Death say,
'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'

23 "God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth,
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he gave to the wind its weight,
and apportioned out the waters by measure;
26 when he made a decree for the rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt;
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.

1011



JOB 1012


28 And he said to humankind,
'Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.'"

[Job 29]
Job's speech

1 Job again took up his discourse and said:
2 "O that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me;
3 when his lamp shone over my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness;
4 when I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent;
5 when the Almighty was still with me,
when my children were around me;
6 when my steps were washed with milk,
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
7 When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I took my seat in the square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose up and stood;
9 the nobles refrained from talking,
and laid their hands on their mouths;
10 the voices of princes were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
11 When the ear heard, it commended me,
and when the eye saw, it approved;
12 because I delivered the poor who cried,
and the orphan who had no helper.
13 The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
15 I was eyes to the blind,
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I championed the cause of the stranger.

1012



JOB 1013


17 I broke the fangs of the unrighteous,
and made them drop their prey from their teeth.
18 Then I thought, 'I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;
19 my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches;
20 my glory was fresh with me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.'

21 "They listened to me, and waited,
and kept silence for my counsel.
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them like dew.
23 They waited for me as for the rain;
they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence;
and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.

25 I chose their way, and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.

[Job 30]

1 "But now they make sport of me,
those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands?
All their vigor is gone.
3 Through want and hard hunger
they gnaw the dry and desolate ground,
4 they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes,
and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
5 They are driven out from society;
people shout after them as after a thief.
6 In the gullies of wadis they must live,
in holes in the ground, and in the rocks.

1013



JOB 1014


7 Among the bushes they bray;
under the nettles they huddle together.
8 A senseless, disreputable brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.

9 "And now they mock me in song;
I am a byword to them.
10 They abhor me, they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
11 Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.

12 On my right hand the rabble rise up;
they send me sprawling,
and build roads for my ruin.

13 They break up my path,
they promote my calamity;
no one restrains them.

14 As through a wide breach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.

15 Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

16 "And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17 The night racks my bones,
and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
18 With violence he seizes my garment;
he grasps me by the collar of my tunic.
19 He has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you merely look at me.
21 You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you persecute me.
22 You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

1014



JOB 1015


23 I know that you will bring me to death,
and to the house appointed for all living.

24 "Surely one does not turn against the needy,
when in disaster they cry for help.
25 Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 But when I looked for good, evil came;
and when I waited for light, darkness came.
27 My inward parts are in turmoil, and are never still;
days of affliction come to meet me.
28 I go about in sunless gloom;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother of jackals,

and a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin turns black and falls from me,
and my bones burn with heat.


31 My lyre is turned to mourning,
and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

[Job 31]

1 "I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how then could I look upon a virgin?
2 What would be my portion from God above,
and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Does not calamity befall the unrighteous,
and disaster the workers of iniquity?
4 Does he not see my ways,
and number all my steps?

5 "If I have walked with falsehood,
and my foot has hurried to deceit —
6 let me be weighed in a just balance,
and let God know my integrity! —

7 if my step has turned aside from the way,
and my heart has followed my eyes,
and if any spot has clung to my hands;

1015



JOB 1016


8 then let me sow, and another eat;
and let what grows for me be rooted out.

9 "If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door;
10 then let my wife grind for another,
and let other men kneel over her.
11 For that would be a heinous crime;
that would be a criminal offense;
12 for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon,
and it would burn to the root all my harvest.

13 "If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves,
when they brought a complaint against me;
14 what then shall I do when God rises up?
When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?

16 "If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the orphan has not eaten from it —
18 for from my youth I reared the orphan like a father,
and from my mother's womb I guided the widow —
19 if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
or a poor person without covering,
20 whose loins have not blessed me,
and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21 if I have raised my hand against the orphan,
because I saw I had supporters at the gate;
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken from its socket.
23 For I was in terror of calamity from God,
and I could not have faced his majesty.

24 "If I have made gold my trust,
or called fine gold my confidence;

1016



JOB 1017


25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
or because my hand had gotten much;
26 if I have looked at the sun when it shone,
or the moon moving in splendor,
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my mouth has kissed my hand;
28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
for I should have been false to God above.

29 "If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me,
or exulted when evil overtook them —
30 I have not let my mouth sin
by asking for their lives with a curse —
31 if those of my tent ever said,
'O that we might be sated with his flesh!' —
32 the stranger has not lodged in the street;
I have opened my doors to the traveler —
33 if I have concealed my transgressions as others do,
by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,

34 because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
and the contempt of families terrified me,
so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors —

35 O that I had one to hear me!
(Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!)
O, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!

36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;

I would bind it on me like a crown;
37 I would give him an account of all my steps;
like a prince I would approach him.


38 "If my land has cried out against me,
and its furrows have wept together;
39 if I have eaten its yield without payment,
and caused the death of its owners;
40 let thorns grow instead of wheat,
and foul weeds instead of barley."
The words of Job are ended.

1017



JOB 1018


[Job 32]
Elihu's disputations; prose and poetic introduction


1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous
in his own eyes. 2 Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family
of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified
himself rather than God; 3 he was angry also at Job's three friends
because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to
be in the wrong. 4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they
were older than he. 5 But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in
the mouths of these three men, he became angry.

6 Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered:
"I am young in years,
and you are aged;
therefore I was timid and afraid
to declare my opinion to you.
7 I said, 'Let days speak,
and many years teach wisdom.'
8 But truly it is the spirit in a mortal,
the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding.
9 It is not the old that are wise,
nor the aged that understand what is right.
10 Therefore I say, 'Listen to me;
let me also declare my opinion.'

11 "See, I waited for your words,

I listened for your wise sayings,

while you searched out what to say.
12 I gave you my attention,

but there was in fact no one that confuted Job,

no one among you that answered his words.
13 Yet do not say, 'We have found wisdom;

God may vanquish him, not a human.'
14 He has not directed his words against me,

and I will not answer him with your speeches.

1018



JOB 1019


15 "They are dismayed, they answer no more;
they have not a word to say.
16 And am I to wait, because they do not speak,
because they stand there, and answer no more?
17 I also will give my answer;
I also will declare my opinion.
18 For I am full of words;
the spirit within me constrains me.
19 My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent;
like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.
20 I must speak, so that I may find relief;
I must open my lips and answer.
21 I will not show partiality to any person
or use flattery toward anyone.
22 For I do not know how to flatter —
or my Maker would soon put an end to me!

[Job 33]

1 "But now, hear my speech, O Job,
and listen to all my words.
2 See, I open my mouth;
the tongue in my mouth speaks.
3 My words declare the uprightness of my heart,
and what my lips know they speak sincerely.
4 The spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5 Answer me, if you can;
set your words in order before me; take your stand.
6 See, before God I am as you are;
I too was formed from a piece of clay.
7 No fear of me need terrify you;
my pressure will not be heavy on you.

Elihu's first disputation

8 "Surely, you have spoken in my hearing,
and I have heard the sound of your words.

1019



JOB 1020


9 You say, 'I am clean, without transgression;
I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me.
10 Look, he finds occasions against me,
he counts me as his enemy;
11 he puts my feet in the stocks,
and watches all my paths.'

12 "But in this you are not right. I will answer you:
God is greater than any mortal.
13 Why do you contend against him,
saying, 'He will answer none of my words'?
14 For God speaks in one way,
and in two, though people do not perceive it.

15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on mortals,
while they slumber on their beds,

16 then he opens their ears,
and terrifies them with warnings,
17 that he may turn them aside from their deeds,
and keep them from pride,
18 to spare their souls from the Pit,
their lives from traversing the River.
19 They are also chastened with pain upon their beds,
and with continual strife in their bones,
20 so that their lives loathe bread,
and their appetites dainty food.
21 Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen;
and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.
22 Their souls draw near the Pit,
and their lives to those who bring death.

23 Then, if there should be for one of them an angel,
a mediator, one of a thousand,
one who declares a person upright,

24 and he is gracious to that person, and says,
'Deliver him from going down into the Pit;
I have found a ransom;

25 let his flesh become fresh with youth;
let him return to the days of his youthful vigor';

1020



JOB 1021


26 then he prays to God, and is accepted by him,
he comes into his presence with joy,
and God repays him for his righteousness.
27 That person sings to others and says,
'I sinned, and perverted what was right,
and it was not paid back to me.
28 He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
and my life shall see the light.'

29 "God indeed does all these things,
twice, three times, with mortals,
30 to bring back their souls from the Pit,
so that they may see the light of life.
31 Pay heed, Job, listen to me;
be silent, and I will speak.
32 If you have anything to say, answer me;
speak, for I desire to justify you.
33 If not, listen to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom."

[Job 34]
Elihu's second disputation


1 Then Elihu continued and said:
2 "Hear my words, you wise men,
and give ear to me, you who know;
3 for the ear tests words
as the palate tastes food.
4 Let us choose what is right;
let us determine among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job has said, 'I am innocent,
and God has taken away my right;
6 in spite of being right I am counted a liar;
my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.'
7 Who is there like Job,
who drinks up scoffing like water,
8 who goes in company with evildoers
and walks with the wicked?

1021



JOB 1022


9 For he has said, 'It profits one nothing
to take delight in God.'

10 "Therefore, hear me, you who have sense,
far be it from God that he should do wickedness,
and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.

11 For according to their deeds he will repay them,
and according to their ways he will make it befall them.
12 Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,
and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
13 Who gave him charge over the earth
and who laid on him the whole world?
14 If he should take back his spirit to himself,
and gather to himself his breath,
15 all flesh would perish together,
and all mortals return to dust.

16 "If you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I say.
17 Shall one who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn one who is righteous and mighty,
18 who says to a king, 'You scoundrel!'
and to princes, 'You wicked men!';

19 who shows no partiality to nobles,
nor regards the rich more than the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?

20 In a moment they die;
at midnight the people are shaken and pass away,
and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.

21 "For his eyes are upon the ways of mortals,
and he sees all their steps.
22 There is no gloom or deep darkness
where evildoers may hide themselves.
23 For he has not appointed a time for anyone
to go before God in judgment.
24 He shatters the mighty without investigation,
and sets others in their place.

1022



JOB 1023


25 Thus, knowing their works,
he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
26 He strikes them for their wickedness
while others look on,
27 because they turned aside from following him,
and had no regard for any of his ways,
28 so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,
and he heard the cry of the afflicted —

29 When he is quiet, who can condemn?
When he hides his face, who can behold him,
whether it be a nation or an individual? —

30 so that the godless should not reign,
or those who ensnare the people.

31 "For has anyone said to God,
'I have endured punishment; I will not offend any more;
32 teach me what I do not see;
if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more'?
33 Will he then pay back to suit you,
because you reject it?
For you must choose, and not I;
therefore declare what you know.
34 Those who have sense will say to me,
and the wise who hear me will say,
35 'Job speaks without knowledge,
his words are without insight.'
36 Would that Job were tried to the limit,
because his answers are those of the wicked.

37 For he adds rebellion to his sin;
he claps his hands among us,
and multiplies his words against God."

[Job 35]
Elihu's third disputation


1 Elihu continued and said:
2 "Do you think this to be just?
You say, 'I am in the right before God.'

1023



JOB 1024


3 If you ask, 'What advantage have I?
How am I better off than if I had sinned?'
4 I will answer you
and your friends with you.
5 Look at the heavens and see;
observe the clouds, which are higher than you.
6 If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him;
or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects others like you,
and your righteousness, other human beings.

9 "Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;
they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.
10 But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker,
who gives strength in the night,
11 who teaches us more than the animals of the earth,
and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?'
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer,
because of the pride of evildoers.
13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry,
nor does the Almighty regard it.
14 How much less when you say that you do not see him,
that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!
15 And now, because his anger does not punish,
and he does not greatly heed transgression,
16 Job opens his mouth in empty talk,
he multiplies words without knowledge."

[Job 36]
Elihu's fourth disputation


1 Elihu continued and said:
2 "Bear with me a little, and I will show you,
for I have yet something to say on God's behalf.
3 I will bring my knowledge from far away,
and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

1024



JOB 1025


4 For truly my words are not false;
one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

5 "Surely God is mighty and does not despise any;
he is mighty in strength of understanding.
6 He does not keep the wicked alive,
but gives the afflicted their right.

7 He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous,
but with kings on the throne
he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

8 And if they are bound in fetters
and caught in the cords of affliction,
9 then he declares to them their work
and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.
10 He opens their ears to instruction,
and commands that they return from iniquity.

11 If they listen, and serve him,
they complete their days in prosperity,
and their years in pleasantness.

12 But if they do not listen, they shall perish by the sword,
and die without knowledge.

13 "The godless in heart cherish anger;
they do not cry for help when he binds them.
14 They die in their youth,
and their life ends in shame.
15 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction,
and opens their ear by adversity.

16 He also allured you out of distress
into a broad place where there was no constraint,
and what was set on your table was full of fatness.

17 "But you are obsessed with the case of the wicked;
judgment and justice seize you.
18 Beware that wrath does not entice you into scoffing,
and do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.
19 Will your cry avail to keep you from distress,
or will all the force of your strength?

1025



JOB 1026


20 Do not long for the night,
when peoples are cut off in their place.
21 Beware! Do not turn to iniquity;
because of that you have been tried by affliction.
22 See, God is exalted in his power;
who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has prescribed for him his way,
or who can say, 'You have done wrong'?

24 "Remember to extol his work,
of which mortals have sung.
25 All people have looked on it;
everyone watches it from far away.
26 Surely God is great, and we do not know him;
the number of his years is unsearchable.
27 For he draws up the drops of water;
he distills his mist in rain,
28 which the skies pour down
and drop upon mortals abundantly.
29 Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,

the thunderings of his pavilion?
30 See, he scatters his lightning around him
and covers the roots of the sea.


31 For by these he governs peoples;
he gives food in abundance.
32 He covers his hands with the lightning,
and commands it to strike the mark.
33 Its crashing tells about him;
he is jealous with anger against iniquity.

[Job 37]

1 "At this also my heart trembles,
and leaps out of its place.
2 Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 Under the whole heaven he lets it loose,
and his lightning to the corners of the earth.

1026



JOB 1027


4 After it his voice roars;

he thunders with his majestic voice

and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.

5 God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6 For to the snow he says, 'Fall on the earth';
and the shower of rain, his heavy shower of rain,
7 serves as a sign on everyone's hand,
so that all whom he has made may know it.
8 Then the animals go into their lairs
and remain in their dens.
9 From its chamber comes the whirlwind,
and cold from the scattering winds.
10 By the breath of God ice is given,
and the broad waters are frozen fast.
11 He loads the thick cloud with moisture;
the clouds scatter his lightning.

12 They turn round and round by his guidance,
to accomplish all that he commands them
on the face of the habitable world.

13 Whether for correction, or for his land,
or for love, he causes it to happen.

14 "Hear this, O Job;
stop and consider the wondrous works of God.
15 Do you know how God lays his command upon them,
and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
16 Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
the wondrous works of the one whose knowledge is perfect,
17 you whose garments are hot
when the earth is still because of the south wind?
18 Can you, like him, spread out the skies,
hard as a molten mirror?
19 Teach us what we shall say to him;
we cannot draw up our case because of darkness.
20 Should he be told that I want to speak?
Did anyone ever wish to be swallowed up?

1027



JOB 1028


21 Now, no one can look on the light
when it is bright in the skies,
when the wind has passed and cleared them.

22 Out of the north comes golden splendor;
around God is awesome majesty.

23 The Almighty — we cannot find him;
he is great in power and justice,
and abundant righteousness he will not violate.

24 Therefore mortals fear him;
he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit."

[Job 38]
God speaks from the whirlwind


1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:
2 "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up your loins like a man,


I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

4 "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements — surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?

8 "Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb? —
9 when I made the clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,
11 and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stopped'?

1028



JOB 1029


12 "Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It is changed like clay under the seal,
and it is dyed like a garment.
15 Light is withheld from the wicked,
and their uplifted arm is broken.

16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,


or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.
19 "Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
and where is the place of darkness,
20 that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?
21 Surely you know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!

22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

25 "Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt,
26 to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
on the desert, which is empty of human life,
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground put forth grass?

28 "Has the rain a father,
or who has begotten the drops of dew?

1029



JOB 1030


29 From whose womb did the ice come forth,
and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?
30 The waters become hard like stone,
and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
or loose the cords of Orion?
32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
or can you guide the Bear with its children?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you establish their rule on the earth?

34 "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
so that a flood of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
and say to you, 'Here we are'?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,
or given understanding to the mind?
37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38 when the dust runs into a mass
and the clods cling together?
39 "Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they crouch in their dens,
or lie in wait in their covert?

41 Who provides for the raven its prey,
when its young ones cry to God,
and wander about for lack of food?

[Job 39]

1 "Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you observe the calving of the deer?
2 Can you number the months that they fulfill,
and do you know the time when they give birth,
3 when they crouch to give birth to their offspring,
and are delivered of their young?

1030



JOB 1031


4 Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open;
they go forth, and do not return to them.

5 "Who has let the wild ass go free?
Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
6 to which I have given the steppe for its home,
the salt land for its dwelling place?
7 It scorns the tumult of the city;
it does not hear the shouts of the driver.
8 It ranges the mountains as its pasture,
and it searches after every green thing.

9 "Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
Will it spend the night at your crib?
10 Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes,
or will it harrow the valleys after you?
11 Will you depend on it because its strength is great,
and will you hand over your labor to it?
12 Do you have faith in it that it will return,
and bring your grain to your threshing floor?

13 "The ostrich's wings flap wildly,
though its pinions lack plumage.
14 For it leaves its eggs to the earth,
and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15 forgetting that a foot may crush them,
and that a wild animal may trample them.
16 It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own;
though its labor should be in vain, yet it has no fear;
17 because God has made it forget wisdom,
and given it no share in understanding.
18 When it spreads its plumes aloft,
it laughs at the horse and its rider.

19 "Do you give the horse its might?
Do you clothe its neck with mane?
20 Do you make it leap like the locust?
Its majestic snorting is terrible.

1031



JOB 1032


21 It paws violently, exults mightily;
it goes out to meet the weapons.
22 It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;
it does not turn back from the sword.
23 Upon it rattle the quiver,
the flashing spear, and the javelin.
24 With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;
it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

25 When the trumpet sounds, it says 'Aha!'
From a distance it smells the battle,
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26 "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,
and spreads its wings toward the south?
27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
and makes its nest on high?
28 It lives on the rock and makes its home
in the fastness of the rocky crag.
29 From there it spies the prey;
its eyes see it from far away.
30 Its young ones suck up blood;
and where the slain are, there it is."

[Job 40]
Question and response


1 And the LORD said to Job:
2 "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
Anyone who argues with God must respond."

3 Then Job answered the LORD:
4 "See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but will proceed no further."

1032



JOB 1033


God's second speech

6 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:
7 "Gird up your loins like a man;

I will question you, and you declare to me.
8 Will you even put me in the wrong?

Will you condemn me that you may be justified?
9 Have you an arm like God,

and can you thunder with a voice like his?

10 "Deck yourself with majesty and dignity;

clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
11 Pour out the overflowings of your anger,

and look on all who are proud, and abase them.
12 Look on all who are proud, and bring them low;

tread down the wicked where they stand.
13 Hide them all in the dust together;

bind their faces in the world below.
14 Then I will also acknowledge to you

that your own right hand can give you victory.

15 "Look at Behemoth,

which I made just as I made you;

it eats grass like an ox.
16 Its strength is in its loins,

and its power in the muscles of its belly.
17 It makes its tail stiff like a cedar;

the sinews of its thighs are knit together.
18 Its bones are tubes of bronze,

its limbs like bars of iron.

19 "It is the first of the great acts of God —

only its Maker can approach it with the sword.
20 For the mountains yield food for it

where all the wild animals play.
21 Under the lotus plants it lies,

in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh.

1033



JOB 1034


22 The lotus trees cover it for shade;
the willows of the wadi surround it.
23 Even if the river is turbulent, it is not frightened;
it is confident though Jordan rushes against its mouth.
24 Can one take it with hooks
or pierce its nose with a snare?

[Job 41]

1 "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook,
or press down its tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a rope in its nose,
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3 Will it make many supplications to you?
Will it speak soft words to you?
4 Will it make a covenant with you
to be taken as your servant forever?
5 Will you play with it as with a bird,
or will you put it on leash for your girls?
6 Will traders bargain over it?
Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill its skin with harpoons,
or its head with fishing spears?
8 Lay hands on it;
think of the battle; you will not do it again!
9 Any hope of capturing it will be disappointed;
were not even the gods overwhelmed at the sight of it?
10 No one is so fierce as to dare to stir it up.
Who can stand before it?
11 Who can confront it and be safe?

— under the whole heaven, who?
12 "I will not keep silence concerning its limbs,
or its mighty strength, or its splendid frame.
13 Who can strip off its outer garment?
Who can penetrate its double coat of mail?
14 Who can open the doors of its face?
There is terror all around its teeth.

1034



JOB 1035


15 Its back is made of shields in rows,
shut up closely as with a seal.
16 One is so near to another
that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined one to another;
they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18 Its sneezes flash forth light,
and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19 From its mouth go flaming torches;
sparks of fire leap out.
20 Out of its nostrils comes smoke,
as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21 Its breath kindles coals,
and a flame comes out of its mouth.
22 In its neck abides strength,
and terror dances before it.
23 The folds of its flesh cling together;
it is firmly cast and immovable.
24 Its heart is as hard as stone,
as hard as the lower millstone.
25 When it raises itself up the gods are afraid;
at the crashing they are beside themselves.
26 Though the sword reaches it, it does not avail,
nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27 It counts iron as straw,
and bronze as rotten wood.
28 The arrow cannot make it flee;
slingstones, for it, are turned to chaff.
29 Clubs are counted as chaff;
it laughs at the rattle of javelins.
30 Its underparts are like sharp potsherds;
it spreads itself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
31 It makes the deep boil like a pot;
it makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 It leaves a shining wake behind it;
one would think the deep to be white-haired.
33 On earth it has no equal,
a creature without fear.

1035



JOB 1036


34 It surveys everything that is lofty;
it is king over all that are proud."

[Job 42]
Job's second response


1 Then Job answered the LORD:
2 "I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?'
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 'Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you declare to me.'
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes."

Epilogue

7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to
Eliphaz the Temanite: "My wrath is kindled against you and against
your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my
servant Job has. 8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and
go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and
my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal
with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what
is right, as my servant Job has done." 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and
Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the
LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.

10 And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for
his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11
Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had
known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they
showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD
had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money

1036



JOB 1037

JOB 1037

1037



PSALMS 1038


PSALMS


Introduction

The Psalms is a collection of sung poetic prayers (see the .
HTIntroduction
to the Poetical and Wisdom Books.
TH) associated with divine worship in
Israel. The word "psalm" is derived from the Greek "psalmos," which
translates the Hebrew "mizmor"; these all mean a song recited to the
accompaniment of a stringed instrument. The times of composition for
the psalms range across at least five centuries; the earliest psalm is
probably Ps 29, which is adapted from early Canaanite worship, while
several psalms contain contextual (e.g., Ps 126), linguistic, or other
evidence that they are from the postexilic period (Ps 51; 114; 137). While
psalms are Judean in origin, the language or internal references in
several psalms suggest that they originated in the Northern Kingdom
(e.g., Ps 80 and 81, which contain references to Joseph); these most
likely were brought to Judah after the destruction of the Northern
Kingdom in 722 BCE. The majority of the psalms, however, originated
in the preexilic, monarchic period, and are associated with the
Jerusalem Temple.

The psalms likely functioned as a musical libretto for sections of the
Temple worship, though exactly when and how they were used is
unclear. Psalm 118.27, "The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind
the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar"
suggests that some psalms were used in connection to the sacrifices,
while Ps 141.2, "Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and
the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice" might indicate that
some were recited when the incense was offered. Several psalms
contain allusions to musical performance (e.g., 13.6; 26.7; 30.4; 33.2-3),
and may of the superscriptions (headings, though not included in this
specific online version — see the NRSV) contain detailed, technical
references to how the performance should be completed.
Unfortunately, many of the technical terms that are ubiquitous in the

1038



PSALMS 1039

PSALMS 1039

From the beginning of the 20th century, many attempts have been
made, especially by biblical scholars interested in form criticism (see
"Form Criticism" in the related essays section), to follow clues in the
psalms, in order to reconstruct the original "Sitz im Leben," or setting
in life, of the psalms. This scholarship has suggested that the psalms are
to be divided into several genres. The two main types are laments,
forming approximately a third of the Psalter, and hymns. Laments can
be either individual (Ps 3) or communal (Ps 44). The lament's
component parts include the invocation of the name of God, the
complaint wherein the psalmist describes the distress experienced, and
appeals for divine intervention. Many of these laments include
expressions of trust, couched in the past (Ps 6.9, "The Lord has heard
my supplication; the Lord accepts my prayer"). It is unclear if this is a
reflection of the psalmist's great faith, which is furthered through the
recitation of the psalms, or if part of the recitation of the psalm might
have included a response to the lament by a cultic official, and the the
psalmist might have expressed trust only after this divine reassurance,
which does not usually appear in the psalm. The hymns typically focus
on the role of God as creator (e.g., Ps 8; 19, 104) or redeemer (Ps 66;
98). These hymns are not connected to specific requests; they are
reflective of the religious individual, who wants to have a close
connection with God, in the belief that "It is good to give thanks to the
Lord, to sing praise to your name, O Most High" (Ps 92.1). The Hebrew
title of Psalms, "tehillim" ("praises"), reflects the significance of the
genre of hymns to the book.

Still other types of psalms may be isolated in Psalms. For example, Ps 15,
which recounts the ideal qualities of the individual who "may abide in
your tent" and "may dwell on your holy hill" (v. 1) is likely an entrance
liturgy, recited by the worshiper while approaching the Temple. There
are several royal psalms (Ps 2), which focus on the king. The number of
these psalms, and by extension, the extent to which the Psalter should
be viewed as a work with specifically royal focus, is debated, with some

1039



PSALMS 1040

PSALMS 1040

The book of Psalms came together over a long period of time. This is
clear from the final verse of Ps 72, "The prayers of David son of Jesse
are ended." This is further reflected through the existence of several
collections or anthologies within the Psalter; the clearest of these is
composed of Ps 120-134, each of which begins "A song of ascents." Ps
42-83 are also a collection ("the elohistic Psalter"); these typically call
the deity "elohim" (translated "God"), rather than "yhwh" (translated
"Lord"), which typifies the rest of the Psalter. A comparison of Ps 14 to
the parallel Ps 53 (from the elohistic Psalter) is especially enlightening
as an illustration of the anthological nature of the Psalter. Clusters of
psalms also begin or end with the words "halelu-yah," "Praise the
Lord" (Ps 105-106; 111-113; 115-117; 146-150).

This brief reconstruction of the history of the Psalter indicates that the
early Jewish and Christian tradition, reflected among the Dead Sea
community as well, that David composed the entirety of the book of
Psalms, is secondary. The tradition arose from an interpretation of the
many psalms that do begin "of David," a phrase understood to mean
of Davidic authorship, as well as the traditions in other books that
David was a poet and musician (1 Sam 16.16-17; 2 Sam 1.17-27) and the
patron of the Jerusalem Temple (1 Chr 29.1-5), constructed by his son,
Solomon. The historical headings of several psalms (not included in this
online NRSV version; see a print version) (Ps 3; 18; 34; 51) reflect early
exegetical attempts to link the psalms with incidents in the life of

1040



PSALMS 1041

PSALMS 1041

This attempt to understand Psalms as a book is echoed in the manner
in which the book is subdivided into five parts or books, through the
secondary insertion of doxologies (detailed praises of God), at the end
of Ps 41; 72; 89; 106, and through the functioning of the last psalm(s) of
the Psalter (Ps 146-150 alone) as a doxology. Thus the book in its final
form is structure as a Pentateuch (five books), just like the Torah. The
reference to "the Torah (NRSV "law") of the Lord" in the introductory
psalm (v. 2) suggests that, at some level, the book of Psalms as a whole
is to be read as Torah and is to be studied as Torah. This may represent
the period after the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE), when
study of psalms replaced their liturgical recitation.

There are thus many ways that the individual psalms might be read. In
their earliest stages, they are individual compositions, recited for
particular occasions at a variety of sacred sites. Later, some of these
were anthologized, and might be understood within the anthology
that they are in; e.g., Ps 123 might be understood within the Songs of
Ascent. Finally, individual psalms might be understood within the
Psalter as a book, either narrating a biography of David, or a book of
teaching like the Torah. The main function of psalms within later
Jewish and Christian tradition, however, has been as a type of
inspirational literature, where later worshipers may find proper words
in tradition to express the depths of their religious experience and
feelings.

1041



PSALMS 1042


BOOK I (PSALMS 1-41)


[Psalms 1]
The two ways


1 Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2 but their delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.

4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

[Psalm 2]
God's royal son


1 Why do the nations conspire,
and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and his anointed, saying,

3 "Let us burst their bonds asunder,
and cast their cords from us."

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the LORD has them in derision.

1042



PSALMS 1043


5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 "I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill."

7 I will tell of the decree of the LORD:
He said to me, "You are my son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
with trembling 12 kiss his feet,
or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way;
for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Happy are all who take refuge in him.

[Psalm 3]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 O LORD, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
2 many are saying to me,
"There is no help for you in God."

3 But you, O LORD, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4 I cry aloud to the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy hill.

5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
6 I am not afraid of ten thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.

1043



PSALMS 1044


7 Rise up, O LORD!
Deliver me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.

8 Deliverance belongs to the LORD;
may your blessing be on your people!

[Psalm 4]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
You gave me room when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.

2 How long, you people, shall my honor suffer shame?
How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies?
3 But know that the LORD has set apart the faithful for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.

4 When you are disturbed, do not sin;
ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
5 Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the LORD.

6 There are many who say, "O that we might see some good!
Let the light of your face shine on us, O LORD!"
7 You have put gladness in my heart
more than when their grain and wine abound.

8 I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety.

1044



PSALMS 1045


[Psalm 5]
Prayer for access to the Temple


1 Give ear to my words, O LORD;
give heed to my sighing.

2 Listen to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.

3 O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.

4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil will not sojourn with you.
5 The boastful will not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.

7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house,
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in awe of you.

8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.

9 For there is no truth in their mouths;
their hearts are destruction;
their throats are open graves;
they flatter with their tongues.
10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of their many transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.

1045



PSALMS 1046


11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
so that those who love your name may exult in you.
12 For you bless the righteous, O LORD;
you cover them with favor as with a shield.

[Psalm 6]
Prayer for healing


1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger,
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
3 My soul also is struck with terror,
while you, O LORD — how long?

4 Turn, O LORD, save my life;
deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who can give you praise?

6 I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.

7 My eyes waste away because of grief;
they grow weak because of all my foes.

8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my supplication;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror;
they shall turn back, and in a moment be put to shame.

1046



PSALMS 1047


[Psalm 7]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 O LORD my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
2 or like a lion they will tear me apart;
they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.

3 O LORD my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
4 if I have repaid my ally with harm
or plundered my foe without cause,

5 then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,
trample my life to the ground,
and lay my soul in the dust.

6 Rise up, O LORD, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgment.

7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you,
and over it take your seat on high.

8 The LORD judges the peoples;
judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.

9 O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous,
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God.
10 God is my shield,
who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
and a God who has indignation every day.

12 If one does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and strung his bow;
13 he has prepared his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.

1047



PSALMS 1048


14 See how they conceive evil,
and are pregnant with mischief,
and bring forth lies.

15 They make a pit, digging it out,
and fall into the hole that they have made.
16 Their mischief returns upon their own heads,
and on their own heads their violence descends.

17 I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness,
and sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.

[Psalm 8]
Praise of the creator


1 O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

 You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?

5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

1048



PSALMS 1049


[Psalm 9]
Victory over enemies and petition for justice


1 I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

3 When my enemies turned back,
they stumbled and perished before you.
4 For you have maintained my just cause;
you have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.

5 You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name forever and ever.

6 The enemies have vanished in everlasting ruins;
their cities you have rooted out;
the very memory of them has perished.

7 But the LORD sits enthroned forever,
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with equity.

9 The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

11 Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion.
Declare his deeds among the peoples.
12 For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

13 Be gracious to me, O LORD.
See what I suffer from those who hate me;
you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death,

1049



PSALMS 1050


14 so that I may recount all your praises,
and, in the gates of daughter Zion,
rejoice in your deliverance.

15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught.
16 The LORD has made himself known, he has executed judgment;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.

17 The wicked shall depart to Sheol,
all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

19 Rise up, O LORD! Do not let mortals prevail;
let the nations be judged before you.
20 Put them in fear, O LORD;
let the nations know that they are only human.

[Psalm 10]

1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor —
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.

3 For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,
those greedy for gain curse and renounce the LORD.
4 In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, "God will not
seek it out"; all their thoughts are, "There is no God."

5 Their ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of their sight;
as for their foes, they scoff at them.

6 They think in their heart, "We shall not be moved;
throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity."

1050



PSALMS 1051


7 Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;

under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.
8 They sit in ambush in the villages;

in hiding places they murder the innocent.

Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert;
they lurk that they may seize the poor;
they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.


10 They stoop, they crouch,

and the helpless fall by their might.
11 They think in their heart, "God has forgotten,

he has hidden his face, he will never see it."

12 Rise up, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand;

do not forget the oppressed.
13 Why do the wicked renounce God,

and say in their hearts, "You will not call us to account"?

14 But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,
that you may take it into your hands;
the helpless commit themselves to you;
you have been the helper of the orphan.

15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers;

seek out their wickedness until you find none.
16 The LORD is king forever and ever;

the nations shall perish from his land.

17 O LORD, you will hear the desire of the meek;

you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
18 to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,

so that those from earth may strike terror no more.

1051



PSALMS 1052


[Psalm 11]
The Lord, just protector of the upright


1 In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to me,
"Flee like a bird to the mountains;

2 for look, the wicked bend the bow,
they have fitted their arrow to the string,
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.

3 If the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?"

4 The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD's throne is in heaven.
His eyes behold, his gaze examines humankind.

5 The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked,
and his soul hates the lover of violence.
6 On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and sulfur;
a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the LORD is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.

[Psalm 12]
Prayer for deliverance and divine response


1 Help, O LORD, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;
the faithful have disappeared from humankind.
2 They utter lies to each other;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, "With our tongues we will prevail;
our lips are our own — who is our master?"

1052



PSALMS 1053


5 "Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
I will now rise up," says the LORD;
"I will place them in the safety for which they long."

6 The promises of the LORD are promises that are pure,
silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.

7 You, O LORD, will protect us;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among humankind.

[Psalm 13]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, "I have prevailed";
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

[Psalm 14]
Condemnation of foolish evildoers


1 Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is no one who does good.

1053



PSALMS 1054


2 The LORD looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.

3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.

4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon the LORD?

5 There they shall be in great terror,
for God is with the company of the righteous.

6 You would confound the plans of the poor,
but the LORD is their refuge.

7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.

[Psalm 15]
Ritual for admission into the Temple


1 O LORD, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill?
2 Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,
and speak the truth from their heart;

3 who do not slander with their tongue,
and do no evil to their friends,
nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;

4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised,
but who honor those who fear the LORD;
who stand by their oath even to their hurt;

1054



PSALMS 1055


5 who do not lend money at interest,
and do not take a bribe against the innocent.

 Those who do these things shall never be moved.

[Psalm 16]
A prayer for admission to the Temple


1 Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you."

3 As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble,
in whom is all my delight.

4 Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names upon my lips.

5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.

7 I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I keep the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
10 For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit.

11 You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

1055



PSALMS 1056


[Psalm 17]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry;
give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.
2 From you let my vindication come;
let your eyes see the right.

3 If you try my heart, if you visit me by night,
if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me;
my mouth does not transgress.

4 As for what others do, by the word of your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.
5 My steps have held fast to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.

6 I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me, hear my words.

7 Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O savior of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.

8 Guard me as the apple of the eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,
9 from the wicked who despoil me,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
10 They close their hearts to pity;
with their mouths they speak arrogantly.
11 They track me down; now they surround me;
they set their eyes to cast me to the ground.
12 They are like a lion eager to tear,
like a young lion lurking in ambush.

1056



PSALMS 1057


13 Rise up, O LORD, confront them, overthrow them!
By your sword deliver my life from the wicked,
14 from mortals — by your hand, O LORD —
from mortals whose portion in life is in this world.

 May their bellies be filled with what you have stored up for them;
may their children have more than enough;
may they leave something over to their little ones.

15 As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness.

[Psalm 18]
A royal thanksgiving hymn


1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.

2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
so I shall be saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of perdition assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called upon the LORD;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.

7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.

8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.

1057



PSALMS 1058


9 He bowed the heavens, and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub, and flew;
he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering around him,
his canopy thick clouds dark with water.

12 Out of the brightness before him
there broke through his clouds
hailstones and coals of fire.

13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice.
14 And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O LORD,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

16 He reached down from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of mighty waters.

17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,
and from those who hated me;
for they were too 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 a broad place;
he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his ordinances were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from guilt.

1058



PSALMS 1059


24 Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to
my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my
hands in his sight.

25 With the loyal you show yourself loyal;
with the blameless you show yourself blameless;
26 with the pure you show yourself pure;
and with the crooked you show yourself perverse.
27 For you deliver a humble people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.
28 It is you who light my lamp;
the LORD, my God, lights up my darkness.
29 By you I can crush a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.

30 This God — his way is perfect;
the promise of the LORD proves true;
he is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

31 For who is God except the LORD?
And who is a rock besides our God? —
32 the God who girded me with strength,
and made my way safe.
33 He made my feet like the feet of a deer,
and set me secure on the heights.
34 He trains 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 has supported me;
your help has made me great.

36 You gave me 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 until they were consumed.
38 I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.

39 For you girded me with strength for the battle;
you made my assailants sink under me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,


and those who hated me I destroyed.

1059



PSALMS 1060


41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them;
they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them fine, like dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.

43 You delivered me from strife with the peoples;
you made me head of the nations;
people whom I had not known served me.

44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
foreigners came cringing to me.
45 Foreigners lost heart,
and came trembling out of their strongholds.

46 The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation,
47 the God who gave me vengeance
and subdued peoples under me;
48 who delivered me from my enemies;
indeed, you exalted me above my adversaries;
you delivered me from the violent.

49 For this I will extol you, O LORD, among the nations,
and sing praises to your name.

50 Great triumphs he gives to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.

[Psalm 19]
Hymn to God the creator and lawgiver


1 The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
4 yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

1060



PSALMS 1061


In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,


and like a strong man runs its course with joy.

6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them;
and nothing is hid from its heat.

7 The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;

the decrees of the LORD are sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the LORD are right,


 rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
and drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can detect their errors?
Clear me from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
do not let them have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

1061



PSALMS 1062


[Psalm 20]
Prayer for the king's victory in battle


1 The LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary,
and give you support from Zion.
3 May he remember all your offerings,
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices.

4 May he grant you your heart's desire,
and fulfill all your plans.
5 May we shout for joy over your victory,
and in the name of our God set up our banners.
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.

6 Now I know that the LORD will help his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with mighty victories by his right hand.

7 Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,
but our pride is in the name of the LORD our God.
8 They will collapse and fall,
but we shall rise and stand upright.

9 Give victory to the king, O LORD;
answer us when we call.

[Psalm 21]
Royal thanksgiving for victory


1 In your strength the king rejoices, O LORD,
and in your help how greatly he exults!
2 You have given him his heart's desire,
and have not withheld the request of his lips.
3 For you meet him with rich blessings;
you set a crown of fine gold on his head.
4 He asked you for life; you gave it to him —
length of days forever and ever.

1062



PSALMS 1063


5 His glory is great through your help;
splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
6 You bestow on him blessings forever;
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.

7 For the king trusts in the LORD,
and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall
not be moved.

8 Your hand will find out all your enemies;
your right hand will find out those who hate you.
9 You will make them like a fiery furnace
when you appear.
The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath,
and fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth,
and their children from among humankind.
11 If they plan evil against you,
if they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
12 For you will put them to flight;
you will aim at their faces with your bows.

13 Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power.

[Psalm 22]
Prayer of a person abandoned by God


1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words
of my groaning?

2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.

3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.

1063



PSALMS 1064


5 To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

6 But I am a worm, and not human;
scorned by others, and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock at me;
they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
8 "Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver —
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!"

9 Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother's breast.
10 On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls encircle me,
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;

15 my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.

16 For dogs are all around me;
a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shriveled;
17 I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.

1064



PSALMS 1065


19 But you, O LORD, do not be far away!
O my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!

 From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

24 For he did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,
but heard when I cried to him.

25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.

26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the LORD.
May your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the LORD;
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.
28 For dominion belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.

29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.

30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,
31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.

1065



PSALMS 1066


[Psalm 23]
The Lord as Shepherd-king and host


1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
3 he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;

 for you are with me;
your rod and your staff —
they comfort me.


5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
my whole life long.

[Psalm 24]
A liturgy on entering the sanctuary


1 The earth is the LORD's and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
2 for he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.

3 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?

4 Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
and do not swear deceitfully.

1066



PSALMS 1067


5 They will receive blessing from the LORD,
and vindication from the God of their salvation.
6 Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

7 Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.

8 Who is the King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle.

9 Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.

10 Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory.

[Psalm 25]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, in you I trust;
do not let me be put to shame;
do not let my enemies exult over me.

3 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;
let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD;
teach me your paths.

5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.

6 Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.

1067



PSALMS 1068


7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for your goodness' sake, O LORD!

8 Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

11 For your name's sake, O LORD,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
12 Who are they that fear the LORD?
He will teach them the way that they should choose.
13 They will abide in prosperity,
and their children shall possess the land.
14 The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,
and he makes his covenant known to them.
15 My eyes are ever toward the LORD,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 Relieve the troubles of my heart,
and bring me out of my distress.
18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.

19 Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20 O guard my life, and deliver me;
do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.

22 Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all its troubles.

1068



PSALMS 1069


[Psalm 26]
Prayer for divine justice


1 Vindicate me, O LORD,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.

2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me;
test my heart and mind.
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in faithfulness to you.

4 I do not sit with the worthless,
nor do I consort with hypocrites;
5 I hate the company of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.

6 I wash my hands in innocence,
and go around your altar, O LORD,
7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8 O LORD, I love the house in which you dwell,
and the place where your glory abides.
9 Do not sweep me away with sinners,
nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
10 those in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.

11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground;
in the great congregation I will bless the LORD.

1069



PSALMS 1070


[Psalm 27]
Protection in the Temple of the trustworthy God


1 The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evildoers assail me
to devour my flesh —
my adversaries and foes —
they shall stumble and fall.

3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me,
yet I will be confident.

4 One thing I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD,
and to inquire in his temple.

5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.

6 Now my head is lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the LORD.

1070



PSALMS 1071


7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!

8 "Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.

 Do not turn your servant away in anger,
you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
10 If my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will take me up.

11 Teach me your way, O LORD,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.

12 Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they are breathing out violence.

13 I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!

[Psalm 28]
Royal plea for deliverance from enemies


1 To you, O LORD, I call;
my rock, do not refuse to hear me,
for if you are silent to me,
I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplication,
as I cry to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
toward your most holy sanctuary.

1071



PSALMS 1072


3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who are workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbors,

while mischief is in their hearts.
4 Repay them according to their work,
and according to the evil of their deeds;
repay them according to the work of their hands;
render them their due reward.
5 Because they do not regard the works of the LORD,
or the work of his hands,
he will break them down and build them up no more.

6 Blessed be the LORD,
for he has heard the sound of my pleadings.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts;
so I am helped, and my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.

8 The LORD is the strength of his people;
he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
9 O save your people, and bless your heritage;
be their shepherd, and carry them forever.

[Psalm 29]
Hymn to the God of the storm


1 Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name;
worship the LORD in holy splendor.

3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over mighty waters.

4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

1072



PSALMS 1073


5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

9 The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, "Glory!"

10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
11 May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!

[Psalm 30]
Thanksgiving after recovery from illness


1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up,
and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment;
his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.

6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."

1073



PSALMS 1074


7 By your favor, O LORD,
you had established me as a strong mountain;
you hid your face;
I was dismayed.

8 To you, O LORD, I cried,
and to the LORD I made supplication:
9 "What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the Pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me!
O LORD, be my helper!"

11 You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy,

12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

[Psalm 31]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 In you, O LORD, I seek refuge;
do not let me ever be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me.

2 Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me.

3 You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name's sake lead me and guide me,
4 take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

1074



PSALMS 1075


6 You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
but I trust in the LORD.

7 I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have taken heed of my adversities,

8 and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
you have set my feet in a broad place.

9 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;
my eye wastes away from grief,
my soul and body also.

10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
and my bones waste away.

11 I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.
13 For I hear the whispering of many —
terror all around! —
as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.

14 But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, "You are my God."
15 My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.

16 Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your steadfast love.
17 Do not let me be put to shame, O LORD,


for I call on you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.


1075



PSALMS 1076


18 Let the lying lips be stilled
that speak insolently against the righteous
with pride and contempt.

19 O how abundant is your goodness
that you have laid up for those who fear you,
and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of everyone!
20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them
from human plots;
you hold them safe under your shelter
from contentious tongues.

21 Blessed be the LORD,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was beset as a city under siege.

22 I had said in my alarm,
"I am driven far from your sight."
But you heard my supplications
when I cried out to you for help.

23 Love the LORD, all you his saints.
The LORD preserves the faithful,
but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.

24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the LORD.

[Psalm 32]
The happiness of the penitent and forgiven


1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

1076



PSALMS 1077


3 While I kept silence, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,"
and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

6 Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.

7 You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.

8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
else it will not stay near you.

10 Many are the torments of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.
11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

[Psalm 33]
Praise of God, creator and redeemer


1 Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous.
Praise befits the upright.
2 Praise the LORD with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings.
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

1077



PSALMS 1078


4 For the word of the LORD is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.

6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;
he put the deeps in storehouses.

8 Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.

10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
12 Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.

13 The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all humankind.
14 From where he sits enthroned he watches
all the inhabitants of the earth —
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all,
and observes all their deeds.
16 A king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a vain hope for victory,
and by its great might it cannot save.

18 Truly the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 to deliver their soul from death,
and to keep them alive in famine.

1078



PSALMS 1079


20 Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and shield.
21 Our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.

[Psalm 34]
Prayer for deliverance from trouble


1 I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
let the humble hear and be glad.
3 O magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together.

4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Look to him, and be radiant;
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor soul cried, and was heard by the LORD,
and was saved from every trouble.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
8 O taste and see that the LORD is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.
9 O fear the LORD, you his holy ones,
for those who fear him have no want.
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

11 Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 Which of you desires life,
and covets many days to enjoy good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking deceit.

1079



PSALMS 1080


14 Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against evildoers,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears,
and rescues them from all their troubles.
18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted,
and saves the crushed in spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the LORD rescues them from them all.
20 He keeps all their bones;
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil brings death to the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The LORD redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

[Psalm 35]
Royal prayer for deliverance


1 Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of shield and buckler,
and rise up to help me!
3 Draw the spear and javelin
against my pursuers;
say to my soul,
"I am your salvation."

4 Let them be put to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life.
Let them be turned back and confounded
who devise evil against me.
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the LORD driving them on.

1080



PSALMS 1081


6 Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.

7 For without cause they hid their net for me;
without cause they dug a pit for my life.
8 Let ruin come on them unawares.
And let the net that they hid ensnare them;
let them fall in it — to their ruin.

9 Then my soul shall rejoice in the LORD,
exulting in his deliverance.
10 All my bones shall say,
"O LORD, who is like you?

You deliver the weak
from those too strong for them,
the weak and needy from those who despoil them."

11 Malicious witnesses rise up;
they ask me about things I do not know.
12 They repay me evil for good;
my soul is forlorn.

13 But as for me, when they were sick,
I wore sackcloth;
I afflicted myself with fasting.
I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,

14
as though I grieved for a friend or a brother;
I went about as one who laments for a mother,
bowed down and in mourning.

15 But at my stumbling they gathered in glee,
they gathered together against me;
ruffians whom I did not know
tore at me without ceasing;
16 they impiously mocked more and more,
gnashing at me with their teeth.

1081



PSALMS 1082


17 How long, O LORD, will you look on?
Rescue me from their ravages,
my life from the lions!

18 Then I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.

19 Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me,
or those who hate me without cause wink the eye.

20 For they do not speak peace,
but they conceive deceitful words
against those who are quiet in the land.

21 They open wide their mouths against me;
they say, "Aha, Aha,
our eyes have seen it."

22 You have seen, O LORD; do not be silent!
O Lord, do not be far from me!
23 Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defense,


for my cause, my God and my Lord!

24 Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and do not let them rejoice over me.

25 Do not let them say to themselves,
"Aha, we have our heart's desire."
Do not let them say, "We have swallowed you up."

26 Let all those who rejoice at my calamity
be put to shame and confusion;
let those who exalt themselves against me
be clothed with shame and dishonor.

27 Let those who desire my vindication
shout for joy and be glad,
and say evermore,

"Great is the LORD,
who delights in the welfare of his servant."
28 Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
and of your praise all day long.

1082



PSALMS 1083


[Psalm 36]
Hymn of rejoicing in the Temple


1 Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in their hearts;
there is no fear of God
before their eyes.
2 For they flatter themselves in their own eyes
that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3 The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;
they have ceased to act wisely and do good.

4 They plot mischief while on their beds;
they are set on a way that is not good;
they do not reject evil.

5 Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.

6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your judgments are like the great deep;
you save humans and animals alike, O LORD.

7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

10 O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your salvation to the upright of heart!
11 Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
or the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There the evildoers lie prostrate;
they are thrust down, unable to rise.

1083



PSALMS 1084


[Psalm 37]
The certainty of retribution


1 Do not fret because of the wicked;
do not be envious of wrongdoers,
2 for they will soon fade like the grass,
and wither like the green herb.

3 Trust in the LORD, and do good;
so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
4 Take delight in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will make your vindication shine like the light,
and the justice of your cause like the noonday.

7 Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him;
do not fret over those who prosper in their way,
over those who carry out evil devices.

8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath.
Do not fret — it leads only to evil.
9 For the wicked shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

10 Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look diligently for their place, they will not be there.
11 But the meek shall inherit the land,
and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

12 The wicked plot against the righteous,
and gnash their teeth at them;
13 but the LORD laughs at the wicked,
for he sees that their day is coming.

1084



PSALMS 1085


14 The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows
to bring down the poor and needy,
to kill those who walk uprightly;

15 their sword shall enter their own heart,
and their bows shall be broken.

16 Better is a little that the righteous person has
than the abundance of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.

18 The LORD knows the days of the blameless,
and their heritage will abide forever;
19 they are not put to shame in evil times,
in the days of famine they have abundance.

20 But the wicked perish,
and the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures;
they vanish — like smoke they vanish away.

21 The wicked borrow, and do not pay back,
but the righteous are generous and keep giving;
22 for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land,
but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

23 Our steps are made firm by the LORD,
when he delights in our way;
24 though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong,
for the LORD holds us by the hand.

25 I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.

26 They are ever giving liberally and lending,
and their children become a blessing.

1085



PSALMS 1086


27 Depart from evil, and do good;
so you shall abide forever.
28 For the LORD loves justice;
he will not forsake his faithful ones.

The righteous shall be kept safe forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land,
and live in it forever.
30 The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
and their tongues speak justice.
31 The law of their God is in their hearts;
their steps do not slip.

32 The wicked watch for the righteous,
and seek to kill them.
33 The LORD will not abandon them to their power,
or let them be condemned when they are brought to trial.

34 Wait for the LORD, and keep to his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
you will look on the destruction of the wicked.

35 I have seen the wicked oppressing,
and towering like a cedar of Lebanon.
36 Again I passed by, and they were no more;
though I sought them, they could not be found.

37 Mark the blameless, and behold the upright,
for there is posterity for the peaceable.
38 But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
the posterity of the wicked shall be cut off.

39 The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in the time of trouble.

40 The LORD helps them and rescues them;
he rescues them from the wicked, and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

1086



PSALMS 1087


[Psalm 38]
Prayer for healing


1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger,
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 For your arrows have sunk into me,
and your hand has come down on me.

3 There is no soundness in my flesh
because of your indignation;
there is no health in my bones
because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head;
they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.

5 My wounds grow foul and fester
because of my foolishness;
6 I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;
all day long I go around mourning.
7 For my loins are filled with burning,
and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am utterly spent and crushed;
I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

9 O Lord, all my longing is known to you;
my sighing is not hidden from you.
10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
as for the light of my eyes — it also has gone from me.
11 My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction,
and my neighbors stand far off.

12 Those who seek my life lay their snares;
those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin,
and meditate treachery all day long.

1087



PSALMS 1088


13 But I am like the deaf, I do not hear;
like the mute, who cannot speak.
14 Truly, I am like one who does not hear,
and in whose mouth is no retort.

15 But it is for you, O LORD, that I wait;
it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
16 For I pray, "Only do not let them rejoice over me,
those who boast against me when my foot slips."

17 For I am ready to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.
18 I confess my iniquity;
I am sorry for my sin.
19 Those who are my foes without cause are mighty,
and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
20 Those who render me evil for good
are my adversaries because I follow after good.

21 Do not forsake me, O LORD;
O my God, do not be far from me;
22 make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation.

[Psalm 39]
The brevity of human life


1 I said, "I will guard my ways
that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will keep a muzzle on my mouth
as long as the wicked are in my presence."
2 I was silent and still;
I held my peace to no avail;
my distress grew worse,
my heart became hot within me.
While I mused, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:

1088



PSALMS 1089


4 "LORD, let me know my end,
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.

5 You have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath.
Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
they heap up, and do not know who will gather.

7 "And now, O Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in you.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Do not make me the scorn of the fool.
9 I am silent; I do not open my mouth,
for it is you who have done it.
10 Remove your stroke from me;
I am worn down by the blows of your hand.

11 "You chastise mortals
in punishment for sin,
consuming like a moth what is dear to them;
surely everyone is a mere breath.

12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD,
and give ear to my cry;
do not hold your peace at my tears.

For I am your passing guest,
an alien, like all my forebears.
13 Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again,
before I depart and am no more."

1089



PSALMS 1090


[Psalm 40]
Thanksgiving for deliverance and prayer for help


1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the desolate pit,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.
4 Happy are those who make
the LORD their trust,
who do not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after false gods.

5 You have multiplied, O LORD my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you.

Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
they would be more than can be counted.


6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
7 Then I said, "Here I am;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart."

9 I have told the glad news of deliverance
in the great congregation;
see, I have not restrained my lips,
as you know, O LORD.

1090



PSALMS 1091


10 I have not hidden your saving help within my heart,
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.

11 Do not, O LORD, withhold
your mercy from me;
let your steadfast love and your faithfulness
keep me safe forever.
12 For evils have encompassed me
without number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,
until I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails me.

13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
O LORD, make haste to help me.
14 Let all those be put to shame and confusion
who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be turned back and brought to dishonor
who desire my hurt.
15 Let those be appalled because of their shame
who say to me, "Aha, Aha!"

16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say continually, "Great is the LORD!"
17 As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God.

1091



PSALMS 1092


[Psalm 41]
Prayer for healing


1 Happy are those who consider the poor;
the LORD delivers them in the day of trouble.

2 The LORD protects them and keeps them alive;
they are called happy in the land.
You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.

3 The LORD sustains them on their sickbed;
in their illness you heal all their infirmities.

4 As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious to me;
heal me, for I have sinned against you."
5 My enemies wonder in malice
when I will die, and my name perish.

6 And when they come to see me, they utter empty words,
while their hearts gather mischief;
when they go out, they tell it abroad.

7 All who hate me whisper together about me;
they imagine the worst for me.

8 They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me,
that I will not rise again from where I lie.
9 Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted,
who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.
10 But you, O LORD, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them.

11 By this I know that you are pleased with me;
because my enemy has not triumphed over me.
12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
and set me in your presence forever.

13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.

1092



PSALMS 1093


BOOK II (PSALMS 42–72)


[Psalm 42]
Thirst for the living God


1 As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
"Where is your God?"

4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,
and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help 6 and my God.

 My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.

8 By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

1093



PSALMS 1094


9 I say to God, my rock,
"Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?"
10 As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
"Where is your God?"

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

[Psalm 43]
Thirst for the living God


1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people;
from those who are deceitful and unjust
deliver me!
2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
why have you cast me off?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because of the oppression of the enemy?

3 O send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy;
and I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.

1094



PSALMS 1095


5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

[Psalm 44]
Prayer for divine help after a national defeat


1 We have heard with our ears, O God,
our ancestors have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old:
2 you with your own hand drove out the nations,
but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but them you set free;
3 for not by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm give them victory;

but your right hand, and your arm,
and the light of your countenance,
for you delighted in them.


4 You are my King and my God;
you command victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we push down our foes;
through your name we tread down our assailants.
6 For not in my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our foes,
and have put to confusion those who hate us.
8 In God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to your name forever.

9 Yet you have rejected us and abased us,
and have not gone out with our armies.
10 You made us turn back from the foe,
and our enemies have gotten spoil.

1095



PSALMS 1096


11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter,
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You have sold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.
13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and scorn of those around us.
14 You have made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock among the peoples.
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
and shame has covered my face
16 at the words of the taunters and revilers,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.

17 All this has come upon us,
yet we have not forgotten you,
or been false to your covenant.

18 Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way,
19 yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals,
and covered us with deep darkness.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God,
or spread out our hands to a strange god,
21 would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Because of you we are being killed all day long,
and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Awake, do not cast us off forever!
24 Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
25 For we sink down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Rise up, come to our help.
Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.

1096



PSALMS 1097


[Psalm 45]
A royal wedding song


1 My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
I address my verses to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

2 You are the most handsome of men;
grace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.

3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your glory and majesty.

4 In your majesty ride on victoriously
for the cause of truth and to defend the right;
let your right hand teach you dread deeds.

5 Your arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king's enemies;
the peoples fall under you.

6 Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.
Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity;
7 you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;
9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

10 Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;
forget your people and your father's house,
11 and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him;
12 the people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,
the richest of the people 13 with all kinds of wealth.

1097



PSALMS 1098


 The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;
14 in many-colored robes she is led to the king;
behind her the virgins, her companions, follow.
15 With joy and gladness they are led along
as they enter the palace of the king.

16 In the place of ancestors you, O king, shall have sons;
you will make them princes in all the earth.
17 I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations;
therefore the peoples will praise you forever and ever.

[Psalm 46]
Praise of Zion and its victorious king


1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.

8 Come, behold the works of the LORD;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.

10 "Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth."

1098



PSALMS 1099


11 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.

[Psalm 47]
God's enthronement


1 Clap your hands, all you peoples;
shout to God with loud songs of joy.
2 For the LORD, the Most High, is awesome,
a great king over all the earth.
3 He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
4 He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves.

5 God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the king of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm.

8 God is king over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted.

[Psalm 48]
Praise of Zion

1 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, 2 beautiful in elevation,
is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
the city of the great King.

1099



PSALMS 1100


3 Within its citadels God
has shown himself a sure defense.
4 Then the kings assembled,
they came on together.
5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
they were in panic, they took to flight;
6 trembling took hold of them there,
pains as of a woman in labor,
7 as when an east wind shatters
the ships of Tarshish.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen
in the city of the LORD of hosts,
in the city of our God,
which God establishes forever.

9 We ponder your steadfast love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
10 Your name, O God, like your praise,
reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with victory.
11 Let Mount Zion be glad,
let the towns of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments.

12 Walk about Zion, go all around it,
count its towers,
13 consider well its ramparts;
go through its citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
14 that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
He will be our guide forever.

1100



PSALMS 1101


[Psalm 49]
Transcience of life and wealth


1 Hear this, all you peoples;
give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor together.
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom;
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp.

5 Why should I fear in times of trouble,
when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,
6 those who trust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?
7 Truly, no ransom avails for one's life,
there is no price one can give to God for it.

8 For the ransom of life is costly,
and can never suffice,
9 that one should live on forever


and never see the grave.

10 When we look at the wise, they die;
fool and dolt perish together
and leave their wealth to others.

11 Their graves are their homes forever,
their dwelling places to all generations,
though they named lands their own.

12 Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;
they are like the animals that perish.

1101



PSALMS 1102


13 Such is the fate of the foolhardy,
the end of those who are pleased with their lot.
14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
Death shall be their shepherd;

straight to the grave they descend,
and their form shall waste away;
Sheol shall be their home.


15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
for he will receive me.

16 Do not be afraid when some become rich,
when the wealth of their houses increases.
17 For when they die they will carry nothing away;
their wealth will not go down after them.
18 Though in their lifetime they count themselves happy
— for you are praised when you do well for yourself —
19 they will go to the company of their ancestors,
who will never again see the light.
20 Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;
they are like the animals that perish.

[Psalm 50]
Theophany of the divine judge


1 The mighty one, God the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.

3 Our God comes and does not keep silence,
before him is a devouring fire,
and a mighty tempest all around him.

4 He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 "Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!"

1102



PSALMS 1103


6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge.

7 "Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.

8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house,
or goats from your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the air,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 "If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

16 But to the wicked God says:
"What right have you to recite my statutes,
or take my covenant on your lips?

17 For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one,
and you keep company with adulterers.

19 "You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin;
you slander your own mother's child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

1103



PSALMS 1104


22 "Mark this, then, you who forget God,

or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me;

to those who go the right way
I will show the salvation of God."


[Psalm 51]
Prayer for forgiveness


1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

6 You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.

1104



PSALMS 1105


12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

15 O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;

if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then you will delight in right sacrifices,


in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

[Psalm 52]
Divine judgment against an oppressor


1 Why do you boast, O mighty one,
of mischief done against the godly?
All day long 2 you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
you worker of treachery.
3 You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking the truth.
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.

5 But God will break you down forever;

he will snatch and tear you from your tent;

he will uproot you from the land of the living.

1105



PSALMS 1106


6 The righteous will see, and fear,
and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,
7 "See the one who would not take
refuge in God,
but trusted in abundant riches,
and sought refuge in wealth!"

8 But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever,
because of what you have done.
In the presence of the faithful
I will proclaim your name, for it is good.

[Psalm 53]
Condemnation of foolish evildoers


1 Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, they commit abominable acts;
there is no one who does good.

2 God looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.

3 They have all fallen away, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.

4 Have they no knowledge, those evildoers,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon God?

1106



PSALMS 1107


5 There they shall be in great terror,
in terror such as has not been.
For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly;
they will be put to shame, for God has rejected them.

6 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.

[Psalm 54]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 Save me, O God, by your name,
and vindicate me by your might.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
give ear to the words of my mouth.

3 For the insolent have risen against me,
the ruthless seek my life;
they do not set God before them.

4 But surely, God is my helper;
the Lord is the upholder of my life.
5 He will repay my enemies for their evil.
In your faithfulness, put an end to them.

6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good.
7 For he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

1107



PSALMS 1108


[Psalm 55]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 Give ear to my prayer, O God;
do not hide yourself from my supplication.
2 Attend to me, and answer me;
I am troubled in my complaint.
I am distraught 3 by the noise of the enemy,
because of the clamor of the wicked.
For they bring trouble upon me,
and in anger they cherish enmity against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me,
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.
6 And I say, "O that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
7 truly, I would flee far away;
I would lodge in the wilderness;

8 I would hurry to find a shelter for myself
from the raging wind and tempest."

9 Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech;
for I see violence and strife in the city.

10 Day and night they go around it
on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;

11 ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
do not depart from its marketplace.

12 It is not enemies who taunt me —
I could bear that;
it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me —
I could hide from them.

1108



PSALMS 1109


13 But it is you, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend,
14 with whom I kept pleasant company;
we walked in the house of God with the throng.

15 Let death come upon them;
let them go down alive to Sheol;
for evil is in their homes and in their hearts.

16 But I call upon God,
and the LORD will save me.

17 Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he will hear my voice.

18 He will redeem me unharmed
from the battle that I wage,
for many are arrayed against me.

19 God, who is enthroned from of old,
will hear, and will humble them —
because they do not change,
and do not fear God.

20 My companion laid hands on a friend
and violated a covenant with me
21 with speech smoother than butter,
but with a heart set on war;
with words that were softer than oil,
but in fact were drawn swords.

22 Cast your burden on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.

23 But you, O God, will cast them down
into the lowest pit;
the bloodthirsty and treacherous
shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you.

1109



PSALMS 1110


[Psalm 56]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 Be gracious to me, O God, for people trample on me;
all day long foes oppress me;
2 my enemies trample on me all day long,
for many fight against me.
O Most High, 3 when I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.

4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I am not afraid;
what can flesh do to me?

5 All day long they seek to injure my cause;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They stir up strife, they lurk,
they watch my steps.
As they hoped to have my life,
7 so repay them for their crime;
in wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

8 You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your record?

9 Then my enemies will retreat
in the day when I call.
This I know, that God is for me.

10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust; I am not afraid.
What can a mere mortal do to me?

12 My vows to you I must perform, O God;
I will render thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered my soul from death,
and my feet from falling,
so that I may walk before God
in the light of life.

1110



PSALMS 1111


[Psalm 57]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
until the destroying storms pass by.
2 I cry to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me,
he will put to shame those who trample on me.
God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness.

4 I lie down among lions
that greedily devour human prey;
their teeth are spears and arrows,
their tongues sharp swords.

5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let your glory be over all the earth.

6 They set a net for my steps;
my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my path,
but they have fallen into it themselves.
7 My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and make melody.
8 Awake, my soul!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn.
9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
10 For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens;
your faithfulness extends to the clouds.

11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let your glory be over all the earth.

1111



PSALMS 1112


[Psalm 58]
A curse upon enemies


1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?
Do you judge people fairly?
2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands deal out violence on earth.

3 The wicked go astray from the womb;
they err from their birth, speaking lies.

4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers


or of the cunning enchanter.

6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7 Let them vanish like water that runs away;
like grass let them be trodden down and wither.
8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime;
like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

10 The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done;
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 People will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth."

[Psalm 59]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
protect me from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from those who work evil;
from the bloodthirsty save me.

1112



PSALMS 1113


3 Even now they lie in wait for my life;
the mighty stir up strife against me.
For no transgression or sin of mine, O LORD,
4 for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.

Rouse yourself, come to my help and see!
5 You, LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel.
Awake to punish all the nations;
spare none of those who treacherously plot evil.

6 Each evening they come back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.

7 There they are, bellowing with their mouths,
with sharp words on their lips —
for "Who," they think, "will hear us?"

8 But you laugh at them, O LORD;
you hold all the nations in derision.
9 O my strength, I will watch for you;
for you, O God, are my fortress.
10 My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
my God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

11 Do not kill them, or my people may forget;
make them totter by your power, and bring them down,
O Lord, our shield.

12 For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,
let them be trapped in their pride.
For the cursing and lies that they utter,
13 consume them in wrath;
consume them until they are no more.
Then it will be known to the ends of the earth
that God rules over Jacob.

14 Each evening they come back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.

1113



PSALMS 1114


15 They roam about for food,
and growl if they do not get their fill.

16 But I will sing of your might;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been a fortress for me
and a refuge in the day of my distress.

17 O my strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love.

[Psalm 60]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses;
you have been angry; now restore us!
2 You have caused the land to quake; you have torn it open;
repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.
3 You have made your people suffer hard things;
you have given us wine to drink that made us reel.

4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you,
to rally to it out of bowshot.

5 Give victory with your right hand, and answer us,
so that those whom you love may be rescued.

6 God has promised in his sanctuary:
"With exultation I will divide up Shechem,
and portion out the Vale of Succoth.

7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.

8 Moab is my washbasin;
on Edom I hurl my shoe;
over Philistia I shout in triumph."

1114



PSALMS 1115


9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Have you not rejected us, O God?
You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
11 O grant us help against the foe,
for human help is worthless.
12 With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.

[Psalm 61]
Protection in the Temple


1 Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I call to you,
when my heart is faint.

 Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I;
3 for you are my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.

4 Let me abide in your tent forever,
find refuge under the shelter of your wings.
5 For you, O God, have heard my vows;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

6 Prolong the life of the king;
may his years endure to all generations!
7 May he be enthroned forever before God;
appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!

8 So I will always sing praises to your name,
as I pay my vows day after day.

1115



PSALMS 1116


[Psalm 62]
Trust in God

1 For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall never be shaken.

3 How long will you assail a person,
will you batter your victim, all of you,
as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

4 Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.
They take pleasure in falsehood;
they bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse.

5 For God alone my soul waits in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.

9 Those of low estate are but a breath,
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.

10 Put no confidence in extortion,
and set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

1116



PSALMS 1117


11 Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
12 and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.
For you repay to all
according to their work.

[Psalm 63]
Thirsting for God

1 O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
5 My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
6 when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

9 But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword,
they shall be prey for jackals.

11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

1117



PSALMS 1118


[Psalm 64]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
preserve my life from the dread enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
from the scheming of evildoers,
3 who whet their tongues like swords,
who aim bitter words like arrows,
4 shooting from ambush at the blameless;
they shoot suddenly and without fear.
5 They hold fast to their evil purpose;
they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, "Who can see us?
6 Who can search out our crimes?
We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot."
For the human heart and mind are deep.

7 But God will shoot his arrow at them;
they will be wounded suddenly.
8 Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake with horror.

9 Then everyone will fear;
they will tell what God has brought about,
and ponder what he has done.

10 Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD
and take refuge in him.
Let all the upright in heart glory.

1118



PSALMS 1119


[Psalm 65]
Thanksgiving for agricultural bounty


1 Praise is due to you,
O God, in Zion;
and to you shall vows be performed,
O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.
3 When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
you forgive our transgressions.
4 Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.

5 By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.
6 By your strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.

7 You silence the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.

8 Those who live at earth's farthest
bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the
morning and the evening shout for joy.

9 You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;

the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.


10 You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.

1119



PSALMS 1120


11 You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,

13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.

[Psalm 66]
Praise of God the savior


1 Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2 sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise.
3 Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.

4 All the earth worships you;
they sing praises to you,
sing praises to your name."

5 Come and see what God has done:
he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
6 He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot.
There we rejoiced in him,
7 who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations —
let the rebellious not exalt themselves.

8 Bless our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard,
9 who has kept us among the living,
and has not let our feet slip.
10 For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
11 You brought us into the net;
you laid burdens on our backs;

1120



PSALMS 1121


12 you let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.

13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay you my vows,
14 those that my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats.

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for me.
17 I cried aloud to him,
and he was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
19 But truly God has listened;
he has given heed to the words of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me.

[Psalm 67]
Thanksgiving for agricultural bounty


1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,

2 that your way may be known upon earth,
your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.

1121



PSALMS 1122


4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth.

5 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.
6 The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, has blessed us.
7 May God continue to bless us;
let all the ends of the earth revere him.

[Psalm 68]
A victory hymn


1 Let God rise up, let his enemies be scattered;
let those who hate him flee before him.

2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away;
as wax melts before the fire,
let the wicked perish before God.

3 But let the righteous be joyful;
let them exult before God;
let them be jubilant with joy.

4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds —
his name is the LORD —
be exultant before him.

5 Father of orphans and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.

6 God gives the desolate a home to live in;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious live in a parched land.

7 O God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness,

1122



PSALMS 1123


8 the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain
at the presence of God, the God of Sinai,
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

9 Rain in abundance, O God, you showered abroad;
you restored your heritage when it languished;
10 your flock found a dwelling in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

11 The Lord gives the command;
great is the company of those who bore the tidings:
12 "The kings of the armies, they flee, they flee!"
The women at home divide the spoil,
13 though they stay among the sheepfolds —
the wings of a dove covered with silver,
its pinions with green gold.
14 When the Almighty scattered kings there,
snow fell on Zalmon.

15 O mighty mountain, mountain of Bashan;
O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!

16 Why do you look with envy, O many-peaked mountain,
at the mount that God desired for his abode,
where the LORD will reside forever?

17 With mighty chariotry, twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands,
the Lord came from Sinai into the holy place.

18 You ascended the high mount,
leading captives in your train
and receiving gifts from people,

even from those who rebel against the LORD God's abiding there.

19 Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation.

20 Our God is a God of salvation,
and to GOD, the Lord, belongs escape from death.

1123



PSALMS 1124


21 But God will shatter the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crown of those who walk in their guilty ways.
22 The Lord said,
"I will bring them back from Bashan,
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

23 so that you may bathe your feet in blood,
so that the tongues of your dogs may have their share
from the foe."

24 Your solemn processions are seen, O God,
the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary —
25 the singers in front, the musicians last,
between them girls playing tambourines:
26 "Bless God in the great congregation,
the LORD, O you who are of Israel's fountain!"

27 There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead,
the princes of Judah in a body,
the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

28 Summon your might, O God;
show your strength, O God, as you have done for us before.
29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem
kings bear gifts to you.
30 Rebuke the wild animals that live among the reeds,
the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.
Trample under foot those who lust after tribute;
scatter the peoples who delight in war.
31 Let bronze be brought from Egypt;
let Ethiopia hasten to stretch out its hands to God.

32 Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth;
sing praises to the Lord,
33 O rider in the heavens, the ancient heavens;
listen, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.

34 Ascribe power to God,
whose majesty is over Israel;
and whose power is in the skies.

1124



PSALMS 1125


35 Awesome is God in his sanctuary,

the God of Israel;

he gives power and strength to his people.

Blessed be God!

[Psalm 69]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
3 I am weary with my crying;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God.

4 More in number than the hairs of my head
are those who hate me without cause;
many are those who would destroy me,
my enemies who accuse me falsely.
What I did not steal
must I now restore?
5 O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

6 Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me,
O Lord GOD of hosts;
do not let those who seek you be dishonored because of me,
O God of Israel.
7 It is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my kindred,
an alien to my mother's children.

1125



PSALMS 1126


9 It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;
the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
10 When I humbled my soul with fasting,
they insulted me for doing so.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
12 I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make songs about me.

13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.

With your faithful help 14 rescue me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.


15 Do not let the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the Pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant,
for I am in distress — make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to me, redeem me,
set me free because of my enemies.

19 You know the insults I receive,
and my shame and dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.

20 Insults have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none;
and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

1126



PSALMS 1127


22 Let their table be a trap for them,
a snare for their allies.
23 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 May their camp be a desolation;
let no one live in their tents.
26 For they persecute those whom you have struck down,
and those whom you have wounded, they attack still more.
27 Add guilt to their guilt;
may they have no acquittal from you.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
29 But I am lowly and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, protect me.

30 I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the LORD more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 Let the oppressed see it and be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33 For the LORD hears the needy,
and does not despise his own that are in bonds.

34 Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah;
and his servants shall live there and possess it;
36 the children of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall live in it.

1127



PSALMS 1128


[Psalm 70]
Prayer for deliverance from enemies


1 Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
O LORD, make haste to help me!
2 Let those be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life.
Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor
who desire to hurt me.
3 Let those who say, "Aha, Aha!"
turn back because of their shame.

4 Let all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you.
Let those who love your salvation
say evermore, "God is great!"
5 But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O LORD, do not delay!

[Psalm 71]
Prayer in old age

1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.

3 Be to me a rock of refuge,
a strong fortress, to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.

4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

1128



PSALMS 1129


6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.

7 I have been like a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
do not forsake me when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me,
and those who watch for my life consult together.

11 They say, "Pursue and seize that person
whom God has forsaken,
for there is no one to deliver."

12 O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!

13 Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
let those who seek to hurt me
be covered with scorn and disgrace.

14 But I will hope continually,
and will praise you yet more and more.

15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all day long,
though their number is past my knowledge.

16 I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD,
I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.

17 O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might
to all the generations to come.
Your power 19 and your righteousness, O God,
reach the high heavens.

1129