Psalms 22 to 33

Psalm 22

For the Chief Musician; set to “The Doe of the Morning.” A Psalm by David.

¹My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?

²My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer;

in the night season, and am not silent.

³But you are holy,

you who inhabit the praises of Israel.

⁴Our fathers trusted in you.

They trusted, and you delivered them.

⁵They cried to you, and were delivered.

They trusted in you, and were not disappointed.

⁶But I am a worm, and no man;

a reproach of men, and despised by the people.

⁷All those who see me mock me.

They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,

⁸“He trusts in the LORD.

Let him deliver him.

Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”

⁹But you brought me out of the womb.

You made me trust while at my mother’s breasts.

¹⁰I was thrown on you from my mother’s womb.

You are my God since my mother bore me.

¹¹Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near.

For there is no one to help.

¹²Many bulls have surrounded me.

Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.

¹³They open their mouths wide against me,

lions tearing prey and roaring.

¹⁴I am poured out like water.

All my bones are out of joint.

My heart is like wax.

It is melted within me.

¹⁵My strength is dried up like a potsherd.

My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

You have brought me into the dust of death.

¹⁶For dogs have surrounded me.

A company of evildoers have enclosed me.

They have pierced my hands and feet.

¹⁷I can count all of my bones.

They look and stare at me.

¹⁸They divide my garments among them.

They cast lots for my clothing.

But don’t be far off, LORD.

You are my help. Hurry to help me!

²⁰Deliver my soul from the sword,

my precious life from the power of the dog.

²¹Save me from the lion’s mouth!

Yes, you have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen.

I will declare your name to my brothers.

Among the assembly, I will praise you.

²³You who fear the LORD, praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him!

Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!

²⁴For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted,

neither has he hidden his face from him;

but when he cried to him, he heard.

My praise of you comes in the great assembly.

I will pay my vows before those who fear him.

²⁶The humble shall eat and be satisfied.

They shall praise the LORD who seek after him.

Let your hearts live forever.

²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD.

All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.

²⁸For the kingdom is the LORD’s.

He is the ruler over the nations.

²⁹All the rich ones of the earth shall eat and worship.

All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him,

even he who can’t keep his soul alive.

³⁰Posterity shall serve him.

Future generations shall be told about the Lord.

³¹They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born,

for he has done it.

Psalm 23

A Psalm by David.

¹The LORD is my shepherd;

I shall lack nothing.

²He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

³He restores my soul.

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

⁵You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil.

My cup runs over.

⁶Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the LORD’s house forever.

Psalm 24

A Psalm by David.

¹The earth is the LORD’s, with its fullness;

the world, and those who dwell in it.

²For he has founded it on the seas,

and established it on the floods.

Who may ascend to the LORD’s hill?

Who may stand in his holy place?

⁴He who has clean hands and a pure heart;

who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood,

and has not sworn deceitfully.

⁵He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,

righteousness from the God of his salvation.

⁶This is the generation of those who seek Him,

who seek your face—even Jacob. Selah.

Lift up your heads, you gates!

Be lifted up, you everlasting doors,

and the King of glory will come in.

⁸Who is the King of glory?

The LORD strong and mighty,

the LORD mighty in battle.

⁹Lift up your heads, you gates;

yes, lift them up, you everlasting doors,

and the King of glory will come in.

¹⁰Who is this King of glory?

The LORD of Armies is the King of glory! Selah.

Psalm 25

By David.

¹To you, LORD, I lift up my soul.

²My God, I have trusted in you.

Don’t let me be shamed.

Don’t let my enemies triumph over me.

³Yes, no one who waits for you will be shamed.

They will be shamed who deal treacherously without cause.

Show me your ways, LORD.

Teach me your paths.

⁵Guide me in your truth, and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation.

I wait for you all day long.

⁶LORD, remember your tender mercies and your loving kindness,

for they are from old times.

⁷Don’t remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions.

Remember me according to your loving kindness,

for your goodness’ sake, LORD.

⁸Good and upright is the LORD,

therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.

⁹He will guide the humble in justice.

He will teach the humble his way.

¹⁰All the paths of the LORD are loving kindness and truth

to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

¹¹For your name’s sake, LORD,

pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

¹²What man is he who fears the LORD?

He shall instruct him in the way that he shall choose.

¹³His soul will dwell at ease.

His offspring will inherit the land.

¹⁴The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him.

He will show them his covenant.

My eyes are ever on the LORD,

for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

¹⁶Turn to me, and have mercy on me,

for I am desolate and afflicted.

¹⁷The troubles of my heart are enlarged.

Oh bring me out of my distresses.

¹⁸Consider my affliction and my travail.

Forgive all my sins.

¹⁹Consider my enemies, for they are many.

They hate me with cruel hatred.

²⁰Oh keep my soul, and deliver me.

Let me not be disappointed, for I take refuge in you.

²¹Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,

for I wait for you.

²²God, redeem Israel

out of all his troubles.

Psalm 26

By David.

¹Judge me, LORD, for I have walked in my integrity.

I have trusted also in the LORD without wavering.

²Examine me, LORD, and prove me.

Try my heart and my mind.

³For your loving kindness is before my eyes.

I have walked in your truth.

⁴I have not sat with deceitful men,

neither will I go in with hypocrites.

⁵I hate the assembly of evildoers,

and will not sit with the wicked.

⁶I will wash my hands in innocence,

so I will go about your altar, LORD,

⁷that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard

and tell of all your wondrous deeds.

⁸LORD, I love the habitation of your house,

the place where your glory dwells.

⁹Don’t gather my soul with sinners,

nor my life with bloodthirsty men

¹⁰in whose hands is wickedness;

their right hand is full of bribes.

But as for me, I will walk in my integrity.

Redeem me, and be merciful to me.

¹²My foot stands in an even place.

In the congregations I will bless the LORD.

Psalm 27

By David.

¹The LORD is my light and my salvation.

Whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life.

Of whom shall I be afraid?

²When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh,

even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.

³Though an army should encamp against me,

my heart shall not fear.

Though war should rise against me,

even then I will be confident.

⁴One thing I have asked of the LORD, that I will seek after:

that I may dwell in the LORD’s house all the days of my life,

to see the LORD’s beauty,

and to inquire in his temple.

⁵For in the day of trouble, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion.

In the secret place of his tabernacle, he will hide me.

He will lift me up on a rock.

⁶Now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me.

I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tent.

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.

Hear, LORD, when I cry with my voice.

Have mercy also on me, and answer me.

⁸When you said, “Seek my face,”

my heart said to you, “I will seek your face, LORD.”

⁹Don’t hide your face from me.

Don’t put your servant away in anger.

You have been my help.

Don’t abandon me,

neither forsake me, God of my salvation.

¹⁰When my father and my mother forsake me,

then the LORD will take me up.

¹¹Teach me your way, LORD.

Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies.

¹²Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries,

for false witnesses have risen up against me,

such as breathe out cruelty.

¹³I am still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

¹⁴Wait for the LORD.

Be strong, and let your heart take courage.

Yes, wait for the LORD.

Psalm 28

By David.

¹To you, LORD, I call.

My rock, don’t be deaf to me,

lest, if you are silent to me,

I would become like those who go down into the pit.

²Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you,

when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.

³Don’t draw me away with the wicked,

with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors,

but mischief is in their hearts.

⁴Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings.

Give them according to the operation of their hands.

Bring back on them what they deserve.

⁵Because they don’t respect the works of the LORD,

nor the operation of his hands,

he will break them down and not build them up.

Blessed be the LORD,

because he has heard the voice of my petitions.

⁷The LORD is my strength and my shield.

My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped.

Therefore my heart greatly rejoices.

With my song I will thank him.

⁸The LORD is their strength.

He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.

⁹Save your people,

and bless your inheritance.

Be their shepherd also,

and bear them up forever.

Psalm 29

A Psalm by David.

¹Ascribe to the LORD, you sons of the mighty,

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

²Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name.

Worship the LORD in holy array.

The LORD’s voice is on the waters.

The God of glory thunders, even the LORD on many waters.

⁴The LORD’s voice is powerful.

The LORD’s voice is full of majesty.

⁵The LORD’s voice breaks the cedars.

Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes them also to skip like a calf;

Lebanon and Sirion like a young, wild ox.

⁷The LORD’s voice strikes with flashes of lightning.

⁸The LORD’s voice shakes the wilderness.

The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The LORD’s voice makes the deer calve,

and strips the forests bare.

In his temple everything says, “Glory!”

The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood.

Yes, the LORD sits as King forever.

¹¹The LORD will give strength to his people.

The LORD will bless his people with peace.

Psalm 30

A Psalm. A Song for the Dedication of the Temple. By David.

¹I will extol you, LORD, for you have raised me up,

and have not made my foes to rejoice over me.

²LORD my God, I cried to you,

and you have healed me.

³LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol.

You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

⁴Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of his.

Give thanks to his holy name.

⁵For his anger is but for a moment.

His favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may stay for the night,

but joy comes in the morning.

⁶As for me, I said in my prosperity,

“I shall never be moved.”

⁷You, LORD, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong;

but when you hid your face, I was troubled.

⁸I cried to you, LORD.

I made supplication to the Lord:

⁹“What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit?

Shall the dust praise you?

Shall it declare your truth?

¹⁰Hear, LORD, and have mercy on me.

LORD, be my helper.”

¹¹You have turned my mourning into dancing for me.

You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness,

¹²to the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent.

LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

Psalm 31

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

¹In you, LORD, I take refuge.

Let me never be disappointed.

Deliver me in your righteousness.

²Bow down your ear to me.

Deliver me speedily.

Be to me a strong rock,

a house of defense to save me.

³For you are my rock and my fortress,

therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.

⁴Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me,

for you are my stronghold.

⁵Into your hand I commend my spirit.

You redeem me, LORD, God of truth.

⁶I hate those who regard lying vanities,

but I trust in the LORD.

⁷I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness,

for you have seen my affliction.

You have known my soul in adversities.

⁸You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.

You have set my feet in a large place.

⁹Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress.

My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.

¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow,

my years with sighing.

My strength fails because of my iniquity.

My bones are wasted away.

¹¹Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,

a horror to my acquaintances.

Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

¹²I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.

I am like broken pottery.

¹³For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side,

while they conspire together against me,

they plot to take away my life.

¹⁴But I trust in you, LORD.

I said, “You are my God.”

¹⁵My times are in your hand.

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

¹⁶Make your face to shine on your servant.

Save me in your loving kindness.

¹⁷Let me not be disappointed, LORD, for I have called on you.

Let the wicked be disappointed.

Let them be silent in Sheol.

¹⁸Let the lying lips be mute,

which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.

¹⁹Oh how great is your goodness,

which you have laid up for those who fear you,

which you have worked for those who take refuge in you,

before the sons of men!

²⁰In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man.

You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.

²¹Praise be to the LORD,

for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city.

²²As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.”

Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.

²³Oh love the LORD, all you his saints!

The LORD preserves the faithful,

and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.

²⁴Be strong, and let your heart take courage,

all you who hope in the LORD.

Psalm 32

By David. A contemplative psalm.

¹Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

²Blessed is the man to whom the LORD doesn’t impute iniquity,

in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

⁴For day and night your hand was heavy on me.

My strength was sapped in the heat of summer. Selah.

⁵I acknowledged my sin to you.

I didn’t hide my iniquity.

I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

⁶For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found.

Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.

⁷You are my hiding place.

You will preserve me from trouble.

You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

⁸I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go.

I will counsel you with my eye on you.

⁹Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding,

who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.

¹⁰Many sorrows come to the wicked,

but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in the LORD.

¹¹Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, you righteous!

Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!

Psalm 33

¹Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous!

Praise is fitting for the upright.

²Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre.

Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings.

³Sing to him a new song.

Play skillfully with a shout of joy!

⁴For the LORD’s word is right.

All his work is done in faithfulness.

⁵He loves righteousness and justice.

The earth is full of the loving kindness of the LORD.

⁶By the LORD’s word, the heavens were made:

all their army by the breath of his mouth.

⁷He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap.

He lays up the deeps in storehouses.

⁸Let all the earth fear the LORD.

Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

⁹For he spoke, and it was done.

He commanded, and it stood firm.

¹⁰The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.

He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.

¹¹The counsel of the LORD stands fast forever,

the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,

the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.

¹³The LORD looks from heaven.

He sees all the sons of men.

¹⁴From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,

¹⁵he who fashions all of their hearts;

and he considers all of their works.

¹⁶There is no king saved by the multitude of an army.

A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.

¹⁷A horse is a vain thing for safety,

neither does he deliver any by his great power.

¹⁸Behold, the LORD’s eye is on those who fear him,

on those who hope in his loving kindness,

¹⁹to deliver their soul from death,

to keep them alive in famine.

²⁰Our soul has waited for the LORD.

He is our help and our shield.

²¹For our heart rejoices in him,

because we have trusted in his holy name.

²²Let your loving kindness be on us, LORD,

since we have hoped in you.