Readings

¹Have mercy on me, O God, for my enemies are hounding me; *all day long they assault and oppress me.

²They hound me all the day long; *truly there are many who fight against me, O Most High.

³Whenever I am afraid, *I will put my trust in you.

⁴In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust and will not be afraid, *for what can flesh do to me?

⁵All day long they damage my cause; *their only thought is to do me evil.

⁶They band together; they lie in wait; *they spy upon my footsteps; because they seek my life.

⁷Shall they escape despite their wickedness? *O God, in your anger, cast down the peoples.

⁸You have noted my lamentation; put my tears into your bottle; *are they not recorded in your book?

⁹Whenever I call upon you, my enemies will be put to flight; *this I know, for God is on my side.

¹⁰In God the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust and will not be afraid, *for what can mortals do to me?

¹¹I am bound by the vow I made to you, O God; *I will present to you thank-offerings;

¹²For you have rescued my soul from death and my feet from stumbling, *that I may walk before God in the light of the living.

¹Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful, for I have taken refuge in you; *in the shadow of your wings will I take refuge until this time of trouble has gone by.

²I will call upon the Most High God, *the God who maintains my cause.

³He will send from heaven and save me; he will confound those who trample upon me; *God will send forth his love and his faithfulness.

⁴I lie in the midst of lions that devour the people; *their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongue a sharp sword.

⁵They have laid a net for my feet, and I am bowed low; *they have dug a pit before me, but have fallen into it themselves.

⁶Exalt yourself above the heavens, O God, *and your glory over all the earth.

⁷My heart is firmly fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; *I will sing and make melody.

⁸Wake up, my spirit; awake, lute and harp; *I myself will waken the dawn.

⁹I will confess you among the peoples, O Lord; *I will sing praise to you among the nations.

¹⁰For your loving-kindness is greater than the heavens, *and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

¹¹Exalt yourself above the heavens, O God, *and your glory over all the earth.

¹Do you indeed decree righteousness, you rulers? *do you judge the peoples with equity?

²No; you devise evil in your hearts, *and your hands deal out violence in the land.

³The wicked are perverse from the womb; *liars go astray from their birth.

⁴They are as venomous as a serpent, *they are like the deaf adder which stops its ears,

⁵Which does not heed the voice of the charmer, *no matter how skillful his charming.

⁶O God, break their teeth in their mouths; *pull the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.

⁷Let them vanish like water that runs off; *let them wither like trodden grass.

⁸Let them be like the snail that melts away, *like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

⁹Before they bear fruit, let them be cut down like a brier; *like thorns and thistles let them be swept away.

¹⁰The righteous will be glad when they see the vengeance; *they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹And they will say, “Surely, there is a reward for the righteous; *surely, there is a God who rules in the earth.”