Day 2 of 31

¹Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, neither discipline me in your wrath.

²Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint. Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.

³My soul is also in great anguish. But you, Lord-how long?

⁴Return, Lord. Deliver my soul, and save me for your loving kindness' sake.

⁵For in death there is no memory of you. In Sheol, who shall give you thanks?

⁶I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears.

⁷My eye wastes away because of grief. It grows old because of all my adversaries.

⁸Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.

⁹The Lord has heard my supplication. The Lord accepts my prayer.

¹⁰May all my enemies be ashamed and dismayed. They shall turn back, they shall be disgraced suddenly.

¹Lord, my God, I take refuge in you. Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,

²lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

³Lord, my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands,

⁴if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (yes, if I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary),

⁵let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; yes, let him tread my life down to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust. Selah.

⁶Arise, Lord, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.

⁷Let the congregation of the peoples surround you. Rule over them on high.

⁸The Lord administers judgment to the peoples. Judge me, Lord, according to my righteousness, and to my integrity that is in me.

⁹Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.

¹⁰My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹God is a righteous judge, yes, a God who has indignation every day.

¹²If a man doesn't relent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.

¹³He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows.

¹⁴Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.

¹⁵He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made.

¹⁶The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.

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

¹Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who has set your glory above the heavens!

²From the lips of babes and infants you have ordained praise, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.

³When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;

⁴what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?

⁵For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:

⁷All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field,

⁸The birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

⁹Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

¹ALEPH I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works.

²I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence.

⁴For you have maintained my just cause. You sit on the throne judging righteously.

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

⁶The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.

⁷But the Lord reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.

⁸He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness.

⁹The Lord will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion, and declare among the people what he has done.

¹²For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn't forget the cry of the afflicted.

¹³Have mercy on me, Lord. See my affliction by those who hate me, and lift me up from the gates of death;

¹⁴that I may show forth all your praise. In the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.

¹⁶The Lord has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah.

¹⁷The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

¹⁹Arise, Lord! Do not let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight.

²⁰Put them in fear, Lord. Let the nations know that they are only men. Selah.

¹Why do you stand far off, Lord? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

²In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.

³For the wicked boasts of his heart's cravings. He blesses the greedy, and condemns the Lord.

⁴The wicked, in the pride of his face, has no room in his thoughts for God.

⁵His ways are prosperous at all times. Your judgments are far from his sight. As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them.

⁶He says in his heart, "I shall not be shaken. For generations I shall have no trouble."

⁷His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

⁸He lies in wait near the villages. From ambushes, he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly set against the helpless.

⁹He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless, when he draws him in his net.

¹⁰The helpless are crushed. They collapse. They fall under his strength.

¹¹He says in his heart, "God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it."

¹²Arise, Lord! God, lift up your hand! Do not forget the helpless.

¹³Why does the wicked person condemn God, and say in his heart, "God won't call me into account?"

¹⁴But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked. As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.

¹⁶The Lord is King forever and ever! The nations will perish out of his land.

¹⁷Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear,

¹⁸to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.

¹My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;

²So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

³Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;

⁴If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:

⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For the Lord gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

⁷He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;

⁸that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his holy ones.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,

¹²to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things;

¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;

¹⁵who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths:

¹⁶To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;

¹⁷who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:

¹⁸for her house leads down to death, her paths to the dead.

¹⁹None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

²⁰that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.

²²But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.