Day 7 of 31

¹To you, Lord, I call. My rock, do not 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.

³Do not 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 do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he will break them down and not build them up.

⁶Blessed 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.

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.

³The 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 voice of the Lord 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!"

¹⁰The 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.

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 holy ones 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. To the Lord I made supplication:

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!

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 fear 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 holy ones! 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.

¹My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.

²Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.

³Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative,

⁵that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.

⁶For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice.

⁷I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,

⁸passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,

⁹in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.

¹⁰Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.

¹¹She is loud and defiant. Her feet do not stay in her house.

¹²Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

¹³So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:

¹⁴"Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. This day I have paid my vows.

¹⁵Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let's take our fill of loving until the morning. Let's solace ourselves with loving.

¹⁹For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon."

²¹With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.

²²He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.

²³Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn't know that it will cost his life.

²⁴Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn to her ways. Do not go astray in her paths,

²⁶for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.

²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.