Psalm 144

Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
Who trains my hands for war,
And my fingers for battle;

My lovingkindness and my fortress,
My stronghold and my deliverer,
My shield and He in whom I take refuge,
Who subdues my people under me.
O LORD, what is man, that Thou dost take knowledge of him?
Or the son of man, that Thou dost think of him?
Man is like a mere breath;
His days are like a passing shadow.

Bow Thy heavens, O LORD, and come down;
Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
Flash forth lightning and scatter them;
Send out Thy arrows and confuse them.
Stretch forth Thy hand from on high;
Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters,
Out of the hand of aliens
Whose mouths speak deceit,
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

I will sing a new song to Thee, O God;
Upon a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to Thee,
Who dost give salvation to kings,
Who dost rescue David His servant from the evil sword.
Rescue me and deliver me out of the hand of aliens,
Whose mouth speaks deceit
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

Let our sons in their youth be as grown-up plants,
And our daughters as corner pillars fashioned as for a palace;
Let our garners be full, furnishing every kind of produce,
And our flocks bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
Let our cattle bear
Without mishap and without loss,
Let there be no outcry in our streets!
How blessed are the people who are so situated;
How blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!

~Psalm 144 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 120

In my trouble I cried to the LORD,
And He answered me.
Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips,
From a deceitful tongue.
What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you,
You deceitful tongue?
Sharp arrows of the warrior,
With the burning coals of the broom tree.

Woe to me, for I sojourn in Meshech,
For I dwell among the tens of Kedar!
Too long has my soul had its dwelling
With those who hate peace.
I am for peace, but when I speak,
They are for war.

~Psalm 120 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 101

I Will sing of lovingkindness and justice,
To Thee, O LORD, I will sing praises.
I will give heed to the blameless way.
When wilt Thou come to me?
I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.
I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not fasten its grip on me.
A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil.
Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy;
No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.

My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.
He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.
Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, 

So as to cut off from the city of the LORD all those who do iniquity.

~Psalm 101 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 64

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
Preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers,
From the tumult of those who do iniquity,
Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword
They aimed bitter speech as their arrow,
To shoot from concealment at the blameless;
Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear. 

They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose;
They talk of laying snares secretly;
They say, "Who can see them?"
They devise injustices, saying,
"We are ready with a well-conceived plot";
For the inward thought and the heart of a man are deep.

But God will shoot at them with an arrow;
Suddenly they will be wounded.
So they will make him stumble;
Their own tongue is against them;
All who see them will shake the head.
Then all men will fear,
And they will declare the work of God,
And will consider what He has done.
The righteous man will be glad in the LORD and will take refuge in Him;
And all the upright in heart will glory.

~Psalm 64 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 63

O God, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly;
My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Thus I have beheld Thee in the sanctuary,
To see Thy power and Thy glory.
Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips will praise Thee.
So I will bless Thee as long as I live;
I will lift up my hand in Thy name.
My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

When I remember Thee on my bed,
I meditate on Thee in the night watches,
For Thou hast been my help,
And in the shadow of Thy wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to Thee;
Thy right hand upholds me.

But those who seek my life, to destroy it,
Will go into the depths of the earth.
They will be delivered over to the power of the sword;
They will be a prey for foxes.
But the king will rejoice in God;
Everyone who swears by Him will glory,
For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped.

~Psalm 63 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 59

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me.
Deliver me from those who do iniquity,
And save me from men of bloodshed.
For behold, they have set an ambush for my life;
Fierce men launch an attack against me,
Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O LORD,
For no guilt of mine, they run and set themselves against me.
Arouse Thyself to help me, and see!
And Thou, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Awake to punish all the nations;
Do not be gracious to any who are treacherous in iniquity, [Selah.]
They return at evening, they howl like a dog,
And go around the city.
Behold, they belch forth with their mouth;
Swords are in their lips,
For, they say, "Who hears?"
But Thou, O LORD, dost laugh at them;
Thou does scoff at all the nations.

Because of his strength I will watch for Thee,
For God is my stronghold.
My God in His lovingkindness will meet me;
God will let me look triumphantly upon my foes.
Do not slay them, lest my people forget;
Scatter them by Thy power, and bring them down,
O LORD, our shield.
On account of the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,
Let them even be caught in their pride,
And on account of curses and lies which they utter.
Destroy them in weather, destroy them, that they may be no more;
That men may know that God rules in Jacob,
To the ends of the earth.  [Selah.]
And they return at evening, they howl like a dog,
And go around the city.
They wander about for food,
And growl if they are not satisfied.

But as for me, I shall sing of Thy strength
Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Thy lovingkindness in the morning,
For Thou hast been my stronghold,
And a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my strength, I will sing praised to Thee;
For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness.

~Psalm 59 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 57

Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,
For my soul takes refuge in Thee;
And in the shadow of Thy wings I will take refuge,
Until destruction passes by.
I will cry to God Most High,
To God who accomplishes all things for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
He reproaches him who tramples upon me. Selah.
God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.

My soul is among lions;
I must lie among those who breathe forth fire,
Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
And their tongue a sharp sword.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God;

Let Thy glory be above all the earth.
They have prepared a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down;
They dug a pit before me;
They themselves have fallen into the midst of it. Selah.

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!
Awake, my glory;
Awake, harp and lyre,
I will awaken the dawn!
I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to Thee among the nations.
For Thy lovingkindness is great to the heavens,
And Thy truth to the clouds.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God; 

Let Thy glory be above all the earth.

~Psalm 57 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 56

Be gracious, O God, for man has trampled upon me;
Fighting all day long he oppresses me.
My foes have trampled upon me all day long,
For they are many who fight proudly against me.
When I am afraid,
I will put my trust in Thee.
In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?
All day long they distort my words;
All their thoughts are against me for evil
They attach, they lurk,
They watch my steps,
As they have waiting to take my life.
Because of wickedness, cast them forth,
In anger put down the peoples, O God!

Thou hast taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Thy bottle;
Are they not in Thy book?
Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call;
This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
In the Lord, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.
What can man to do me?
Thy vows are binding upon me, O God;
I will render thank offerings to Thee.
For Thou hast delivered my soul from death,
Indeed my feet from stumbling,
So that I may walk before God
In the light of the living.

~Psalm 56 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 55

Give ear to my prayer, O God;
And do not hide Thyself from my supplication.
Give heed to me, and answer me;
I am restless in my complaint and am surely distracted,
Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the pressure of the wicked;
For they bring down trouble upon me,
And in anger they bear a grudge against me.

My heart is in anguish within me,
And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
Fear and trembling come upon me;
And horror has overwhelmed me,
And I said, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
"Behold, I would wander far away,
I would lodge in the wilderness.
"I would hasten to my place of refuge
From the stormy wind and tempest."

Confuse, O Lord, divide their tongues,
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.
Day and night they go around her upon her walls;
And iniquity and mischief are in her midst.
Destruction is in her midst;
Oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets.

For it is not an enemy who reproaches me,
Then I could bear it;
Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me,
Then I could hide myself from him.
But it is you, a man my equal,
My companion and my familiar friend.
We who had sweet fellowship together,
Walked in the house of God in the throng.
Let death come deceitfully upon them;
Let them go down alive to Sheol,
For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.

As for me, I shall call upon God,
And the Lord will save me.
Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur,
And He will hear my voice.
He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me,
For they are many who strive with me.
God will hear and answer them--
Even the one who sits enthroned from of old-- [Selah]
With whom there is no change,
And who do not fear God.
He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him;
He has violated his covenant.
His speech was smoother than butter,
But his heart was war;
His words were softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn swords.

Cast your burden upon the LORD, and He will sustain you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.
But Thou, O God, wilt bring them down to the pit of destruction;
Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days.
But I will trust in Thee.

~Psalm 55 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 52

Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The lovingkindness of God endures all day long.
Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit.
You love evil more than good,
Falsehood more than speaking what is right. Selah.

You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
But God will break you down forever;
He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent,
And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah.

The righteous will see and fear,
And will laugh at him, saying,
"Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches
And was strong in his evil desire."

But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.
I will give Thee thanks forever, because Thou hast done it,
And I will wait on Thy name, for it is good, in the presence of Thy godly ones.

~Psalm 52 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 50

The Mighty One, God, the LORD, has spoken,
And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shone forth.
May our God come and not keep silence;
Fire devours before Him,
And it is very tempestuous around Him.
He summons the heavens above,
And the earth, to judge His people:
“Gather My godly ones to Me,
Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
And the heavens declare His righteousness,
For God Himself is judge.

“Hear, O My people, and I will speak; 

O Israel, I will testify against you;
I am your God.
“I did not reprove you for your sacrifices,
And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
“I shall take no young bull out of your house,
Nor male goats out of your folds.
“For every beast of the forest is Mine,
The cattle on a thousand hills.
“I know every bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is Mine.
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you’
For the world is Mine, and all it contains.
“Shall I eat the flesh of bulls,
Or drink the blood of male goats?
“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And pay your vows to the Most High;
And call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to tell of My statutes,
And to take My covenant in your mouth?
“For you hate discipline,
And you cast My words behind you.
“When you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
And you associate with adulterers.
“You let your mouth loose in evil,
And your tongue frames deceit.
“You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
“These things you have done, and I kept silence;
You thought that I was just like you;
I will reprove you, and state the case in order before your eyes.

“Now consider this, you who forget God,
Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
“He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me;
And to him who orders his way aright
I shall show the salvation of God.”

~Psalm 50 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 43

Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation;
O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
For Thou art the God of my strength; why hast Thou rejected me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

O send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Thy holy hill
And to Thy dwelling places.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And upon the lyre I shall praise Thee, O God, my God.

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him,
The help of my countenance, and my God.

~Psalm 43 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 36

Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart;
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
For it flatters him in his own eyes,
Concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it.
The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;
He has ceased to be wise and do good.
He plans wickedness upon his bed;
He sets himself on a path that is not good;
He does not despise evil.

Thy lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
Thy faithfulness reaches the skies.
Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God;
Thy judgments are like a great deep.
O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast.
How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God!
And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings.
They drink their fill of the abundance of Thy house;
And Thou dost give them to drink of the river of Thy delights.
For with Thee is the fountain of life;
In Thy light we see light.

O continue Thy lovingkindness to those who know Thee,
And Thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
Let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
There the doers of iniquity have fallen;
They have been thrust down and cannot rise.

~Psalm 36 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 35

Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
Fight against those who fight against me.
Take hold of buckler and shield,
And rise up for my help.
Draw also the spear and the battle-axe to meet those who pursue me;
Say to my soul, "I am your salvation."
Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life;
Let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me.
Let them be like chaff before the wind,
With the angel of the LORD pursuing them.
For without cause they dug a pit for my soul.
Let destruction come upon him unawares;
And let the net which he hid catch himself;
Into that very destruction let him fall.

And my soul shall rejoice in the LORD;
It shall exult in His salvation.
All my bones will say, "LORD, who is like Thee,
Who delivers the afflicted from him who is too strong for him,
And the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?"
Malicious witnesses rise up;
They ask of me things that I do not know.
They repay me evil for good,
To the bereavement of my soul.
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled my soul with fasting;
And my prayer kept returning to my bosom.
I went about as though it were my friend or bother;
I bowed down mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother.
But at my stumbling they rejoiced, and gathers themselves together against me,
They slandered me without ceasing,
Like godless jesters at a feast,
They gnashed at me with their teeth.

LORD, how long wilt Thou look on?
Rescue my soul from their ravages,
My only life from the lions.
I will give Thee thanks in the great congregations;
I will praise Thee among a mighty throng.
Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me;
Neither let those who hate me without cause wink maliciously.
For they do not speak peace,
But they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
And they opened their mouth wide against me;
They said, "Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!"

Thou hast seen it, O LORD, do not keep silent;
O LORD, do not be far from me.
Stir up Thyself, and awake to my right,
And to my cause, my God and my Lord.
Judge me, O LORD my God, according to Thy righteousness;
And do not let them rejoice over me.
Do not let them say in their heart, "Aha, our desire!"
Do not let them say, "We have swallowed him up!"
Let those be ashamed and humiliated altogether who rejoice at my distress;
Let those be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves over me.

Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication;
And let them say continually, "The LORD be magnified,
Who delights in the prosperity of His servant."
And my tongue shall declare Thy righteousness
And Thy praise all day long.

~Psalm 35 (NASB 1977)

Psalm 32

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long.
For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
I acknowledged my sin to Thee,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”;
And Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. Selah.
Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not reach him.
Thou art my hiding place; Thou dost preserve me from trouble;
Thou dost surround me with songs of deliverance.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked;
But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice you righteous ones,
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

~Psalm 32 (NASB 1977)