Psalms 36–40

For the Chief Musician. By David, the servant of the LORD.

¹A revelation is within my heart about the disobedience of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes.

²For he flatters himself in his own eyes, too much to detect and hate his sin.

³The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good.

⁴He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil.

⁵Your loving kindness, LORD, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

⁶Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. LORD, you preserve man and animal.

⁷How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.

⁸They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures.

⁹For with you is the spring of life. In your light we will see light.

¹⁰Oh continue your loving kindness to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.

¹¹Don’t let the foot of pride come against me. Don’t let the hand of the wicked drive me away.

¹²There the workers of iniquity are fallen. They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.

By David.

¹Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.

²For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb.

³Trust in the LORD, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.

⁴Also delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵Commit your way to the LORD. Trust also in him, and he will do this:

⁶he will make your righteousness shine out like light, and your justice as the noon day sun.

⁷Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him. Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots happen.

⁸Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing.

⁹For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

¹⁰For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more. Yes, though you look for his place, he isn’t there.

¹¹But the humble shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

¹²The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth.

¹³The Lord will laugh at him, for he sees that his day is coming.

A Psalm by David, for a memorial.

¹LORD, don’t rebuke me in your wrath, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.

²For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me.

³There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.

⁴For my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

⁵My wounds are loathsome and corrupt because of my foolishness.

⁶I am in pain and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long.

⁷For my waist is filled with burning. There is no soundness in my flesh.

⁸I am faint and severely bruised. I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart.

⁹Lord, all my desire is before you. My groaning is not hidden from you.

¹⁰My heart throbs. My strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it has also left me.

¹¹My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away.

¹²They also who seek after my life lay snares. Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all day long.

¹³But I, as a deaf man, don’t hear. I am as a mute man who doesn’t open his mouth.

For the Chief Musician. For Jeduthun. A Psalm by David.

¹I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”

²I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred.

³My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:

⁴“LORD, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am.

⁵Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.

⁶“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.

⁷Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.

⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish.

⁹I was mute. I didn’t open my mouth, because you did it.

¹⁰Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

¹¹When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.” Selah.

¹²“Hear my prayer, LORD, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers were.

¹³Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away and exist no more.”

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

¹I waited patiently for the LORD. He turned to me, and heard my cry.

²He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.

³He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

⁴Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, and doesn’t respect the proud, nor such as turn away to lies.

⁵Many, LORD, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us. They can’t be declared back to you. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be counted.

⁶Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.

⁷Then I said, “Behold, I have come. It is written about me in the book in the scroll.

⁸I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart.”

⁹I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly. Behold, I will not seal my lips, LORD, you know.

¹⁰I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart. I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great assembly.

¹¹Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, LORD. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.

For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me.