⁵ You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
abounding in love to all who call to you.
⁶ Hear my prayer, Lord;
listen to my cry for mercy.
⁷ When I am in distress, I call to you,
because you answer me.

⁸ Among the gods there is none like you, Lord;
no deeds can compare with yours.
⁹ All the nations you have made
will come and worship before you, Lord;
they will bring glory to your name.
¹⁰ For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
you alone are God.

¹¹ Teach me your way, Lord,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
¹² I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.
¹³ For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths,
from the realm of the dead.

¹⁴ Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God;
ruthless people are trying to kill me−
they have no regard for you.
¹⁵ But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
¹⁶ Turn to me and have mercy on me;
show your strength in behalf of your servant;
save me, because I serve you
just as my mother did.
¹⁷ Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

³ Glorious things are said of you,
city of God:^[a]
4 "I will record Rahab^[b] and Babylon
among those who acknowledge me−
Philistia too, and Tyre , along with Cush^[c]−
and will say, ’This one was born in Zion.’"^[d]
5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
"This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her."
⁶ The Lord will write in the register of the peoples:
"This one was born in Zion."

⁷ As they make music they will sing,
"All my fountains are in you."

³ I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
⁴ I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
⁵ I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.

⁶ You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
⁷ Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.^[h]
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
⁹  my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, Lord, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰ Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
¹¹ Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction^[i]?
¹² Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

¹³ But I cry to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ Why, Lord, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?

¹⁵ From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
¹⁷ All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
¹⁸ You have taken from me friend and neighbor−
darkness is my closest friend.

⁶ Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
⁷ When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
and may his prayers condemn him.
⁸ May his days be few;
may another take his place of leadership.
⁹ May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
¹⁰ May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be driven^[a] from their ruined homes.
¹¹ May a creditor seize all he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
¹² May no one extend kindness to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.
¹³ May his descendants be cut off,
their names blotted out from the next generation.
¹⁴ May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord;
may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
¹⁵ May their sins always remain before the Lord,
that he may blot out their name from the earth.

¹⁶ For he never thought of doing a kindness,
but hounded to death the poor
and the needy and the brokenhearted.
¹⁷ He loved to pronounce a curse−
may it come back on him.
He found no pleasure in blessing−
may it be far from him.
¹⁸ He wore cursing as his garment;
it entered into his body like water,
into his bones like oil.
¹⁹ May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
like a belt tied forever around him.
²⁰ May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,
to those who speak evil of me.

²¹ But you, Sovereign Lord,
help me for your name’s sake;
out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
²² For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
²³ I fade away like an evening shadow;
I am shaken off like a locust.
²⁴ My knees give way from fasting;
my body is thin and gaunt.
²⁵ I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they shake their heads.

²⁶ Help me, Lord my God;
save me according to your unfailing love.
²⁷ Let them know that it is your hand,
that you, Lord, have done it.
²⁸ While they curse, may you bless;
may those who attack me be put to shame,
but may your servant rejoice.
²⁹ May my accusers be clothed with disgrace
and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.

³⁰ With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.
³¹ For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
to save their lives from those who would condemn them.