Psalm 31-35

Common English Bible

⁹ Have mercy on me, Lord, because I’m depressed.
    My vision fails because of my grief,
    as do my spirit and my body.
¹⁰ My life is consumed with sadness;
    my years are consumed with groaning.
Strength fails me because of my suffering;^[a]
    my bones dry up.
¹¹ I’m a joke to all my enemies,
    still worse to my neighbors.
    I scare my friends,
    and whoever sees me in the street runs away!
¹² I am forgotten, like I’m dead,
    completely out of mind;
    I am like a piece of pottery, destroyed.
¹³ Yes, I’ve heard all the gossiping,
    terror all around;
    so many gang up together against me,
        they plan to take my life!

¹⁴ But me? I trust you, Lord!
    I affirm, “You are my God.”
¹⁵ My future is in your hands.
    Don’t hand me over to my enemies,
    to all who are out to get me!
¹⁶ Shine your face on your servant;
    save me by your faithful love!
¹⁷ Lord, don’t let me be put to shame
    because I have cried out to you.
Let the wicked be put to shame;
    let them be silenced in death’s domain!^[b]
18 Let their lying lips be shut up
    whenever they speak arrogantly
    against the righteous with pride and contempt!
¹⁹ How great is the goodness
    that you’ve reserved for those who honor you,
    that you commit to those who take refuge in you—
        in the sight of everyone!
²⁰ You hide them in the shelter of your wings,^[c]
    safe from human scheming.
    You conceal them in a shelter,
    safe from accusing tongues.

²¹ Bless the Lord,
    because he has wondrously revealed
    his faithful love to me
    when I was like a city under siege!
²² When I was panicked, I said,
    “I’m cut off from your eyes!”
But you heard my request for mercy
    when I cried out to you for help.

²³ All you who are faithful, love the Lord!
    The Lord protects those who are loyal,
        but he pays the proud back to the fullest degree.
²⁴ All you who wait for the Lord,
be strong and let your heart take courage.

³ When I kept quiet, my bones wore out;
    I was groaning all day long—
    every day, every night!—
⁴ because your hand was heavy upon me.
    My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought. Selah
⁵ So I admitted my sin to you;
    I didn’t conceal my guilt.
    “I’ll confess my sins to the Lord, ” is what I said.
    Then you removed the guilt of my sin. Selah

⁶ That’s why all the faithful should pray to you during troubled times,^[e]
    so that a great flood of water won’t reach them.
⁷ You are my secret hideout!
    You protect me from trouble.
    You surround me with songs of rescue! Selah

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you
    about the direction you should go.
    I’ll advise you and keep my eye on you.
⁹ Don’t be like some senseless horse or mule,
    whose movement must be controlled
    with a bit and a bridle.^[f]
        Don’t be anything like that!^[g]
10 The pain of the wicked is severe,
    but faithful love surrounds the one who trusts the Lord.
¹¹ You who are righteous, rejoice in the Lord and be glad!
    All you whose hearts are right, sing out in joy!

¹⁰ The Lord overrules what the nations plan;
    he frustrates what the peoples intend to do.
¹¹ But the Lord’s plan stands forever;
    what he intends to do lasts from one generation to the next.
¹² The nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people whom God has chosen as his possession,
    is truly happy!
¹³ The Lord looks down from heaven;
    he sees every human being.
¹⁴ From his dwelling place God observes
    all who live on earth.
¹⁵ God is the one who made all their hearts,
    the one who knows everything they do.

¹⁶ Kings aren’t saved by the strength of their armies;
    warriors aren’t rescued by how much power they have.
¹⁷ A warhorse is a bad bet for victory;
    it can’t save despite its great strength.
¹⁸ But look here: the Lord’s eyes watch all who honor him,
    all who wait for his faithful love,
¹⁹     to deliver their lives^[h] from death
    and keep them alive during a famine.

²⁰ We put our hope in the Lord.
    He is our help and our shield.
²¹ Our heart rejoices in God
    because we trust his holy name.
²² Lord, let your faithful love surround us
    because we wait for you.

¹¹ Come, children, listen to me.
    Let me teach you how to honor the Lord:
¹² Do you love life;
    do you relish the chance to enjoy good things?
¹³     Then you must keep your tongue from evil
        and keep your lips from speaking lies!
¹⁴ Turn away from evil! Do good!
    Seek peace and go after it!

¹⁵ The Lord’s eyes watch the righteous,
    his ears listen to their cries for help.
¹⁶ But the Lord’s face is set against those who do evil,
    to eliminate even the memory of them from the earth.
¹⁷ When the righteous cry out, the Lord listens;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
    he saves those whose spirits are crushed.

¹⁹ The righteous have many problems,
    but the Lord delivers them from every one.
²⁰ He protects all their bones;
    not even one will be broken.
²¹ But just one problem will kill the wicked,
    and those who hate the righteous will be held responsible.
²² The Lord saves his servants’ lives;
    all those who take refuge in him
    won’t be held responsible for anything.

⁹ But I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will celebrate his salvation.
¹⁰ All my bones will say, “Lord, who could compare to you?
    You rescue the weak from those who overpower them;
        you rescue the weak and the needy from those who plunder them.”

¹¹ Violent witnesses stand up.
    They question me about things I know nothing about.
¹² They pay me back evil for good,
    leaving me stricken with grief.
¹³ But when they were sick, I wore clothes for grieving,
    and I kept a strict fast.
When my prayer came back unanswered,^[m]
14 I would wander around like I was grieving a friend or a brother.
    I was weighed down, sad, like I was a mother in mourning.
¹⁵ But when I stumbled, they celebrated and gathered together—
    they gathered together against me!
    Strangers^[n] I didn’t know tore me to pieces and wouldn’t quit.
¹⁶ They ridiculed me over and over again,
    like godless people would do,
    grinding their teeth at me.

¹⁷ How long, my Lord, will you watch this happen?
    Rescue me from their attacks;
    rescue my precious life from these predatory lions!
¹⁸ Then I will thank you in the great assembly;
    I will praise you in a huge crowd of people.
¹⁹ Don’t let those who are my enemies
    without cause celebrate over me;
    don’t let those who hate me for no reason
        wink at my demise.
²⁰ They don’t speak the truth;
    instead, they plot false accusations
    against innocent people in the land.
²¹ They speak out against me,
    saying, “Yes! Oh, yes! We’ve seen it with our own eyes!”

²² But you’ve seen it too, Lord.
    Don’t keep quiet about it.
    Please don’t be far from me, my Lord.
²³ Wake up! Get up and do justice for me;
    argue my case, my Lord and my God!
²⁴ Establish justice for me
    according to your righteousness, Lord, my God.
Don’t let them celebrate over me.
²⁵     Don’t let them say to themselves,
    Yes! Exactly what we wanted!
    Don’t let them say, “We ate him up!”
²⁶ Let all those who celebrate my misfortune be disgraced and put to shame!
Let those who exalt themselves over me
        be dressed up in shame and dishonor!
²⁷ But let those who want things to be set right for me
        shout for joy and celebrate!
    Let them constantly say, “The Lord is great—
        God wants his servant to be at peace.”
²⁸ Then my tongue will talk
        all about your righteousness;
    it will talk
        about your praise all day long.