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Prayer of Trust in God

31 O Lord, in You I have found a safe place. Let me never be ashamed. Set me free, because You do what is right and good. Turn Your ear to me, and be quick to save me. Be my rock of strength, a strong place to keep me safe. For You are my rock and my safe place. For the honor of Your name, lead me and show me the way. You will free me from the net that they have hidden for me. For You are my strength. I give my spirit into Your hands. You have made me free, O Lord, God of truth.

I hate those who worship false gods. But I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and full of joy in Your loving-kindness. For You have seen my suffering. You have known the troubles of my soul. You have not given me into the hand of those who hate me. You have set my feet in a large place.

Show me loving-kindness, O Lord, for I am in trouble. My eyes, my soul and my body are becoming weak from being sad. 10 For my life gets weaker with sorrow, and my years with crying inside myself. My strength has left me because of my sin. And my bones waste away. 11 Because of all those who hate me, I have become a shame to my neighbors. Even my friends do not want to be with me. Those who see me on the street run from me. 12 I am forgotten like a dead man and they do not think about me. I am like a broken pot. 13 For I have heard many say things to hurt me. Fear is on every side. They planned together against me. They thought of ways to take away my life.

14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord. I say, “You are my God.” 15 My times are in Your hands. Free me from the hands of those who hate me, and from those who try to hurt me. 16 Make Your face shine upon Your servant. Save me in Your loving-kindness. 17 Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord. For I call to You. Let the sinful be put to shame. Let them be quiet in the grave. 18 Let the lying lips be quiet. For they speak with pride and hate those who do right and good.

19 How great is Your loving-kindness! You have stored it up for those who fear You. You show it to those who trust in You in front of the sons of men. 20 You will hide them with You in secret from the sinful plans of men. You keep them in Your tent in secret from those who fight with tongues. 21 Honor and thanks be to the Lord. For He has shown His great loving-favor to me when I was in a city with armies all around. 22 In my fear I said, “You have closed Your eyes to me!” But You heard my cry for loving-kindness when I called to You.

23 Love the Lord, all you who belong to Him! The Lord keeps the faithful safe. But He gives the proud their pay in full. 24 Be strong. Be strong in heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Joy of Being Forgiven

32 How happy he is whose wrong-doing is forgiven, and whose sin is covered! How happy is the man whose sin the Lord does not hold against him, and in whose spirit there is nothing false.

When I kept quiet about my sin, my bones wasted away from crying all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as in the hot summer. I told my sin to You. I did not hide my wrong-doing. I said, “I will tell my sins to the Lord.” And You forgave the guilt of my sin. So let all who are God-like pray to You while You may be found, because in the floods of much water, they will not touch him. You are my hiding place. You keep me safe from trouble. All around me are your songs of being made free.

I will show you and teach you in the way you should go. I will tell you what to do with My eye upon you. Do not be like the horse or the donkey which have no understanding. They must be made to work by using bits and leather ropes or they will not come to you. 10 Many are the sorrows of the sinful. But loving-kindness will be all around the man who trusts in the Lord. 11 Be glad in the Lord and be full of joy, you who are right with God! Sing for joy all you who are pure in heart!

Song of Praise

33 Sing for joy in the Lord, you who are right with Him. It is right for the pure in heart to praise Him. Give thanks to the Lord with harps. Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song. Play well with loud sounds of joy. For the Word of the Lord is right. He is faithful in all He does. He loves what is right and good and what is fair. The earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord.

The heavens were made by the Word of the Lord. All the stars were made by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as in a bag. He places the waters in store-houses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the people of the world honor Him. For He spoke, and it was done. He spoke with strong words, and it stood strong. 10 The Lord brings the plans of nations to nothing. He wrecks the plans of the people. 11 The plans of the Lord stand forever. The plans of His heart stand through the future of all people. 12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord. Happy are the people He has chosen for His own.

13 The Lord looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. 14 From where He sits He looks upon all who live on the earth. 15 He made the hearts of them all. And He understands whatever they do. 16 No king is saved by the power of his strong army. A soldier is not saved by great strength. 17 A horse cannot be trusted to win a battle. Its great strength cannot save anyone.

18 See, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, and on those who hope for His loving-kindness, 19 to save their soul from death, and to keep them alive when there is nothing to eat. 20 Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our safe cover. 21 For our heart is full of joy in Him, because we trust in His holy name. 22 O Lord, let Your loving-kindness be upon us as we put our hope in You.

Those Who Trust in God Are Happy

34 I will honor the Lord at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth. My soul will be proud to tell about the Lord. Let those who suffer hear it and be filled with joy. Give great honor to the Lord with me. Let us praise His name together.

I looked for the Lord, and He answered me. And He took away all my fears. They looked to Him and their faces shined with joy. Their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him. And He saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord stays close around those who fear Him, and He takes them out of trouble.

O taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who trusts in Him! O fear the Lord, all you who belong to Him. For those who fear Him never want for anything. 10 The young lions suffer want and hunger. But they who look for the Lord will not be without any good thing. 11 Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Who is the man who has a desire for life, and wants to live long so that he may see good things? 13 Keep your tongue from sin and your lips from speaking lies. 14 Turn away from what is sinful. Do what is good. Look for peace and follow it.

15 The eyes of the Lord are on those who do what is right and good. His ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against those who sin. He will keep the people of the earth from remembering them. 17 Those who are right with the Lord cry, and He hears them. And He takes them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart. And He saves those who are broken in spirit.

19 A man who does what is right and good may have many troubles. But the Lord takes him out of them all. 20 He keeps all his bones safe. Not one of them is broken. 21 Sin will kill the sinful. And those who hate God’s people will be held guilty and punished forever. 22 The Lord saves the soul of those who work for Him. None of those who trust in Him will be held guilty.

Prayer for Help

35 O Lord, stand against those who stand against me. Fight those who fight me. Take hold of a safe-covering and rise up to help me. Take a spear and battle-ax against those who come to get me. Say to my soul, “I am the One Who saves you.” Let the people be ashamed and without honor who want to take my life. Let those be turned away and brought to shame who plan to hurt me. Let them be like straw in the wind. May the angel of the Lord drive them away. Let their way be dark and dangerous, with the angel of the Lord going to get them. For without a reason they hid their net for me. Without a reason, they dug a hole for my soul. Let them be destroyed before they know it. And let them be caught in their own net. May they destroy themselves as they fall into their own hole.

My soul will be happy in the Lord. It will be full of joy because He saves. 10 All my bones will say, “Lord, who is like You? Who saves the weak from those too strong for them? Who saves the poor from those who would rob them?” 11 People come telling lies. They ask me of things that I do not know. 12 They pay me what is bad in return for what is good. My soul is sad. 13 But when they were sick, I put on clothes made from hair. With no pride in my soul, I would not eat. And I prayed with my head on my chest. 14 I went about as if it were my friend or brother. I put my head down in sorrow, like one crying for his mother. 15 But when I would fall, they would gather together in joy. Those who say things to hurt people would gather against me. I did not know them. They spoke against me without stopping. 16 They ground their teeth at me like bad people making fun of others at a special supper.

17 Lord, how long will You look on? Save me from being destroyed by them. Save my life from the lions. 18 I will give You thanks in the big meeting. I will praise You among many people. 19 Do not let those who hate me for no reason stand over me with joy. Do not let those who hate me for no reason wink their eye. 20 They do not speak peace. But they make up lies against those who are quiet in the land. 21 And they opened their mouth wide against me. They said, “O, O, our eyes have seen it.”

22 You have seen it, O Lord. Do not keep quiet. O Lord, do not be far from me. 23 Awake Yourself. Come and help me. Fight for me, my God and my Lord. 24 Say what is right or wrong with me, O Lord my God, because You are right and good. Do not let them have joy over me. 25 Do not let them say in their heart, “O, just what we wanted!” Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up!” 26 Let all who are happy because of my trouble be ashamed and without honor. Let those who think they are better than I, be covered with shame and without honor.

27 Let them call out for joy and be glad, who want to see the right thing done for me. Let them always say, “May the Lord be honored. He is pleased when all is going well for His servant.” 28 And my tongue will tell about how right and good You are, and about Your praise all day long.