To the chief Musician. Upon the Gittith. A Psalm of David.

8 Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy majesty above the heavens.

² Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou established praise because of thine adversaries, to still the enemy and the avenger.

³ When I see thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars, which thou hast established;

⁴ What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

⁵ Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and splendour.

⁶ Thou hast made him to rule over the works of thy hands; thou hast put everything under his feet:

⁷ Sheep and oxen, all of them, and also the beasts of the field;

⁸ The fowl of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, [whatever] passeth through the paths of the seas.

⁹ Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

To the chief Musician. Upon Muthlabben. A Psalm of David.

9 I will praise Jehovah with my whole heart; I will recount all thy marvellous works.

² I will be glad and rejoice in thee; I will sing forth thy name, O Most High.

³ When mine enemies turned back, they stumbled and perished at thy presence:

⁴ For thou hast maintained my right and my cause. Thou sittest on the throne, judging righteously.

⁵ Thou hast rebuked the nations, thou hast destroyed the wicked; thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.

⁶ O enemy! destructions are ended for ever.—Thou hast also destroyed cities, even the remembrance of them hath perished.

⁷ But Jehovah sitteth for ever; he hath ordained his throne for judgment.

⁸ And it is he that will judge the world with righteousness; he shall execute judgment upon the peoples with equity.

⁹ And Jehovah will be a refuge to the oppressed one, a refuge in times of distress.

¹⁰ And they that know thy name will confide in thee; for thou, Jehovah, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

¹¹ Sing psalms to Jehovah who dwelleth in Zion; tell among the peoples his doings.

¹² For when he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them; the cry of the afflicted ones hath he not forgotten.

¹³ Be gracious unto me, O Jehovah; consider mine affliction from them that hate me, lifting me up from the gates of death:

¹⁴ That I may declare all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will be joyful in thy salvation.

¹⁵ The nations are sunk down in the pit [that] they made; in the net that they hid is their own foot taken.

¹⁶ Jehovah is known [by] the judgment he hath executed: the wicked is ensnared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

¹⁷ The wicked shall be turned into Sheol, all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸ For the needy one shall not be forgotten alway; the hope of the meek shall not perish for ever.

¹⁹ Arise, Jehovah; let not man prevail: let the nations be judged in thy sight.

²⁰ Put them in fear, Jehovah: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

10 Why, Jehovah, standest thou afar off? [Why] hidest thou thyself in times of distress?

² The wicked, in his pride, doth hotly pursue the afflicted. They shall be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

³ For the wicked boasteth of his soul's desire, and he blesseth the covetous; he contemneth Jehovah.

⁴ The wicked [saith], in the haughtiness of his countenance, He doth not search out: all his thoughts are, There is no God!

⁵ His ways always succeed; thy judgments are far above out of his sight; [as for] all his adversaries, he puffeth at them.

⁶ He saith in his heart, I shall not be moved; from generation to generation I shall be in no adversity.

⁷ His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and oppression; under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

⁸ He sitteth in the lurking-places of the villages; in the secret places doth he slay the innocent: his eyes watch for the wretched.

⁹ He lieth in wait secretly, like a lion in his thicket; he lieth in wait to catch the afflicted: he doth catch the afflicted, drawing him into his net.

¹⁰ He croucheth, he boweth down, that the wretched may fall by his strong ones.

¹¹ He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten, he hideth his face, he will never see [it].

¹² Arise, Jehovah; O God, lift up thy hand: forget not the afflicted.

¹³ Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require [it].

¹⁴ Thou hast seen [it], for thou thyself beholdest trouble and vexation, to requite by thy hand. The wretched committeth himself unto thee; thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵ Break thou the arm of the wicked, and as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness [till] thou find none.

¹⁶ Jehovah is King for ever and ever: the nations have perished out of his land.

¹⁷ Jehovah, thou hast heard the desire of the meek, thou hast established their heart: thou causest thine ear to hear,

¹⁸ To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed one, that the man of the earth may terrify no more.