A Psalm of Asaph.
Surely Elohim is good to Israel,
Even to such as are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
My steps were nearly made to slip.
3 For I was envious at the arrogant,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pangs in their death;
But their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men;
Neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck;
Violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness:
They have more than heart could wish.
8 They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression:
They speak loftily.
9 They have set their mouth in the heavens,
And their tongue walks through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return here:
And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
11 And they say, How does El know?
And is there knowledge in Elyon?
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
And, being always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart,
And washed my hands in innocency;
14 For all the day long have I been plagued,
And chastened every morning.
15 If I had said, I will speak thus;
Behold, I would deceive a generation of your children.
16 When I thought how I might know this,
It was too painful for me;
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of El,
And considered their latter end.
18 Surely you set them in slippery places:
You cast them down to destruction.
19 How are they become a desolation in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awakes,
So, Yahweh, when you awake, you will despise their image.
21 For my soul was grieved,
And I was pricked in my heart:
22 So brutish was I, and ignorant;
I was as a beast before you.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with you:
You have held my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is no one upon earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart fails;
But Elohim is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For, lo, they that are far from you shall perish:
You have destroyed all them that play the harlot, departing from you.
28 But it is good for me to draw near to Elohim:
I have made the Sovereign Yahweh my refuge,
That I may tell of all your works.
Maschil of Asaph.
O Elohim, why have you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you have gotten of old,
Which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance;
And mount Zion, in which you have dwelt.
3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins,
All the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly;
They have set up their ensigns for signs.
5 They seemed as men that lifted up
Axes upon a thicket of trees.
6 And now all the carved work of it
They break down with hatchet and hammers.
7 They have set your sanctuary on fire;
They have profaned the dwelling-place of your name by casting it to the ground.
8 They said in their heart,
Let us make havoc of them altogether:
They have burned up all the places of assembly of El in the land.
9 We see not our signs:
There is no more any prophet;
Neither is there among us any that knows how long.
10 How long, O Elohim, shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme your name for ever?
11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?
Pluck it out of your bosom and consume them.
12 Yet Elohim is my King of old,
Working salvation in the middle of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your strength:
You broke the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
14 You broke the heads of leviathan in pieces;
You gave him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 You divided fountain and flood:
You dried up mighty rivers.
16 The day is yours, the night also is yours:
You have prepared the light and the sun.
17 You have set all the borders of the earth:
You have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy has reproached,
O Yahweh, And that a foolish people has blasphemed your name.
19 Oh deliver not the soul of your turtledove to the wild beast:
Forget not the life of your poor for ever.
20 Have respect to the covenant;
For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Oh let not the oppressed return ashamed:
Let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, O Elohim, plead your own cause:
Remember how the foolish man reproaches you all the day.
23 Forget not the voice of your adversaries:
The tumult of those that rise up against you ascends continually.
For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of Asaph, a Song.
We give thanks to you, O Elohim;
We give thanks, for your name is near:
Men tell of your wondrous works.
2 When I shall find the set time,
I will judge uprightly.
3 The earth and all the inhabitants of it are dissolved:
I have set up the pillars of it.
Selah
4 I said to the arrogant,
Deal not arrogantly;
And to the wicked,
Lift not up the horn:
5 Lift not up your horn on high;
Speak not with a stiff neck.
6 For neither from the east, nor from the west,
Nor yet from the south, comes lifting up.
7 But Elohim is the judge:
He puts down one, and lifts up another.
8 For in the hand of Yahweh there is a cup, and the wine foams;
It is full of mixture, and he pours out of the same:
Surely the dregs of it, all the wicked of the earth shall drain them, and drink them.
9 But I will declare for ever,
I will sing praises to the Elohim of Jacob.
10 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off, But the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.