¹ Sing praises to God, our strength.
    Sing to the God of Jacob.
² Sing! Beat the tambourine.
    Play the sweet lyre and the harp.
³ Blow the ram’s horn at new moon,
    and again at full moon to call a festival!
⁴ For this is required by the decrees of Israel;
    it is a regulation of the God of Jacob.
⁵ He made it a law for Israel^[b]
    when he attacked Egypt to set us free.

I heard an unknown voice say,
⁶ “Now I will take the load from your shoulders;
    I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.
⁷ You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you;
    I answered out of the thundercloud
    and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah. Interlude

⁸ “Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings.
    O Israel, if you would only listen to me!
⁹ You must never have a foreign god;
    you must not bow down before a false god.
¹⁰ For it was I, the Lord your God,
    who rescued you from the land of Egypt.
    Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.

¹¹ “But no, my people wouldn’t listen.
    Israel did not want me around.
¹² So I let them follow their own stubborn desires,
    living according to their own ideas.
¹³ Oh, that my people would listen to me!
    Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths!
¹⁴ How quickly I would then subdue their enemies!
    How soon my hands would be upon their foes!
¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him;
    they would be doomed forever.
¹⁶ But I would feed you with the finest wheat.
    I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”

¹ God presides over heaven’s court;
    he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings:
² “How long will you hand down unjust decisions
    by favoring the wicked? Interlude

³ “Give justice to the poor and the orphan;
    uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
⁴ Rescue the poor and helpless;
    deliver them from the grasp of evil people.
⁵ But these oppressors know nothing;
    they are so ignorant!
They wander about in darkness,
    while the whole world is shaken to the core.
⁶ I say, ‘You are gods;
    you are all children of the Most High.
⁷ But you will die like mere mortals
    and fall like every other ruler.’”

⁸ Rise up, O God, and judge the earth,
    for all the nations belong to you.

¹ O God, do not be silent!
    Do not be deaf.
    Do not be quiet, O God.
² Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies?
    Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up?
³ They devise crafty schemes against your people;
    they conspire against your precious ones.
⁴ “Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation.
    We will destroy the very memory of its existence.”
⁵ Yes, this was their unanimous decision.
    They signed a treaty as allies against you—
⁶ these Edomites and Ishmaelites;
    Moabites and Hagrites;
⁷ Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites;
    and people from Philistia and Tyre.
⁸ Assyria has joined them, too,
    and is allied with the descendants of Lot. Interlude

⁹ Do to them as you did to the Midianites
    and as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
¹⁰ They were destroyed at Endor,
    and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil.
¹¹ Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did.
    Let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna,
¹² for they said, “Let us seize for our own use
    these pasturelands of God!”
¹³ O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed,
    like chaff before the wind!
¹⁴ As a fire burns a forest
    and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
¹⁵ chase them with your fierce storm;
    terrify them with your tempest.
¹⁶ Utterly disgrace them
    until they submit to your name, O Lord.
¹⁷ Let them be ashamed and terrified forever.
    Let them die in disgrace.
¹⁸ Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord,
    that you alone are the Most High,
    supreme over all the earth.

¹ How lovely is your dwelling place,
    O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
² I long, yes, I faint with longing
    to enter the courts of the Lord.
With my whole being, body and soul,
    I will shout joyfully to the living God.
³ Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young
at a place near your altar,
    O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!
⁴ What joy for those who can live in your house,
    always singing your praises. Interlude

⁵ What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
    who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
⁶ When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,^[d]
    it will become a place of refreshing springs.
    The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.
⁷ They will continue to grow stronger,
    and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.^[e]

⁸ O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.
    Listen, O God of Jacob. Interlude

⁹ O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield!
    Show favor to the one you have anointed.

¹⁰ A single day in your courts
    is better than a thousand anywhere else!
I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God
    than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.
¹¹ For the Lord God is our sun and our shield.
    He gives us grace and glory.
The Lord will withhold no good thing
    from those who do what is right.
¹² O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    what joy for those who trust in you.

¹ Lord, you poured out blessings on your land!
    You restored the fortunes of Israel.^[f]
2 You forgave the guilt of your people—
    yes, you covered all their sins. Interlude
³ You held back your fury.
    You kept back your blazing anger.

⁴ Now restore us again, O God of our salvation.
    Put aside your anger against us once more.
⁵ Will you be angry with us always?
    Will you prolong your wrath to all generations?
⁶ Won’t you revive us again,
    so your people can rejoice in you?
⁷ Show us your unfailing love, O Lord,
    and grant us your salvation.

⁸ I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying,
    for he speaks peace to his faithful people.
    But let them not return to their foolish ways.
⁹ Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
    so our land will be filled with his glory.

¹⁰ Unfailing love and truth have met together.
    Righteousness and peace have kissed!
¹¹ Truth springs up from the earth,
    and righteousness smiles down from heaven.
¹² Yes, the Lord pours down his blessings.
    Our land will yield its bountiful harvest.
¹³ Righteousness goes as a herald before him,
    preparing the way for his steps.