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Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocence,

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For all day long have I been plagued, and punished every morning.

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If I had said, “I will speak thus;” behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

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When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me;

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Until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end.

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Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.

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How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors.

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As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.

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For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.

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I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.

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Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand.

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You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

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Who do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth who I desire besides you.

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My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

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For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.

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But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

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A contemplation by Asaph.

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God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

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Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance; Mount Zion, in which you have lived.

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Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

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Your adversaries have roared in the midst of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.

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They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees.

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Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.

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They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.

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They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.” They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.

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We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.

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How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

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Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it out of your pocket and consume them!

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Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

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You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

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You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.

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You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.

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The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.

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You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter.

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Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Yahweh. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.

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Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Don’t forget the life of your poor forever.

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Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.

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Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name.

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Arise, God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.

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Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.

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For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Psalm by Asaph. A song.

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We give thanks to you, God. We give thanks, for your Name is near. Men tell about your wondrous works.

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When I choose the appointed time, I will judge blamelessly.

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The earth and all its inhabitants quake. I firmly hold its pillars. Selah.

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I said to the arrogant, “Don’t boast!” I said to the wicked, “Don’t lift up the horn.

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Don’t lift up your horn on high. Don’t speak with a stiff neck.”

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For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor yet from the south, comes exaltation.

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But God is the judge. He puts down one, and lifts up another.

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For in the hand of Yahweh there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs.

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But I will declare this forever: I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

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I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

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For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm by Asaph. A song.

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In Judah, God is known. His name is great in Israel.

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His tabernacle is also in Salem; His dwelling place in Zion.

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There he broke the flaming arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah.

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Glorious are you, and excellent, more than mountains of game.

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Valiant men lie plundered, they have slept their last sleep. None of the men of war can lift their hands.

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At your rebuke, God of Jacob, both chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep.

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You, even you, are to be feared. Who can stand in your sight when you are angry?

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You pronounced judgment from heaven. The earth feared, and was silent,

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when God arose to judgment, to save all the afflicted ones of the earth. Selah.

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Surely the wrath of man praises you. The survivors of your wrath are restrained.

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Make vows to Yahweh your God, and fulfill them! Let all of his neighbors bring presents to him who is to be feared.

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He will cut off the spirit of princes. He is feared by the kings of the earth.

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For the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm by Asaph.

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My cry goes to God! Indeed, I cry to God for help, and for him to listen to me.

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In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired. My soul refused to be comforted.

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I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah.

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You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can’t speak.

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I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

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I remember my song in the night. I consider in my own heart; my spirit diligently inquires:

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“Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more?

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Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations?

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Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?” Selah.

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Then I thought, “I will appeal to this: the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

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I will remember Yah’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old.

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I will also meditate on all your work, and consider your doings.

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Your way, God, is in the sanctuary. What god is great like God?

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You are the God who does wonders. You have made your strength known among the peoples.

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You have redeemed your people with your arm, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

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The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed.

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The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around.

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The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook.

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Your way was through the sea; your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known.

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You led your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. A contemplation by Asaph.

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A contemplation by Asaph.

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Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.

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I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,

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Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

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We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, his strength, and his wondrous works that he has done.

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For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a teaching in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;

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that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born; who should arise and tell their children,

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that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments,

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and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

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The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

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They didn’t keep God’s covenant, and refused to walk in his law.

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They forgot his doings, his wondrous works that he had shown them.

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He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

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He split the sea, and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand as a heap.

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In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.