By the Waters of Babylon

¹Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD’s name! Praise him, you servants of the LORD,

²you who stand in the LORD’s house, in the courts of our God’s house.

³Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good. Sing praises to his name, for that is pleasant.

⁴For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession.

⁵For I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is above all gods.

⁶Whatever the LORD pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.

⁷He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings with the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries.

⁸He struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and animal.

⁹He sent signs and wonders into the middle of you, Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his servants.

¹⁰He struck many nations, and killed mighty kings—

¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan—

¹²and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage to Israel, his people.

¹³Your name, LORD, endures forever; your renown, LORD, throughout all generations.

¹⁴For the LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants.

¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

¹⁶They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see.

¹⁷They have ears, but they can’t hear, neither is there any breath in their mouths.

¹⁸Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them.

¹⁹House of Israel, praise the LORD! House of Aaron, praise the LORD!

²⁰House of Levi, praise the LORD! You who fear the LORD, praise the LORD!

²¹Blessed be the LORD from Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

²Give thanks to the God of gods, for his loving kindness endures forever.

³Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loving kindness endures forever;

⁴to him who alone does great wonders, for his loving kindness endures forever;

⁵to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his loving kindness endures forever;

⁶to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his loving kindness endures forever;

⁷to him who made the great lights, for his loving kindness endures forever;

⁸the sun to rule by day, for his loving kindness endures forever;

⁹the moon and stars to rule by night, for his loving kindness endures forever;

¹⁰to him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn, for his loving kindness endures forever;

¹¹and brought out Israel from among them, for his loving kindness endures forever;

¹²with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, for his loving kindness endures forever;

¹³to him who divided the Red Sea apart, for his loving kindness endures forever;

¹⁴and made Israel to pass through the middle of it, for his loving kindness endures forever;

¹⁵but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his loving kindness endures forever;

¹⁶to him who led his people through the wilderness, for his loving kindness endures forever;

¹⁷to him who struck great kings, for his loving kindness endures forever;

¹⁸and killed mighty kings, for his loving kindness endures forever;

¹⁹Sihon king of the Amorites, for his loving kindness endures forever;

²⁰Og king of Bashan, for his loving kindness endures forever;

²¹and gave their land as an inheritance, for his loving kindness endures forever;

²²even a heritage to Israel his servant, for his loving kindness endures forever;

²³who remembered us in our low estate, for his loving kindness endures forever;

²⁴and has delivered us from our adversaries, for his loving kindness endures forever;

²⁵who gives food to every creature, for his loving kindness endures forever.

²⁶Oh give thanks to the God of heaven, for his loving kindness endures forever.

¹By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

²On the willows in that land, we hung up our harps.

³For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴How can we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?

⁵If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.

⁶Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don’t remember you, if I don’t prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.

⁷Remember, LORD, against the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said, “Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!”

⁸Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who repays you, as you have done to us.

⁹Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

¹By David. I will give you thanks with my whole heart. Before the gods, I will sing praises to you.

²I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth; for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all.

³In the day that I called, you answered me. You encouraged me with strength in my soul.

⁴All the kings of the earth will give you thanks, LORD, for they have heard the words of your mouth.

⁵Yes, they will sing of the ways of the LORD, for the LORD’s glory is great!

⁶For though the LORD is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but he knows the proud from afar.

⁷Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me.

⁸The LORD will fulfill that which concerns me. Your loving kindness, LORD, endures forever. Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.

¹For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. LORD, you have searched me, and you know me.

²You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.

³You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

⁴For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, LORD, you know it altogether.

⁵You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.

⁶This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.

⁷Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?

⁸If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!

⁹If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,

¹⁰even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,”

¹²even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.

¹³For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

¹⁵My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.

¹⁷How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!

¹⁸If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

¹⁹If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

²⁰For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.

²¹LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?

²²I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.

²³Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.

²⁴See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

¹For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Deliver me, LORD, from evil men. Preserve me from violent men:

²those who devise mischief in their hearts. They continually gather themselves together for war.

³They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper’s poison is under their lips. Selah.

⁴LORD, keep me from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent men who have determined to trip my feet.

⁵The proud have hidden a snare for me, they have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me. Selah.

⁶I said to the LORD, “You are my God.” Listen to the cry of my petitions, LORD.

⁷LORD, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.

⁸LORD, don’t grant the desires of the wicked. Don’t let their evil plans succeed, or they will become proud. Selah.

⁹As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.

¹⁰Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise.

¹¹An evil speaker won’t be established on the earth. Evil will hunt the violent man to overthrow him.

¹²I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the needy.

¹³Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name. The upright will dwell in your presence.

¹A Psalm by David. LORD, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you.

²Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.

³Set a watch, LORD, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips.

⁴Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.

⁵Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don’t let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.

⁶Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock. They will hear my words, for they are well spoken.

⁷“As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”

⁸For my eyes are on you, LORD, the Lord. I take refuge in you. Don’t leave my soul destitute.

⁹Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, from the traps of the workers of iniquity.

¹⁰Let the wicked fall together into their own nets while I pass by.

¹A contemplation by David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer. I cry with my voice to the LORD. With my voice, I ask the LORD for mercy.

²I pour out my complaint before him. I tell him my troubles.

³When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my route. On the path in which I walk, they have hidden a snare for me.

⁴Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.

⁵I cried to you, LORD. I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

⁶Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.

⁷Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will be good to me.

¹A Psalm by David. Hear my prayer, LORD. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me.

²Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous.

³For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.

⁴Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate.

⁵I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands.

⁶I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.

⁷Hurry to answer me, LORD. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.

⁸Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.

⁹Deliver me, LORD, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me.

¹⁰Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.

¹¹Revive me, LORD, for your name’s sake. In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble.

¹²In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am your servant.

¹By David. Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands to war, and my fingers to battle—

²my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me.

³LORD, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him?

⁴Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.

⁵Part your heavens, LORD, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

⁶Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them.

⁷Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners,

⁸whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

⁹I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.

¹⁰You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword.

¹¹Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

¹²Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace.

¹³Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields.

¹⁴Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets.

¹⁵Happy are the people who are in such a situation. Happy are the people whose God is the LORD.

¹A praise psalm by David. I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever.

²Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever.

³Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable.

⁴One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts.

⁵I will meditate on the glorious majesty of your honor, on your wondrous works.

⁶Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts. I will declare your greatness.

⁷They will utter the memory of your great goodness, and will sing of your righteousness.

⁸The LORD is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.

⁹The LORD is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.

¹⁰All your works will give thanks to you, LORD. Your saints will extol you.

¹¹They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk about your power,

¹²to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.

¹³Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and loving in all his deeds.

¹⁴The LORD upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down.

¹⁵The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season.

¹⁶You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works.

¹⁸The LORD is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

¹⁹He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.

²⁰The LORD preserves all those who love him, but he will destroy all the wicked.

²¹My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD. Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.