Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

1 For the leader. A psalm of the descendants of Korach:

2 Hear this, all you peoples!

Listen, everyone living on earth,

3 regardless of whether low or high,

regardless of whether rich or poor!

4 My mouth is about to speak wisdom;

my heart’s deepest thoughts will give understanding.

5 I will listen with care to [God’s] parable,

I will set my enigma to the music of the lyre.

6 Why should I fear when the days bring trouble,

when the evil of my pursuers surrounds me,

7 the evil of those who rely on their wealth

and boast how rich they are?

8 No one can ever redeem his brother

or give God a ransom for him ,

9 because the price for him is too high

(leave the idea completely alone!)

10 to have him live on eternally

and never see the pit.

11 For he can see that wise men will die,

likewise the fool and the brute will perish

and leave their wealth to others.

12 They think their homes will last forever,

their dwellings through all generations;

they give their own names to their estates.

13 But people, even rich ones, will live only briefly;

then, like animals, they will die.

14 This is the manner of life of the foolish

and those who come after, approving their words.(Selah)

15 Like sheep, they are destined for Sh’ol;

death will be their shepherd.

The upright will rule them in the morning;

and their forms will waste away in Sh’ol,

until they need no dwelling.

16 But God will redeem me from Sh’ol’s control,

because he will receive me.(Selah)

17 Don’t be afraid when someone gets rich,

when the wealth of his family grows.

18 For when he dies, he won’t take it with him;

his wealth will not go down after him.

19 True, while he lived, he thought himself happy —

people praise you when you do well for yourself —

20 but he will join his ancestors’ generations

and never again see light.

21 People, even rich ones, can fail to grasp

that, like animals, they will die.

1 A psalm of Asaf:

The Mighty One, God,Adonai, is speaking,

summoning the world from east to west.

2 Out of Tziyon, the perfection of beauty,

God is shining forth.

3 Our God is coming and not staying silent.

With a fire devouring ahead of him

and a great storm raging around him,

4 he calls to the heavens above and to earth,

in order to judge his people.

5 “Gather to me my faithful,

those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,

for God himself is judge.(Selah)

7 “Listen, my people, I am speaking:

Isra’el, I am testifying against you,

I, God, your God.

8 I am not rebuking you for your sacrifices;

your burnt offerings are always before me.

9 I have no need for a bull from your farm

or for male goats from your pens;

10 for all forest creatures are mine already,

as are the animals on a thousand hills;

11 I know all the birds in the mountains;

whatever moves in the fields is mine.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you;

for the world is mine, and everything in it.

13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer thanksgiving as your sacrifice to God,

pay your vows to the Most High,

15 and call on me when you are in trouble;

I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

16 But to the wicked God says:

“What right do you have to proclaim my laws

or take my covenant on your lips,

17 when you so hate to receive instruction

and fling my words behind you?

18 When you see a thief, you join up with him,

you throw in your lot with adulterers,

19 you give your mouth free rein for evil

and harness your tongue to deceit;

20 you sit and speak against your kinsman,

you slander your own mother’s son.

21 When you do such things, should I stay silent?

You may have thought I was just like you;

but I will rebuke and indict you to your face.

22 Consider this, you who forget God,

or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to save you.

23 “Whoever offers thanksgiving

as his sacrifice honors me;

and to him who goes the right way

I will show the salvation of God.”

1 For the leader. A psalm of David,

2 when Natan the prophet came to him after his affair with Bat-Sheva:

3 God, in your grace, have mercy on me;

in your great compassion, blot out my crimes.

4 Wash me completely from my guilt,

and cleanse me from my sin.

5 For I know my crimes,

my sin confronts me all the time.

6 Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil from your perspective;

so that you are right in accusing me

and justified in passing sentence.

7 True, I was born guilty,

was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me.

8 Still, you want truth in the inner person;

so make me know wisdom in my inmost heart.

9 Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

10 Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness,

so that the bones you crushed can rejoice.

11 Turn away your face from my sins,

and blot out all my crimes.

12 Create in me a clean heart, God;

renew in me a resolute spirit.

13 Don’t thrust me away from your presence,

don’t take yourRuach Kodeshaway from me.

14 Restore my joy in your salvation,

and let a willing spirit uphold me.

15 Then I will teach the wicked your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

16 Rescue me from the guilt of shedding blood,

God, God of my salvation!

Then my tongue will sing

about your righteousness —

17 Adonai, open my lips;

then my mouth will praise you.

18 For you don’t want sacrifices, or I would give them;

you don’t take pleasure in burnt offerings.

19 My sacrifice to God is a broken spirit;

God, you won’t spurn a broken, chastened heart.

20 In your good pleasure, make Tziyon prosper;

rebuild the walls of Yerushalayim.

21 Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then they will offer bulls on your altar.

1 For the leader. Amaskilof David,

2 when Do’eg from Edom came and told Sha’ul, “David has arrived at the house of Achimelekh”:

3 Why do you boast of your evil, you tyrant,

when God’s mercy is present every day?

4 Your tongue, as sharp as a razor,

plots destruction and works deception.

5 You love evil more than good,

lies rather than speaking uprightly.(Selah)

6 You love all words that eat people up,

you deceitful tongue!

7 This is why God will strike you down,

seize you, pluck you from your tent

and uproot you from the land of the living.(Selah)

8 The righteous will see and be awestruck;

they will jeer at him, saying,

9 “This fellow would not make God his refuge,

but trusted in his own great wealth,

relying on his evil plots.”

10 But I am like a leafy olive tree

in the house of God;

I put my trust in the grace of God

forever and ever.

11 I will praise you forever for what you have done,

and I will put my hope in your name;

for this is what is good

in the presence of your faithful.

1 For the leader. Onmachalat.Amaskilof David:

2 A brutish fool tells himself,

“There isn’t any God.”

Such people are depraved, all their deeds are vile,

not one of them does what is good.

3 God looks out from heaven

upon the human race

to see if even one is wise,

if even one seeks God.

4 Every one of them is unclean,

altogether corrupt;

not one of them does what is good,

not a single one.

5 Won’t these evildoers ever learn?

They devour my people

as if they were eating bread,

and they never call on God!

6 They will be gripped with terror,

even though now they are not afraid;

for God will scatter the bones

of him who is besieging you.

You are putting them to shame,

because God has rejected them.

7 If only salvation for Isra’el

would come out of Tziyon!

When God restores his people’s fortunes,

what joy for Ya‘akov! what gladness for Isra’el!

1 For the leader. With stringed instruments. Amaskilof David,

2 when the Zifim came and told Sha’ul, “David is hiding with us”:

3 God, deliver me by your name;

in your power, vindicate me.

4 God, hear my prayer;

listen to the words from my mouth.

5 For foreigners are rising against me,

violent men are seeking my life;

they give no thought to God.(Selah)

6 But God is helping me;

Adonaiis my support.

7 May he repay the evil

to those who are lying in wait for me.

In your faithfulness, destroy them!

8 Then I will generously sacrifice to you;

I will praise your name,Adonai,

because it is good,

9 because he rescued me from all trouble,

and my eyes look with triumph at my enemies.

1 For the leader. With stringed instruments. Amaskilof David:

2 Listen, God, to my prayer!

Don’t hide yourself from my plea!

3 Pay attention to me, and answer me!

I am panic-stricken as I make my complaint,

I shudder

4 at how the enemy shouts,

at how the wicked oppress;

for they keep heaping trouble on me

and angrily tormenting me.

5 My heart within me is pounding in anguish,

the terrors of death press down on me,

6 fear and trembling overwhelm me,

horror covers me.

7 I said, “I wish I had wings like a dove!

Then I could fly away and be at rest.

8 Yes, I would flee to a place far off,

I would stay in the desert.(Selah)

9 I would quickly find me a shelter

from the raging wind and storm.”

10 Confuse,Adonai, confound their speech!

For I see violence and fighting in the city.

11 Day and night they go about its walls;

within are malice and mischief.

12 Ruin is rife within it,

oppression and fraud never leave its streets.

13 For it was not an enemy who insulted me;

if it had been, I could have borne it.

It was not my adversary who treated me with scorn;

if it had been, I could have hidden myself.

14 But it was you, a man of my own kind,

my companion, whom I knew well.

15 We used to share our hearts with each other;

in the house of God we walked with the crowd.

16 May he put death on them;

let them go down alive to Sh’ol;

for evil is in their homes

and also in their hearts.

17 But I will call on God,

andAdonaiwill save me.

18 Evening, morning and noon I complain

and moan; but he hears my voice.

19 He redeems me and gives me peace,

so that no one can come near me.

For there were many who fought me.

20 God will hear and will humble them,

yes, he who has sat on his throne from the start.(Selah)

For they never change,

and they don’t fear God.

21 [My companion] attacked those

who were at peace with him;

he broke his solemn word.

22 What he said sounded smoother than butter,

but his heart was at war.

His words seemed more soothing than oil,

but in fact they were sharp swords.

23 Unload your burden onAdonai,

and he will sustain you.

He will never permit

the righteous to be moved.

24 But you will bring them down, God,

into the deepest pit.

Those men, so bloodthirsty and treacherous,

will not live out half their days.

But for my part,[Adonai,]

I put my trust in you.

1 For the leader. Set to “The Silent Dove in the Distance.” By David; amikhtam, when the P’lishtim captured him in Gat:

2 Show me favor, God;

for people are trampling me down —

all day they fight and press on me.

3 Those who are lying in wait for me

would trample on me all day.

For those fighting against me are many.

Most High,

4 when I am afraid,

I put my trust in you.

5 In God — I praise his word —

in God I trust; I have no fear;

what can human power do to me?

6 All day long they twist my words;

their only thought is to harm me.

7 They gather together and hide themselves,

spying on my movements, hoping to kill me.

8 Because of their crime, they cannot escape;

in anger, God, strike down the peoples.

9 You have kept count of my wanderings;

store my tears in your water-skin —

aren’t they already recorded in your book?

10 Then my enemies will turn back

on the day when I call;

this I know: that God is for me.

11 In God — I praise his word —

inAdonai— I praise his word —

12 in God I trust; I have no fear;

what can mere humans do to me?

13 God, I have made vows to you;

I will fulfill them with thank offerings to you.

14 For you rescued me from death,

you kept my feet from stumbling,

so that I can walk in God’s presence,

in the light of life.

1 For the leader. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” By David, amikhtam, when he fled from Sha’ul into the cave:

2 Show me favor, God, show me favor;

for in you I have taken refuge.

Yes, I will find refuge in the shadow of your wings

until the storms have passed.

3 I call to God, the Most High,

to God, who is accomplishing his purpose for me.

4 He will send from heaven and save me

when those who would trample me down mock me.(Selah)

God will send his grace and his truth.

5 I am surrounded by lions,

I am lying down among people breathing fire,

men whose teeth are spears and arrows

and their tongues sharp-edged swords.

6 Be exalted, God, above heaven!

May your glory be over all the earth!

7 They prepared a snare for my feet,

but I am bending over [to avoid it].

They dug a pit ahead of me,

but they fell into it themselves.(Selah)

8 My heart is steadfast, God, steadfast.

I will sing and make music.

9 Awake, my glory! Awake, lyre and lute!

I will awaken the dawn.

10 I will thank you,Adonai, among the peoples;

I will make music to you among the nations.

11 For your grace is great, all the way to heaven,

and your truth, all the way to the skies.

12 Be exalted, God, above heaven!

May your glory be over all the earth!

1 For the leader. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” By David, amikhtam:

2 [Rulers,] does your silence really speak justice?

Are you judging people fairly?

3 [No!] In your hearts you devise wrongs,

your hands dispense violence in the land.

4 From the womb, the wicked are estranged,

liars on the wrong path since birth.

5 Their venom is like snake’s venom;

they are like a serpent that stops its ears,

6 so as not to hear the voice of the charmer,

no matter how well he plays.

7 God, break their teeth in their mouth!

Shatter the fangs of these lions,Adonai!

8 May they vanish like water that drains away.

May their arrows be blunted when they aim their bows.

9 May they be like a slug that melts as it moves,

like a stillborn baby that never sees the sun.

10 Before your cook-pots feel the heat of the burning thorns,

may he blow them away, green and blazing alike.

11 The righteous will rejoice to see vengeance done,

they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked;

12 and people will say, “Yes, the righteous are rewarded;

there is, after all, a God who judges the earth.”