Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

1 A psalm of Asaf:

God, the pagans have entered your heritage.

They have defiled your holy temple

and turned Yerushalayim into rubble.

2 They have given the corpses of your servants

as food for the birds in the air,

yes, the flesh of those faithful to you

for the wild animals of the earth.

3 All around Yerushalayim

they have shed their blood like water,

and no one is left to bury them.

4 We suffer the taunts of our neighbors,

we are mocked and scorned by those around us.

5 How long,Adonai?

Will you be angry forever?

How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you,

on the kingdoms that don’t call out your name;

7 for they have devoured Ya‘akov

and left his home a waste.

8 Don’t count past iniquities against us,

but let your compassion come quickly to meet us,

for we have been brought very low.

9 Help us, God of our salvation,

for the sake of the glory of your name.

Deliver us, forgive our sins,

for your name’s sake.

10 Why should the nations ask,

“Where is their God?”

Let the vengeance taken on your servants’ shed blood

be known among the nations before our eyes.

11 Let the groaning of the captives come before you;

by your great strength save those condemned to death.

12 Repay our neighbors sevenfold where they can feel it

for the insults they inflicted on you,Adonai.

13 Then we, your people and the flock in your pasture,

will give you thanks forever.

From generation to generation

we will proclaim your praise.

1 For the leader. Set to “Lilies.” A testimony. A psalm of Asaf:

2 Shepherd of Isra’el, listen!

You who lead Yosef like a flock,

you whose throne is on thek’ruvim,

shine out!

3 Before Efrayim, Binyamin and M’nasheh,

rouse your power; and come to save us.

4 God, restore us!

Make your face shine, and we will be saved.

5 Adonai, God of armies, how long

will you be angry with your people’s prayers?

6 You have fed them tears as their bread

and made them drink tears in abundance.

7 You make our neighbors fight over us,

and our enemies mock us.

8 God of armies, restore us!

Make your face shine, and we will be saved.

9 You brought a vine out of Egypt,

you expelled the nations and planted it,

10 you cleared a space for it;

then it took root firmly and filled the land.

11 The mountains were covered with its shade,

the mighty cedars with its branches;

12 It put out branches as far as the sea

and shoots to the [Euphrates] River.

13 Why did you break down [the vineyard’s] wall,

so that all passing by can pluck [its fruit]?

14 The boar from the forest tears it apart;

wild creatures from the fields feed on it.

15 God of armies, please come back!

Look from heaven, see, and tend this vine!

16 Protect what your right hand planted,

the son you made strong for yourself.

17 It is burned by fire, it is cut down;

they perish at your frown of rebuke.

18 Help the man at your right hand,

the son of man you made strong for yourself.

19 Then we won’t turn away from you —

if you revive us, we will call on your name.

20 Adonai, God of armies, restore us!

Make your face shine, and we will be saved.

1 For the Leader. On thegittit. By Asaf:

2 Sing for joy to God our strength!

Shout to the God of Ya‘akov!

3 Start the music! Beat the drum!

Play the sweet lyre and the lute!

4 Sound theshofaratRosh-Hodesh

and at full moon for the pilgrim feast,

5 because this is a law for Isra’el,

a ruling of the God of Ya‘akov.

6 He placed it as a testimony in Y’hosef

when he went out against the land of Egypt.

I heard an unfamiliar voice say,

7 “I lifted the load from his shoulder;

his hands were freed from the [laborer’s] basket.

8 You called out when you were in trouble,

and I rescued you;

I answered you from the thundercloud;

I tested you at the M’rivah Spring [by saying,](Selah)

9 “‘Hear, my people, while I give you warning!

Isra’el, if you would only listen to me!

10 There is not to be with you any foreign god;

you are not to worship an alien god.

11 I amAdonaiyour God,

who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth, and I will fill it.’

12 “But my people did not listen to my voice;

Isra’el would have none of me.

13 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,

to live by their own plans.

14 How I wish my people would listen to me,

that Isra’el would live by my ways!

15 I would quickly subdue their enemies

and turn my hand against their foes.

16 Those who hateAdonaiwould cringe before him,

while [Isra’el’s] time would last forever.

17 They would be fed with the finest wheat,

and I would satisfy you with honey from the rocks.”

1 A psalm of Asaf:

Elohim[God] stands in the divine assembly;

there with theelohim[judges], he judges:

2 “How long will you go on judging unfairly,

favoring the wicked?(Selah)

3 Give justice to the weak and fatherless!

Uphold the rights of the wretched and poor!

4 Rescue the destitute and needy;

deliver them from the power of the wicked!”

5 They don’t know, they don’t understand,

they wander about in darkness;

meanwhile, all the foundations of the earth

are being undermined.

6 “My decree is: ‘You areelohim[gods, judges],

sons of the Most High all of you.

7 Nevertheless, you will die like mortals;

like any prince, you will fall.’”

8 Rise up,Elohim, and judge the earth;

for all the nations are yours.

1 A song. A psalm of Asaf:

2 God, don’t remain silent!

Don’t stay quiet, God, or still;

3 because here are your enemies, causing an uproar;

those who hate you are raising their heads,

4 craftily conspiring against your people,

consulting together against those you treasure.

5 They say, “Come, let’s wipe them out as a nation;

let the name of Isra’el be remembered no more!”

6 With one mind they plot their schemes;

the covenant they have made is against you —

7 the tents of Edom and the Yishma‘elim,

Mo’av and the Hagrim,

8 G’val, ‘Amon and ‘Amalek,

P’leshet with those living in Tzor;(Selah)

9 Ashur too is allied with them,

to reinforce the descendants of Lot.

10 Do to them as you did to Midyan,

to Sisra and Yavin atVadiKishon —

11 they were destroyed at ‘Ein-Dor

and became manure for the ground.

12 Make their leaders like ‘Orev and Ze’ev,

all their princes like Zevach and Tzalmuna,

13 who said, “Let’s take possession

of God’s meadows for ourselves.”

14 My God, make them like whirling dust,

like chaff driven by the wind.

15 Like fire burning up the forest,

like a flame that sets the mountains ablaze,

16 drive them away with your storm,

terrify them with your tempest.

17 Fill their faces with shame,

so that they will seek your name,Adonai.

18 Let them be ashamed and fearful forever;

yes, let them perish in disgrace.

19 Let them know that you alone,

whose name isAdonai,

are the Most High over all the earth.

1 For the leader. On thegittit. A psalm of the sons of Korach:

2 How deeply loved are your dwelling-places,

Adonai-Tzva’ot!

3 My soul yearns, yes, faints with longing

for the courtyards ofAdonai;

my heart and body cry for joy

to the living God.

4 As the sparrow finds herself a home

and the swallow her nest, where she lays her young,

[so my resting-place is] by your altars,

Adonai-Tzva’ot, my king and my God.

5 How happy are those who live in your house;

they never cease to praise you!(Selah)

6 How happy the man whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are [pilgrim] highways.

7 Passing through the [dry] Baka Valley,

they make it a place of springs,

and the early rain clothes it with blessings.

8 They go from strength to strength

and appear before God in Tziyon.

9 Adonai, God of armies, hear my prayer;

listen, God of Ya‘akov.(Selah)

10 God, see our shield [the king];

look at the face of your anointed.

11 Better a day in your courtyards

than a thousand [days elsewhere].

Better just standing at the door of my God’s house

than living in the tents of the wicked.

12 ForAdonai, God, is a sun and a shield;

Adonaibestows favor and honor;

he will not withhold anything good

from those whose lives are pure.

13 Adonai-Tzva’ot,

how happy is anyone who trusts in you!

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

2 Adonai, you have shown favor to your land;

you have restored the fortunes of Ya‘akov,

3 taken away the guilt of your people,

pardoned all their sin,(Selah)

4 withdrawn all your wrath,

turned from your fierce anger.

5 Restore us, God of our salvation,

renounce your displeasure with us.

6 Are you to stay angry with us forever?

Will your fury last through all generations?

7 Won’t you revive us again,

so your people can rejoice in you?

8 Show us your grace,Adonai;

grant us your salvation.

9 I am listening. What will God,Adonai, say?

For he will speak peace to his people,

to his holy ones —

but only if they don’t relapse into folly.

10 His salvation is near for those who fear him,

so that glory will be in our land.

11 Grace and truth have met together;

justice and peace have kissed each other.

12 Truth springs up from the earth,

and justice looks down from heaven.

13 Adonaiwill also grant prosperity;

our land will yield its harvest.

14 Justice will walk before him

and make his footsteps a path.

1 A prayer of David:

Listen,Adonai, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

2 Preserve my life, for I am faithful;

save your servant,

who puts his trust in you

because you are my God.

3 Take pity on me,Adonai,

for I cry to you all day.

4 Fill your servant’s heart with joy,

for to you,Adonai, I lift my heart.

5 Adonai, you are kind and forgiving,

full of grace toward all who call on you.

6 Listen,Adonai, to my prayer;

pay attention to my pleading cry.

7 On the day of my trouble I am calling on you,

for you will answer me.

8 There is none like you among the gods,Adonai;

no deeds compare with yours.

9 All the nations you have made

will come and bow before you,Adonai;

they will honor your name.

10 For you are great, and you do wonders;

you alone are God.

11 Adonai, teach me your way,

so that I can live by your truth;

make me single-hearted,

so that I can fear your name.

12 I will thank you,Adonaimy God,

with my whole heart;

and I will glorify your name forever.

13 For your grace toward me is so great!

You have rescued me from the lowest part of Sh’ol.

14 God, arrogant men are rising against me,

a gang of brutes is seeking my life,

and to you they pay no attention.

15 But you,Adonai,

are a merciful, compassionate God,

slow to anger

and rich in grace and truth.

16 Turn to me, and show me your favor;

strengthen your servant, save your slave-girl’s son.

17 Give me a sign of your favor,

so that those who hate me

will see it and be ashamed,

because you,Adonai,

have helped and comforted me.

1 A psalm of the sons of Korach. A song:

On the holy mountains is [the city’s] foundation.

2 Adonailoves the gates of Tziyon

more than all the dwellings in Ya‘akov.

3 Glorious things are said about you,

city of God.(Selah)

4 I count Rahav and Bavel

among those who know me;

Of P’leshet, Tzor and Ethiopia [they will say],

“This one was born there.”

5 But of Tziyon it will be said,

“This one and that was born in it,

for the Most High himself establishes it.”

6 When he registers the peoples,Adonaiwill record,

“This one was born there.”(Selah)

7 Singers and dancers alike say,

“For me, you are the source of everything.”

1 A song. A psalm of the sons of Korach. For the leader. Set to “Sickness that Causes Suffering.” Amaskilof Heiman the Ezrachi.

2 Adonai, God of my salvation,

when I cry out to you in the night,

3 let my prayer come before you,

turn your ear to my cry for help!

4 For I am oversupplied with troubles,

which have brought me to the brink of Sh’ol.

5 I am counted among those going down to the pit,

like a man who is beyond help,

6 left by myself among the dead,

like the slain who lie in the grave —

you no longer remember them;

they are cut off from your care.

7 You plunged me into the bottom of the pit,

into dark places, into the depths.

8 Your wrath lies heavily on me;

your waves crashing over me keep me down.(Selah)

9 You separated me from my close friends,

made me repulsive to them;

I am caged in, with no escape;

10 my eyes grow dim from suffering.

I call on you,Adonai, every day;

I spread out my hands to you.

11 Will you perform wonders for the dead?

Can the ghosts of the dead rise up and praise you?(Selah)

12 Will your grace be declared in the grave,

or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

13 Will your wonders be known in the dark,

or your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

14 But I cry out to you,Adonai;

my prayer comes before you in the morning.

15 So why,Adonai, do you reject me?

Why do you hide your face from me?

16 Since my youth I have been miserable, close to death;

I am numb from bearing these terrors of yours.

17 Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me,

your terrors have shriveled me up.

18 They surge around me all day like a flood,

from all sides they close in on me.

19 You have made friends and companions shun me;

the people I know are hidden from me.