1  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, ♦︎
   and are so far from my salvation,
      from the words of my distress?
2  O my God, I cry in the daytime,
      but you do not answer; ♦︎
   and by night also, but I find no rest.
3  Yet you are the Holy One, ♦︎
   enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
4  Our forebears trusted in you; ♦︎
   they trusted, and you delivered them.
5  They cried out to you and were delivered; ♦︎
   they put their trust in you and were not confounded.
6  But as for me, I am a worm and no man, ♦︎
   scorned by all and despised by the people.
7  All who see me laugh me to scorn; ♦︎
   they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,
8  ‘He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him; ♦︎
   let him deliver him, if he delights in him.’
9  But it is you that took me out of the womb ♦︎
   and laid me safe upon my mother’s breast.
10  On you was I cast ever since I was born; ♦︎
   you are my God even from my mother’s womb.
11  Be not far from me, for trouble is near at hand ♦︎
   and there is none to help.
12  Mighty oxen come around me; ♦︎
   fat bulls of Bashan close me in on every side.
13  They gape upon me with their mouths, ♦︎
   as it were a ramping and a roaring lion.
14  I am poured out like water;
      all my bones are out of joint; ♦︎
   my heart has become like wax
      melting in the depths of my body.
15  My mouth is dried up like a potsherd;
      my tongue cleaves to my gums; ♦︎
   you have laid me in the dust of death.
16  For the hounds are all about me,
      the pack of evildoers close in on me; ♦︎
   they pierce my hands and my feet.
17  I can count all my bones; ♦︎
   they stand staring and looking upon me.
18  They divide my garments among them; ♦︎
   they cast lots for my clothing.
19  Be not far from me, O Lord; ♦︎
   you are my strength; hasten to help me.
20  Deliver my soul from the sword, ♦︎
   my poor life from the power of the dog.
21  Save me from the lion’s mouth,
      from the horns of wild oxen. ♦︎
   You have answered me!
22  I will tell of your name to my people; ♦︎
   in the midst of the congregation will I praise you.
23  Praise the Lord, you that fear him; ♦︎
   O seed of Jacob, glorify him;
      stand in awe of him, O seed of Israel.
24  For he has not despised nor abhorred the suffering of the poor;
      neither has he hidden his face from them; ♦︎
   but when they cried to him he heard them.
25  From you comes my praise in the great congregation; ♦︎
   I will perform my vows
      in the presence of those that fear you.
26  The poor shall eat and be satisfied; ♦︎
   those who seek the Lord shall praise him;
      their hearts shall live for ever.
27  All the ends of the earth
      shall remember and turn to the Lord, ♦︎
   and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.
28  For the kingdom is the Lord’s ♦︎
   and he rules over the nations.
29  How can those who sleep in the earth
      bow down in worship, ♦︎
   or those who go down to the dust kneel before him?
30  He has saved my life for himself;
      my descendants shall serve him; ♦︎
   this shall be told of the Lord for generations to come.
31  They shall come and make known his salvation,
      to a people yet unborn, ♦︎
   declaring that he, the Lord, has done it.