1  I will give thanks to you, Lord, with my whole heart; ♦︎
   I will tell of all your marvellous works.
2  I will be glad and rejoice in you; ♦︎
   I will make music to your name, O Most High.
3  When my enemies are driven back, ♦︎
   they stumble and perish at your presence.
4  For you have maintained my right and my cause; ♦︎
   you sat on your throne giving righteous judgement.
5  You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; ♦︎
   you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6  The enemy was utterly laid waste. ♦︎
   You uprooted their cities;
      their very memory has perished.
7  But the Lord shall endure for ever; ♦︎
   he has made fast his throne for judgement.
8  For he shall rule the world with righteousness ♦︎
   and govern the peoples with equity.
9  Then will the Lord be a refuge for the oppressed, ♦︎
   a refuge in the time of trouble.
10  And those who know your name will put their trust in you, ♦︎
   for you, Lord, have never failed those who seek you.
11  Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion; ♦︎
   declare among the peoples the things he has done.
12  The avenger of blood has remembered them; ♦︎
   he did not forget the cry of the oppressed.
13  Have mercy upon me, O Lord; ♦︎
   consider the trouble I suffer from those who hate me,
      you that lift me up from the gates of death;
14  That I may tell all your praises in the gates of the city of Zion ♦︎
   and rejoice in your salvation.
15  The nations shall sink into the pit of their making ♦︎
   and in the snare which they set will their own foot be taken.
16  The Lord makes himself known by his acts of justice; ♦︎
   the wicked are snared in the works of their own hands.
17  They shall return to the land of darkness, ♦︎
   all the nations that forget God.
18  For the needy shall not always be forgotten ♦︎
   and the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.
19  Arise, O Lord, and let not mortals have the upper hand; ♦︎
   let the nations be judged before your face.
20  Put them in fear, O Lord, ♦︎
   that the nations may know themselves to be but mortal.

1  Why stand so far off, O Lord? ♦︎
   Why hide yourself in time of trouble?
2  The wicked in their pride persecute the poor; ♦︎
   let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
3  The wicked boast of their heart’s desire; ♦︎
   the covetous curse and revile the Lord.
4  The wicked in their arrogance say, ‘God will not avenge it’; ♦︎
   in all their scheming God counts for nothing.
5  They are stubborn in all their ways,
      for your judgements are far above out of their sight; ♦︎
   they scoff at all their adversaries.
6  They say in their heart, ‘I shall not be shaken; ♦︎
   no harm shall ever happen to me.’
7  Their mouth is full of cursing, deceit and fraud; ♦︎
   under their tongue lie mischief and wrong.
8  They lurk in the outskirts
      and in dark alleys they murder the innocent; ♦︎
   their eyes are ever watching for the helpless.
9  They lie in wait, like a lion in his den;
      they lie in wait to seize the poor; ♦︎
   they seize the poor when they get them into their net.
10  The innocent are broken and humbled before them; ♦︎
   the helpless fall before their power.
11  They say in their heart, ‘God has forgotten; ♦︎
   he hides his face away; he will never see it.’
12  Arise, O Lord God, and lift up your hand; ♦︎
   forget not the poor.
13  Why should the wicked be scornful of God? ♦︎
   Why should they say in their hearts, ‘You will not avenge it’?
14  Surely, you behold trouble and misery; ♦︎
   you see it and take it into your own hand.
15  The helpless commit themselves to you, ♦︎
   for you are the helper of the orphan.
16  Break the power of the wicked and malicious; ♦︎
   search out their wickedness until you find none.
17  The Lord shall reign for ever and ever; ♦︎
   the nations shall perish from his land.
18  Lord, you will hear the desire of the poor; ♦︎
   you will incline your ear to the fullness of their heart,
19  To give justice to the orphan and oppressed, ♦︎
   so that people are no longer driven in terror from the land.