Psalms31

Unto the end, a psalm for David, in an ecstasy. In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, Iet me never be confounded: deliver me in thy justice.

Bow down thy ear to me: make haste to deliver me. Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, to save me.

For thou art my strength and my refuge; and for thy name's sake thou wilt lead me, and nourish me.

Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me: for thou art my protector.

Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.

Thou hast hated them that regard vanities, to no purpose. But I have hoped in the Lord:

I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. For thou best regarded my humility, thou hast saved my soul out of distresses.

And thou hast not shut me up in the hands of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a spacious place.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with wrath, my soul, and my belly:

For my life is wasted with grief: and my years in sighs. My strength is weakened through poverty and my bones are disturbed.

I am become a reproach among all my enemies, and very much to my neighbours; and a fear to my acquaintance. They that saw me without fled from me.

I am forgotten as one dead from the heart. I am become as a vessel that is destroyed.

For I have heard the blame of many that dwell round about. While they assembled together against me, they consulted to take away my life.

But I have put my trust in thee, O Lord: I said: Thou art my God.

My lots are in thy hands. Deliver me out of the hands of my enemies; and from them that persecute me.

Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy.

Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to hell.

Let deceitful lips be made dumb. Which speak iniquity against the just, with pride and abuse.

O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee, in the sight of the sons of men.

Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face, from the disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them in thy tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues.

Blessed be the Lord, for he hath shewn his wonderful mercy to me in a fortified city.

But I said in the excess of my mind: I am cast away from before thy eyes. Therefore thou hast heard the voice of my prayer, when I cried to thee.

O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord will require truth, and will repay them abundantly that act proudly.

Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord.