ear to my prayer,
not made with deceitful lips.
2. Let my judgment come forth from your presence;
let my eyes behold your equity.
3. You have proved my heart;
you have visited me by night.
You have tested me as by fire,
and found in me no wrong.
4. May my mouth not speak the deeds of these fellows.
I, because of the words of your lips,
guarded myself against hardened ways.
5. Direct my footsteps in your paths,
so that my steps may not stumble.
6. I cried out, because you, O God, had heard me.
Incline your ears to me and give heed to my words.
7. Display your mercy in wondrous fashion,
O, you, who with your right hand,
save from their adversaries,
those who place their hope in you.
8. Guard me as the apple of your eye.
In the shadow of your wings you will shelter me
9. from the presence of the wicked who afflict me.
My enemies have encompassed my soul.
10. They have sealed themselves up with their fat.
With their mouths they have spoken proudly.
11. They have cast me out and now encircle me,
with their eyes cast down, inclined to the ground.
12. They laid wait for me like a lion eager for prey,
like a lion’s whelp lurking in hidden places.
13. Arise, O Lord, thwart them and cause them to stumble.
Deliver my soul from the ungodly.
Wrest your sword from your enemies’ hands.
14. O Lord, destroy them from
the earth;
scatter them in their lifetime.
Though their belly was filled from your storehouse,
they satiated themselves with swine
and left the remains for their children.
15. But as for me, I shall appear before you in righteousness;
and I shall be satisfied when your glory appears.
Psalm 17
1. I will love you, O Lord, my strength.
2. The Lord is my support, my refuge, and my deliverer.
My God is my helper in whom
I will trust:
my protector, the horn of my salvation and my defender. . . .
25. With the holy you will be holy;
and with the innocent you will be innocent.
26. With the favored you will
show favor,
and with the cunning you will be cunning.
27. For you will save the lowly,
and humble the eyes of the proud.
28. For you, O Lord, will light my lamp;
my God will shed light on my darkness.
29. Because of you I shall be delivered from a roving band;
and because of my God I shall leap
over a wall.
30. As for my God, his way is faultless;
the oracles of the Lord are tried in fire;
my God, a Protector of all who
have hope.
31. For who is God besides the Lord?
And who is God except our God?
Psalm 18
1. The heavens declare the glory of God;
the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
2. Day unto day utters a word,
night unto night announces knowledge.
3. There are no speeches nor
are there words
in which their voices are not heard.
4. To every land their voice has
gone forth,
and their message, to the ends
of the world.
In the sun he has placed his tabernacle.
5. He is like a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber.
He will rejoice as a giant about to run his course.
6. His going forth is from the one end
of heaven,
and his circuitous route to the other end thereof;
no one shall be hidden from his
radiant heat.
7. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting souls.
The testimony of the Lord is faithful,
making infants wise.
8. The statutes of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart.
The
