The LORD Reigns!

1The LORD reigns;

let the nations tremble!

He is enthroned above the cherubim;

let the earth quake!

2Great is the LORD in Zion;

He is exalted above all the peoples.

3Let them praise Your great and awesome name—

He is holy!

4The mighty King loves justice.

You have established equity;

You have exercised justice

and righteousness in Jacob.

5Exalt the LORD our God,

and worship at His footstool;

He is holy!

6Moses and Aaron were among His priests;

Samuel was among those who called on His name.

They called to the LORD and He answered.

7He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;

they kept His decrees and the statutes He gave them.

8O LORD our God, You answered them.

You were a forgiving God to them,

yet an avenger of their misdeeds.

9Exalt the LORD our God

and worship at His holy mountain,

for the LORD our God is holy.

Make a Joyful Noise

A Psalm of thanksgiving.

1Make a joyful noise to the LORD,

all the earth.

2Serve the LORD with gladness;

come into His presence with joyful songs.

3Know that the LORD is God.

It is He who made us, and we are His;

we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

4Enter His gates with thanksgiving

and His courts with praise;

give thanks to Him and bless His name.

5For the LORD is good,

and His loving devotion endures forever;

His faithfulness continues to all generations.

I Will Set No Worthless Thing before My Eyes

A Psalm of David.

1I will sing of Your loving devotion and justice;

to You, O LORD, I will sing praises.

2I will ponder the way that is blameless—

when will You come to me?

I will walk in my house

with integrity of heart.

3I will set no worthless thing

before my eyes.

I hate the work of those who fall away;

it shall not cling to me.

4A perverse heart shall depart from me;

I will know nothing of evil.

5Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret,

I will put to silence;

the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart,

I will not endure.

6My eyes favor the faithful of the land,

that they may dwell with me;

he who walks in the way of integrity

shall minister to me.

7No one who practices deceit

shall dwell in my house;

no one who tells lies

shall stand in my presence.

8Every morning I will remove all the wicked of the land,

that I may cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

The Prayer of the Afflicted

A prayer of one who is afflicted, when he grows faint and pours out his lament before the LORD.

1Hear my prayer, O LORD;

let my cry for help come before You.

2Do not hide Your face from me

in my day of distress.

Incline Your ear to me;

answer me quickly when I call.

3For my days vanish like smoke,

and my bones burn like glowing embers.

4My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass;

I even forget to eat my bread.

5Through my loud groaning

my flesh clings to my bones.

6I am like a desert owl,

like an owl among the ruins.

7I lie awake;

I am like a lone bird on a housetop.

8All day long my enemies taunt me;

they ridicule me and curse me.

9For I have eaten ashes like bread

and mixed my drink with tears

10because of Your indignation and wrath,

for You have picked me up and cast me aside.

11My days are like lengthening shadows,

and I wither away like grass.

12But You, O LORD, sit enthroned forever;

Your renown endures to all generations.

13You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,

for it is time to show her favor—

the appointed time has come.

14For Your servants delight in her stones

and take pity on her dust.

15So the nations will fear the name of the LORD,

and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory.

16For the LORD will rebuild Zion;

He has appeared in His glory.

17He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute;

He will not despise their prayer.

18Let this be written for the generation to come,

so that a people not yet created may praise the LORD.

19For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary;

the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth

20to hear a prisoner’s groaning,

to release those condemned to death,

21that they may proclaim the name of the LORD in Zion

and praise Him in Jerusalem,

22when peoples and kingdoms assemble

to serve the LORD.

23He has broken my strength on the way;

He has cut short my days.