Psalm 141

⁵But I am poor and needy; hurry to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay.

¹³Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; hurry, O Lord, to help me.

¹²Be not far from me, O God. Hurry, O my God, to help me.

⁷Answer me quickly, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.

¹⁷Hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly!

¹⁸Draw near to my soul and redeem me; ransom me because of my foes.

¹⁹But You, O Lord, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

³Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.

⁴And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel.

⁸When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

⁸Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.

²¹while I was still praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.

¹¹For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of Hosts.

⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.

²⁶If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.

¹For the choirmaster. For Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I said, “I will watch my ways so that I will not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are present.”

⁵Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.

¹³Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.

²We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.

⁸My mouth is filled with Your praise and with Your splendor all day long.

¹³And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

³⁶Turn my heart to Your testimonies and not to covetous gain.

¹⁷Why, O Lord, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.

³³Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

¹⁷“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

⁵⁸May He incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances He commanded our fathers.

⁵It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to the song of fools.

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

¹Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

⁵Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed.

⁶The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

¹²Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man’s rebuke to a listening ear.

²⁵Strike a mocker, and the simple will beware; rebuke the discerning man, and he will gain knowledge.

¹²and the army of Judah also captured 10,000 men alive. They took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.

²You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.

¹Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.

²Even in times past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. And to you the Lord said, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over them.’”

¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

²The Philistines hotly pursued Saul and his sons, and they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua.

³⁸All these men of war, arrayed for battle, came to Hebron fully determined to make David king over all Israel. And all the rest of the Israelites were of one mind to make David king.

¹⁷Then David took up this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan,

¹⁸and he ordered that the sons of Judah be taught the Song of the Bow. It is written in the Book of Jashar:

⁵There they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to fear. For God has scattered the bones of those who besieged you. You put them to shame, for God has despised them.

³⁶As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

²²Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

⁸Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city—figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where their Lord was also crucified.

⁹For three and a half days all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will view their bodies and will not permit them to be laid in a tomb.

¹⁸So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.

¹⁹He also put to the sword Nob, the city of the priests, with its men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.

³⁷They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.

¹A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.

²As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes are on the Lord our God until He shows us mercy.

¹²Our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this vast army that comes against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

¹⁷The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

¹⁷He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.

¹⁵My eyes are always on the Lord, for He will free my feet from the mesh.

¹⁶Turn to me and be gracious, for I am lonely and afflicted.

¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

⁵The proud hide a snare for me; the cords of their net are spread along the path, and lures are set out for me. Selah

²⁰So they watched Him closely and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They were hoping to catch Him in His words in order to hand Him over to the rule and authority of the governor.

¹¹⁰The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from Your precepts.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning one from the snares of death.

¹²Those who seek my life lay snares; those who wish me harm speak destruction, plotting deceit all day long.

²²Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.

⁸May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created.

⁹May the heads of those who surround me be covered in the trouble their lips have caused.

⁷But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be wounded.

⁸They will be made to stumble, their own tongues turned against them. All who see will shake their heads.

¹⁰So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

⁸The righteous man is delivered from trouble; in his place the wicked man goes in.

¹⁵He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making.

¹⁶His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.