Psalm 17

⁶Listen to my cry, for I am brought quite low. Rescue me from my pursuers, for they are too strong for me.

¹For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. Of David. Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer.

¹⁸The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.

⁸‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.

¹⁸Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.

¹⁹O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.”

²¹Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,

⁶He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn, your justice like the noonday sun.

⁶After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,

⁷and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels

²⁵Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

²⁹Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are My ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

²⁴Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—

³³the Lord will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned under judgment.

¹⁰Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

²Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine my heart and mind.

²³When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.

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.”

²But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.

¹⁰For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.

⁸Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

³for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?

⁹How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word.

¹⁰With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.

¹⁰“Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus told him. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

⁷Jesus replied, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.

¹³³Order my steps in Your word; let no sin rule over me.

⁹He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

³He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.

⁷The Lord will guard you from all evil; He will preserve your soul.

³⁶You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not give way.

²Because He has inclined His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.

⁷In the day of my distress I call on You, because You answer me.

²May my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry.

¹⁹But God has surely heard; He has attended to the sound of my prayer.

²⁰Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld from me His loving devotion!

¹⁶But I call to God, and the Lord saves me.

¹⁷Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

⁵Respond and save us with Your right hand, that Your beloved may be delivered.

¹¹But let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them ever shout for joy. May You shelter them, that those who love Your name may rejoice in You.

¹²For surely You, O Lord, bless the righteous; You surround them with the shield of Your favor.

²¹Blessed be the Lord, for He has shown me His loving devotion in a city under siege.

⁶Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand.

¹⁰Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

⁹For the eyes of the Lord roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. You have acted foolishly in this matter. From now on, therefore, you will be at war.”

¹⁰He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

⁴He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.

¹He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

²Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

⁸For this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye—

⁴Let me dwell in Your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah

⁴May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plan to harm me be driven back and confounded.

⁷For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.

⁵then may my enemy pursue me and overtake me; may he trample me to the ground and leave my honor in the dust. Selah

²⁰You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the schemes of men. You conceal them in Your shelter from accusing tongues.

¹²They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul.

⁹And I will provide a place for My people Israel and will plant them so that they may dwell in a place of their own and be disturbed no more. No longer will the sons of wickedness oppress them as they did at the beginning

³Do not boast so proudly, or let arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by Him actions are weighed.

⁴We have endured much scorn from the arrogant, much contempt from the proud.

¹⁸May lying lips be silenced—lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.

⁵The beast was given a mouth to speak arrogant and blasphemous words, and authority to act for 42 months.

⁶And the beast opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God and to slander His name and His tabernacle—those who dwell in heaven.

¹⁵For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁸With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.

¹³winking his eyes, speaking with his feet, and pointing with his fingers.

¹⁴With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.

¹⁴The wicked have drawn the sword and bent the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.

⁸He lies in wait near the villages; in ambush he slays the innocent; his eyes watch in stealth for the helpless.

⁹He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.

²So Saul, accompanied by three thousand chosen men of Israel, went down to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.

³Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon, but David was living in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had followed him there,

²⁶Saul was proceeding along one side of the mountain, and David and his men along the other side. Even though David was hurrying to get away, Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them.

¹⁷All day long they engulf me like water; they enclose me on every side.

²or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

⁹He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.

⁸Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.

¹³They open their jaws against me like lions that roar and maul.

⁷Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.

²⁶Rise up; be our help! Redeem us on account of Your loving devotion.

⁶Arise, O Lord, in Your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies. Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.

²³Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.

¹¹God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation each day.

¹²If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.

²⁰Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of wild dogs.

¹⁸But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.

¹⁴I have given them Your word and the world has hated them. For they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

²³Then He told them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

¹⁷For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; his abundance will not follow him down.

¹⁸Though in his lifetime he blesses his soul—and men praise you when you prosper—

⁸The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.

¹⁹Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

¹⁸And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

¹¹You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

⁷For the Lord is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.

²Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.

³And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.

⁶Many ask, “Who can show us the good?” Shine the light of Your face upon us, O Lord.

⁷You have filled my heart with more joy than when grain and new wine abound.