The Lord Is My Strength and My Shield

Of David.

¹To you, O Lord, I call;

my rock, be not deaf to me,

lest, if you be silent to me,

I become like those who go down to the pit.

²Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,

when I cry to you for help,

when I lift up my hands

toward your most holy sanctuary.1

³Do not drag me off with the wicked,

with the workers of evil,

who speak peace with their neighbors

while evil is in their hearts.

⁴Give to them according to their work

and according to the evil of their deeds;

give to them according to the work of their hands;

render them their due reward.

⁵Because they do not regard the works of the Lord

or the work of his hands,

he will tear them down and build them up no more.

⁶Blessed be the Lord!

For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

⁷The Lord is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.

⁸The Lord is the strength of his people;2

he is the saving refuge of his anointed.

⁹Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!

Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Ascribe to the Lord Glory

A Psalm of David.

¹Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,1

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

²Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.2

³The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

the God of glory thunders,

the Lord, over many waters.

⁴The voice of the Lord is powerful;

the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

⁵The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;

the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,

and Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.

⁸The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;

the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth3

and strips the forests bare,

and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁰The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;

the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.

¹¹May the Lord give strength to his people!

May the Lord bless4 his people with peace!