My Help and My Deliverer

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

¹I waited patiently for the Lord;

he inclined to me and heard my cry.

²He drew me up from the pit of destruction,

out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock,

making my steps secure.

³He put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear,

and put their trust in the Lord.

⁴Blessed is the man who makes

the Lord his trust,

who does not turn to the proud,

to those who go astray after a lie!

⁵You have multiplied, O Lord my God,

your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;

none can compare with you!

I will proclaim and tell of them,

yet they are more than can be told.

⁶In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,

but you have given me an open ear.1

Burnt offering and sin offering

you have not required.

⁷Then I said, “Behold, I have come;

in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

⁸I delight to do your will, O my God;

your law is within my heart.”

⁹I have told the glad news of deliverance2

in the great congregation;

behold, I have not restrained my lips,

as you know, O Lord.

¹⁰I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;

I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;

I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness

from the great congregation.

¹¹As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain

your mercy from me;

your steadfast love and your faithfulness will

ever preserve me!

¹²For evils have encompassed me

beyond number;

my iniquities have overtaken me,

and I cannot see;

they are more than the hairs of my head;

my heart fails me.

¹³Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!

O Lord, make haste to help me!

¹⁴Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether

who seek to snatch away my life;

let those be turned back and brought to dishonor

who delight in my hurt!

¹⁵Let those be appalled because of their shame

who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

¹⁶But may all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you;

may those who love your salvation

say continually, “Great is the Lord!”

¹⁷As for me, I am poor and needy,

but the Lord takes thought for me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

do not delay, O my God!

O Lord, Be Gracious to Me

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

¹Blessed is the one who considers the poor!1

In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;

²the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;

he is called blessed in the land;

you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.

³The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;

in his illness you restore him to full health.2

⁴As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;

heal me,3 for I have sinned against you!”

⁵My enemies say of me in malice,

“When will he die, and his name perish?”

⁶And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,

while his heart gathers iniquity;

when he goes out, he tells it abroad.

⁷All who hate me whisper together about me;

they imagine the worst for me.4

⁸They say, “A deadly thing is poured out5 on him;

he will not rise again from where he lies.”

⁹Even my close friend in whom I trusted,

who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.

¹⁰But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,

and raise me up, that I may repay them!

¹¹By this I know that you delight in me:

my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.

¹²But you have upheld me because of my integrity,

and set me in your presence forever.

¹³Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting!

Amen and Amen.