¹Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. ²But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. ³For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. ⁵They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. ⁶Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. ⁷Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. ⁸They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. ⁹They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. ¹⁰Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. ¹¹And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? ¹²Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. ¹³Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. ¹⁴For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. ¹⁵If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. ¹⁶When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; ¹⁷Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. ¹⁸Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. ¹⁹How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. ²⁰As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. ²¹Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. ²²So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. ²³Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. ²⁴Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. ²⁵Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. ²⁶My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. ²⁷For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. ²⁸But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

¹O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? ²Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. ³Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. ⁴Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs. ⁵A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. ⁶But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. ⁷They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. ⁸They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. ⁹We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. ¹⁰O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? ¹¹Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom. ¹²For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. ¹³Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. ¹⁴Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. ¹⁵Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers. ¹⁶The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. ¹⁷Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter. ¹⁸Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. ¹⁹O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever. ²⁰Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. ²¹O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name. ²²Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily. ²³Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.