He brought them out of the utter darkness, and tore off their shackles.

The Lord makes this promise on oath and will not revoke it: “You are an eternal priest after the pattern of Melchizedek.”

hands, but cannot touch, feet, but cannot walk. They cannot even clear their throats.

Open for me the gates of the just king’s temple! I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.

I will lift my hands to your commands, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.

Arrogant people smear my reputation with lies, but I observe your precepts with all my heart.

The wicked prepare to kill me, yet I concentrate on your rules.

I stay away from the evil path, so that I might keep your instructions.

You remove all the wicked of the earth like slag. Therefore I love your rules.

My eyes anticipate the nighttime hours, so that I can meditate on your word.

A song of ascents. When the Lord restored the well-being of Zion, we thought we were dreaming.

Certainly my tongue does not frame a word without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it.

They will be thrown down the side of a cliff by their judges. They will listen to my words, for they are pleasant.

He established them so they would endure; he issued a decree that will not be revoked.

We will swallow them alive like Sheol, those full of vigor like those going down to the Pit.

For her benefit is more profitable than silver, and her gain is better than gold.

The Lord’s curse is on the household of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.

But why should you be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, and embrace the bosom of a different woman?

My child, if you have made a pledge for your neighbor, and have become a guarantor for a stranger,

He was passing by the street near her corner, making his way along the road to her house