when they prayed: “Have mercy on me, Lord! See how I am oppressed by those who hate me, O one who can snatch me away from the gates of death!

He does not charge interest when he lends his money. He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. The one who lives like this will never be upended.

For this reason every one of your faithful followers should pray to you while there is a window of opportunity. Certainly when the surging water rises, it will not reach them.

I have asked the Lord for one thing – this is what I desire! I want to live in the Lord’s house all the days of my life, so I can gaze at the splendor of the Lord and contemplate in his temple.

Certainly spending just one day in your temple courts is better than spending a thousand elsewhere. I would rather stand at the entrance to the temple of my God than live in the tents of the wicked.

Hear my prayer, O Lord! Listen to my cry for help! Do not ignore my sobbing! For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land; I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were.

O Lord, my God, you have accomplished many things; you have done amazing things and carried out your purposes for us. No one can thwart you! I want to declare them and talk about them, but they are too numerous to recount!

Then you spoke through a vision to your faithful followers and said: “I have energized a warrior; I have raised up a young man from the people.

Yes, they devise a unified strategy; they form an alliance against you.

You will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful follower to see the Pit.

May their camp become desolate, their tents uninhabited!

Yet you will die like mortals; you will fall like all the other rulers.”

and how he made a vow to the Lord, and swore an oath to the powerful ruler of Jacob.

until I find a place for the Lord, a fine dwelling place for the powerful ruler of Jacob.”

for there our captors ask us to compose songs; those who mock us demand that we be happy, saying: “Sing for us a song about Zion!”

The Lord values the lives of his faithful followers.

You reprimand arrogant people. Those who stray from your commands are doomed.

Strap your sword to your thigh, O warrior! Appear in your majestic splendor!

A psalm by Asaph. El, God, the Lord speaks, and summons the earth to come from the east and west.

Deceitful people will not live in my palace. Liars will not be welcome in my presence.