Study Desk

Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not regard the proud nor those who lapse into lies.

The LORD will protect him and keep him alive; And he will be called blessed in the land; You do not hand him over to the desire of his enemies.

The LORD will sustain and strengthen him on his sickbed; In his illness, You will restore him to health.

My enemies speak evil of me, saying, "When will he die and his name perish?"

And when one comes to see me, he speaks empty words, While his heart gathers malicious gossip [against me]; When he goes away, he tells it [everywhere].

Even my own close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me [betraying me].

These things I [vividly] remember as I pour out my soul; How I used to go along before the great crowd of people and lead them in procession to the house of God [like a choirmaster before his singers, timing the steps to the music and the chant of the song], With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a great crowd keeping a festival.

Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become restless and disturbed within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.

Yet the LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song will be with me, A prayer to the God of my life.

God is in the midst of her [His city], she will not be moved; God will help her when the morning dawns.

The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered and were moved; He raised His voice, the earth melted.

God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, His holy mountain.

None of them can by any means redeem [either himself or] his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him—

For the ransom of his soul is too costly, And he should cease trying forever—

But man, with all his [self] honor and pomp, will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.

Be not afraid when [an ungodly] man becomes rich, When the wealth and glory of his house are increased;

For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him.

He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They shall never again see the light.

He summons the heavens above, And the earth, to judge His people: