Bible Reading Plan – Day 107

₁I said, “I will be careful what I do

and will not let my tongue make me sin;

I will not say anything

while evil people are near.”

₂I kept quiet, not saying a word,

not even about anything good!

But my suffering only grew worse,

₃and I was overcome with anxiety.

The more I thought, the more troubled I became;

I could not keep from asking:

₄“LORD, how long will I live?

When will I die?

Tell me how soon my life will end.”

₅How short you have made my life!

In your sight my lifetime seems nothing.

Indeed every living being is no more than a puff of wind,

₆no more than a shadow.

All they do is for nothing;

they gather wealth, but don't know who will get it.

₇What, then, can I hope for, Lord?

I put my hope in you.

₈Save me from all my sins,

and don't let fools laugh at me.

₉I will keep quiet, I will not say a word,

for you are the one who made me suffer like this.

₁₀Don't punish me any more!

I am about to die from your blows.

₁₁You punish our sins by your rebukes,

and like a moth you destroy what we love.

Indeed we are no more than a puff of wind!

₁₂Hear my prayer, LORD,

and listen to my cry;

come to my aid when I weep.

Like all my ancestors

I am only your guest for a little while.

₁₃Leave me alone so that I may have some happiness

before I go away and am no more.

₁I waited patiently for the LORD's help;

then he listened to me and heard my cry.

₂He pulled me out of a dangerous pit,

out of the deadly quicksand.

He set me safely on a rock

and made me secure.

₃He taught me to sing a new song,

a song of praise to our God.

Many who see this will take warning

and will put their trust in the LORD.

₄Happy are those who trust the LORD,

who do not turn to idols

or join those who worship false gods.

₅You have done many things for us, O LORD our God;

there is no one like you!

You have made many wonderful plans for us.

I could never speak of them all —

their number is so great!

₆You do not want sacrifices and offerings;

you do not ask for animals burnt whole on the altar

or for sacrifices to take away sins.

Instead, you have given me ears to hear you,

₇and so I answered, “Here I am;

your instructions for me are in the book of the Law.

₈How I love to do your will, my God!

I keep your teaching in my heart.”

₉In the assembly of all your people, LORD,

I told the good news that you save us.

You know that I will never stop telling it.

₁₀I have not kept the news of salvation to myself;

I have always spoken of your faithfulness and help.

In the assembly of all your people I have not been silent

about your loyalty and constant love.

₁₁LORD, I know you will never stop being merciful to me.

Your love and loyalty will always keep me safe.

₁₂I am surrounded by many troubles —

too many to count!

My sins have caught up with me,

and I can no longer see;

they are more than the hairs of my head,

and I have lost my courage.

₁₃Save me, LORD! Help me now!

₁₄May those who try to kill me

be completely defeated and confused.

May those who are happy because of my troubles

be turned back and disgraced.

₁₅May those who jeer at me

be dismayed by their defeat.

₁₆May all who come to you

be glad and joyful.

May all who are thankful for your salvation

always say, “How great is the LORD!”

₁₇I am weak and poor, O Lord,

but you have not forgotten me.

You are my saviour and my God —

hurry to my aid!

₁Happy are those who are concerned for the poor;

the LORD will help them when they are in trouble.

₂The LORD will protect them and preserve their lives;

he will make them happy in the land;

he will not abandon them to the power of their enemies.

₃The LORD will help them when they are sick

and will restore them to health.

₄I said, “I have sinned against you, LORD;

be merciful to me and heal me.”

₅My enemies say cruel things about me.

They want me to die and be forgotten.

₆Those who come to see me are not sincere;

they gather bad news about me

and then go out and tell it everywhere.

₇All who hate me whisper to each other about me,

they imagine the worst about me.

₈They say, “He is fatally ill;

he will never leave his bed again.”

₉Even my best friend, the one I trusted most,

the one who shared my food,

has turned against me.

₁₀Be merciful to me, LORD, and restore my health,

and I will pay my enemies back.

₁₁They will not triumph over me,

and I will know that you are pleased with me.

₁₂You will help me, because I do what is right;

you will keep me in your presence for ever.

₁₃Praise the LORD, the God of Israel!

Praise him now and for ever!

₁As a deer longs for a stream of cool water,

so I long for you, O God.

₂I thirst for you, the living God;

when can I go and worship in your presence?

₃Day and night I cry,

and tears are my only food;

all the time my enemies ask me,

“Where is your God?”

₄My heart breaks when I remember the past,

when I went with the crowds to the house of God

and led them as they walked along,

a happy crowd, singing and shouting praise to God.

₅Why am I so sad?

Why am I so troubled?

I will put my hope in God,

and once again I will praise him,

my saviour and my God.

_6-7Here in exile my heart is breaking,

and so I turn my thoughts to him.

He has sent waves of sorrow over my soul;

chaos roars at me like a flood,

like waterfalls thundering down to the Jordan

from Mount Hermon and Mount Mizar.

₈May the LORD show his constant love during the day,

so that I may have a song at night,

a prayer to the God of my life.

₉To God, my defender, I say,

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I go on suffering

from the cruelty of my enemies?”

₁₀I am crushed by their insults,

as they keep on asking me,

“Where is your God?”

₁₁Why am I so sad?

Why am I so troubled?

I will put my hope in God,

and once again I will praise him,

my saviour and my God.

₁O God, declare me innocent,

and defend my cause against the ungodly;

deliver me from lying and evil people!

₂You are my protector;

why have you abandoned me?

Why must I go on suffering

from the cruelty of my enemies?

₃Send your light and your truth;

may they lead me

and bring me back to Zion, your sacred hill,

and to your Temple, where you live.

₄Then I will go to your altar, O God;

you are the source of my happiness.

I will play my harp and sing praise to you,

O God, my God.

₅Why am I so sad?

Why am I so troubled?

I will put my hope in God,

and once again I will praise him,

my saviour and my God.

₁With our own ears we have heard it, O God —

our ancestors have told us about it,

about the great things you did in their time,

in the days of long ago:

₂how you yourself drove out the heathen

and established your people in their land;

how you punished the other nations

and caused your own to prosper.

₃Your people did not conquer the land with their swords;

they did not win it by their own power;

it was by your power and your strength,

by the assurance of your presence,

which showed that you loved them.

₄You are my king and my God;

you give victory to your people,

₅and by your power we defeat our enemies.

₆I do not trust in my bow

or in my sword to save me;

₇but you have saved us from our enemies

and defeated those who hate us.

₈We will always praise you

and give thanks to you for ever.

₉But now you have rejected us and let us be defeated;

you no longer march out with our armies.

₁₀You made us run from our enemies,

and they took for themselves what was ours.

₁₁You allowed us to be slaughtered like sheep;

you scattered us in foreign countries.

₁₂You sold your own people for a small price

as though they had little value.

₁₃Our neighbours see what you did to us,

and they mock us and laugh at us.

₁₄You have made us an object of contempt among the nations;

they shake their heads at us in scorn.

₁₅I am always in disgrace;

I am covered with shame

₁₆from hearing the sneers and insults

of my enemies and those who hate me.

₁₇All this has happened to us,

even though we have not forgotten you

or broken the covenant you made with us.

₁₈We have not been disloyal to you;

we have not disobeyed your commands.

₁₉Yet you left us helpless among wild animals;

you abandoned us in deepest darkness.

₂₀If we had stopped worshipping our God

and prayed to a foreign god,

₂₁you would surely have discovered it,

because you know our secret thoughts.

₂₂But it is on your account that we are being killed all the time,

that we are treated like sheep to be slaughtered.

₂₃Wake up, Lord! Why are you asleep?

Rouse yourself! Don't reject us for ever!

₂₄Why are you hiding from us?

Don't forget our suffering and trouble!

₂₅We fall crushed to the ground;

we lie defeated in the dust.

₂₆Come to our aid!

Because of your constant love save us!