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9They did it. Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did what GOD commanded. And GOD accepted Job's prayer.

10After Job had interceded for his friends, GOD restored his fortune-and then doubled it! 11All his brothers and sisters and friends came to his house and celebrated. They told him how sorry they were, and consoled him for all the trouble GOD had brought him. Each of them brought generous housewarming gifts.

12GOD blessed Job's later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. 13He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14He named the first daughter Dove, the second, Cinnamon, and the third, Darkeyes. 15There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job's daughters. Their father treated them as equals with their brothers, providing the same inheritance.

16Job lived on another hundred and forty years, living to see his children and grandchildren-four generations of them! 17Then he died-an old man, a full life.

2Instead you thrill to GOD's Word,
you chew on Scripture day and night.

3You're a tree replanted in Eden,
bearing fresh fruit every month,
Never dropping a leaf,
always in blossom.

4You're not at all like the wicked,
who are mere windblown dust-

5Without defense in court,
unfit company for innocent people.

6GOD charts the road you take.
The road they take is Skid Row.

2Earth-leaders push for position,
Demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks,
The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers:

3“Let's get free of God!
Cast loose from Messiah!”

4Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing.
At first he's amused at their presumption;

5Then he gets good and angry.
Furiously, he shuts them up:

6“Don't you know there's a King in Zion? A coronation banquet
Is spread for him on the holy summit.”

7Let me tell you what GOD said next.
He said, “You're my son,
And today is your birthday.

8What do you want? Name it:
Nations as a present? continents as a prize?

9You can command them all to dance for you,
Or throw them out with tomorrow's trash.”

10So, rebel-kings, use your heads;
Upstart-judges, learn your lesson:

11Worship GOD in adoring embrace,
Celebrate in trembling awe. 12Kiss Messiah!
Your very lives are in danger, you know;
His anger is about to explode,
But if you make a run for God-you won't regret it!

2Mobs of them all around me, roaring their mockery:
“Hah! No help for him from God!”

3But you, GOD, shield me on all sides;
You ground my feet, you lift my head high;

4With all my might I shout up to GOD,
His answers thunder from the holy mountain.

5I stretch myself out. I sleep.
Then I'm up again-rested, tall and steady,

6Fearless before the enemy mobs
Coming at me from all sides.

7Up, GOD! My God, help me!
Slap their faces,
First this cheek, then the other,
Your fist hard in their teeth!

8Real help comes from GOD.
Your blessing clothes your people!

2You rabble-how long do I put up with your scorn?
How long will you lust after lies?
How long will you live crazed by illusion?

3Look at this: look
Who got picked by GOD!
He listens the split second I call to him.

4Complain if you must, but don't lash out.
Keep your mouth shut, and let your heart do the talking.

5Build your case before God and wait for his verdict.

6Why is everyone hungry for more? “More, more,” they say.
“More, more.”
I have God's more-than-enough,

7More joy in one ordinary day
Than they get in all their shopping sprees.

8At day's end I'm ready for sound sleep,
For you, GOD, have put my life back together.

2my groans and cries?
King-God, I need your help.

3Every morning
you'll hear me at it again.
Every morning
I lay out the pieces of my life
on your altar
and watch for fire to descend.

4You don't socialize with Wicked,
or invite Evil over as your houseguest.

5Hot-Air-Boaster collapses in front of you;
you shake your head over Mischief-Maker.

6GOD destroys Lie-Speaker;
Blood-Thirsty and Truth-Bender disgust you.

7And here I am, your invited guest-
it's incredible!
I enter your house; here I am,
prostrate in your inner sanctum,

8Waiting for directions
to get me safely through enemy lines.

9Every word they speak is a land mine;
their lungs breathe out poison gas.
Their throats are gaping graves,
their tongues slick as mudslides.

10Pile on the guilt, God!
Let their so-called wisdom wreck them.
Kick them out! They've had their chance.

11But you'll welcome us with open arms
when we run for cover to you.
Let the party last all night!
Stand guard over our celebration.

12You are famous, GOD, for welcoming God-seekers,
for decking us out in delight.

2Treat me nice for a change;
I'm so starved for affection.
Can't you see I'm black and blue,
beat up badly in bones 3and soul?
GOD, how long will it take
for you to let up?

4Break in, GOD, and break up this fight;
if you love me at all, get me out of here.

5I'm no good to you dead, am I?
I can't sing in your choir if I'm buried in some tomb!

6I'm tired of all this-so tired. My bed
has been floating forty days and nights
On the flood of my tears.
My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears.

7The sockets of my eyes are black holes;
nearly blind, I squint and grope.

8Get out of here, you Devil's crew:
at last GOD has heard my sobs.

9My requests have all been granted,
my prayers are answered.

10Cowards, my enemies disappear.
Disgraced, they turn tail and run.

2If they catch me, I'm finished:
ripped to shreds by foes fierce as lions,
dragged into the forest and left
unlooked for, unremembered.

3GOD, if I've done what they say-4betrayed my friends,
ripped off my enemies-
If my hands are really that dirty,

5let them get me, walk all over me,
leave me flat on my face in the dirt.

6Stand up, GOD; pit your holy fury
against my furious enemies.
Wake up, God. 7My accusers have packed
the courtroom; it's judgment time.

8Take your place on the bench, reach for your gavel,
throw out the false charges against me.
I'm ready, confident in your verdict:
“Innocent.”

9Close the book on Evil, GOD,
but publish your mandate for us.
You get us ready for life:
you probe for our soft spots,
you knock off our rough edges.

10And I'm feeling so fit, so safe:
made right, kept right.

11God in solemn honor does things right,
but his nerves are sandpapered raw.
Nobody gets by with anything.

12God is already in action-
Sword honed on his whetstone,
bow strung, arrow on the string,

13Lethal weapons in hand,
each arrow a flaming missile.

14Look at that guy!
He had sex with sin,
he's pregnant with evil.
Oh, look! He's having
the baby-a Lie-Baby!

15See that man shoveling day after day,
digging, then concealing, his man-trap
down that lonely stretch of road?
Go back and look again-you'll see him in it headfirst,
legs waving in the breeze.

16That's what happens:
mischief backfires;
violence boomerangs.

17I'm thanking God, who makes things right.
I'm singing the fame of heaven-high GOD.

2Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.

3I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.

4Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?

5Yet we've so narrowly missed being gods,
bright with Eden's dawn light.

6You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us your Genesis-charge,

7Made us lords of sheep and cattle,
even animals out in the wild,

8Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps.

9GOD, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.

2I'm whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy;
I'm singing your song, High God.

3The day my enemies turned tail and ran,
they stumbled on you and fell on their faces.

4You took over and set everything right;
when I needed you, you were there, taking charge.

5You blow the whistle on godless nations;
you throw dirty players out of the game,
wipe their names right off the roster.

6Enemies disappear from the sidelines,
their reputation trashed,
their names erased from the halls of fame.

7GOD holds the high center,
he sees and sets the world's mess right.

8He decides what is right for us earthlings,
gives people their just deserts.

9GOD's a safe-house for the battered,
a sanctuary during bad times.

10The moment you arrive, you relax;
you're never sorry you knocked.

11Sing your songs to Zion-dwelling GOD,
tell his stories to everyone you meet:

12How he tracks down killers
yet keeps his eye on us,
registers every whimper and moan.

13Be kind to me, GOD;
I've been kicked around long enough.
Once you've pulled me back
from the gates of death,

14I'll write the book on Hallelujahs;
on the corner of Main and First
I'll hold a street meeting;
I'll be the song leader; we'll fill the air
with salvation songs.

15They're trapped, those godless countries,
in the very snares they set,
Their feet all tangled
in the net they spread.

16They have no excuse;
the way God works is well-known.
The cunning machinery made by the wicked
has maimed their own hands.

17The wicked bought a one-way
ticket to hell.

18No longer will the poor be nameless-
no more humiliation for the humble.

19Up, GOD! Aren't you fed up with their empty strutting?
Expose these grand pretensions!

20Shake them up, GOD!
Show them how silly they look.

2Full of hot air, the wicked
are hot on the trail of the poor.
Trip them up, tangle them up
in their fine-tuned plots.

3The wicked are windbags,
the swindlers have foul breath.

4The wicked snub GOD,
their noses stuck high in the air.
Their graffiti are scrawled on the walls:
“Catch us if you can!” “God is dead.”

5They care nothing for what you think;
if you get in their way, they blow you off.

6They live (they think) a charmed life:
“We can't go wrong. This is our lucky year!”

7They carry a mouthful of hexes,
their tongues spit venom like adders.

8They hide behind ordinary people,
then pounce on their victims.

9They mark the luckless,
then wait like a hunter in a blind;
When the poor wretch wanders too close,
they stab him in the back.

10The hapless fool is kicked to the ground,
the unlucky victim is brutally axed.

11He thinks God has dumped him,
he's sure that God is indifferent to his plight.

12Time to get up, GOD-get moving.
The luckless think they're Godforsaken.

13They wonder why the wicked scorn God
and get away with it,
Why the wicked are so cocksure
they'll never come up for audit.

14But you know all about it-
the contempt, the abuse.
I dare to believe that the luckless
will get lucky someday in you.
You won't let them down:
orphans won't be orphans forever.

15Break the wicked right arms,
break all the evil left arms.
Search and destroy
every sign of crime.

16GOD's grace and order wins;
godlessness loses.

17The victim's faint pulse picks up;
the hearts of the hopeless pump red blood
as you put your ear to their lips.

18Orphans get parents,
the homeless get homes.
The reign of terror is over,
the rule of the gang lords is ended.

3The bottom's dropped out of the country;
good people don't have a chance”?

4But GOD hasn't moved to the mountains;
his holy address hasn't changed.
He's in charge, as always, his eyes
taking everything in, his eyelids
Unblinking, examining Adam's unruly brood
inside and out, not missing a thing.

5He tests the good and the bad alike;
if anyone cheats, God's outraged.

6Fail the test and you're out,
out in a hail of firestones,
Drinking from a canteen
filled with hot desert wind.

7GOD's business is putting things right;
he loves getting the lines straight,
Setting us straight. Once we're standing tall,
we can look him straight in the eye.

2Everyone talks in lie language;
Lies slide off their oily lips.
They doubletalk with forked tongues.

3Slice their lips off their faces! Pull
The braggart tongues from their mouths!

4I'm tired of hearing, “We can talk anyone into anything!
Our lips manage the world.”

5Into the hovels of the poor,
Into the dark streets where the homeless groan, God speaks:
“I've had enough; I'm on my way
To heal the ache in the heart of the wretched.”

6God's words are pure words,
Pure silver words refined seven times
In the fires of his word-kiln,
Pure on earth as well as in heaven.

7GOD, keep us safe from their lies,
From the wicked who stalk us with lies,

8From the wicked who collect honors
For their wonderful lies.

3Take a good look at me, GOD, my God;
I want to look life in the eye,

4So no enemy can get the best of me
or laugh when I fall on my face.

5I've thrown myself headlong into your arms-
I'm celebrating your rescue.

6I'm singing at the top of my lungs,
I'm so full of answered prayers.

2GOD sticks his head out of heaven.
He looks around.
He's looking for someone not stupid-
one man, even, God-expectant,
just one God-ready woman.

3He comes up empty. A string
of zeros. Useless, unshepherded
Sheep, taking turns pretending
to be Shepherd.
The ninety and nine
follow their fellow.

4Don't they know anything,
all these impostors?
Don't they know
they can't get away with this-
Treating people like a fast-food meal
over which they're too busy to pray?

5Night is coming for them, and nightmares,
for God takes the side of victims.

6Do you think you can mess
with the dreams of the poor?
You can't, for God
makes their dreams come true.

7Is there anyone around to save Israel?
Yes. God is around; GOD turns life around.
Turned-around Jacob skips rope,
turned-around Israel sings laughter.

2“Walk straight,
act right,
tell the truth.

3“Don't hurt your friend,
don't blame your neighbor;

4despise the despicable.
“Keep your word even when it costs you,

5make an honest living,
never take a bribe.
“You'll never get
blacklisted
if you live like this.”

2I say to GOD, “Be my Lord!”
Without you, nothing makes sense.

3And these God-chosen lives all around-
what splendid friends they make!

4Don't just go shopping for a god.
Gods are not for sale.
I swear I'll never treat god-names
like brand-names.

5My choice is you, GOD, first and only.
And now I find I'm your choice!

6You set me up with a house and yard.
And then you made me your heir!

7The wise counsel GOD gives when I'm awake
is confirmed by my sleeping heart.

8Day and night I'll stick with GOD;
I've got a good thing going and I'm not letting go.

9I'm happy from the inside out,
and from the outside in, I'm firmly formed.

10You canceled my ticket to hell-
that's not my destination!

11Now you've got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I'm on the right way.

2Show the world I'm innocent-
in your heart you know I am.

3Go ahead, examine me from inside out,
surprise me in the middle of the night-
You'll find I'm just what I say I am.
My words don't run loose.

4I'm not trying to get my way
in the world's way.
I'm trying to get your way,
your Word's way.

5I'm staying on your trail;
I'm putting one foot
In front of the other.
I'm not giving up.

6I call to you, God, because I'm sure of an answer.
So-answer! bend your ear! listen sharp!

7Paint grace-graffiti on the fences;
take in your frightened children who
Are running from the neighborhood bullies
straight to you.

8Keep your eye on me;
hide me under your cool wing feathers

9From the wicked who are out to get me,
from mortal enemies closing in.

10Their hearts are hard as nails,
their mouths blast hot air.

11They are after me, nipping my heels,
determined to bring me down,

12Lions ready to rip me apart,
young lions poised to pounce.

13Up, GOD: beard them! break them!
By your sword, free me from their clutches;

14Barehanded, GOD, break these mortals,
these flat-earth people who can't think beyond today.
I'd like to see their bellies
swollen with famine food,
The weeds they've sown
harvested and baked into famine bread,
With second helpings for their children
and crusts for their babies to chew on.

15And me? I plan on looking
you full in the face. When I get up,
I'll see your full stature
and live heaven on earth.

2GOD is bedrock under my feet,
the castle in which I live,
my rescuing knight.
My God-the high crag
where I run for dear life,
hiding behind the boulders,
safe in the granite hideout.

3I sing to GOD, the Praise-Lofty,
and find myself safe and saved.

4The hangman's noose was tight at my throat;
devil waters rushed over me.

5Hell's ropes cinched me tight;
death traps barred every exit.

6A hostile world! I call to GOD,
I cry to God to help me.
From his palace he hears my call;
my cry brings me right into his presence-
a private audience!

7Earth wobbles and lurches;
huge mountains shake like leaves,
Quake like aspen leaves
because of his rage.

8His nostrils flare, bellowing smoke;
his mouth spits fire.
Tongues of fire dart in and out;

9he lowers the sky.
He steps down;
under his feet an abyss opens up.

10He's riding a winged creature,
swift on wind-wings.

11Now he's wrapped himself
in a trenchcoat of black-cloud darkness.

12But his cloud-brightness bursts through,
spraying hailstones and fireballs.

13Then GOD thundered out of heaven;
the High God gave a great shout,
spraying hailstones and fireballs.

14God shoots his arrows-pandemonium!
He hurls his lightnings-a rout!

15The secret sources of ocean are exposed,
the hidden depths of earth lie uncovered
The moment you roar in protest,
let loose your hurricane anger.

16But me he caught-reached all the way
from sky to sea; he pulled me out
Of that ocean of hate, 17that enemy chaos,
the void in which I was drowning.

18They hit me when I was down,
but GOD stuck by me.

19He stood me up on a wide-open field;
I stood there saved-surprised to be loved!

20GOD made my life complete
when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together,
he gave me a fresh start.

21Now I'm alert to GOD's ways;
I don't take God for granted.

22Every day I review the ways he works;
I try not to miss a trick.

23I feel put back together,
and I'm watching my step.

24GOD rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

25The good people taste your goodness,
The whole people taste your health,

26The true people taste your truth,
The bad ones can't figure you out.

27You take the side of the down-and-out,
But the stuck-up you take down a peg.

28Suddenly, GOD, you floodlight my life;
I'm blazing with glory, God's glory!

29I smash the bands of marauders,
I vault the highest fences.

30What a God! His road
stretches straight and smooth.
Every GOD-direction is road-tested.
Everyone who runs toward him
Makes it.

31Is there any god like GOD?
Are we not at bedrock?

32Is not this the God who armed me,
then aimed me in the right direction?

33Now I run like a deer;
I'm king of the mountain.

34He shows me how to fight;
I can bend a bronze bow!

35You protect me with salvation-armor;
you hold me up with a firm hand,
caress me with your gentle ways.

36You cleared the ground under me
so my footing was firm.

37When I chased my enemies I caught them;
I didn't let go till they were dead men.

38I nailed them; they were down for good;
then I walked all over them.

39You armed me well for this fight,
you smashed the upstarts.

40You made my enemies turn tail,
and I wiped out the haters.

41They cried “uncle”
but Uncle didn't come;
They yelled for GOD
and got no for an answer.

42I ground them to dust; they gusted in the wind.
I threw them out, like garbage in the gutter.

43You rescued me from a squabbling people;
you made me a leader of nations.
People I'd never heard of served me;

44the moment they got wind of me they listened.
The foreign devils gave up; 45they came
on their bellies, crawling from their hideouts.

46Live, GOD! Blessings from my Rock,
my free and freeing God, towering!

47This God set things right for me
and shut up the people who talked back.

48He rescued me from enemy anger,
he pulled me from the grip of upstarts,
He saved me from the bullies.

49That's why I'm thanking you, GOD,
all over the world.
That's why I'm singing songs
that rhyme your name.

50God's king takes the trophy;
God's chosen is beloved.
I mean David and all his children-
always.

2Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.

3Their words aren't heard,
their voices aren't recorded,

4But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.
God makes a huge dome
for the sun-a superdome!

5The morning sun's a new husband
leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete
racing to the tape.

6That's how God's Word vaults across the skies
from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
warming hearts to faith.

7The revelation of GOD is whole
and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of GOD are clear
and point out the right road.

8The life-maps of GOD are right,
showing the way to joy.
The directions of GOD are plain
and easy on the eyes.

9GOD's reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,
with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of GOD are accurate
down to the nth degree.

10God's Word is better than a diamond,
better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You'll like it better than strawberries in spring,
better than red, ripe strawberries.

11There's more: God's Word warns us of danger
and directs us to hidden treasure.

12Otherwise how will we find our way?
Or know when we play the fool?

13Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins,
from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed,
scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.

14These are the words in my mouth;
these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them
on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

2Send reinforcements from Holy Hill,
Dispatch from Zion fresh supplies,

3Exclaim over your offerings,
Celebrate your sacrifices,

4Give you what your heart desires,
Accomplish your plans.

5When you win, we plan to raise the roof
and lead the parade with our banners.
May all your wishes come true!

6That clinches it-help's coming,
an answer's on the way,
everything's going to work out.

7See those people polishing their chariots,
and those others grooming their horses?
But we're making garlands for GOD our God.

8The chariots will rust,
those horses pull up lame-
and we'll be on our feet, standing tall.

9Make the king a winner, GOD;
the day we call, give us your answer.

2You gave him exactly what he wanted;
you didn't hold back.

3You filled his arms with gifts;
you gave him a right royal welcome.

4He wanted a good life; you gave it to him,
and then made it a long life as a bonus.

5You lifted him high and bright as a cumulus cloud,
then dressed him in rainbow colors.

6You pile blessings on him;
you make him glad when you smile.

7Is it any wonder the king loves GOD?
that he's sticking with the Best?

8With a fistful of enemies in one hand
and a fistful of haters in the other,

9You radiate with such brilliance
that they cringe as before a furnace.
Now the furnace swallows them whole,
the fire eats them alive!

10You purge the earth of their progeny,
you wipe the slate clean.

11All their evil schemes, the plots they cook up,
have fizzled-every one.

12You sent them packing;
they couldn't face you.

13Show your strength, GOD, so no one can miss it.
We are out singing the good news!

2Doubled up with pain, I call to God
all the day long. No answer. Nothing.
I keep at it all night, tossing and turning.

3And you! Are you indifferent, above it all,
leaning back on the cushions of Israel's praise?

4We know you were there for our parents:

5they cried for your help and you gave it;
they trusted and lived a good life.

6And here I am, a nothing-an earthworm,
something to step on, to squash.

7Everyone pokes fun at me;
they make faces at me, they shake their heads:

8“Let's see how GOD handles this one;
since God likes him so much, let him help him!”

9And to think you were midwife at my birth,
setting me at my mother's breasts!

10When I left the womb you cradled me;
since the moment of birth you've been my God.

11Then you moved far away
and trouble moved in next-door.
I need a neighbor.

12Herds of bulls come at me,
the raging bulls stampede,

13Horns lowered, nostrils flaring,
like a herd of buffalo on the move.

14I'm a bucket kicked over and spilled,
every joint in my body has been pulled apart.
My heart is a blob
of melted wax in my gut.

15I'm dry as a bone,
my tongue black and swollen.
They have laid me out for burial
in the dirt.

16Now packs of wild dogs come at me;
thugs gang up on me.
They pin me down hand and foot,

17and lock me in a cage-a bag
Of bones in a cage, stared at
by every passerby.

18They take my wallet and the shirt off my back,
and then throw dice for my clothes.

19You, GOD-don't put off my rescue!
Hurry and help me!

20Don't let them cut my throat;
don't let those mongrels devour me.

21If you don't show up soon,
I'm done for-gored by the bulls,
meat for the lions.

22Here's the story I'll tell my friends when they come to worship,
and punctuate it with Hallelujahs:

23Shout Hallelujah, you God-worshipers;
give glory, you sons of Jacob;
adore him, you daughters of Israel.

24He has never let you down,
never looked the other way
when you were being kicked around.
He has never wandered off to do his own thing;
he has been right there, listening.

25Here in this great gathering for worship
I have discovered this praise-life.
And I'll do what I promised right here
in front of the God-worshipers.

26Down-and-outers sit at GOD's table
and eat their fill.
Everyone on the hunt for God
is here, praising him.
“Live it up, from head to toe.
Don't ever quit!”

27From the four corners of the earth
people are coming to their senses,
are running back to GOD.
Long-lost families
are falling on their faces before him.

28GOD has taken charge;
from now on he has the last word.

29All the power-mongers are before him
-worshiping!
All the poor and powerless, too
-worshiping!
Along with those who never got it together
-worshiping!

30Our children and their children
will get in on this
As the word is passed along
from parent to child.

31Babies not yet conceived
will hear the good news-
that God does what he says.

2You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.

3True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.

4Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I'm not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd's crook
makes me feel secure.

5You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.

6Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I'm back home in the house of GOD
for the rest of my life.

2He built it on Ocean foundations,
laid it out on River girders.

3Who can climb Mount GOD?
Who can scale the holy north-face?

4Only the clean-handed,
only the pure-hearted;
Men who won't cheat,
women who won't seduce.

5GOD is at their side;
with GOD's help they make it.

6This, Jacob, is what happens
to God-seekers, God-questers.

7Wake up, you sleepyhead city!
Wake up, you sleepyhead people!
King-Glory is ready to enter.

8Who is this King-Glory?
GOD, armed
and battle-ready.

9Wake up, you sleepyhead city!
Wake up, you sleepyhead people!
King-Glory is ready to enter.

10Who is this King-Glory?
GOD of the angel armies:
he is King-Glory.

2I'm looking to you, GOD;
No hangdog skulking for me.

3I've thrown in my lot with you;
You won't embarrass me, will you?
Or let my enemies get the best of me?
Don't embarrass any of us
Who went out on a limb for you.
It's the traitors who should be humiliated.

4Show me how you work, GOD;
School me in your ways.

5Take me by the hand;
Lead me down the path of truth.
You are my Savior, aren't you?

6Mark the milestones of your mercy and love, GOD;
Rebuild the ancient landmarks!

7Forget that I sowed wild oats;
Mark me with your sign of love.
Plan only the best for me, GOD!

8GOD is fair and just;
He corrects the misdirected,
Sends them in the right direction.

9He gives the rejects his hand,
And leads them step-by-step.

10From now on every road you travel
Will take you to GOD.
Follow the Covenant signs;
Read the charted directions.

11Keep up your reputation, GOD;
Forgive my bad life;
It's been a very bad life.

12My question: What are God-worshipers like?
Your answer: Arrows aimed at God's bull's-eye.

13They settle down in a promising place;
Their kids inherit a prosperous farm.

14God-friendship is for God-worshipers;
They are the ones he confides in.

15If I keep my eyes on GOD,
I won't trip over my own feet.

16Look at me and help me!
I'm all alone and in big trouble.

17My heart and kidneys are fighting each other;
Call a truce to this civil war.

18Take a hard look at my life of hard labor,
Then lift this ton of sin.

19Do you see how many people
Have it in for me?
How viciously they hate me?

20Keep watch over me and keep me out of trouble;
Don't let me down when I run to you.

21Use all your skill to put me together;
I wait to see your finished product.

22GOD, give your people a break
From this run of bad luck.

2Examine me, GOD, from head to foot,
order your battery of tests.
Make sure I'm fit
inside and out

3So I never lose
sight of your love,
But keep in step with you,
never missing a beat.

4I don't hang out with tricksters,
I don't pal around with thugs;

5I hate that pack of gangsters,
I don't deal with double-dealers.

6I scrub my hands with purest soap,
then join hands with the others in the great circle,
dancing around your altar, GOD,

7Singing God-songs at the top of my lungs,
telling God-stories.

8GOD, I love living with you;
your house glows with your glory.

9When it's time for spring cleaning,
don't sweep me out with the quacks and crooks,

10Men with bags of dirty tricks,
women with purses stuffed with bribe-money.

11You know I've been aboveboard with you;
now be aboveboard with me.

12I'm on the level with you, GOD;
I bless you every chance I get.

2When vandal hordes ride down
ready to eat me alive,
Those bullies and toughs
fall flat on their faces.

3When besieged,
I'm calm as a baby.
When all hell breaks loose,
I'm collected and cool.

4I'm asking GOD for one thing,
only one thing:
To live with him in his house
my whole life long.
I'll contemplate his beauty;
I'll study at his feet.

5That's the only quiet, secure place
in a noisy world,
The perfect getaway,
far from the buzz of traffic.

6God holds me head and shoulders
above all who try to pull me down.
I'm headed for his place to offer anthems
that will raise the roof!
Already I'm singing God-songs;
I'm making music to GOD.

7Listen, GOD, I'm calling at the top of my lungs:
“Be good to me! Answer me!”

8When my heart whispered, “Seek God,”
my whole being replied,
“I'm seeking him!”

9Don't hide from me now!
You've always been right there for me;
don't turn your back on me now.
Don't throw me out, don't abandon me;
you've always kept the door open.

10My father and mother walked out and left me,
but GOD took me in.

11Point me down your highway, GOD;
direct me along a well-lighted street;
show my enemies whose side you're on.

12Don't throw me to the dogs,
those liars who are out to get me,
filling the air with their threats.

13I'm sure now I'll see God's goodness
in the exuberant earth.

14Stay with GOD!
Take heart. Don't quit.
I'll say it again:
Stay with GOD.

2I'm letting you know what I need,
calling out for help
And lifting my arms
toward your inner sanctum.

3Don't shove me into
the same jail cell with those crooks,
With those who are
full-time employees of evil.

4They talk a good line of “peace,”
then moonlight for the Devil.
Pay them back for what they've done,
for how bad they've been.
Pay them back for their long hours
in the Devil's workshop;
Then cap it with a huge bonus.

5Because they have no idea how God works
or what he is up to,
God will smash them to smithereens
and walk away from the ruins.

6Blessed be GOD-
he heard me praying.

7He proved he's on my side;
I've thrown my lot in with him.
Now I'm jumping for joy,
and shouting and singing my thanks to him.

8GOD is all strength for his people,
ample refuge for his chosen leader;

9Save your people
and bless your heritage.
Care for them;
carry them like a good shepherd.

2In awe before the glory,
in awe before God's visible power.
Stand at attention!
Dress your best to honor him!

3GOD thunders across the waters,
Brilliant, his voice and his face, streaming brightness-GOD, across the flood waters.

4GOD's thunder tympanic,
GOD's thunder symphonic.

5GOD's thunder smashes cedars,
GOD topples the northern cedars.

6The mountain ranges skip like spring colts,
The high ridges jump like wild kid goats.

7GOD's thunder spits fire.

8GOD thunders, the wilderness quakes;
He makes the desert of Kadesh shake.

9GOD's thunder sets the oak trees dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.
We fall to our knees-we call out, “Glory!”

10Above the floodwaters is GOD's throne
from which his power flows,
from which he rules the world.

11GOD makes his people strong.
GOD gives his people peace.

2GOD, my God, I yelled for help
and you put me together.

3GOD, you pulled me out of the grave,
gave me another chance at life
when I was down-and-out.

4All you saints! Sing your hearts out to GOD!
Thank him to his face!

5He gets angry once in a while, but across
a lifetime there is only love.
The nights of crying your eyes out
give way to days of laughter.

6When things were going great
I crowed, “I've got it made.

7I'm GOD's favorite.
He made me king of the mountain.”
Then you looked the other way
and I fell to pieces.

8I called out to you, GOD;
I laid my case before you:

9“Can you sell me for a profit when I'm dead?
auction me off at a cemetery yard sale?
When I'm ‘dust to dust' my songs
and stories of you won't sell.

10So listen! and be kind!
Help me out of this!”

11You did it: you changed wild lament
into whirling dance;
You ripped off my black mourning band
and decked me with wildflowers.

12I'm about to burst with song;
I can't keep quiet about you.
GOD, my God,
I can't thank you enough.

2Get down on my level and listen,
and please-no procrastination!
Your granite cave a hiding place,
your high cliff aerie a place of safety.

3You're my cave to hide in,
my cliff to climb.
Be my safe leader,
be my true mountain guide.

4Free me from hidden traps;
I want to hide in you.

5I've put my life in your hands.
You won't drop me,
you'll never let me down.

6I hate all this silly religion,
but you, GOD, I trust.

7I'm leaping and singing in the circle of your love;
you saw my pain,
you disarmed my tormentors,

8You didn't leave me in their clutches
but gave me room to breathe.

9Be kind to me, GOD-
I'm in deep, deep trouble again.
I've cried my eyes out;
I feel hollow inside.

10My life leaks away, groan by groan;
my years fade out in sighs.
My troubles have worn me out,
turned my bones to powder.

11To my enemies I'm a monster;
I'm ridiculed by the neighbors.
My friends are horrified;
they cross the street to avoid me.

12They want to blot me from memory,
forget me like a corpse in a grave,
discard me like a broken dish in the trash.

13The street-talk gossip has me
“criminally insane”!
Behind locked doors they plot
how to ruin me for good.

14Desperate, I throw myself on you:
you are my God!

15Hour by hour I place my days in your hand,
safe from the hands out to get me.

16Warm me, your servant, with a smile;
save me because you love me.

17Don't embarrass me by not showing up;
I've given you plenty of notice.
Embarrass the wicked, stand them up,
leave them stupidly shaking their heads
as they drift down to hell.

18Gag those loudmouthed liars
who heckle me, your follower,
with jeers and catcalls.

19What a stack of blessing you have piled up
for those who worship you,
Ready and waiting for all who run to you
to escape an unkind world.

20You hide them safely away
from the opposition.
As you slam the door on those oily, mocking faces,
you silence the poisonous gossip.

21Blessed GOD!
His love is the wonder of the world.
Trapped by a siege, 22I panicked.
“Out of sight, out of mind,” I said.
But you heard me say it,
you heard and listened.

23Love GOD, all you saints;
GOD takes care of all who stay close to him,
But he pays back in full
those arrogant enough to go it alone.

24Be brave. Be strong. Don't give up.
Expect GOD to get here soon.

2Count yourself lucky-
GOD holds nothing against you
and you're holding nothing back from him.

3When I kept it all inside,
my bones turned to powder,
my words became daylong groans.

4The pressure never let up;
all the juices of my life dried up.

5Then I let it all out;
I said, “I'll make a clean breast of my failures to GOD.”
Suddenly the pressure was gone-
my guilt dissolved,
my sin disappeared.

6These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray;
when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts
we'll be on high ground, untouched.

7GOD's my island hideaway,
keeps danger far from the shore,
throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.

8Let me give you some good advice;
I'm looking you in the eye
and giving it to you straight:

9“Don't be ornery like a horse or mule
that needs bit and bridle
to stay on track.”

10God-defiers are always in trouble;
GOD-affirmers find themselves loved
every time they turn around.

11Celebrate GOD.
Sing together-everyone!
All you honest hearts, raise the roof!

2Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs!
Play his praise on a grand piano!

3Invent your own new song to him;
give him a trumpet fanfare.

4For GOD's Word is solid to the core;
everything he makes is sound inside and out.

5He loves it when everything fits,
when his world is in plumb-line true.
Earth is drenched
in GOD's affectionate satisfaction.

6The skies were made by GOD's command;
he breathed the word and the stars popped out.

7He scooped Sea into his jug,
put Ocean in his keg.

8Earth-creatures, bow before GOD;
world-dwellers-down on your knees!

9Here's why: he spoke and there it was,
in place the moment he said so.

10GOD takes the wind out of Babel pretense,
he shoots down the world's power-schemes.

11GOD's plan for the world stands up,
all his designs are made to last.

12Blessed is the country with GOD for God;
blessed are the people he's put in his will.

13From high in the skies GOD looks around,
he sees all Adam's brood.

14From where he sits
he overlooks all us earth-dwellers.

15He has shaped each person in turn;
now he watches everything we do.

16No king succeeds with a big army alone,
no warrior wins by brute strength.

17Horsepower is not the answer;
no one gets by on muscle alone.

18Watch this: God's eye is on those who respect him,
the ones who are looking for his love.

19He's ready to come to their rescue in bad times;
in lean times he keeps body and soul together.

20We're depending on GOD;
he's everything we need.

21What's more, our hearts brim with joy
since we've taken for our own his holy name.

22Love us, GOD, with all you've got-
that's what we're depending on.

2I live and breathe GOD;
if things aren't going well, hear this and be happy:

3Join me in spreading the news;
together let's get the word out.

4GOD met me more than halfway,
he freed me from my anxious fears.

5Look at him; give him your warmest smile.
Never hide your feelings from him.

6When I was desperate, I called out,
and GOD got me out of a tight spot.

7GOD's angel sets up a circle
of protection around us while we pray.

8Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see- how good GOD is.
Blessed are you who run to him.

9Worship GOD if you want the best;
worship opens doors to all his goodness.

10Young lions on the prowl get hungry,
but GOD-seekers are full of God.

11Come, children, listen closely;
I'll give you a lesson in GOD worship.

12Who out there has a lust for life?
Can't wait each day to come upon beauty?

13Guard your tongue from profanity,
and no more lying through your teeth.

14Turn your back on sin; do something good.
Embrace peace-don't let it get away!

15GOD keeps an eye on his friends,
his ears pick up every moan and groan.

16GOD won't put up with rebels;
he'll cull them from the pack.

17Is anyone crying for help? GOD is listening,
ready to rescue you.

18If your heart is broken, you'll find GOD right there;
if you're kicked in the gut, he'll help you catch your breath.

19Disciples so often get into trouble;
still, GOD is there every time.

20He's your bodyguard, shielding every bone;
not even a finger gets broken.

21The wicked commit slow suicide;
they waste their lives hating the good.

22GOD pays for each slave's freedom;
no one who runs to him loses out.

2Grab a weapon, anything at hand;
stand up for me!

3Get ready to throw the spear, aim the javelin,
at the people who are out to get me.
Reassure me; let me hear you say,
“I'll save you.”

4When those thugs try to knife me in the back,
make them look foolish.
Frustrate all those
who are plotting my downfall.

5Make them like cinders in a high wind,
with GOD's angel working the bellows.

6Make their road lightless and mud-slick,
with GOD's angel on their tails.

7Out of sheer cussedness they set a trap to catch me;
for no good reason they dug a ditch to stop me.

8Surprise them with your ambush-
catch them in the very trap they set,
the disaster they planned for me.

9But let me run loose and free,
celebrating GOD's great work,

10Every bone in my body laughing, singing, “GOD,
there's no one like you.
You put the down-and-out on their feet
and protect the unprotected from bullies!”

11Hostile accusers appear out of nowhere,
they stand up and badger me.

12They pay me back misery for mercy,
leaving my soul empty.

13When they were sick, I dressed in black;
instead of eating, I prayed.

14My prayers were like lead in my gut,
like I'd lost my best friend, my brother.
I paced, distraught as a motherless child,
hunched and heavyhearted.

15But when I was down
they threw a party!
All the nameless riffraff of the town came
chanting insults about me.

16Like barbarians desecrating a shrine,
they destroyed my reputation.

17GOD, how long are you going
to stand there doing nothing?
Save me from their brutalities;
everything I've got is being thrown to the lions.

18I will give you full credit
when everyone gathers for worship;
When the people turn out in force
I will say my Hallelujahs.

19Don't let these liars, my enemies,
have a party at my expense,
Those who hate me for no reason,
winking and rolling their eyes.

20No good is going to come
from that crowd;
They spend all their time cooking up gossip
against those who mind their own business.

21They open their mouths
in ugly grins,
Mocking, “Ha-ha, ha-ha, thought you'd get away with it?
We've caught you hands down!”

22Don't you see what they're doing, GOD?
You're not going to let them
Get by with it, are you? Not going to walk off
without doing something, are you?

23Please get up-wake up! Tend to my case.
My God, my Lord-my life is on the line.

24Do what you think is right, GOD, my God,
but don't make me pay for their good time.

25Don't let them say to themselves,
“Ha-ha, we got what we wanted.”
Don't let them say,
“We've chewed him up and spit him out.”

26Let those who are being hilarious
at my expense
Be made to look ridiculous.
Make them wear donkey's ears;
Pin them with the donkey's tail,
who made themselves so high and mighty!

27But those who want
the best for me,
Let them have the last word-a glad shout!-
and say, over and over and over,
“GOD is great-everything works
together for good for his servant.”

28I'll tell the world how great and good you are,
I'll shout Hallelujah all day, every day.

2He has smooth-talked himself
into believing
That his evil
will never be noticed.

3Words gutter from his mouth,
dishwater dirty.
Can't remember when he
did anything decent.

4Every time he goes to bed,
he fathers another evil plot.
When he's loose on the streets,
nobody's safe.
He plays with fire
and doesn't care who gets burned.

5God's love is meteoric,
his loyalty astronomic,

6His purpose titanic,
his verdicts oceanic.
Yet in his largeness
nothing gets lost;
Not a man, not a mouse,
slips through the cracks.

7How exquisite your love, O God!
How eager we are to run under your wings,

8To eat our fill at the banquet you spread
as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.

9You're a fountain of cascading light,
and you open our eyes to light.

10Keep on loving your friends;
do your work in welcoming hearts.

11Don't let the bullies kick me around,
the moral midgets slap me down.

12Send the upstarts sprawling
flat on their faces in the mud.

2In no time they'll shrivel like grass clippings
and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.

3Get insurance with GOD and do a good deed,
settle down and stick to your last.

4Keep company with GOD,
get in on the best.

5Open up before GOD, keep nothing back;
he'll do whatever needs to be done:

6He'll validate your life in the clear light of day
and stamp you with approval at high noon.

7Quiet down before GOD,
be prayerful before him.
Don't bother with those who climb the ladder,
who elbow their way to the top.

8Bridle your anger, trash your wrath,
cool your pipes-it only makes things worse.

9Before long the crooks will be bankrupt;
GOD-investors will soon own the store.

10Before you know it, the wicked will have had it;
you'll stare at his once famous place and-nothing!

11Down-to-earth people will move in and take over,
relishing a huge bonanza.

12Bad guys have it in for the good guys,
obsessed with doing them in.

13But GOD isn't losing any sleep; to him
they're a joke with no punch line.

14Bullies brandish their swords,
pull back on their bows with a flourish.
They're out to beat up on the harmless,
or mug that nice man out walking his dog.

15A banana peel lands them flat on their faces-
slapstick figures in a moral circus.

16Less is more and more is less.
One righteous will outclass fifty wicked,

17For the wicked are moral weaklings
but the righteous are GOD-strong.

18GOD keeps track of the decent folk;
what they do won't soon be forgotten.

19In hard times, they'll hold their heads high;
when the shelves are bare, they'll be full.

20God-despisers have had it;
GOD's enemies are finished-
Stripped bare like vineyards at harvest time,
vanished like smoke in thin air.

21Wicked borrows and never returns;
Righteous gives and gives.

22Generous gets it all in the end;
Stingy is cut off at the pass.

23Stalwart walks in step with GOD;
his path blazed by GOD, he's happy.

24If he stumbles, he's not down for long;
GOD has a grip on his hand.

25I once was young, now I'm a graybeard-
not once have I seen an abandoned believer,
or his kids out roaming the streets.

26Every day he's out giving and lending,
his children making him proud.

27Turn your back on evil,
work for the good and don't quit.

28GOD loves this kind of thing,
never turns away from his friends.
Live this way and you've got it made,
but bad eggs will be tossed out.

29The good get planted on good land
and put down healthy roots.

30Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone,
rolls virtue around on his tongue.

31His heart pumps God's Word like blood through his veins;
his feet are as sure as a cat's.

32Wicked sets a watch for Righteous,
he's out for the kill.

33GOD, alert, is also on watch-
Wicked won't hurt a hair of his head.

34Wait passionately for GOD,
don't leave the path.
He'll give you your place in the sun
while you watch the wicked lose it.

35I saw Wicked bloated like a toad,
croaking pretentious nonsense.

36The next time I looked there was nothing-
a punctured bladder, vapid and limp.

37Keep your eye on the healthy soul,
scrutinize the straight life;
There's a future
in strenuous wholeness.

38But the willful will soon be discarded;
insolent souls are on a dead-end street.

39The spacious, free life is from GOD,
it's also protected and safe.

40GOD-strengthened, we're delivered from evil-
when we run to him, he saves us.

2Your sharp-pointed arrows of rebuke draw blood;
my backside smarts from your caning.

3I've lost twenty pounds in two months
because of your accusation.
My bones are brittle as dry sticks
because of my sin.

4I'm swamped by my bad behavior,
collapsed under gunnysacks of guilt.

5The cuts in my flesh stink and grow maggots
because I've lived so badly.

6And now I'm flat on my face
feeling sorry for myself morning to night.

7All my insides are on fire,
my body is a wreck.

8I'm on my last legs; I've had it-
my life is a vomit of groans.

9Lord, my longings are sitting in plain sight,
my groans an old story to you.

10My heart's about to break;
I'm a burned-out case.
Cataracts blind me to God and good;

11old friends avoid me like the plague.
My cousins never visit,
my neighbors stab me in the back.

12My competitors blacken my name,
devoutly they pray for my ruin.

13But I'm deaf and mute to it all,
ears shut, mouth shut.

14I don't hear a word they say,
don't speak a word in response.

15What I do, GOD, is wait for you,
wait for my Lord, my God-you will answer!

16I wait and pray so they won't laugh me off,
won't smugly strut off when I stumble.

17I'm on the edge of losing it-
the pain in my gut keeps burning.

18I'm ready to tell my story of failure,
I'm no longer smug in my sin.

19My enemies are alive and in action,
a lynch mob after my neck.

20I give out good and get back evil
from God-haters who can't stand a God-lover.

21Don't dump me, GOD;
my God, don't stand me up.

22Hurry and help me;
I want some wide-open space in my life!

2“Mum's the word,” I said, and kept quiet.
But the longer I kept silence
The worse it got-

3my insides got hotter and hotter.
My thoughts boiled over;
I spilled my guts.

4“Tell me, what's going on, GOD?
How long do I have to live?
Give me the bad news!

5You've kept me on pretty short rations;
my life is string too short to be saved.

6Oh! we're all puffs of air.
Oh! we're all shadows in a campfire.
Oh! we're just spit in the wind.
We make our pile, and then we leave it.

7“What am I doing in the meantime, Lord?
Hoping, that's what I'm doing-hoping

8You'll save me from a rebel life,
save me from the contempt of dunces.

9I'll say no more, I'll shut my mouth,
since you, Lord, are behind all this.

10But I can't take it much longer.
When you put us through the fire

11to purge us from our sin,
our dearest idols go up in smoke.
Are we also nothing but smoke?

12“Ah, GOD, listen to my prayer, my
cry-open your ears.
Don't be callous;
just look at these tears of mine.
I'm a stranger here. I don't know my way-
a migrant like my whole family.

13Give me a break, cut me some slack
before it's too late and I'm out of here.”

2He lifted me out of the ditch,
pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
to make sure I wouldn't slip.

3He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
they enter the mystery,
abandoning themselves to GOD.

4Blessed are you who give yourselves over to GOD,
turn your backs on the world's “sure thing,”
ignore what the world worships;

5The world's a huge stockpile
of GOD-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one
comes close to you!
I start talking about you, telling what I know,
and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words
account for you.

6Doing something for you, bringing something to you-
that's not what you're after.
Being religious, acting pious-
that's not what you're asking for.
You've opened my ears
so I can listen.

7So I answered, “I'm coming.
I read in your letter what you wrote about me,

8And I'm coming to the party
you're throwing for me.”
That's when God's Word entered my life,
became part of my very being.

9I've preached you to the whole congregation,
I've kept back nothing, GOD-you know that.

10I didn't keep the news of your ways
a secret, didn't keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
I didn't hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
let the congregation know the whole story.

11Now GOD, don't hold out on me,
don't hold back your passion.
Your love and truth
are all that keeps me together.

12When troubles ganged up on me,
a mob of sins past counting,
I was so swamped by guilt
I couldn't see my way clear.
More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,
so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.

13Soften up, GOD, and intervene;
hurry and get me some help,

14So those who are trying to kidnap my soul
will be embarrassed and lose face,
So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable
will be heckled and disgraced,

15So those who pray for my ruin
will be booed and jeered without mercy.

16But all who are hunting for you-
oh, let them sing and be happy.
Let those who know what you're all about
tell the world you're great and not quitting.

17And me? I'm a mess. I'm nothing and have nothing:
make something of me.
You can do it; you've got what it takes-
but God, don't put it off.

2GOD looks after us all,
makes us robust with life-
Lucky to be in the land,
we're free from enemy worries.

3Whenever we're sick and in bed,
GOD becomes our nurse,
nurses us back to health.

4I said, “GOD, be gracious!
Put me together again-
my sins have torn me to pieces.”

5My enemies are wishing the worst for m