1 I WILL praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth (recount and tell aloud) all Your marvelous works and wonderful deeds! 2 I will rejoice in You and be in high spirits; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High!
3 When my enemies turned back, they stumbled and perished before You. 4 For You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging righteously.
5 You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. 6 The enemy have been cut off and have vanished in everlasting ruins, You have plucked up and overthrown their cities; the very memory of them has perished and vanished.
7 But the Lord shall remain and continue forever; He has prepared and established His throne for judgment. 8 And He will judge the world in righteousness (rightness and equity); He will minister justice to the peoples in uprightness.
9 The Lord also will be a refuge and a high tower for the oppressed, a refuge and a stronghold in times of trouble (high cost, destitution, and desperation). 10 And they who know Your name [who have experience and acquaintance with Your mercy] will lean on and confidently put their trust in You, for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek (inquire of and for) You [on the authority of God's Word and the right of their necessity].
11 Sing praises to the Lord, Who dwells in Zion! Declare among the peoples His doings! 12 For He Who avenges the blood [of His people shed unjustly] remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted (the poor and the humble).
13 Have mercy upon me and be gracious to me, O Lord; consider how I am afflicted by those who hate me, You Who lift me up from the gates of death, 14 That I may show forth (recount and tell aloud) all Your praises! In the gates of the Daughter of Zion I will rejoice in Your salvation and Your saving help.
15 The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made; in the net which they hid is their own foot caught. 16 The Lord has made Himself known; He executes judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion [meditation]. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
17 The wicked shall be turned back [headlong into premature death] into Sheol (the place of the departed spirits of the wicked), even all the nations that forget or are forgetful of God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the expectation and hope of the meek and the poor shall not perish forever.
19 Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before You. 20 Put them in fear [make them realize their frail nature], O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!