(1) By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, sat and wept, as we thought of Zion. (2) There on the poplars we hung up our lyres, (3) for our captors asked us there for songs, our tormentors, for amusement: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” (4) How can we sing a song of the LORD on alien soil? (5) If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither; (6) let my tongue stick to my palate if I cease to think of you, if I do not keep Jerusalem in memory even at my happiest hour. (7) Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall; how they cried, “Strip her, strip her to her very foundations!” (8) Fair Babylon, you predator, a blessing on him who repays you in kind what you have inflicted on us; (9) a blessing on him who seizes your babies and dashes them against the rocks!

(1) A psalm of Asaph. O God, heathens have entered Your domain, defiled Your holy temple, and turned Jerusalem into ruins. (2) They have left Your servants’ corpses as food for the fowl of heaven, and the flesh of Your faithful for the wild beasts. (3) Their blood was shed like water around Jerusalem, with none to bury them. (4) We have become the butt of our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us. (5) How long, O LORD, will You be angry forever, will Your indignation blaze like fire? (6) Pour out Your fury on the nations that do not know You, upon the kingdoms that do not invoke Your name, (7) for they have devoured Jacob and desolated his home. (8) Do not hold our former iniquities against us; let Your compassion come swiftly toward us, for we have sunk very low. (9) Help us, O God, our deliverer, for the sake of the glory of Your name. Save us and forgive our sin, for the sake of Your name. (10) Let the nations not say, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes let it be known among the nations that You avenge the spilled blood of Your servants. (11) Let the groans of the prisoners reach You; reprieve those condemned to death, as befits Your great strength. (12) Pay back our neighbors sevenfold for the abuse they have flung at You, O Lord. (13) Then we, Your people, the flock You shepherd, shall glorify You forever; for all time we shall tell Your praises.

(1) Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; Behold, and see our disgrace! (2) Our heritage has passed to aliens, Our homes to strangers. (3) We have become orphans, fatherless; Our mothers are like widows. (4) We must pay to drink our own water, Obtain our own kindling at a price. (5) We are hotly pursued; Exhausted, we are given no rest. (6) We hold out a hand to Egypt; To Assyria, for our fill of bread. (7) Our fathers sinned and are no more; And we must bear their guilt. (8) Slaves are ruling over us, With none to rescue us from them. (9) We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness. (10) Our skin glows like an oven, With the fever of famine. (11) They have ravished women in Zion, Maidens in the towns of Judah. (12) Princes have been hanged by them; No respect has been shown to elders. (13) Young men must carry millstones, And youths stagger under loads of wood. (14) The old men are gone from the gate, The young men from their music. (15) Gone is the joy of our hearts; Our dancing is turned into mourning. (16) The crown has fallen from our head; Woe to us that we have sinned! (17) Because of this our hearts are sick, Because of these our eyes are dimmed: (18) Because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate; Jackals prowl over it. (19) But You, O LORD, are enthroned forever, Your throne endures through the ages. (20) Why have You forgotten us utterly, Forsaken us for all time? (21) Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself, And let us come back; Renew our days as of old! (22) For truly, You have rejected us, Bitterly raged against us. Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself, And let us come back; Renew our days as of old!

(15) Look down from heaven and see, From Your holy and glorious height! Where is Your zeal, Your power? Your yearning and Your love Are being withheld from us! (16) Surely You are our Father: Though Abraham regard us not, And Israel recognize us not, You, O ETERNAL One, are our Father; From of old, Your name is “Our Redeemer.” (17) Why, ETERNAL One, do You make us stray from Your ways, And turn our hearts away from revering You? Relent for the sake of Your servants, The tribes that are Your very own! (18) Our foes have trampled Your Sanctuary, Which Your holy people possessed but a little while.

(7) But now, O ETERNAL One, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You are the Potter, We are all the work of Your hands. (8) Be not implacably angry, O ETERNAL One, Do not remember iniquity forever. Oh, look down to Your people, to us all! (9) Your holy cities have become a desert: Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem a desolation. (10) Our holy temple, our pride, Where our ancestors praised You, Has been consumed by fire: And all that was dear to us is ruined. (11) At such things will You restrain Yourself, O ETERNAL One, Will You stand idly by and let us suffer so heavily?

(18) Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolation and the city to which Your name is attached. Not because of any merit of ours do we lay our plea before You but because of Your abundant mercies. (19) O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen, and act without delay for Your own sake, O my God; for Your name is attached to Your city and Your people!”

(2) Arise, shake off the dust, Sit [on your throne], Jerusalem! Loose the bonds from your neck, O captive one, Fair Zion!

(6) Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set sentries, Who shall never be silent By day or by night. O you, the ETERNAL One’s remembrancers, Take no rest (7) And give no rest to [God], Until Jerusalem is established And she is made renowned on earth. (8) GOD has sworn with the divine right hand, With a mighty arm: Nevermore will I give your new grain To your enemies for food, Nor shall foreigners drink the new wine For which you have labored. (9) But those who harvest it shall eat it And give praise to GOD; And those who gather it shall drink it In My sacred courts.

(14) You will surely arise and take pity on Zion, for it is time to be gracious to her; the appointed time has come. (15) Your servants take delight in its stones, and cherish its dust.

(2) The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem; He gathers in the exiles of Israel.

(7) O gates, lift up your heads! Up high, you everlasting doors, so the King of glory may come in! (8) Who is the King of glory?— the LORD, mighty and valiant, the LORD, valiant in battle. (9) O gates, lift up your heads! Lift them up, you everlasting doors, so the King of glory may come in! (10) Who is the King of glory?— the LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory! Selah.

(1) Vindicate me, O God, champion my cause against faithless people; rescue me from the treacherous, dishonest man. (2) For You are my God, my stronghold; why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in gloom, oppressed by the enemy? (3) Send forth Your light and Your truth; they will lead me; they will bring me to Your holy mountain, to Your dwelling-place, (4) that I may come to the altar of God, God, my delight, my joy; that I may praise You with the lyre, O God, my God. (5) Why so downcast, my soul, why disquieted within me? Have hope in God; I will yet praise Him, my ever-present help, my God.

(1) For the leader. A psalm of David. (2) May the LORD answer you in time of trouble, the name of Jacob’s God keep you safe. (3) May He send you help from the sanctuary, and sustain you from Zion. (4) May He receive the tokens of all your meal offerings, and approve your burnt offerings. Selah. (5) May He grant you your desire, and fulfill your every plan. (6) May we shout for joy in your victory, arrayed by standards in the name of our God. May the LORD fulfill your every wish. (7) Now I know that the LORD will give victory to His anointed, will answer him from His heavenly sanctuary with the mighty victories of His right arm. (8) They [call] on chariots, they [call] on horses, but we call on the name of the LORD our God. (9) They collapse and lie fallen, but we rally and gather strength. (10) O LORD, grant victory! May the King answer us when we call.

(1) Of David. A psalm. The earth is the LORD’s and all that it holds, the world and its inhabitants. (2) For He founded it upon the ocean, set it on the nether-streams. (3) Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place?— (4) He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not taken a false oath by My life or sworn deceitfully. (5) He shall carry away a blessing from the LORD, a just reward from God, his deliverer. (6) Such is the circle of those who turn to Him, Jacob, who seek Your presence. Selah. (7) O gates, lift up your heads! Up high, you everlasting doors, so the King of glory may come in! (8) Who is the King of glory?— the LORD, mighty and valiant, the LORD, valiant in battle. (9) O gates, lift up your heads! Lift them up, you everlasting doors, so the King of glory may come in! (10) Who is the King of glory?— the LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory! Selah.

(1) For the leader; with instrumental music. A psalm. A song. (2) May God be gracious to us and bless us; may He show us favor, selah(3) that Your way be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations. (4) Peoples will praise You, O God; all peoples will praise You. (5) Nations will exult and shout for joy, for You rule the peoples with equity, You guide the nations of the earth. Selah. (6) The peoples will praise You, O God; all peoples will praise You. (7) May the earth yield its produce; may God, our God, bless us. (8) May God bless us, and be revered to the ends of the earth.

(1) Hallelujah. I praise the LORD with all my heart in the assembled congregation of the upright. (2) The works of the LORD are great, within reach of all who desire them. (3) His deeds are splendid and glorious; His beneficence is everlasting; (4) He has won renown for His wonders. The LORD is gracious and compassionate; (5) He gives food to those who fear Him; He is ever mindful of His covenant. (6) He revealed to His people His powerful works, in giving them the heritage of nations. (7) His handiwork is truth and justice; all His precepts are enduring, (8) well-founded for all eternity, wrought of truth and equity. (9) He sent redemption to His people; He ordained His covenant for all time; His name is holy and awesome. (10) The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD; all who practice it gain sound understanding. Praise of Him is everlasting.

(20) The earth is swaying like a drunkard; It is rocking to and fro like a hut. Its iniquity shall weigh it down, And it shall fall, to rise no more. (21) In that day, GOD will punish The host of heaven in heaven And the kings of the earth on earth.

(1) For the leader. A psalm of David, (2) when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had come to Bathsheba. (3) Have mercy upon me, O God, as befits Your faithfulness; in keeping with Your abundant compassion, blot out my transgressions. (4) Wash me thoroughly of my iniquity, and purify me of my sin; (5) for I recognize my transgressions, and am ever conscious of my sin. (6) Against You alone have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight; so You are just in Your sentence, and right in Your judgment. (7) Indeed I was born with iniquity; with sin my mother conceived me. (8) Indeed You desire truth about that which is hidden; teach me wisdom about secret things. (9) Purge me with hyssop till I am pure; wash me till I am whiter than snow. (10) Let me hear tidings of joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed exult. (11) Hide Your face from my sins; blot out all my iniquities. (12) Fashion a pure heart for me, O God; create in me a steadfast spirit. (13) Do not cast me out of Your presence, or take Your holy spirit away from me. (14) Let me again rejoice in Your help; let a vigorous spirit sustain me. (15) I will teach transgressors Your ways, that sinners may return to You. (16) Save me from bloodguilt, O God, God, my deliverer, that I may sing forth Your beneficence. (17) O Lord, open my lips, and let my mouth declare Your praise. (18) You do not want me to bring sacrifices; You do not desire burnt offerings; (19) True sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; God, You will not despise a contrite and crushed heart. (20) May it please You to make Zion prosper; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. (21) Then You will want sacrifices offered in righteousness, burnt and whole offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.