Psalm 9

To the Chief Musician; set for [possibly] soprano voices. A Psalm of David.

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.^(A)

⁸ And He will judge the world in righteousness (rightness and equity); He will minister justice to the peoples in uprightness.^(B)

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].^(C)

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]!