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Psalm 40

Thanksgiving for Deliverance and Prayer for Help

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
¹ I waited patiently for the Lord;
   he inclined to me and heard my cry.
² He drew me up from the desolate pit,^*
   out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
   making my steps secure.
³ He put a new song in my mouth,
   a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
   and put their trust in the Lord.

⁴ Happy are those who make
   the Lord their trust,
who do not turn to the proud,
   to those who go astray after false gods.
⁵ You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
   your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us;
   none can compare with you.
Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
   they would be more than can be counted.

⁶ Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
   but you have given me an open ear.^*
Burnt-offering and sin-offering
   you have not required.
⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am;
   in the scroll of the book it is written of me.^*
⁸ I delight to do your will, O my God;
   your law is within my heart.’

⁹ I have told the glad news of deliverance
   in the great congregation;
see, I have not restrained my lips,
   as you know, O Lord.
¹⁰ I have not hidden your saving help within my heart,
   I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
   from the great congregation.

¹¹ Do not, O Lord, withhold
   your mercy from me;
let your steadfast love and your faithfulness
   keep me safe for ever.
¹² For evils have encompassed me
   without number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,
   until I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head,
   and my heart fails me.

¹³ Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
   O Lord, make haste to help me.
¹⁴ Let all those be put to shame and confusion
   who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be turned back and brought to dishonour
   who desire my hurt.
¹⁵ Let those be appalled because of their shame
   who say to me, ‘Aha, Aha!’

¹⁶ But may all who seek you
   rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
   say continually, ‘Great is the Lord!’
¹⁷ As for me, I am poor and needy,
   but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
   do not delay, O my God.

Psalm 54

Prayer for Vindication

To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, ‘David is in hiding among us.’
¹ Save me, O God, by your name,
and vindicate me by your might.
² Hear my prayer, O God;
give ear to the words of my mouth.

³ For the insolent have risen against me,
   the ruthless seek my life;
   they do not set God before them.
          Selah

⁴ But surely, God is my helper;
the Lord is the upholder of^* my life.
⁵ He will repay my enemies for their evil.
In your faithfulness, put an end to them.

⁶ With a freewill-offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
⁷ For he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

Psalm 51

Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon

To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
   according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
   blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
   and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
   and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
   and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
   and blameless when you pass judgement.
⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty,
   a sinner when my mother conceived me.

⁶ You desire truth in the inward being;^*
   therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
   wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
   let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
   and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
   and put a new and right^* spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence,
   and do not take your holy spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
   and sustain in me a willing^* spirit.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
   and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
   O God of my salvation,
   and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
   and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you have no delight in sacrifice;
   if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased.
¹⁷ The sacrifice acceptable to God^* is a broken spirit;
   a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
   rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
¹⁹ then you will delight in right sacrifices,
   in burnt-offerings and whole burnt-offerings;
   then bulls will be offered on your altar.