¹ Be gracious to me, God,
    according to your mercy.
Erase my acts of rebellion
    according to the greatness of your compassion.
² Scrub me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.

³ For I admit my rebellious acts.
My sin is always in front of me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned,
and I have done this evil in your eyes.
So you are justified when you sentence me.
You are blameless when you judge.
⁵ Certainly, I was guilty when I was born.
I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

⁶ Since you desire truth on the inside,
in my hidden heart you teach me wisdom.

¹³ I will teach rebels your ways,
and sinners will turn to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
    the God who saves me.
My tongue will shout for joy about your righteousness.
¹⁵ Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you do not delight in sacrifice,
or I would give it.
You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ The sacrifices God wants are a broken spirit.
A broken and crushed heart, O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸ As it pleases you, do good for Zion.
Build up the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then you will be pleased with righteous sacrifices,
    burnt offerings and whole offerings.
Then bulls will be offered up on your altar.

¹ Shout to the Lord with joy, all the earth.
² Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we are his.^[a]
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courtyards with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.^[b]
5 For the Lord is good. His mercy endures forever.
His faithfulness continues through all generations.

¹ Bless the Lord,^[a] O my soul.
All that is within me, bless his holy name.

² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
³ who pardons all your guilt,
who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with mercy and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your life^[b] with goodness,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

⁶ The Lord performs righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel.

⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy.
⁹ He will not always accuse.
He will not keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He does not treat us as our sins deserve.
He does not repay us according to our guilty deeds.

¹¹ Yes, as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so powerful is his mercy toward those who fear him.
¹² As distant as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our rebellious acts from us.
¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how we were formed.
He remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass.
Like a wildflower he blossoms.
¹⁶ Then the wind blows over it, and it is gone,
and its place recognizes it no more.

¹⁷ But the Lord’s mercy is from eternity to eternity
    over those who fear him,
and his righteousness is with their children’s children,
¹⁸     with those who keep his covenant,
    with those who remember his precepts in order to obey them.

¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his royal power rules over all.
²⁰ Bless the Lord, you his angels,
you strong warriors who obey his word
    by listening to what he says.
²¹ Bless the Lord, all his armies,
you who minister to him,
you who do whatever pleases him.
²² Bless the Lord, everything he has made
    in all places where he rules.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.

¹ Lord, you have investigated me,
and you know.
² You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You understand my thoughts from far off.
³ You keep track of when I travel and when I stay,^[a]
and you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before there is a word on my tongue,
    you, Lord, already know it completely.
⁵ You put a fence behind me and in front of me,
and you have placed your hand on me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is too high—I cannot grasp it.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your Presence?^[b]
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in hell—there you are!
⁹ I rise on the wings of dawn.
I settle on the far side of the sea.
¹⁰ Even there your hand guides me,
and your right hand holds on to me.
¹¹ And if I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light will become night around me,”
¹² then even the darkness will not be too dark for you.
The night will be as light as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.

¹³ For you created my inner organs.^[c]
You wove me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
and my soul knows that very well.
¹⁵ My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unfinished body.
In your book all of them were written.
Days were determined, before any of them existed.
¹⁷ Your thoughts to me are so precious, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I would count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you would slay the wicked, O God,
so that bloody men would depart from me,
²⁰ men who speak against you maliciously.
Your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and detest those who rise up against you?
²² I absolutely hate them. To me they are enemies.
²³ Investigate me, God, and know my heart.
Test me and know my troubled thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any way in me that causes pain,
and lead me in the way everlasting.