Psalm 6-8

New International Version (NIV)



Psalm 6

Psalm 6[a]
  For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith.[b] A psalm of David.
1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
 or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint;
 heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.
3 My soul is in deep anguish.
 How long, LORD, how long?

4 Turn, LORD, and deliver me;
 save me because of your unfailing love.
5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name.
 Who praises you from the grave?

6 I am worn out from my groaning.

 All night long I flood my bed with weeping
 and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
 they fail because of all my foes.

8 Away from me, all you who do evil,
 for the LORD has heard my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
 the LORD accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;
 they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

Psalm 7

Psalm 7[c]
  A shiggaion[d] of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning Cush, a Benjamite.
1 LORD my God, I take refuge in you;
 save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
2 or they will tear me apart like a lion
 and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

3 LORD my God, if I have done this
 and there is guilt on my hands—
4 if I have repaid my ally with evil
 or without cause have robbed my foe—
5 then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;
 let him trample my life to the ground
 and make me sleep in the dust.[e]

6 Arise, LORD, in your anger;
 rise up against the rage of my enemies.
 Awake, my God; decree justice.
7 Let the assembled peoples gather around you,
 while you sit enthroned over them on high.
8 Let the LORD judge the peoples.
Vindicate me, LORD, according to my righteousness,
 according to my integrity, O Most High.
9 Bring to an end the violence of the wicked
 and make the righteous secure—
you, the righteous God
 who probes minds and hearts.

10 My shield[f] is God Most High,
 who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
 a God who displays his wrath every day.
12 If he does not relent,
 he[g] will sharpen his sword;
 he will bend and string his bow.
13 He has prepared his deadly weapons;
 he makes ready his flaming arrows.

14 Whoever is pregnant with evil
 conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.
15 Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
 falls into the pit they have made.
16 The trouble they cause recoils on them;
 their violence comes down on their own heads.

17 I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness;
 I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High.

Psalm 8

Psalm 8[h]
  For the director of music. According to gittith.[i] A psalm of David.
1 LORD, our Lord,
 how majestic is your name in all the earth!

 You have set your glory
 in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
 you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
 to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
 the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
 which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
 human beings that you care for them?[j]

5 You have made them[k] a little lower than the angels[l]
 and crowned them[m] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
 you put everything under their[n] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
 and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
 and the fish in the sea,
 all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 LORD, our Lord,
 how majestic is your name in all the earth!