Or

If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,

If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,

If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,

If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,

…if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,

If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,

…if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,

If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—

…if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,

It is not only the old who are wise, or the elderly who understand justice.

For I do not know how to flatter, or my Maker would remove me in an instant.

Behold, all these things God does to a man, two or even three times,

There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide.

For God need not examine a man further or have him approach for judgment.

…that godless men should not rule or lay snares for the people.

If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?

…and further, that in His anger He has not punished or taken much notice of folly!

Can your wealth or all your mighty effort keep you from distress?

Who has appointed His way for Him, or told Him, ‘You have done wrong’?

Whether for punishment or for His land, He accomplishes this in His loving devotion.

Do you know how God dispatches the clouds or makes the lightning flash?

Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?

On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,

In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,

Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?

Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,

In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?

Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,

Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?

Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?

Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?

Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens

Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions

She forgets that a foot may crush them, or a wild animal may trample them.

Do you give strength to the horse or adorn his neck with a mane?

Can anyone capture him as he looks on, or pierce his nose with a snare?

“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?

Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?

Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?

Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?

Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.

The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments, according to Sheminith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.

…or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

…what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?

Sorrows will multiply to those who chase other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood, or speak their names with my lips.

Without speech or language, without a sound to be heard,

For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He has not hidden His face from him, but has attended to his cry for help.

He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully.

Do not take my soul away with sinners, or my life with men of bloodshed,

Hide not Your face from me, nor turn away Your servant in anger. You have been my helper; do not leave me or forsake me, O God of my salvation.

Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD or what His hands have done, He will tear them down and never rebuild them.

Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you.

I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother.

For his eyes are too full of conceit to detect or hate his own sin.

I once was young and now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous abandoned or their children begging for bread.

…the LORD will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned under judgment.

A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.

All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant.

If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God.

I have no need for a bull from your stall or goats from your pens,

Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.

Before your pots can feel the burning thorns—whether green or dry—He will sweep them away.

See how they lie in wait for me. Fierce men conspire against me for no transgression or sin of my own, O LORD.

Do not kill them, or my people will forget. Scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

How long will you threaten a man? Will all of you throw him down like a leaning wall or a tottering fence?

Place no trust in extortion or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld from me His loving devotion!

Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the Pit close its mouth over me.

Do not lift up your horn against heaven or speak with an outstretched neck.’”

When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”

…because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.

They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Will Your wonders be known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

I will not violate My covenant or alter the utterance of My lips.

Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.

For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.

The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty if we are strong—yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins or repaid us according to our iniquities.

Who can describe the mighty acts of the LORD or fully proclaim His praise?

Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders or remember Your abundant kindness; but they rebelled by the sea, there at the Red Sea.

…unable to fill the hands of the reaper, or the arms of the binder of sheaves.

A song of ascents. Of David. My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great things or matters too lofty for me.

“I will not enter my house or get into my bed,

I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,

Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thing or take part in works of wickedness with men who do iniquity; let me not feast on their delicacies.

Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.

…my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.

None who go to her return or negotiate the paths of life.

Never let loving devotion or faithfulness leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

Do not fear sudden danger or the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways;

Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them.

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.