Yahweh Is Our Help and Our Shield

¹Sing for joy in Yahweh, O righteous ones;

Praise is becoming to the upright.

²Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre;

Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.

³Sing to Him a new song;

Play skillfully with a loud shout.

⁴For the word of Yahweh is upright,

And all His work is done in faithfulness.

⁵He loves righteousness and justice;

The earth is full of the lovingkindness of Yahweh.

⁶¶By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made,

And by the breath of His mouth all their host.

⁷He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;[#33:7 A container; some ancient versions in a water skin]

He lays up the deeps in storehouses.

⁸Let all the earth fear Yahweh;

Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

⁹For He spoke, and it was;

He commanded, and it stood.

¹⁰Yahweh nullifies the counsel of the nations;

He frustrates the thoughts of the peoples.

¹¹The counsel of Yahweh stands forever,

The thoughts of His heart from generation to generation.

¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh,

The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.

¹³¶Yahweh looks from heaven;

He sees all the sons of men;

¹⁴From the place of His habitation He gazes

On all the inhabitants of the earth,

¹⁵He who forms the hearts of them all,[#33:15 Or their heart together]

He who understands all their works.

¹⁶The king is not saved by a mighty army;

A warrior is not delivered by great strength.

¹⁷A horse is a false hope for salvation;

Nor does it provide escape to anyone by its great strength.

¹⁸¶Behold, the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear Him,

On those who wait for His lovingkindness,

¹⁹To deliver their soul from death

And to keep them alive in famine.

²⁰Our soul is patient for Yahweh;

He is our help and our shield.

²¹For our heart is glad in Him,

Because we trust in His holy name.

²²Let Your lovingkindness, O Yahweh, be upon us,

As we wait for You.