¹God always blesses those who are kind to the poor and helpless.

They’re the first ones God helps

when they find themselves in any trouble.

²The Lord will preserve and protect them.

They’ll be honored and esteemed

while their enemies are defeated.

³When they are sick, lying upon their bed of suffering,

God will restore them.

He will raise them up again and restore them back to health.

⁴So in my sickness I say to you,

“Lord, be my kind healer.

Heal my body and soul; heal me, God!

For I have confessed my sins to you.”

⁵But those who hate me wish the worst for me, saying,

“When will he die and be forgotten?”

⁶And when these “friends” come to visit me

with their pious sympathy and their hollow words

and with hypocrisy hidden in their hearts,

I can see right through it all.

For they come merely to gather gossip about me,

using all they find to mock me with malicious hearts of slander.

⁷They are wicked whisperers who imagine the worst for me,

repeating their rumors, saying,

⁸“He got what he deserved; it’s over for him!

The spirit of infirmity is upon him,

and he’ll never get over this illness.”

⁹Even my ally, my friend, has turned against me.

He was one I totally trusted with my life,

sharing supper with him,

and now he shows me nothing but betrayal and treachery.

He has sold me as an enemy.

¹⁰So Lord, please don’t desert me when I need you!

Give me grace and get me back on my feet

so I can triumph over them all.

¹¹Then I’ll know you’re pleased with me

when you allow me to taste victory over all my foes.

¹²Now stand up for me and don’t let me fall,

for I’ve walked with integrity.

Keep me before your face forever.

¹³Everyone praise the Lord God of Israel, always and forever!

For he is from eternity past

and will remain for the eternity to come.

That’s the way it will be forever.

Faithful is our King! Amen!

Book 2