¹For the leader. A psalm of David:

²How blessed are those who care for the poor!

When calamity comes, Adonai will save them.

³Adonai will preserve them, keep them alive,

and make them happy in the land.

You will not hand them over

to the whims of their enemies.

⁴Adonai sustains them on their sickbed;

when they lie ill, you make them recover.

⁵I said, “Adonai , have pity on me!

Heal me, for I have sinned against you!”

⁶My enemies say the worst about me:

“When will he die and his name disappear?”

⁷When they come to see me they speak insincerely,

their hearts meanwhile gathering falsehoods;

then they go out and spread bad reports.

⁸All who hate me whisper together against me,

imagining the worst about me.

⁹“A fatal disease has attached itself to him;

now that he lies ill, he will never get up.”

¹⁰Even my close friend, on whom I relied,

who shared my table, has turned against me.

¹¹But you, Adonai , have pity on me,

put me on my feet, so I can pay them back.

¹²I will know you are pleased with me

if my enemy doesn’t defeat me.

¹³You uphold me because of my innocence

you establish me in your presence forever.

¹⁴Blessed be Adonai the God of Isra’el

from eternity past to eternity future.

Amen . Amen.