American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
The cords of death compassed me,And the floods of {Hebrew: Belial.}ungodliness made me afraid.
The cords of Sheol were round about me;The snares of death came upon me.
In my distress I called upon Jehovah,And cried unto my God:He heard my voice out of his temple,And my cry before him came into his ears.
Now shalt thou gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us; they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
{[Chapter 5:1 in Hebrew.]}But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the {Or, families See Judges 6:15.}thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, {Or, from ancient days}from everlasting.
Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she who travaileth hath brought forth: then the residue of his brethren shall return {Or, with}unto the children of Israel.
And he shall stand, and shall feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God: and they shall abide; for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
And this man shall be our peace. When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight { Or, princes among men}principal men.
And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our border.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples as dew from Jehovah, as showers upon the grass, that tarry not for man, nor wait for the sons of men.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he go through, treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
Let thy hand be lifted up above thine adversaries, and let all thine enemies be cut off.
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and will destroy thy chariots:
and I will cut off the cities of thy land, and will throw down all thy strongholds.
And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:
and I will cut off thy graven images and thy { Or, obelisks}pillars out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thy hands;
and I will pluck up thine Asherim out of the midst of thee; and I will destroy thy {Or, enemies}cities.
And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations {Or, such as they have not heard}which hearkened not.
Hear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
Hear, O ye mountains, Jehovah's controversy, and ye enduring foundations of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.
O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.
For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; remember from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah.
Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old?
will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?
The voice of Jehovah crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom will {According to Septuagint Version, Vulgate, and Syriac, fear.}see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant {Hebrew: ephah.}measure that is abominable?
Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate because of thy sins.
Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy {Or, emptiness}humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt put away, but shalt not save; and that which thou savest will I give up to the sword.
Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not anoint thee with oil; and the vintage, but shalt not drink the wine.
For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I may make thee {Or, an astonishment}a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
For thou didst cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas,And the flood was round about me;All thy waves and thy billows passed over me.
And I said, I am cast out from before thine eyes;Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
The waters compassed me about, even to the soul;The deep was round about me;The weeds were wrapped about my head.
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains;The earth with its bars closed upon me for ever:Yet hast thou brought up my life from {Or, corruption}the pit, O Jehovah my God.
When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah;And my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple.
They that regard lying vanitiesForsake their own mercy.
But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving;I will pay that which I have vowed.Salvation is of Jehovah.
And Jehovah spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him {Or, out of}from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,
And David spake unto Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:
and he said,Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine;
God, my rock, in him will I take refuge;My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge;My saviour, thou savest me from violence.
I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised:So shall I be saved from mine enemies.
For the waves of death compassed me;The floods of {Hebrew: Belial.}ungodliness made me afraid:
The cords of Sheol were round about me;The snares of death came upon me.
In my distress I called upon Jehovah;Yea, I called unto my God:And he heard my voice out of his temple,And my cry came into his ears.
Then the earth shook and trembled,The foundations of heaven quakedAnd were shaken, because he was wroth.
There went up a smoke {Or, in his wrath}out of his nostrils,And fire out of his mouth devoured:Coals were kindled by it.
He bowed the heavens also, and came down;And thick darkness was under his feet.
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly;Yea, he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
And he made darkness pavilions round about him,Gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
At the brightness before himCoals of fire were kindled.
Jehovah thundered from heaven,And the Most High uttered his voice.
And he sent out arrows, and scattered them;Lightning, and discomfited them.
Then the channels of the sea appeared,The foundations of the world were laid bare,By the rebuke of Jehovah,At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
He sent from on high, he took me;He drew me out of {Or, great}many waters;
He delivered me from my strong enemy,From them that hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
They came upon me in the day of my calamity;But Jehovah was my stay.
He brought me forth also into a large place;He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness;According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
For I have kept the ways of Jehovah,And have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all his ordinances were before me;And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.
I was also perfect toward him;And I kept myself from mine iniquity.
Therefore hath Jehovah recompensed me according to my righteousness,According to my cleanness in his eyesight.
With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful;With the perfect man thou wilt show thyself perfect;
With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure;And with the perverse thou wilt show thyself {So Psalm 18:26. The Text has, unsavory.}froward.
And the afflicted people thou wilt save;But thine eyes are upon the haughty, {Or, whom thou wilt bring down}that thou mayest bring them down.
For thou art my lamp, O Jehovah;And Jehovah will lighten my darkness.
For by thee I run {Or, through}upon a troop;By my God do I leap over a wall.
As for God, his way is perfect:The word of Jehovah is tried;He is a shield unto all them that take refuge in him.
For who is God, save Jehovah?And who is a rock, save our God?
God is my strong fortress;And he {Or, setteth free According to another reading, guideth my way in perfectness.}guideth the perfect in his way.
He maketh {Another reading is, my.}his feet like hinds' feet,And setteth me upon my high places.
He teacheth my hands to war,So that mine arms do bend a bow of brass.
Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation;And thy {Or, condescension}gentleness hath made me great.
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me;And my {Hebrew: ankles.}feet have not slipped.
I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them;Neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
And I have consumed them, and smitten them through, so that they cannot arise:Yea, they are fallen under my feet.
For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle;Thou hast {Hebrew: caused to bow.}subdued under me those that rose up against me.
Thou hast also made mine enemies turn their backs unto me,That I might cut off them that hate me.
They looked, but there was none to save;Even unto Jehovah, but he answered them not.
Then did I beat them small as the dust of the earth,I did crush them as the mire of the streets, and did spread them abroad.
Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people;Thou {Or, wilt keep}hast kept me to be the head of the nations:A people whom I have not known shall serve me.
The foreigners shall {Or, yield feigned obedience Hebrew: lie.}submit themselves unto me:As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me.
The foreigners shall fade away,And shall {So Psalm 18:45. The Text has, gird themselves.}come trembling out of their close places.
Jehovah liveth; And blessed be my rock;And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,
Even the God that executeth vengeance for me,And that bringeth down peoples under me,
And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies:Yea, thou liftest me up above them that rise up against me;Thou deliverest me from the violent man.
Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah, among the nations,And will sing praises unto thy name.
{Another reading is, He is a tower of deliverance.}Great {Hebrew: salvations.}deliverance giveth he to his king,And showeth lovingkindness to his anointed,To David and to his seed, for evermore.
For the waves of death compassed me;The floods of {Hebrew: Belial.}ungodliness made me afraid:
And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in {Greek: Gehenna.}hell.
But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him {Or, out of}from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,
But when he saw the {Many ancient authorities add strong.}wind, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me.
And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and took hold of him, and saith unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?