For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

¹Blessed is he who considers the poor. The LORD will deliver him in the day of evil.²The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive. He shall be blessed on the earth, and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.³The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness.⁴I said, “LORD, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”⁵My enemies speak evil against me: “When will he die, and his name perish?”⁶If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it.⁷All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the worst for me.⁸“An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him. Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.”⁹Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.

¹⁰But you, LORD, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.¹¹By this I know that you delight in me, because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me.¹²As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.

¹³Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting! Amen and amen.