¹ Sing a loud song to God, our strength.
Shout to the God of Jacob!
² Begin the music, and play the hand drum.
Play the sweet-sounding lyre along with the harp.
³ Sound the ram’s horn at the new moon
and at the full moon for our festival day.
⁴ Yes, this is an order for Israel,
a regulation from the God of Jacob.
⁵ God established it as a testimony for Joseph
when he went out against the land of Egypt.
There I heard a language I did not know. ^[2]

⁶ The Lord says:
I relieved Israel’s shoulders from the burden.
His hands were set free from carrying buckets.
⁷ In distress you called and I rescued you.
I answered you from the hiding place of thunder. Interlude
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
⁸ Listen, my people, and I will warn you.
If only you would listen to me, Israel!
⁹ There shall be no foreign god among you!
You shall not bow down to a strange god.
¹⁰ I am the Lord your God,
    who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
¹¹ But my people would not listen to my voice,
and Israel was not willing to obey me.
¹² So I sent them off in the stubbornness of their hearts.
They walked according to their own plans.

¹ God is standing in the assembly of God.
In the midst of the gods ^[3] he renders judgment.

² How long will you judge unjustly Interlude
and show favoritism to the wicked?
³ Judge in favor of the weak and the fatherless.
Acquit the oppressed and the poor.
⁴ Rescue the weak and the needy.
Deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
⁵ They do not know. They do not understand.
They walk around in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
⁶ I myself said, “You are ‘gods,’
and you are all ‘sons of the Most High.’
⁷ But you will die like men.
You will fall like any other ruler.”

⁸ Rise up, O God. Judge the earth,
for you will take possession of all the nations.

¹ God, do not keep silent.
Do not be deaf. Do not be quiet, God.

² Look! Your enemies are in an uproar,
and those who hate you have raised their head.
³ Against your people they devise deceptive schemes,
and they plot together against the people you treasure.
⁴ They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation,
so the name of Israel will not be remembered anymore.”
⁵ Indeed, with one mind they plot together.
They form an alliance against you—
⁶ the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
⁷ Gebal ^[4] and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
⁸ Even Ashshur has joined with them. Interlude
They have become the arm of the sons of Lot. ^[5]

⁹ Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the stream Kishon.
¹⁰ They perished at Endor.
They became like manure for the ground.
¹¹ Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
¹² who said, “Let us take possession of God’s pastures for ourselves.”
¹³ My God, make them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind.
¹⁴ As fire burns the forest,
or as a flame sets the mountains on fire,
¹⁵ so pursue them with your violent wind,
and terrify them with your storm.
¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame
so that they will seek your name, O Lord.
¹⁷ May they be ashamed and terrified forever.
May they be disgraced and perish.
¹⁸ Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord,
you alone are the Most High over all the earth.