Psalm 121; Psalm 123; Psalm 124; Psalm 125; Psalm 128; Psalm 129; Psalm 130

1 I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? 2 No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains. 3 He won't let you stumble, your Guardian God won't fall asleep. 4 Not on your life! Israel's Guardian will never doze or sleep. 5 God's your Guardian, right at your side to protect you - 6 Shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from moonstroke. 7 God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life. 8 He guards you when you leave and when you return, he guards you now, he guards you always.

1 I look to you, heaven-dwelling God, look up to you for help. 2 Like servants, alert to their master's commands, like a maiden attending her lady, We're watching and waiting, holding our breath, awaiting your word of mercy. 3 Mercy, God, mercy! We've been kicked around long enough, 4 Kicked in the teeth by complacent rich men, kicked when we're down by arrogant brutes.

1 If God hadn't been for us - all together now, Israel, sing out! - 2 If God hadn't been for us when everyone went against us, 3 We would have been swallowed alive by their violent anger, 4 Swept away by the flood of rage, drowned in the torrent; 5 We would have lost our lives in the wild, raging water. 6 Oh, blessed be God! He didn't go off and leave us. He didn't abandon us defenseless, helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs. 7 We've flown free from their fangs, free of their traps, free as a bird. Their grip is broken; we're free as a bird in flight. 8 God's strong name is our help, the same God who made heaven and earth.

1 Those who trust in God are like Zion Mountain: Nothing can move it, a rock-solid mountain you can always depend on. 2 Mountains encircle Jerusalem, and God encircles his people - always has and always will. 3 The fist of the wicked will never violate What is due the righteous, provoking wrongful violence. 4 Be good to your good people, God, to those whose hearts are right! 5 God will round up the backsliders, corral them with the incorrigibles. Peace over Israel!

1 All you who fear God, how blessed you are! how happily you walk on his smooth straight road! 2 You worked hard and deserve all you've got coming. Enjoy the blessing! Revel in the goodness! 3 Your wife will bear children as a vine bears grapes, your household lush as a vineyard, The children around your table as fresh and promising as young olive shoots. 4 Stand in awe of God's Yes. Oh, how he blesses the one who fears God! 5 Enjoy the good life in Jerusalem every day of your life. 6 And enjoy your grandchildren. Peace to Israel!

1 "They've kicked me around ever since I was young" - this is how Israel tells it - 2 "They've kicked me around ever since I was young, but they never could keep me down. 3 Their plowmen plowed long furrows up and down my back; 4 Then God ripped the harnesses of the evil plowmen to shreds." 5 Oh, let all those who hate Zion grovel in humiliation; 6 Let them be like grass in shallow ground that withers before the harvest, 7 Before the farmhands can gather it in, the harvesters get in the crop, 8 Before the neighbors have a chance to call out, "Congratulations on your wonderful crop! We bless you in God's name!"

1 Help, God - the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help! 2 Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries for mercy. 3 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? 4 As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that's why you're worshiped. 5 I pray to God - my life a prayer - and wait for what he'll say and do. 6 My life's on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning. 7 O Israel, wait and watch for God - with God's arrival comes love, with God's arrival comes generous redemption. 8 No doubt about it - he'll redeem Israel, buy back Israel from captivity to sin.