O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you. May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; protect me from men of violence, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day.  They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely,

I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise. I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept  when we remembered Zion.  There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”  How can we sing the songs of the LORD  while in a foreign land?

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.

Praise the LORD. Praise the name of the LORD;  praise him, you servants of the LORD, you who minister in the house of the LORD,  in the courts of the house of our God.  Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant. 

Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD. May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!  It is like precious oil poured on the head,  running down on the beard,  running down on Aaron’s beard,  down upon the collar of his robes.

It is as if the dew of Hermon  were falling on Mount Zion. 

O LORD, remember David  and all the hardships he endured.  He swore an oath to the LORD  and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob: “I will not enter my house or go to my bed- I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids,