1 I praise the Lord with all my heart. Lord, I will tell about all the wonderful things you did. 2 You make me so very happy. God Most-High, I praise your name. 3 My enemies turned to run from you. But they fell and were destroyed. 4 You are the good judge. You sat on your throne as judge. Lord, you listened to my case. And you made the decision about me. 5 You criticized those other people. Lord, you destroyed those bad people. You erased their names forever and ever ˻from the list of people who are alive˼. 6 The enemy is finished! Lord, you destroyed their cities! Now, only ruined buildings are left. Nothing is left to remind us of those bad people. 7 But the Lord rules forever. The Lord made his kingdom strong. He did this to bring fairness to the world. 8 The Lord judges everyone on earth fairly. He judges all nations the same. 9 Many people are trapped and hurting because they have many troubles. Those people are crushed by the weight of their problems. Lord, be a safe place for them to run to. 10 People who know your name should trust you. Lord, if people come to you, you will not leave them without help. 11 You people living on Zion, sing praises to the Lord. Tell other nations about the great things the Lord did. 12 The Lord remembered the people who went to him for help. Those poor people cried for help. And the Lord didn’t forget them. 13 ˻I said this prayer to God:˼ ”Lord, be kind to me. Look, my enemies are hurting me. Save me from the 'gates of death.’ 14 Then, at the gates of Jerusalem, I can sing praises to you, Lord. I will be very happy because you saved me.” 15 Those people from other nations dug holes to trap other people. But they fell into their own traps. Those people hid nets to trap other people. But they were caught in those nets. 16 The Lord caught those bad people. So people learned that the Lord punishes people who do bad things. 17 People who forget God are bad. They will go to the place of death. 18 Sometimes it seems that God forgets about people with troubles. It seems those poor people have no hope. But God doesn’t really forget them forever. 19 Lord, get up and judge the nations. Don’t let people think they are powerful. 20 Teach people a lesson. Let them know they are only human.
