A David Psalm

1-2 Don’t bother your head with braggarts

or wish you could succeed like the wicked.

In no time they’ll shrivel like grass clippings

and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.

3-4 Get insurance withGodand do a good deed,

settle down and stick to your last.

Keep company withGod,

get in on the best.

5-6 Open up beforeGod, keep nothing back;

he’ll do whatever needs to be done:

He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day

and stamp you with approval at high noon.

7 Quiet down beforeGod,

be prayerful before him.

Don’t bother with those who climb the ladder,

who elbow their way to the top.

8-9 Bridle your anger, trash your wrath,

cool your pipes—it only makes things worse.

Before long the crooks will be bankrupt;

God-investors will soon own the store.

10-11 Before you know it, the wicked will have had it;

you’ll stare at his once famous place and—nothing!

Down-to-earth people will move in and take over,

relishing a huge bonanza.

12-13 Bad guys have it in for the good guys,

obsessed with doing them in.

ButGodisn’t losing any sleep; to him

they’re a joke with no punch line.

14-15 Bullies brandish their swords,

pull back on their bows with a flourish.

They’re out to beat up on the harmless,

or mug that nice man out walking his dog.

A banana peel lands them flat on their faces—

slapstick figures in a moral circus.

16-17 Less is more and more is less.

One righteous will outclass fifty wicked,

For the wicked are moral weaklings

but the righteous areGod-strong.

18-19 Godkeeps track of the decent folk;

what they do won’t soon be forgotten.

In hard times, they’ll hold their heads high;

when the shelves are bare, they’ll be full.

20 God-despisers have had it;

God’s enemies are finished—

Stripped bare like vineyards at harvest time,

vanished like smoke in thin air.

21-22 Wicked borrows and never returns;

Righteous gives and gives.

Generous gets it all in the end;

Stingy is cut off at the pass.

23-24 Stalwart walks in step withGod;

his path blazed byGod, he’s happy.

If he stumbles, he’s not down for long;

Godhas a grip on his hand.

25-26 I once was young, now I’m a graybeard—

not once have I seen an abandoned believer,

or his kids out roaming the streets.

Every day he’s out giving and lending,

his children making him proud.

27-28 Turn your back on evil,

work for the good and don’t quit.

Godloves this kind of thing,

never turns away from his friends.

28-29 Live this way and you’ve got it made,

but bad eggs will be tossed out.

The good get planted on good land

and put down healthy roots.

30-31 Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone,

rolls virtue around on his tongue.

His heart pumps God’s Word like blood through his veins;

his feet are as sure as a cat’s.

32-33 Wicked sets a watch for Righteous,

he’s out for the kill.

God, alert, is also on watch—

Wicked won’t hurt a hair of his head.

34 Wait passionately forGod,

don’t leave the path.

He’ll give you your place in the sun

while you watch the wicked lose it.

35-36 I saw Wicked bloated like a toad,

croaking pretentious nonsense.

The next time I looked there was nothing—

a punctured bladder, vapid and limp.

37-38 Keep your eye on the healthy soul,

scrutinize the straight life;

There’s a future

in strenuous wholeness.

But the willful will soon be discarded;

insolent souls are on a dead-end street.

39-40 The spacious, free life is fromGod,

it’s also protected and safe.

God-strengthened, we’re delivered from evil—

when we run to him, he saves us.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/PSA/37-c3a6e5e8bbf28b7ff62e0c264d6e0551.mp3?version_id=97—