For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

41:1 Blessed is he who considers the poor.

Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.

41:2 Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive.

He shall be blessed on the earth,

and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.

41:3 Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed,

and restore him from his bed of illness.

41:4 I said, "Yahweh, have mercy on me!

Heal me, for I have sinned against you."

41:5 My enemies speak evil against me:

"When will he die, and his name perish?"

41:6 If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood.

His heart gathers iniquity to itself.

When he goes abroad, he tells it.

41:7 All who hate me whisper together against me.

They imagine the worst for me.

41:8 "An evil disease," they say, "has afflicted him.

Now that he lies he shall rise up no more."

41:9 Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,

who ate bread with me,

has lifted up his heel against me.

41:10 But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up,

that I may repay them.

41:11 By this I know that you delight in me,

because my enemy doesn't triumph over me.

41:12 As for me, you uphold me in my integrity,

and set me in your presence forever.

41:13 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,

from everlasting and to everlasting!

Amen and amen.

BOOK II