Scottish Psalter and Paraphrases

¹For evil-doers fret thou not

thyself unquietly;

Nor do thou envy bear to those

that work iniquity.

²For, even like unto the grass,

soon be cut down shall they;

And, like the green and tender herb,

they wither shall away.

³Set thou thy trust upon the Lord,

and be thou doing good;

And so thou in the land shalt dwell,

and verily have food.

⁴Delight thyself in God; he’ll give

thine heart’s desire to thee.

⁵Thy way to God commit, him trust,

it bring to pass shall he.

⁶And, like unto the light, he shall

thy righteousness display;

And he thy judgment shall bring forth

like noon-tide of the day.

⁷Rest in the Lord, and patiently

wait for him: do not fret

For him who, prosp’ring in his way,

success in sin doth get.

⁸Do thou from anger cease, and wrath

see thou forsake also:

Fret not thyself in any wise,

that evil thou should’st do.

⁹For those that evil doers are

shall be cut off and fall:

But those that wait upon the Lord

the earth inherit shall.

¹⁰For yet a little while, and then

the wicked shall not be;

His place thou shalt consider well,

but it thou shalt not see.

¹¹But by inheritance the earth

the meek ones shall possess:

They also shall delight themselves

in an abundant peace.

¹²The wicked plots against the just,

and at him whets his teeth:

¹³The Lord shall laugh at him, because

his day he coming seeth.

¹⁴The wicked have drawn out the sword,

and bent their bow, to slay

The poor and needy, and to kill

men of an upright way.

¹⁵But their own sword, which they have drawn,

shall enter their own heart:

Their bows which they have bent shall break,

and into pieces part.

¹⁶A little that a just man hath

is more and better far

Than is the wealth of many such

as lewd and wicked are.

¹⁷For sinners’ arms shall broken be;

but God the just sustains.

¹⁸God knows the just man’s days, and still

their heritage remains.

¹⁹They shall not be asham’d when they

the evil time do see;

And when the days of famine are,

they satisfy’d shall be.

²⁰But wicked men, and foes of God,

as fat of lambs, decay;

They shall consume, yea, into smoke

they shall consume away.

²¹The wicked borrows, but the same

again he doth not pay;

Whereas the righteous mercy shews,

and gives his own away.

²²For such as blessed be of him

the earth inherit shall;

And they that cursed are of him

shall be destroyed all.

²³A good man’s footsteps by the Lord

are ordered aright;

And in the way wherein he walks

he greatly doth delight.

²⁴Although he fall, yet shall he not

be cast down utterly;

Because the Lord with his own hand

upholds him mightily.

²⁵I have been young, and now am old,

yet have I never seen

The just man left, nor that his seed

for bread have beggars been.

²⁶He’s ever merciful, and lends:

his seed is bless’d therefore.

²⁷Depart from evil, and do good,

and dwell for evermore.

²⁸For God loves judgment, and his saints

leaves not in any case;

They are kept ever: but cut off

shall be the sinner’s race.

²⁹The just inherit shall the land,

and ever in it dwell:

³⁰The just man’s mouth doth wisdom speak;

his tongue doth judgment tell.

³¹In’s heart the law is of his God,

his steps slide not away.

³²The wicked man doth watch the just,

and seeketh him to slay.

³³Yet him the Lord will not forsake,

nor leave him in his hands:

The righteous will he not condemn,

when he in judgment stands.

³⁴Wait on the Lord, and keep his way,

and thee exalt shall he

Th’ earth to inherit; when cut off

the wicked thou shalt see.

³⁵I saw the wicked great in pow’r,

spread like a green bay-tree:

³⁶He pass’d, yea, was not; him I sought,

but found he could not be.

³⁷Mark thou the perfect, and behold

the man of uprightness;

Because that surely of this man

the latter end is peace.

³⁸But those men that transgressors are

shall be destroy’d together;

The latter end of wicked men

shall be cut off for ever.

³⁹But the salvation of the just

is from the Lord above;

He in the time of their distress

their stay and strength doth prove.

⁴⁰The Lord shall help, and them deliver:

he shall them free and save

From wicked men; because in him

their confidence they have.