Clap your hands together, all ye peoples: * O sing unto God with the voice of melody.
2 For the LORD is high, and to be feared; * he is the great King upon all the earth.
3 He shall subdue the peoples under us, * and the nations under our feet.
4 He shall choose out an heritage for us, * even the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved.
5 God is gone up with a merry noise, * and the LORD with the sound of the trump.
6 O sing praises, sing praises unto our God; * O sing praises, sing praises unto our King.
7 For God is the King of all the earth: * sing ye praises with understanding.
8 God reigneth over the nations; * God sitteth upon his holy seat.
9 The princes of the peoples are joined unto the people of the God of Abraham; * for God, which is very high exalted, doth defend the earth, as it were with a shield.
Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised * in the city of our God, even upon his holy hill.
2 The hill of Sion is a fair place, and the joy of the whole earth; * upon the north side lieth the city of the great King: God is well known in her palaces as a sure refuge.
3 For lo, the kings of the earth * were gathered, and gone by together.
4 They marvelled to see such things; * they were astonished, and suddenly cast down.
5 Fear came there upon them; and sorrow, * as upon a woman in her travail.
6 Thou dost break the ships of the sea * through the east-wind.
7 Like as we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God; * God upholdeth the same for ever.
8 We wait for thy loving-kindness, O God, * in the midst of thy temple.
9 O God, according to thy Name, so is thy praise unto the world's end; * thy right hand is full of righteousness.
10 Let the mount Sion rejoice, and the daughters of Judah be glad, * because of thy judgments.
11 Walk about Sion, and go round about her; * and tell the towers thereof.
12 Mark well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, * that ye may tell them that come after.
13 For this God is our God for ever and ever: * he shall be our guide unto death.
O hear ye this, all ye people; * ponder it with your ears, all ye that dwell in the world;
2 High and low, rich and poor, * one with another.
3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom, * and my heart shall muse of understanding.
4 I will incline mine ear to the parable, * and show my dark speech upon the harp.
5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, * when wickedness at my heels compasseth me round about?
6 There be some that put their trust in their goods, * and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.
7 But no man may deliver his brother, * nor give a ransom unto God for him,
8 (For it cost more to redeem their souls, * so that he must let that alone for ever;)
9 That he shall live alway, * and not see the grave.
10 For he seeth that wise men also die and perish together, * as well as the ignorant and foolish, and leave their riches for other.
11 And yet they think that their houses shall continue for ever, and that their dwelling-places shall endure from one generation to another; * and call the lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not, * seeing he may be compared unto the beasts that perish;
13 This their way is very foolishness; * yet their posterity praise their saying.
14 They lie in the grave like sheep; death is their shepherd; and the righteous shall have dominion over them in the morning: * their beauty shall consume in the sepulchre, and have no abiding.
15 But God hath delivered my soul from the power of the grave; * for he shall receive me.
16 Be not thou afraid, though one be made rich, * or if the glory of his house be increased;
17 For he shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth, * neither shall his pomp follow him.
18 For while he lived, he counted himself an happy man; * and so long as thou doest well unto thyself, men will speak good of thee.
19 He shall follow the generation of his fathers, * and shall never see light.
20 Man that is in honour but hath no understanding * is compared unto the beasts that perish.