The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Psalms
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Psalm 36
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1
(Of David.)
Art thou impatient, friend, when the wicked thrive; dost thou envy the lot of evil-doers?
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they will soon fade like the grass, like the green leaf wither away.
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Be content to trust in the Lord and do good; live on thy land, and take thy ease,
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all thy longing fixed in the Lord; so he will give thee what thy heart desires.
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Commit thy life to the Lord, and trust in him; he will prosper thee,
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making thy honesty clear as the day, the justice of thy cause bright as the sun at noon.
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Dumb and patient, to the Lord’s mercy look thou, never fretting over the man that has his own way, and thrives by villainy.
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End thy complaints, forgo displeasure, do not fret thyself into an evil mood;
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the evil-minded will be dispossessed, and patient souls, that wait for the Lord, succeed them.
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Forbear yet a little, and the sinner will be seen no more; thou wilt search in vain to find him,
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while patient souls are the land’s heirs, enjoying great peace.

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Gnashing his teeth with envy, the wrong-doer plots against the innocent,
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and cannot see his own turn coming; but the Lord sees it, and laughs at his malice.
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How they draw the sword, how they bend the bow, these sinners, to bring ruin on helpless poverty, to murder the upright;
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swords that will pierce their own hearts, bows that will break in pieces!
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Innocence, ill endowed, has the better of the wicked in their abundance;
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soon fails the strength of their arms, and still the Lord has the just in his keeping.
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Jealously the Lord watches over the lives of the guiltless, they will hold their lands for ever,
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undismayed by adversity, in time of famine well content.
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Knavery will yet come to an end; like the spring’s finery they will die, the Lord’s enemies, vanish away like smoke.
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Let the sinner borrow, and never repay, still the good man will be a generous giver;
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win the Lord’s blessing, and the land is thine, his ban is death.
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Man’s feet stand firm, if the Lord is with him to prosper his journey;
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he may stumble but never fall, with the Lord’s hand in his.
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Now youth is past, and I have grown old; yet never did I see the good man forsaken, or his children begging their bread;
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still he lends without stint, and men call down blessings on his posterity.
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Offend no more, rather do good, and be at rest continually;
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the Lord is ever just, and will not abandon his faithful servants. Perish the sinner, forgotten be the name of the evil-doer,
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but these will hold their land, and live on it always at rest.

30
Right reason is on the good man’s lips, well weighed are all his counsels;
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his steps never falter, because the law of God rules in his heart.
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Sinners lie in wait, plotting against the life of the innocent;
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but the Lord will never leave him in their power, never find him guilty when he is arraigned.
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Trust the Lord, and follow the path he has chosen; so he will set thee up in possession of thy land, and thou wilt live to see the wicked come to ruin.
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Until yesterday, I saw the evil-doer throned high as the branching cedars;
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then, when I passed by, he was there no longer, and I looked in vain to find him.
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Virtuous men and innocent mark thou well; he that lives peaceably will leave a race behind him,
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while sinners are rooted out every one, and their graceless names forgotten.
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When affliction comes, the Lord is the refuge and defence of the innocent;
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the Lord will aid and deliver them, rescue and preserve them from the power of wickedness, because they put their trust in him.