Psalm 13

Show me your face.
Let me see you.
Seeing you is joy. 

Yet you hide your face.
You forget me here.
How long, oh Lord?

I have no joy, no hope.
Only sorrow fills me.
My enemy is exalted.

Answer me, oh Lord!
Fill my eyes with light.
Keep me from death.

Have I the right?
Can I say these words?
Who am I to command you?

Your love is steadfast.
In that love I ever trust.
In that love I find rest.

I rejoice in your salvation.
You fill me with bounty.
You reveal your face.

You strengthen me.
You fight inside me.
Grant me victory.

I will sing to you, Lord.

Psalm 12

I despair because I do not see the godly prosper.
They are hidden away from the world.
They have vanished from the earth.
The world is full of back-stabbers and liars.
What hope does your kingdom have?

So many flattering lips, so many tongues that boast.
They claim to have no master, no king.
Victory will come to them by their smooth words.
All will listen to them, all will believe.
What hope does the truth have against such sweet sin?

Do they know they bring death?
Do they know they destroy the law?
Do they know they kill themselves?
Do they see what they are doing?
What hope have we against their blindness?

I hear the groanings of the needy—their sighs, their cries.
I see the poor plundered, God's people imprisoned.
The wicked prowl on every side.
Our children praise their vile ways.
Who can hold back this generation of sin?

"I will now arise," says a voice from the dawn.
The words are pure, the words of the Lord.
They tingle with justice and roar with love.
Gentle as the moon and loud as the sun.
What other voice can be heard when the Lord speaks?

He will care for the needy—heed their sighs and cries.
In his arms, they will find the safety they long for.
Those plundered, those in prison, God will save.
He sees the tears of sisters, hears the prayers of brothers.
Who then can fear if God stands beside them?

Do they know he breaks chains? 
Do they know he heals the sick?
Do they know he brings the dead to life?
Do they know he calls his children by name?
What hope have the wicked in their blindness?

Lord, you hold tightly to your people.
You will guard them from this generation of sin.
You will guard them forever. 

Psalm 11

They tell me I will die.
They tell me to despair.
Their sour words fill my mouth,
I breathe, yet find no air.

All hope has left my life,
for evil surrounds me.
The wicked hack at my heart,
and they do not hear my plea.

The wicked bend their bows.
Their arrows pierce my heart.
They attack my foundation.
They wound me from the start.

Yet what can mere men do?
They cannot shoot me down.
My foundation is not stone.
They cannot make me drown.

The Lord is on his throne.
He observes my trials.
He's in his holy temple,
The Lord, he sees for miles.

My God hates the wicked,
and the righteous he loves.
So who can e'en defeat me
if I love as God does?

The wicked, they will burn,
but God will show his face
to those who turn to justice.
In him, I will find grace.