As I learn your righteous judgments, I will praise you with a pure heart.

In the middle of the night I wake up to praise you for your righteous judgments.

And so I follow all your instructions; I hate all wrong ways.

The heart of your law is truth, and all your righteous judgments are eternal.

"The LORD is your mighty defender, perfect and just in all his ways; Your God is faithful and true; he does what is right and fair.

God does not need to set a time for us to go and be judged by him.

" LORD, if I argued my case with you, you would prove to be right. Yet I must question you about matters of justice. Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why do dishonest people succeed?

Surely you won't kill the innocent with the guilty. That's impossible! You can't do that. If you did, the innocent would be punished along with the guilty. That is impossible. The judge of all the earth has to act justly."

Certainly not! God must be true, even though all human beings are liars. As the scripture says, "You must be shown to be right when you speak; you must win your case when you are being tried."

But what if our doing wrong serves to show up more clearly God's doing right? Can we say that God does wrong when he punishes us? (This would be the natural question to ask.)

With faithfulness and love he leads all who keep his covenant and obey his commands.

"But if his descendants disobey my law and do not live according to my commands,

then I will punish them for their sins; I will make them suffer for their wrongs.

Our human fathers punished us for a short time, as it seemed right to them; but God does it for our own good, so that we may share his holiness.

When we are punished, it seems to us at the time something to make us sad, not glad. Later, however, those who have been disciplined by such punishment reap the peaceful reward of a righteous life.

I rebuke and punish all whom I love. Be in earnest, then, and turn from your sins.