God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam1 of David.

¹Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?2

Do you judge the children of man uprightly?

²No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;

your hands deal out violence on earth.

³The wicked are estranged from the womb;

they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

⁴They have venom like the venom of a serpent,

like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

⁵so that it does not hear the voice of charmers

or of the cunning enchanter.

⁶O God, break the teeth in their mouths;

tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!

⁷Let them vanish like water that runs away;

when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.

⁸Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,

like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.

⁹Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,

whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!3

¹⁰The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;

he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;

surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

Deliver Me from My Enemies

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam1 of David, when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.

¹Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;

protect me from those who rise up against me;

²deliver me from those who work evil,

and save me from bloodthirsty men.

³For behold, they lie in wait for my life;

fierce men stir up strife against me.

For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord,

⁴for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.

Awake, come to meet me, and see!

⁵You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel.

Rouse yourself to punish all the nations;

spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah

⁶Each evening they come back,

howling like dogs

and prowling about the city.

⁷There they are, bellowing with their mouths

with swords in their lips—

for “Who,” they think,2 “will hear us?”

⁸But you, O Lord, laugh at them;

you hold all the nations in derision.

⁹O my Strength, I will watch for you,

for you, O God, are my fortress.

¹⁰My God in his steadfast love3 will meet me;

God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

¹¹Kill them not, lest my people forget;

make them totter4 by your power and bring them down,

O Lord, our shield!

¹²For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,

let them be trapped in their pride.

For the cursing and lies that they utter,

¹³consume them in wrath;

consume them till they are no more,

that they may know that God rules over Jacob

to the ends of the earth. Selah

¹⁴Each evening they come back,

howling like dogs

and prowling about the city.

¹⁵They wander about for food

and growl if they do not get their fill.

¹⁶But I will sing of your strength;

I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For you have been to me a fortress

and a refuge in the day of my distress.

¹⁷O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,

for you, O God, are my fortress,

the God who shows me steadfast love.