Psalm 7–12

A Prayer for Justiceⁱ

7 O Lord, my God, I come to you for protection;

rescue me and save me from all who pursue me,

²or else like a lion they will carry me off

where no one can save me,

and there they will tear me to pieces.

^3–4O Lord, my God,

if I have wronged anyone, if I have betrayed a friend

or without cause done violence to my enemy—^j

if I have done any of these things-

⁵then let my enemies pursue me and catch me,

let them cut me down and kill me

and leave me lifeless on the ground!

⁶Rise in your anger, O Lord!

Stand up against the fury of my enemies;

rouse yourself and help me!

Justice is what you demand,

⁷so bring together all the peoples round you,

and rule over them from above.^k

⁸You are the judge of the whole human race.

Judge in my favour, O Lord;

you know that I am innocent.

^9*You are a righteous God

and judge our thoughts and desires.

Stop the wickedness of evildoers

and reward those who are good.

¹⁰God is my protector;

he saves those who obey him.

¹¹God is a righteous judge

and always condemns the wicked.

¹²If they do not change their ways,

God will sharpen his sword.

He bends his bow and makes it ready;

¹³he takes up his deadly weapons

and aims his burning arrows.

¹⁴See how wicked people think up evil;

they plan trouble and practice deception.

¹⁵But in the traps they set for others,

they themselves get caught.

¹⁶So they are punished by their own evil

and are hurt by their own violence.

¹⁷I thank the Lord for his justice,

I sing praises to the Lord, the Most High.

God’s Glory and Man’s Dignity ^l

8 O Lord, our Lord,

your greatness is seen in all the world!

Your praise reaches up to the heavens;

^2*it is sung by children and babies.

You are safe and secure from all your enemies;

you stop anyone who opposes you.

³When I look at the sky, which you have made,

at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places-

^4*what are human beings, that you think of them;

mere mortals, that you care for them?

⁵Yet you made them inferior only to yourself;^m

you crowned them with glory and honour.

^6*You appointed them rulers over everything you made;

you placed them over all creation:

⁷sheep and cattle,

and the wild animals too;

⁸the birds and the fish and the creatures in the seas.

⁹O Lord, our Lord,

your greatness is seen in all the world!

Thanksgiving to God for His Justiceⁿ

9 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of all the wonderful things you have done.

²I will sing with joy because of you.

I will sing praise to you, Almighty God.

³My enemies turn back when you appear;

they fall down and die.

⁴You are fair and honest in your judgements,

and you have judged in my favour.

⁵You have condemned the heathen

and destroyed the wicked;

they will be remembered no more.

⁶Our enemies are finished for ever;

you have destroyed their cities,

and they are completely forgotten.

⁷But the Lord is king for ever;

he has set up his throne for judgement.

⁸He rules the world with righteousness;

he judges the nations with justice.

⁹The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,

a place of safety in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know you, Lord, will trust you;

you do not abandon anyone who comes to you.

¹¹Sing praise to the Lord, who rules in Zion!

Tell every nation what he has done!

¹²God remembers those who suffer;

he does not forget their cry,

and he punishes those who wrong them.

¹³Be merciful to me, O Lord!

See the sufferings my enemies cause me!

Rescue me from death, O Lord,

¹⁴that I may stand before the people of Jerusalem

and tell them all the things for which I praise you.

I will rejoice because you saved me.

¹⁵The heathen have dug a pit and fallen in;

they have been caught in their own trap.

¹⁶The Lord has revealed himself by his righteous judgements,

and the wicked are trapped by their own deeds.

¹⁷Death is the destiny of all the wicked,

of all those who reject God.

¹⁸The needy will not always be neglected;

the hope of the poor will not be crushed for ever.

¹⁹Come, Lord! Do not let human beings defy you!

Bring the heathen before you

and pronounce judgement on them.

²⁰Make them afraid, O Lord;

make them know that they are only mortal beings.

A Prayer for Justice

10Why are you so far away, O Lord?

Why do you hide yourself when we are in trouble?

²The wicked are proud and persecute the poor;

catch them in the traps they have made.

³The wicked are proud of their evil desires;

the greedy curse and reject the Lord.

⁴The wicked do not care about the Lord;

in their pride they think that God doesn’t matter.

⁵The wicked succeed in everything.

They cannot understand God’s judgements;

they sneer at their enemies.

⁶They say to themselves, “I will never fail;

I will never be in trouble.”

^7*Their speech is filled with curses, lies, and threats;

they are quick to speak hateful, evil words.

⁸They hide themselves in the villages,

waiting to murder innocent people.

They spy on their helpless victims;

⁹they wait in their hiding places like lions.

They lie in wait for the poor;

they catch them in their traps and drag them away.

¹⁰The helpless victims lie crushed;

brute strength has defeated them.

¹¹The wicked say to themselves, “God doesn’t care!

He has closed his eyes and will never see me!”

¹²O Lord, punish those wicked people!

Remember those who are suffering!

¹³How can the wicked despise God

and say to themselves, “He will not punish me”?

¹⁴But you do see; you take notice of trouble and suffering

and are always ready to help.

The helpless commit themselves to you;

you have always helped the needy.

¹⁵Break the power of wicked and evil people;

punish them for the wrong they have done

until they do it no more.

¹⁶The Lord is king for ever and ever.

Those who worship other gods

will vanish from his land.

¹⁷You will listen, O Lord, to the prayers of the lowly;

you will give them courage.

¹⁸You will hear the cries of the oppressed and the orphans;

you will judge in their favour,

so that mortal men may cause terror no more.

Confidence in the ^o

11 I trust in the Lord for safety.

How foolish of you to say to me,

“Fly away like a bird to the mountains,^p

²because the wicked have drawn their bows and aimed their arrows

to shoot from the shadows at good people.

³There is nothing a good person can do

when everything falls apart.”

⁴The Lord is in his holy temple;

he has his throne in heaven.

He watches people everywhere

and knows what they are doing.

⁵He examines the good and the wicked alike;

the lawless he hates with all his heart.

⁶He sends down flaming coals^q and burning sulphur on the wicked;

he punishes them with scorching winds.

⁷The Lord is righteous and loves good deeds;

those who do them will live in his presence.

A Prayer for Help^r

12 Help us, Lord!

There is not a good person left;

honest people can no longer be found.

²All of them lie to one another;

they deceive each other with flattery.

³Silence those flattering tongues, O Lord!

Close those boastful mouths that say,

⁴“With our words we get what we want.

We will say what we wish,

and no one can stop us.”

⁵“But now I will come,” says the Lord,

“because the needy are oppressed

and the persecuted groan in pain. I will give them the security they long for.”

⁶The promises of the Lord can be trusted;

they are as genuine as silver

refined seven times in the furnace.

^7–8The wicked are everywhere,

and everyone praises what is evil.

Keep us always safe, O Lord,

and preserve us from such people.