20 Heb “for me.”
21 Who will stand up for me …? The questions anticipate the answer, “No one except God” (see v. 17).
22 Heb “If the Lord [were] not my help, quickly my life would have lain down in silence.” The psalmist, perhaps speaking as the nation’s representative, recalls God’s past intervention. For other examples of conditional sentences with the term לוּלֵי (luley, “if not”) in the protasis and a perfect verbal form in the apodosis, see Pss 119:92 and 124:2–5.

In other versions

Who rises up for me against the wicked?

Who stands up for me against evildoers?

If the Lord had not been my help,

my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.

When I thought, “My foot slips,”

your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.

Who will rise up for me against the wicked?

Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?

Unless the Lord had given me help,

I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.

When I said, “My foot is slipping,”

your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.

Who stands up for me against the wicked?

Who takes a stand for me against evildoers?

If the Lord had not been my helper,

I would soon rest in the silence of death.

If I say, “My foot is slipping,”

your faithful love will support me, Lord.

Who will protect me from the wicked?

Who will stand up for me against evildoers?

Unless the Lord had helped me,

I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave.

I cried out, “I am slipping!”

but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.

Who rose up for me against the wicked?

Who stood up for me against the workers of iniquity?

If Yahweh had not been my help,

my soul would soon have dwelt in silence.

When I thought, “My foot is slipping,”

your loyal love, O Yahweh, supported me.

Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?

Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?

Unless the Lord had been my help,

My soul had almost dwelt in silence.

When I said, My foot slippeth;

Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.

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