Psalm 7–12

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

7A Shiggaion^a of David which he sang to Yahweh

on account of Cush, a Benjaminite.^b

¹O Yahweh, my God, in you I have taken refuge.

Save me from all who pursue me, and deliver me.

²Or else he will tear me apart like a lion,

ripping to pieces, with none to deliver.

³O Yahweh, my God, if I have done this,

if there is wrong in my hands,

⁴if I have repaid my ally^c with harm,

or if I have plundered my enemy without cause,

⁵let the enemy of my soul pursue,

and overtake and trample my life into the ground,

and lay my honor in the dust. Selah

⁶Rise up, O Yahweh, in your anger,

and lift yourself up against the wrath^d of my oppressors,

and awake for me,

since you have commanded judgment.

⁷And let the assembly of peoples surround you,

and over it return on high.

⁸Yahweh judges the nations.

O Yahweh, vindicate me

according to my innocence^e and according to my integrity within me.

⁹Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,

but establish the righteous,

and test the hearts and innermost being, O righteous God.

¹⁰My shield is with God

who saves the upright of heart.

¹¹God is a righteous judge,

and a God who has indignation every day.

¹²If he^f does not repent, he^g will sharpen his sword.

He has bent his bow and he has strung^h it.

¹³And he has prepared for him weapons of death.

He has made his arrows fiery shafts.

¹⁴See, heⁱ travails with^j evil.

He is pregnant with trouble,

and he gives birth to deception.

¹⁵He makes a pit and digs it out,

then falls in the trap he has made.

¹⁶His trouble comes back on his head,

and his violence comes down on his skull.

¹⁷I will thank Yahweh according to his righteousness,

and I will sing praise to the name of Yahweh, the Most High.

Yahweh’s Glory in Creation

8For the music director, on the Gittith.^a A psalm of David.^b

¹Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth,

who put your splendor above the heavens.

²From the mouth of children and infants you have founded^c strength

on account of your enemies,

to silence the enemy and the avenger.

³When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars which you set in place—

⁴what is a human being that you think of him?

and a child of humankind that you care for him?

⁵And you made him a little lower than heavenly beings,^d

and with glory and with majesty you crowned him.

⁶You make him over the works of your hands;

all things you have placed under his feet:

⁷sheep and cattle, all of them,

and also the wild animals of the field,

⁸the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea,

everything that passes along the paths of seas.

⁹Yahweh, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all of the earth!

Praise for Yahweh’s Justice

9For the music director, according to Muth-labben.^a A psalm of David.^b

¹I will thank Yahweh with all my heart.

I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

²I will be glad and rejoice in you.

I will sing the praise of your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies turn back,

they will stumble and perish because of your presence.

⁴For you have maintained my just cause;

you have sat on the throne judging correctly.

⁵You have rebuked the nations;

you have destroyed the wicked.

Their name you have blotted out

forever and ever.

⁶The enemies are destroyed in ruins forever,

and you have uprooted their cities;

their very memory has perished.

⁷But Yahweh sits enthroned forever.

He has established his throne for judgment.

⁸And he will judge the world with righteousness.

He will judge the peoples with equity.

⁹And Yahweh will be a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of distress.

¹⁰And those who know your name will trust in you,

for you do not forsake those who seek you, O Yahweh.

¹¹Sing praises to Yahweh who sits enthroned^c in Zion.

Tell his deeds among the peoples,

¹²for he who avenges bloodshed^d remembers them.

He does not forget the distressed cry of the afflicted.

¹³Be gracious to me, O Yahweh.

See my suffering from those who hate me,

you who lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴so that I may tell of all your praises.

In the gates of the daughter of Zion

let me rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have fallen in the pit that they made;

their foot is caught in the net that they hid.

¹⁶Yahweh has made himself known;

he has executed judgment.

The wicked is snared by the work of his hands. Higgaion^e Selah

¹⁷The wicked shall turn back to Sheol,

all the nations forgetting God,

¹⁸for the needy shall not always be forgotten;

the hope of the poor shall never perish.

¹⁹Rise up, O Yahweh, let not humans^e prevail;

let the nations be judged before you.

²⁰O Yahweh, put them in fear.

Let the nations know they are merely human. Selah

A Prayer for God to Throw down the Wicked

10Why, O Yahweh, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide^a during times of distress?

²In arrogance the wicked persecutes^b the poor.

Let them be caught in the schemes that they devised,

³for the wicked boasts about the desire of his heart,^c

and the one greedy for gain curses and treats Yahweh with contempt.

⁴With bald-faced pride^d the wicked will not seek God.

There is no God in any of his thoughts.

⁵His ways^e endure at all times.^f

Your judgments are aloof from him.

As for all his enemies, he scoffs at them.

⁶He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved

throughout all generations,^g during which I will have no trouble.”

⁷His mouth is filled with cursing,

with deceits and oppression;

under his tongue are trouble and evil.

⁸He sits in ambush in villages;

in the hiding places he kills the innocent.

His eyes lurk^h for the helpless.

⁹He lies in ambush secretly,ⁱ like a lion in a thicket.

He lies in ambush to seize the poor;

he seizes the poor by catching him in his net.

¹⁰He is crushed;^j he is bowed down;^k

so^l the helpless host^m falls by his might.ⁿ

¹¹He says in his heart, “God has forgotten.

He has hidden his face.

He never sees.”

¹²Rise up, O Yahweh;

O God, lift up your hand.

Do not forget the afflicted.

¹³Why does the wicked treat God with contempt?

He says in his heart, “You will not call me to account.”

¹⁴But you have seen; indeed you have noted trouble and grief

to take it into your hand.

The helpless abandons himself upon you;

you have been the helper for the orphan.

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked,

and as for the evil man—

seek out his wickedness until you find none.

¹⁶Yahweh is king forever and ever;

the nations have perished from his land.

¹⁷The longing of the afflicted you have heard, O Yahweh.

You will make their heart secure. You will listen attentively^o

¹⁸to render judgment for the fatherless and the oppressed

so that a mere mortal from the earth will no longer cause terror.

Confidence in Yahweh’s Righteousness

11For the music director. Of David.^a

¹In Yahweh I have taken refuge;

how can you say to my soul,

“Flee to your mountain like a bird”?

²For look: The wicked string the bow.^b

They have fitted their arrow to the string,

to shoot from the darkness

at the upright of heart.

³When the foundations are destroyed

what can the righteous do?^c

⁴Yahweh is in his holy temple;

Yahweh is in the heavens on his throne.

His eyelids see;

they test the children of humankind.

⁵Yahweh tests the righteous,

but the wicked and the lover of violence

his soul hates.

⁶He will rain coals^d on the wicked.

Burning sulfur and scorching wind

will be the portion of their cup.

⁷For Yahweh is righteous;

he loves righteous deeds.

The upright shall see his face.

Human Faithlessness and God’s Faithfulness

12For the music director; on the Sheminith.^a A psalm of David.^b

¹Save, O Yahweh, for the pious have ceased to be;

for the faithful have vanished

from among the children of humankind.

²They speak falseness to each other.^c

With flattering lips,

with a double heart^d they speak.

³May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips,

the tongue speaking great boasts—

⁴those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail.

Our lips are on our side.

Who is master over us?”

⁵“Because of the oppression of the afflicted,

because of the groaning of the poor,

now I will rise up,” Yahweh says.

“I shall put them in the safety for which they^e long.”

⁶The words of Yahweh are pure words

like silver refined in the crucible on the ground,

refined seven times.

⁷You, O Yahweh, will protect them.

You will preserve him^f

from this generation always.

⁸The wicked prowl about

when vileness is exalted among the children of humankind.