Psalm 7–8

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!