PSALM 7

 

O Lord my God,

I take refuge in you.

Save me from all those

who persecute me,

and free me,

lest they seize me

as would a lion, 

tearing me apart,

with no one 

to rescue me.

O Lord my God.

if I did this,

if there is injustice

on my hands,

if I repaid my allies

with evil,

and sent my enemies away with nothing;

then may my enemy pursue and

overtake me, trample

my life to the ground,

and lay my honor

in the dust.

Rise up, O Lord, in your wrath,

raise yourself up, indignant,

over my oppressors.

Stand up for me in the

judgment you've decreed,

let the assembly of nations

surround you, and you sit

on high above them.

The Lord will judge

the peoples.

Judge me, O Lord,

according to my righteousness,

according to the integrity

that is in me.

Let the evil of sinners be destroyed,

let justice be confirmed:

inspector of hearts and minds,

O righteous God.

My shield is in God,

who saves the upright

in heart.

God is a just and severe judge,

daily pronouncing doom.

If one does not turn back,

He will sharpen his sword;

He has bent his bow,

and aimed it.

In it He has prepared missiles of death;

He has made his arrows fiery.

Behold, the wicked one

conceives injustice,

is pregnant with evil,

and brings forth deceit.

He has dug a pit, but

he has fallen into it.

His malice falls back

on his own head,

his violence returns

there, too.

But I will praise the Lord

on account of his justice,

and will sing

to the name

of the most high Lord.

Translation Copyright © 2023 by Donald C. Traxler.