| 1 | To the Overseer with stringed instruments. -- An instruction, by David. Give ear, O God, [to] my prayer, And hide not from my supplication. |
| 2 | Attend to me, and answer me, I mourn in my meditation, and make a noise, |
| 3 | Because of the voice of an enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked, For they cause sorrow to move against me, And in anger they hate me. |
| 4 | My heart is pained within me, And terrors of death have fallen on me. |
| 5 | Fear and trembling come in to me, And horror doth cover me. |
| 6 | And I say, `Who doth give to me a pinion as a dove? I fly away and rest, |
| 7 | Lo, I move far off, I lodge in a wilderness. Selah. |
| 8 | I hasten escape for myself, From a rushing wind, from a whirlwind. |
| 9 | Swallow up, O Lord, divide their tongue, For I saw violence and strife in a city. |
| 10 | By day and by night they go round it, on its walls. Both iniquity and perverseness [are] in its midst, |
| 11 | Mischiefs [are] in its midst. Fraud and deceit depart not from its street. |
| 12 | For an enemy reproacheth me not, or I bear [it], He who is hating me Hath not magnified himself against me, Or I hide from him. |
| 13 | But thou, a man -- as mine equal, My familiar friend, and mine acquaintance. |
| 14 | When together we sweeten counsel, Into the house of God we walk in company. |
| 15 | Desolations [are] upon them, They go down [to] Sheol -- alive, For wickedness [is] in their dwelling, in their midst. |
| 16 | I -- to God I call, and Jehovah saveth me. |
| 17 | Evening, and morning, and noon, I meditate, and make a noise, and He heareth my voice, |
| 18 | He hath ransomed in peace my soul From him who is near to me, For with the multitude they were with me. |
| 19 | God doth hear and afflict them, And He sitteth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, and fear not God, |
| 20 | He hath sent forth his hands against his well-wishers, He hath polluted his covenant. |
| 21 | Sweeter than honey hath been his mouth, And his heart [is] war! Softer have been his words than oil, And they [are] drawn [swords]. |
| 22 | Cast on Jehovah that which He hath given thee, And He doth sustain thee, He doth not suffer for ever the moving of the righteous. |
| 23 | And Thou, O God, dost bring them down To a pit of destruction, Men of blood and deceit reach not to half their days, And I -- I do trust in Thee! |
