For strangers have risen against me
And violent men have sought my life;
They have not set God before them. Selah.

Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the pressure of the wicked;
For they bring down trouble on me,
And in anger they persecute me.

Day and night they go around her walls;
Wickedness and mischief are in her midst.

He has redeemed my life in peace from the battle that was against me,
For there were many against me.

God will hear and humble them,
Even He who sits enthroned from old— Selah.
Because in them there has been no change [of heart],
And they do not fear God [at all].

The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,
But his heart was hostile;
His words were softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn swords.

My enemies have trampled upon me all day long,
For they are many who fight proudly against me.

All day long they twist my words and say hurtful things;
All their thoughts are against me for evil.

They attack, they hide and lurk,
They watch my steps,
As they have [expectantly] waited to take my life.

Cast them out because of their wickedness.
In anger bring down the peoples, O God!

You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not recorded in Your book?

They set a net for my steps;
My very life was bowed down.
They dug a pit before me;
Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah.

The wicked are estranged from the womb;
These go astray from birth, speaking lies [even twisted partial truths].

Their poison is like the venom of a serpent;
They are like the deaf horned viper that stops up its ear,

Let them flow away like water that runs off;
When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.

Look! They lie in wait for my life;
Fierce and powerful men [are uniting together to] launch an attack against me,
Not for my wrongdoing nor for any sin of mine, O Lord.

They run and set themselves against me though there is no guilt in me;
Stir Yourself to meet and help me, and see [what they are doing]!

They return at evening, they howl and snarl like dogs,
And go [prowling] around the city.

Look how they belch out [insults] with their mouths;
Swords [of sarcasm, ridicule, slander, and lies] are in their lips,
For they say, “Who hears us?”

For the sin of their mouths and the words of their lips,
Let them even be trapped in their pride,
And on account of the curses and lies which they tell.

Destroy them in wrath, destroy them so that they may be no more;
Let them know that God rules over Jacob (Israel)
To the ends of the earth. Selah.

They wander around for food [to devour]
And growl all night if they are not satisfied.

You have set up a banner for those who fear You [with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder—a banner to shield them from attack],
A banner that may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.

They consult only to throw him down from his high position [to dishonor him];
They delight in lies.
They bless with [the words of] their mouths,
But inwardly they curse. Selah.

Men of low degree are only a breath (emptiness), and men of [high] rank are a lie (delusion).
In the balances they go up [because they have no measurable weight or value];
They are together lighter than a breath.

They will be given over to the power of the sword;
They will be a prey for foxes.

To shoot from ambush at the blameless [one];
Suddenly they shoot at him, without fear.

They encourage themselves in [their pursuit of] an evil agenda;
They talk of laying snares secretly;
They say, “Who will discover us?”

They devise acts of injustice, saying,
“We are ready with a well-conceived plan.”
For the inward thought and the heart of a man are deep (mysterious, unsearchable).

But God will shoot them with an [unexpected] arrow;
Suddenly they will be wounded.

So they will be caused to stumble;
Their own tongue is against them;
All who gaze at them will shake the head [in scorn].

Then all men will fear [God’s judgment];
They will declare the work of God,
And they will consider and wisely acknowledge what He has done.

The meadows are clothed with flocks
And the valleys are covered with grain;
They shout for joy and they sing.

“All the earth will [bow down to] worship You [in submissive wonder],
And will sing praises to You;
They will praise Your name in song.” Selah.

He turned the sea into dry land;
They crossed through the river on foot;
There we rejoiced in Him.

“The kings of the [enemies’] armies flee, they flee,
And the beautiful woman who remains at home divides the spoil [left behind].”

They have seen Your [solemn] procession, O God,
The procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary [in holiness].

Save me, O God,
For the waters have threatened my life [they have come up to my neck].

They who sit in the [city’s] gate talk about me and mock me,
And I am the song of the drunkards.

Draw near to my soul and redeem it;
Ransom me because of my enemies [so that they do not delight in my distress].

They (self-righteous hypocrites) also gave me gall [poisonous and bitter] for my food,
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

May their table [with all its abundance and luxury] become a snare [to them];
And when they are in peace [secure at their sacrificial feasts], may it become a trap.

May their eyes be dimmed so that they cannot see,
And make their loins shake continually [in terror and weakness].

For they have persecuted him whom You have struck,
And they tell of the pain of those whom You have pierced and wounded.

My tongue also will speak of Your righteousness all day long;
For they are ashamed, for they are humiliated who seek my injury.

Let them fear You [with awe-inspired reverence and worship You with obedience] while the sun endures,
And as long as the moon [reflects light], throughout all generations.

So may he live, and may the gold of Sheba be given to him;
And let them pray for him continually;
Let them bless and praise him all day long.

For there are no pains in their death,
Their body is fat and pampered.

They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like mankind.

Their eye bulges from fatness [they have more than the heart desires];
The imaginations of their mind run riot [with foolishness].

They mock and wickedly speak of oppression;
They speak loftily [with malice].

They set their mouth against the heavens,
And their tongue swaggers through the earth.

They say, “How does God know?
Is there knowledge [of us] with the Most High?”

Behold, these are the ungodly,
Who always prosper and are at ease [in the world]; they have increased in wealth.

How they are destroyed in a moment!
They are completely swept away by sudden terrors!

In the midst of Your meeting place Your enemies have roared [with their battle cry];
They have set up their own emblems for signs [of victory].

It seems as if one had lifted up
An axe in a forest of trees [to set a record of destruction].

And now all the carved work [of the meeting place]
They smash with hatchets and hammers.

They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;
They have profaned the dwelling place of Your name.

They said in their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.”
They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

We give thanks and praise to You, O God, we give thanks,
For Your [wonderful works declare that Your] name is near;
People declare Your wonders.

The stouthearted have been stripped of their spoil,
They have slept the sleep [of death];
And none of the warriors could use his hands.

The waters [of the Red Sea] saw You, O God;
The waters saw You, they were in anguish;
The deeps also trembled.

For He established a testimony (a specific precept) in Jacob
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers
That they should teach to their children [the great facts of God’s transactions with Israel],

That they should place their confidence in God
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments,

The sons of Ephraim were armed as archers and carrying bows,
Yet they turned back in the day of battle.

They did not keep the covenant of God
And refused to walk according to His law;

Yet they still continued to sin against Him
By rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

And in their hearts they put God to the test
By asking for food according to their [selfish] appetite.

Then they spoke against God;
They said, “Can God prepare [food for] a table in the wilderness?

Because they did not believe in God [they did not rely on Him, they did not adhere to Him],
And they did not trust in His salvation (His power to save).

So they ate and were well filled,
He gave them what they craved.

Before they had satisfied their desire,
And while their food was in their mouths,

In spite of all this they still sinned,
For they did not believe in His wonderful and extraordinary works.

When He killed [some of] them, then those remaining sought Him,
And they returned [to Him] and searched diligently for God [for a time].

And they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.

Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouths
And lied to Him with their tongues.

For their heart was not steadfast toward Him,
Nor were they faithful to His covenant.

For He [graciously] remembered that they were mere [human] flesh,
A wind that goes and does not return.

How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness
And grieved Him in the desert!

Again and again they tempted God,
And distressed the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember [the miracles worked by] His [powerful] hand,
Nor the day when He redeemed them from the enemy,

And turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, so that they could not drink.

He led them safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea engulfed their enemies.

Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies (laws).

They turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were twisted like a warped bow [that will not respond to the archer’s aim].

For they provoked Him to [righteous] anger with their high places [devoted to idol worship]
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images [by denying Him the love, worship, and obedience that is rightfully and uniquely His].

He drove His enemies backward;
He subjected them to lasting shame and dishonor.

O God, the nations have invaded [the land of Your people] Your inheritance;
They have defiled Your sacred temple;
They have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

They have given the dead bodies of Your servants as food to the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth.

They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem,
And there was no one to bury them.

For they have devoured Jacob
And made his pasture desolate.

And return into the lap of our neighbors sevenfold
The taunts with which they have taunted You, O Lord.

It is burned with fire, it is cut down;
They perish at the rebuke of Your [angry] appearance.

“So I gave them up to the stubbornness of their heart,
To walk in [the path of] their own counsel.

The rulers do not know nor do they understand;
They walk on in the darkness [of complacent satisfaction];
All the foundations of the earth [the fundamental principles of the administration of justice] are shaken.

They concoct crafty schemes against Your people,
And conspire together against Your hidden and precious ones.

They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation;
Let the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

For they have conspired together with one mind;
Against You they make a covenant—

Assyria also has joined with them;
They have helped the children of Lot [the Ammonites and the Moabites] and have been an arm [of strength] to them. Selah.