Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly horrified;
Let them turn back, let them suddenly be ashamed [of what they have done].

If I have done evil to him who was at peace with me,
Or without cause robbed him who was my enemy,

His mischief will return on his own head,
And his violence will come down on the top of his head [like loose dirt].

When my enemies turn back,
They stumble and perish before You.

The wicked will turn to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),
Even all the nations who forget God.

Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous (deliberate, willful) sins;
Let them not rule and have control over me.
Then I will be blameless (complete),
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

For [a pack of] dogs have surrounded me;
A gang of evildoers has encircled me,
They pierced my hands and my feet.

O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful [those with moral and spiritual integrity]
And fully repays the [self-righteousness of the] arrogant.

Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life;
Let those be turned back [in defeat] and humiliated who plot evil against me.

Then I said, “Behold, I come [to the throne];
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

You make us turn back from the enemy,
And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.

Our heart has not turned back,
Nor have our steps wandered from Your path,

Every one of them has turned aside and fallen away;
Together they have become filthy and corrupt;
There is no one who does good, no, not even one.

He will pay back the evil to my enemies;
In Your faithfulness destroy them.

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

Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call;
This I know, that God is for me.

The Lord said, “I will bring your enemies back from Bashan;
I will bring them back from the depths of the [Red] Sea,

Add [unforgiven] iniquity to their iniquity [in Your book],
And may they not come into Your righteousness.

May they be blotted out of the book of life [and their lives come to an end]
And may they not be recorded with the righteous (those in right standing with God).

Let them be turned back because of their shame and disgrace
Who say, “Aha, aha!”

Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand [from judging the enemy]?
Remove Your hand from Your chest, destroy them!

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

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

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].

His priests [Hophni and Phinehas] fell by the sword,
And His widows could not weep.

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

Passing through the Valley of Weeping (Baca), they make it a place of springs;
The early rain also covers it with blessings.

O Lord, You have [at last] shown favor to Your land [of Canaan];
You have restored [from Babylon] the captives of Jacob (Israel).

Also, You have turned back the edge of his sword
And have not made him [strong enough] to stand in battle.

You turn man back to dust,
And say, “Return [to the earth], O children of [mortal] men!”

He has turned back their own wickedness upon them
And will destroy them by means of their own evil;
The Lord our God will wipe them out.

Let his children wander and beg;
Let them seek their food and be driven far from their ruined homes.

He also loved cursing, and it came [back] to him;
He did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.

The [Red] Sea looked and fled;
The Jordan turned back.

What ails you, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?

When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion (Jerusalem),
We were like those who dream [it seemed so unreal].

“The [enemies, like] plowers plowed on my back;
They made their furrows [of suffering] long [in Israel].”

The Lord swore to David
A truth from which He will not turn back:
“One of your descendants I will set upon your throne.

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were appointed for me,
When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].