For this cause there will be no mercy for sinners when they are judged, and the evil-doers will have no place among the upright,

Then will his angry words come to their ears, and by his wrath they will be troubled:

They will be ruled by you with a rod of iron; they will be broken like a potter's vessel.

Lord, how greatly are they increased who make attacks on me! in great numbers they come against me.

Lord, you have put joy in my heart, more than they have when their grain and their wine are increased.

Send them to destruction, O Lord; let their evil designs be the cause of their fall; let them be forced out by all their sins; because they have gone against your authority.

My eyes are wasting away with trouble; they are becoming old because of all those who are against me.

When my haters are turned back, they will be broken and overcome before you.

You have given their towns to destruction; the memory of them has gone; they have become waste for ever.

The nations have gone down into the hole which they made: in their secret net is their foot taken.

Put them in fear, O Lord, so that the nations may see that they are only men. (Selah.)

His ways are ever fixed; your decisions are higher than he may see: as for his haters, they are as nothing to him.

See, the bows of the evil-doers are bent, they make ready their arrows on the cord, so that they may send them secretly against the upright in heart.

They have said, With our tongues will we overcome; our lips are ours: who is lord over us?

The foolish man has said in his heart, God will not do anything. They are unclean, they have done evil works; there is not one who does good.

They have all gone out of the way together; they are unclean, there is not one who does good, no, not one.

Have all the workers of evil no knowledge? they take my people for food as they would take bread; they make no prayer to the Lord.

Then were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the upright.

As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the noble in whom is all my delight.

He sent out his arrows, driving them in all directions; by his flames of fire they were troubled.

He made me free from my strong hater, and from those who were against me, because they were stronger than I.

They came on me in the day of my trouble; but the Lord was my support.

I go after my haters and overtake them; not turning back till they are all overcome.

I will give them wounds, so that they are not able to get up: they are stretched under my feet.

They were crying out, but there was no one to come to their help: even to the Lord, but he gave them no answer.

Then they were crushed as small as dust before the wind; they were drained out like the waste of the streets.

From the time when my name comes to their ears they will be ruled by me: men of other countries will, with false hearts, put themselves under my authority.

They will be wasting away, they will come out of their secret places shaking with fear.

More to be desired are they than gold, even than much shining gold; sweeter than the dropping honey.

They are bent down and made low; but we have been lifted up.

You will make them like a flaming oven before you; the Lord in his wrath will put an end to them, and they will be burned up in the fire.

For their thoughts were bitter against you: they had an evil design in their minds, which they were not able to put into effect.

Our fathers had faith in you: they had faith and you were their saviour.

They sent up their cry to you and were made free: they put their faith in you and were not put to shame.

I am laughed at by all those who see me: pushing out their lips and shaking their heads they say,

Dogs have come round me: I am shut in by the band of evil-doers; they made wounds in my hands and feet.

They make a division of my robes among them, by the decision of chance they take my clothing.

They will come and make his righteousness clear to a people of the future because he has done this.

O Lord, keep in mind your pity and your mercies; for they have been from the earliest times.

When evil-doers, even my haters, came on me to put an end to me, they were broken and put to shame.

Because they have no respect for the works of the Lord, or for the things which his hands have made, they will be broken down and not lifted up by him.

Take me out of the net which they have put ready for me secretly; for you are my strength.

False statements against me have come to my ears; fear was on every side: they were talking together against me, designing to take away my life.

For without cause they have put a net ready for me secretly, in which to take my soul.

False witnesses got up: they put questions to me about crimes of which I had no knowledge.

They gave me back evil for good, troubling my soul.

But as for me, when they were ill I put on the clothing of sorrow: I went without food and was sad, and my prayer came back again to my heart.

But they took pleasure in my trouble, and came together, yes, low persons came together against me without my knowledge; they never came to an end of wounding me.

Like men of deceit they put me to shame; the voice of their wrath was loud against me.

For they do not say words of peace; in their deceit they are designing evil things against the quiet ones in the land.

Their mouths were open wide against me, and they said, Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it.

There the workers of evil have come down: they have been made low, and will not be lifted up.

For they will quickly be cut down like grass, and become dry like the green plants.

But the gentle will have the earth for their heritage; they will take their delight in peace without measure.

They will not be shamed in the evil time, and in the days when all are in need of food they will have enough.

But the wrongdoers will come to destruction, and the haters of the Lord will be like the fat of lambs, they will be burned up; they will go up in smoke, and never again be seen.

For the Lord is a lover of righteousness, and takes care of his saints; they will be kept safe for ever; but the seed of the evil-doers will be cut off.

But as for the sinners, they will be cut off together; the end of the wrongdoers is destruction.

And the Lord will be their help, and keep them safe: he will take them out of the hands of the evil-doers, and be their saviour, because they had faith in him.

For unnumbered evils are round about me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I am bent down with their weight; they are more than the hairs of my head, my strength is gone because of them.

All my haters are talking secretly together against me; they are designing my downfall.

They say, He has an evil disease, which will not let him go: and now that he is down he will not get up again.

My tears have been my food day and night, while they keep saying to me, Where is your God?

The cruel words of my haters are like a crushing of my bones; when they say to me every day, Where is your God?

For they did not make the land theirs by their swords, and it was not their arms which kept them safe; but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your face, because you had pleasure in them.

Through you will we overcome our haters; by your name will they be crushed under our feet who are violent against us.

With joy and rapture will they come; they will go into the king's house.

Death will give them their food like sheep; the underworld is their fate and they will go down into it; their flesh is food for worms; their form is wasted away; the underworld is their resting-place for ever.

Then you will have delight in the offerings of righteousness, in burned offerings and offerings of beasts; then they will make offerings of oxen on your altar.

The foolish man has said in his heart, God will not do anything. They are unclean, they have done evil works; there is not one who does good.

Every one of them has gone back; they are unclean: there is not one who does good, no, not one.

Have the workers of evil no knowledge? they take my people for food, as they would take bread; they make no prayer to God.

They were in great fear, where there was no cause for fear: for the bones of those who make war on you have been broken by God; you have put them to shame, because God has no desire for them.

For men who are going after me have come out against me, violent men are purposing to take my soul; they have not put God before their eyes. (Selah.)

I am troubled because of the voice of the cruel ones, because of the loud cry of the evil-doers; for they put a weight of evil on me, and they are cruel in their hate for me.

By day and night they go round the town, on the walls; trouble and sorrow are in the heart of it.

God will give thought to me; he who from early times is strong will send pain and trouble on them. (Selah.) Because they are unchanged, they have no fear of God.

The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, but they were sharp swords.

Every day they make wrong use of my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.

They come together, they are waiting in secret places, they take note of my steps, they are waiting for my soul.

By evil-doing they will not get free from punishment. In wrath, O God, let the peoples be made low.

You have seen my wanderings; put the drops from my eyes into your bottle; are they not in your record?

They have made ready a net for my steps; my soul is bent down; they have made a great hole before me, and have gone down into it themselves. (Selah.)

The evil-doers are strange from the first; from the hour of their birth they go out of the true way, saying false words.

Their poison is like the poison of a snake; they are like the adder, whose ears are shut;

Before they are conscious of it, let them be cut down like thorns; let a strong wind take them away like waste growth.

For see, they are watching in secret for my soul; the strong have come together against me? but not because of my sin, or my evil-doing, O Lord.

For no sin of mine they go quickly and get themselves ready; be awake and come to my help, and see.

They come back in the evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go round the town.

See, hate is dropping from their lips; curses are on their tongues: they say, Who gives attention to it?

Put an end to them in your wrath, put an end to them, so that they may not be seen again; let them see that God is ruling in Jacob and to the ends of the earth. (Selah.)

Let them go wandering up and down in search of food, and be there all night if they have not enough.

Give a safe place to those who have fear of you, where they may go in flight from before the bow. (Selah.)

Truly men of low birth are nothing, and men of high position are not what they seem; if they are put in the scales together they are less than a breath.

So that in secret they may let loose their arrows at the upright, suddenly and unseen.

They make themselves strong in an evil purpose; they make holes for secret nets; they say, Who will see it,

But God sends out an arrow against them; suddenly they are wounded.

And in fear men make public the works of God; and giving thought to his acts they get wisdom.

Those in the farthest parts of the earth have fear when they see your signs: the outgoings of the morning and evening are glad because of you.

The grass-land is thick with flocks; the valleys are full of grain; they give glad cries and songs of joy.