Lord, look! They set an ambush for me.
Powerful men attack me,
but not because of any sin or rebellion of mine.

For no fault of mine,
they run and take up a position.
Awake to help me, and take notice.

They return at evening, snarling like dogs
and prowling around the city.

Look, they spew from their mouths—
sharp words from their lips.
“For who,” they say, “will hear?”

For the sin of their mouths and the words of their lips,
let them be caught in their pride.
They utter curses and lies.

Consume them in rage;
consume them until they are gone.
Then people will know throughout the earth
that God rules over Jacob.Selah

And they return at evening, snarling like dogs
and prowling around the city.

They scavenge for food;
they growl if they are not satisfied.

You have given a signal flag to those who fear You,
so that they can flee before the archers.Selah

They only plan to bring him down
from his high position.
They take pleasure in lying;
they bless with their mouths,
but they curse inwardly.Selah

Men are only a vapor;
exalted men, an illusion.
Weighed in the scales, they go up;
together they are less than a vapor.

They will be given over to the power of the sword;
they will become the jackals’ prey.

shooting from concealed places at the innocent.
They shoot at him suddenly and are not afraid.

They encourage each other in an evil plan;
they talk about hiding traps and say,
“Who will see them?”

They devise crimes and say,
“We have perfected a secret plan.”
The inner man and the heart are mysterious.

But God will shoot them with arrows;
suddenly, they will be wounded.

They will be made to stumble;
their own tongues work against them.
All who see them will shake their heads.

Then everyone will fear
and will tell about God’s work,
for they will understand what He has done.

The pastures are clothed with flocks
and the valleys covered with grain.
They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.

All the earth will worship You
and sing praise to You.
They will sing praise to Your name.”Selah

He turned the sea into dry land,
and they crossed the river on foot.
There we rejoiced in Him.

But the righteous are glad;
they rejoice before God and celebrate with joy.

“The kings of the armies flee—they flee!”
She who stays at home divides the spoil.

Instead, they gave me gall for my food,
and for my thirst
they gave me vinegar to drink.

For they persecute the one You struck
and talk about the pain of those You wounded.

for God will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah.
They will live there and possess it.

They have an easy time until they die,
and their bodies are well fed.

They are not in trouble like others;
they are not afflicted like most people.

They mock, and they speak maliciously;
they arrogantly threaten oppression.

They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues strut across the earth.

The wicked say, “How can God know?
Does the Most High know everything?”

Look at them—the wicked!
They are always at ease,
and they increase their wealth.

How suddenly they become a desolation!
They come to an end, swept away by terrors.

Your adversaries roared in the meeting place
where You met with us.
They set up their emblems as signs.

They set Your sanctuary on fire;
they utterly desecrated
the dwelling place of Your name.

They said in their hearts,
“Let us oppress them relentlessly.”
They burned down every place throughout the land
where God met with us.

The brave-hearted have been plundered;
they have slipped into their final sleep.
None of the warriors was able to lift a hand.

The waters saw You, God.
The waters saw You; they trembled.
Even the depths shook.

so that a future generation—
children yet to be born—might know.
They were to rise and tell their children

so that they might put their confidence in God
and not forget God’s works,
but keep His commands.

Then they would not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not loyal
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

They did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by His law.

They forgot what He had done,
the wonderful works He had shown them.

But they continued to sin against Him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

They deliberately tested God,
demanding the food they craved.

They spoke against God, saying,
“Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?

because they did not believe God
or rely on His salvation.

They ate and were completely satisfied,
for He gave them what they craved.

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

Despite all this, they kept sinning
and did not believe His wonderful works.

When He killed some of them,
the rest began to seek Him;
they repented and searched for God.

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

But they deceived Him with their mouths,
they lied to Him with their tongues,

their hearts were insincere toward Him,
and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

He remembered that they were only flesh,
a wind that passes and does not return.

How often they rebelled against Him
in the wilderness
and grieved Him in the desert.

They constantly tested God
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember His power shown
on the day He redeemed them from the foe,

He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams.

He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.

But they rebelliously tested the Most High God,
for they did not keep His decrees.

They treacherously turned away like their fathers;
they became warped like a faulty bow.

They enraged Him with their high places
and provoked His jealousy with their carved images.

They gave the corpses of Your servants
to the birds of the sky for food,
the flesh of Your godly ones
to the beasts of the earth.

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

for they have devoured Jacob
and devastated his homeland.

Pay back sevenfold to our neighbors
the reproach they have hurled at You, Lord.

It was cut down and burned up;
they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.

They do not know or understand;
they wander in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

They devise clever schemes against Your people;
they conspire against Your treasured ones.

They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation
so that Israel’s name will no longer be remembered.”

For they have conspired with one mind;
they form an alliance against You—

Even Assyria has joined them;
they lend support to the sons of Lot.Selah

They were destroyed at En-dor;
they became manure for the ground.

Cover their faces with shame
so that they will seek Your name Yahweh.

May they know that You alone—
whose name is Yahweh—
are the Most High over all the earth.

As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a source of springwater;
even the autumn rain will cover it with blessings.

They go from strength to strength;
each appears before God in Zion.

God, arrogant people have attacked me;
a gang of ruthless men seeks my life.
They have no regard for You.

They surround me like water all day long;
they close in on me from every side.

Happy are the people who know the joyful shout;
Yahweh, they walk in the light of Your presence.

They rejoice in Your name all day long,
and they are exalted by Your righteousness.

if they dishonor My statutes
and do not keep My commands,

how Your enemies have ridiculed, Lord,
how they have ridiculed every step of Your anointed.

You end their lives; they sleep.
They are like grass that grows in the morning—

Our lives last seventy years
or, if we are strong, eighty years.
Even the best of them are struggle and sorrow;
indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.

They will support you with their hands
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be eternally destroyed.

My eyes look down on my enemies;
my ears hear evildoers when they attack me.

Planted in the house of the Lord,
they thrive in the courts of our God.

They will still bear fruit in old age,
healthy and green,

Rise up, Judge of the earth;
repay the proud what they deserve.

They pour out arrogant words;
all the evildoers boast.

Lord, they crush Your people;
they afflict Your heritage.

They kill the widow and the foreigner
and murder the fatherless.

They say, “The Lord doesn’t see it.
The God of Jacob doesn’t pay attention.”

The Lord knows man’s thoughts;
they are meaningless.

They band together against the life of the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.

where your fathers tested Me;
they tried Me, though they had seen what I did.

For 40 years I was disgusted with that generation;
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray;
they do not know My ways.”