When they are diminished and bowed down
Through oppression, misery and sorrow,

For they have opened the wicked and deceitful mouth against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me without cause.

In return for my love they act as my accusers;
But I am in prayer.

Thus they have repaid me evil for good
And hatred for my love.

I also have become a reproach to them;
When they see me, they wag their head.

Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, they shall be ashamed,
But Your servant shall be glad.

Great are the works of the Lord;
They are studied by all who delight in them.

They are upheld forever and ever;
They are performed in truth and uprightness.

They have mouths, but they cannot speak;
They have eyes, but they cannot see;

They have ears, but they cannot hear;
They have noses, but they cannot smell;

They have hands, but they cannot feel;
They have feet, but they cannot walk;
They cannot make a sound with their throat.

They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me;
In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.

They surrounded me like bees;
They were extinguished as a fire of thorns;
In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.

They also do no unrighteousness;
They walk in His ways.

Your testimonies also are my delight;
They are my counselors.

May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie;
But I shall meditate on Your precepts.

All Your commandments are faithful;
They have persecuted me with a lie; help me!

They almost destroyed me on earth,
But as for me, I did not forsake Your precepts.

They stand this day according to Your ordinances,
For all things are Your servants.

Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,
For they are ever mine.

I have inherited Your testimonies forever,
For they are the joy of my heart.

It is time for the Lord to act,
For they have broken Your law.

My eyes shed streams of water,
Because they do not keep Your law.

Those who follow after wickedness draw near;
They are far from Your law.

Salvation is far from the wicked,
For they do not seek Your statutes.

I behold the treacherous and loathe them,
Because they do not keep Your word.

I am for peace, but when I speak,
They are for war.

A Song of Ascents, of David.
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.

Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their anger was kindled against us;

Then our mouth was filled with laughter
And our tongue with joyful shouting;
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”

A Song of Ascents, of Solomon.
Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.

How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

A Song of Ascents.
“Many times they have persecuted me from my youth up,”
Let Israel now say,

“Many times they have persecuted me from my youth up;
Yet they have not prevailed against me.

“The plowers plowed upon my back;
They lengthened their furrows.”

They have mouths, but they do not speak;
They have eyes, but they do not see;

They have ears, but they do not hear,
Nor is there any breath at all in their mouths.

All the kings of the earth will give thanks to You, O Lord,
When they have heard the words of Your mouth.

And they will sing of the ways of the Lord,
For great is the glory of the Lord.

If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

For they speak against You wickedly,
And Your enemies take Your name in vain.

I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.

Who devise evil things in their hearts;
They continually stir up wars.

They sharpen their tongues as a serpent;
Poison of a viper is under their lips. Selah.

The proud have hidden a trap for me, and cords;
They have spread a net by the wayside;
They have set snares for me. Selah.

“Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked;
Do not promote his evil device, that they not be exalted. Selah.

“May burning coals fall upon them;
May they be cast into the fire,
Into deep pits from which they cannot rise.

Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock,
And they hear my words, for they are pleasant.

Keep me from the jaws of the trap which they have set for me,
And from the snares of those who do iniquity.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
You knew my path.
In the way where I walk
They have hidden a trap for me.

“Give heed to my cry,
For I am brought very low;
Deliver me from my persecutors,
For they are too strong for me.

Bow Your heavens, O Lord, and come down;
Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness
And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom
And talk of Your power;

He has not dealt thus with any nation;
And as for His ordinances, they have not known them.
Praise the Lord!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For He commanded and they were created.

Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head
And ornaments about your neck.

If they say, “Come with us,
Let us lie in wait for blood,
Let us ambush the innocent without cause;

For their feet run to evil
And they hasten to shed blood.

But they lie in wait for their own blood;
They ambush their own lives.

“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently but they will not find me,

Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord.

“They would not accept my counsel,
They spurned all my reproof.

“So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way
And be satiated with their own devices.

None who go to her return again,
Nor do they reach the paths of life.

For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you.

So they will be life to your soul
And adornment to your neck.

For they cannot sleep unless they do evil;
And they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.

For they eat the bread of wickedness
And drink the wine of violence.

The way of the wicked is like darkness;
They do not know over what they stumble.

For they are life to those who find them
And health to all their body.

When you walk about, they will guide you;
When you sleep, they will watch over you;
And when you awake, they will talk to you.

That they may keep you from an adulteress,
From the foreigner who flatters with her words.

“They are all straightforward to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.

“Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,
For blessed are they who keep my ways.

Will they not go astray who devise evil?
But kindness and truth will be to those who devise good.

Without consultation, plans are frustrated,
But with many counselors they succeed.

The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels,
And they go down into the innermost parts of the body.

All the brothers of a poor man hate him;
How much more do his friends abandon him!
He pursues them with words, but they are gone.

The violence of the wicked will drag them away,
Because they refuse to act with justice.

A wise man scales the city of the mighty
And brings down the stronghold in which they trust.

For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
That they may be ready on your lips.

“They struck me, but I did not become ill;
They beat me, but I did not know it.
When shall I awake?
I will seek another drink.”

The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels,
And they go down into the innermost parts of the body.

When the wicked rise, men hide themselves;
But when they perish, the righteous increase.

Four things are small on the earth,
But they are exceedingly wise:

The ants are not a strong people,
But they prepare their food in the summer;

The shephanim are not mighty people,
Yet they make their houses in the rocks;

There are three things which are stately in their march,
Even four which are stately when they walk:

For they will drink and forget what is decreed,
And pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

All the rivers flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full.
To the place where the rivers flow,
There they flow again.

I said to myself concerning the sons of men, “God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts.”

For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity.

Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them.

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.

Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?

Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil.

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he,