Podcast: Download
Subscribe: RSS
[1] Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
[2] Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
[3] because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me.
[4] My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
[5] Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.
[6] And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;
[7] yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness;
[8] I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.”
[9] Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city.
[10] Day and night they go around it on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it; [11] ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.
[12] For it is not an enemy who taunts me—then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—then I could hide from him.
[13] But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.
[14] We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.
[15] Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.
[16] But I call to God, and the LORD will save me.
[17] Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.
[18] He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.
[19] God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old,
because they do not change and do not fear God.
[20] My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant.
[21] His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.
[22] Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you;
he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
[23] But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction;
men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you.