A meditation by David, which he sang to Yahweh, concerning the words of Cush, the Benjamite.

• ¹Yahweh, my God, I take refuge in you.
• Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,

• ²lest they tear apart my soul like a lion,
• ripping it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

• ³Yahweh, my God, if I have done this,
• if there is iniquity in my hands,

• ⁴if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me
• (yes, if I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary),
• ⁵let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it;

• yes, let him tread my life down to the earth,
• and lay my glory in the dust.

• Selah.

• ⁶Arise, Yahweh, in your anger.
• Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries.

• Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.
• ⁷Let the congregation of the peoples surround you.
• Rule over them on high.

• ⁸Yahweh administers judgment to the peoples.
• Judge me, Yahweh, according to my righteousness,
• and to my integrity that is in me.

• ⁹Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
• but establish the righteous;
• their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.

• ¹⁰My shield is with God,
• who saves the upright in heart.

• ¹¹God is a righteous judge,
• yes, a God who has indignation every day.

• ¹²If a man doesn’t relent, he will sharpen his sword;
• he has bent and strung his bow.

• ¹³He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death.
• He makes ready his flaming arrows.

• ¹⁴Behold, he travails with iniquity.
• Yes, he has conceived mischief,
• and brought forth falsehood.

• ¹⁵He has dug a hole,
• and has fallen into the pit which he made.

• ¹⁶The trouble he causes shall return to his own head.
• His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.

• ¹⁷I will give thanks to Yahweh according to his righteousness,
• and will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most High.