[1] O Eternal One, I call upon You. Come quickly! Listen to my voice as I call upon You! [2] Consider my prayer as an offering of incense that rises before You; when I stand with my hands outstretched pleading toward the heavens, consider it as an evening offering. [3] Guard my mouth, O Eternal One; control what I say. Keep a careful watch on every word I speak. [4] Don't allow my deepest desires to steer me toward doing what is wrong or associating with wicked people Or joining in their wicked works or tasting any of their pleasures. [5] Let those who do right strike me down in kindness and correct me in love. Their kind correction washes over my head like pure oil; do not let me be foolish and refuse such compassion. Still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked: [6] Their judges will be thrown from the edges of cliffs and crushed upon the rocks below, and the wicked will hear my words and realize that what I said was pleasing. [7] Just as when a farmer plows and breaks open the earth, leaving clumps of dirt scattered along the rows, our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave. [8] My gaze is fixed upon You, Eternal One, my Lord; in You I find safety and protection. Do not abandon me and leave me defenseless. [9] Protect me from the jaws of the trap my enemies have set for me and from the snares of those who work evil. [10] May the wicked be caught in their own nets while I alone escape unharmed.
