[1] God, listen to my prayer; don’t avoid my request! [2] Pay attention! Answer me! I can’t sit still while complaining. I’m beside myself [3] over the enemy’s noise, at the wicked person’s racket, because they bring disaster on me and harass me furiously. [4] My heart pounds in my chest because death’s terrors have reached me. [5] Fear and trembling have come upon me; I’m shaking all over. [6] I say to myself, I wish I had wings like a dove! I’d fly away and rest. [7] I’d run so far away! I’d live in the desert. Selah [8] I’d hurry to my hideout, far from the rushing wind and storm. [9] Baffle them, my Lord! Confuse their language because I see violence and conflict in the city. [10] Day and night they make their rounds on its walls, and evil and misery live inside it. [11] Disaster lives inside it; oppression and fraud never leave the town square. [12] It’s not an enemy that is insulting me—I could handle that. It’s not someone who hates me who is exalted over me—I could hide from them. [13] No. It’s you, my equal, my close companion, my good friend! [14] It was so pleasant when together we entered God’s house with the crowd. [15] Let death devastate my enemies; let them go to the grave alive because evil lives with them—even inside them! [16] But I call out to God, and the LORD will rescue me. [17] At evening, morning, and midday I complain and moan so that God will hear my voice. [18] He saves me, unharmed, from my struggle, though there are many who are out to get me. [19] God, who is enthroned from ancient days, will hear and humble them Selah because they don’t change and they don’t worship God. [20] My friend attacked his allies, breaking his covenant. [21] Though his talk is smoother than butter, war is in his heart; though his words are more silky than oil, they are really drawn swords: [22] “Cast your burden on the LORD—he will support you! God will never let the righteous be shaken!” [23] But you, God, bring the wicked down to the deepest pit. Let bloodthirsty and treacherous people not live out even half their days. But me? I trust in you!
