Psalm 7-9

New International Version - UK

³ Lord my God, if I have done this
    and there is guilt on my hands –
⁴ if I have repaid my ally with evil
    or without cause have robbed my foe –
⁵ then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;
    let him trample my life to the ground
    and make me sleep in the dust.^[c]

⁶ Arise, Lord, in your anger;
    rise up against the rage of my enemies.
    Awake, my God; decree justice.
⁷ Let the assembled peoples gather round you,
    while you sit enthroned over them on high.
⁸     Let the Lord judge the peoples.
Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness,
    according to my integrity, O Most High.
⁹ Bring to an end the violence of the wicked
    and make the righteous secure –
you, the righteous God
    who probes minds and hearts.

¹⁰ My shield^[d] is God Most High,
    who saves the upright in heart.
¹¹ God is a righteous judge,
    a God who displays his wrath every day.
¹² If he does not relent,
    he^[e] will sharpen his sword;
    he will bend and string his bow.
¹³ He has prepared his deadly weapons;
    he makes ready his flaming arrows.

¹⁴ Whoever is pregnant with evil
    conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.
¹⁵ Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
    falls into the pit they have made.
¹⁶ The trouble they cause recoils on them;
    their violence comes down on their own heads.

¹⁷ I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness;
    I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
² Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?^[h]

⁵ You have made them^[i] a little lower than the angels^[j]
    and crowned them^[k] with glory and honour.
⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their^[l] feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

³ My enemies turn back;
    they stumble and perish before you.
⁴ For you have upheld my right and my cause,
    sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
⁵ You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
    you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
⁶ Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
    you have uprooted their cities;
    even the memory of them has perished.

⁷ The Lord reigns for ever;
    he has established his throne for judgment.
⁸ He rules the world in righteousness
    and judges the peoples with equity.
⁹ The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰ Those who know your name trust in you,
    for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹ Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion;
    proclaim among the nations what he has done.
¹² For he who avenges blood remembers;
    he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.

¹³ Lord, see how my enemies persecute me!
    Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
¹⁴ that I may declare your praises
    in the gates of Daughter Zion,
    and there rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵ The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
    their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
¹⁶ The Lord is known by his acts of justice;
    the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.^[o]
17 The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
    all the nations that forget God.
¹⁸ But God will never forget the needy;
    the hope of the afflicted will never perish.

¹⁹ Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph;
    let the nations be judged in your presence.
²⁰ Strike them with terror, Lord;
    let the nations know they are only mortal.