² God looks down from heaven
    on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,^[b]
    who seek after God.

³ They have all fallen away;
    together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
    not even one.

⁴ Have those who work evil no knowledge,
    who eat up my people as they eat bread,
    and do not call upon God?

⁵ There they are, in great terror,
    ^(C)where there is no terror!
For God ^(D)scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
    you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

⁶ Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
    When God restores the fortunes of his people,
    let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
    ^(F)the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
⁵ Fear and trembling come upon me,
    and ^(G)horror ^(H)overwhelms me.
⁶ And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest;
^7 (I)yes, I would wander far away;
    I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
⁸ I would hurry to find a shelter
    from ^(J)the raging wind and tempest.”

⁹ Destroy, O Lord, ^(K)divide their tongues;
    for I see ^(L)violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they go around it
    on its walls,
and ^(M)iniquity and trouble are within it;
¹¹     ruin is in its midst;
^(N)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 ^(O)deals insolently with me—
    then I could hide from him.
^13 (P)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 ^(Q)the throng.
¹⁵ Let death steal over them;
    let them go down to Sheol ^(R)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 (S)Evening and ^(T)morning and at ^(U)noon
    I ^(V)utter my complaint and moan,
    and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He redeems my soul in safety
    from the battle that I wage,
    for ^(W)many are arrayed against me.
¹⁹ God will give ear and humble them,
    he who is ^(X)enthroned from of old, Selah
because they do not ^(Y)change
    and do not fear God.

²⁰ My companion^{[b] (Z)}stretched out his hand against his friends;
    he violated his covenant.
²¹ His ^(AA)speech was ^(AB)smooth as butter,
    yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
    yet they were ^(AC)drawn swords.

^22 (AD)Cast your burden on the Lord,
    and he will sustain you;
^(AE)he will never permit
    the righteous to be moved.

²³ But you, O God, ^(AF)will cast them down
    into ^(AG)the pit of destruction;
men of ^(AH)blood and treachery
    shall not ^(AI)live out half their days.
But I will ^(AJ)trust in you.

³ The wicked are ^(D)estranged from the womb;
    they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
^4 (E)They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
    like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
⁵ so that it ^(F)does not hear the voice of charmers
    or of the cunning enchanter.

⁶ O God, ^(G)break the teeth in their mouths;
    tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
⁷ Let them ^(H)vanish like water that runs away;
    when he ^(I)aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
⁸ Let them be like the snail ^(J)that dissolves into slime,
    like ^(K)the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
⁹ Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of ^(L)thorns,
    whether green or ablaze, may he ^(M)sweep them away!^[c]

^10 (N)The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
    he will ^(O)bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹ Mankind will say, “Surely there is ^(P)a reward for the righteous;
    surely there is a God who ^(Q)judges on earth.”