³ O Lord my God,
if I have done this—
if my hands are stained with injustice,
⁴ if I have paid back my friend with evil
or rescued someone who has no reason to attack me—

⁵ then let the enemy chase me and catch me.
Let him trample my life into the ground.
Let him lay my honor in the dust. Selah

⁶ Arise in anger, O Lord.
Stand up against the fury of my attackers.
Wake up, my God.^[b]
You have already pronounced judgment.
⁷ Let an assembly of people gather around you.
Take your seat high above them.
⁸ The Lord judges the people of the world.
Judge me, O Lord,
according to my righteousness,
according to my integrity.

⁹ Let the evil within wicked people come to an end,
but make the righteous person secure,
O righteous God who examines thoughts and emotions.
¹⁰ My shield is God above,
who saves those whose motives are decent.

¹¹ God is a fair judge,
a God who is angered by injustice every day.
¹² If a person does not change, God sharpens his sword.
By bending his bow, he makes it ready ⌞to shoot⌟.
¹³ He prepares his deadly weapons
and turns them into flaming arrows.
¹⁴ See how that person conceives evil,
is pregnant with harm,
and gives birth to lies.
¹⁵ He digs a pit and shovels it out.
Then he falls into the hole that he made ⌞for others⌟.
¹⁶ His mischief lands back on his own head.
His violence comes down on top of him.

¹⁷ I will give thanks to the Lord for his righteousness.
I will make music to praise the name of the Lord Most High.