⁵ All day long they frustrate my pursuits;
    all their thoughts are evil against me.
⁶ They get together and set an ambush—
    they are watching my steps,
    hoping for my death.
⁷ Don’t rescue them for any reason!
    In wrath bring down the people, God!

⁸ You yourself have kept track of my misery.
    Put my tears into your bottle—
    aren’t they on your scroll already?
⁹ Then my enemies will retreat when I cry out.
    I know this because God is mine.
¹⁰     God: whose word I praise.
        The Lord: whose word I praise.
¹¹ I trust in God; I won’t be afraid.
    What can anyone do to me?

¹² I will fulfill my promises to you, God.
    I will present thanksgiving offerings to you
¹³     because you have saved my life from death,
    saved my feet from stumbling
        so that I can walk before God in the light of life.

⁴ My life is in the middle of a pack of lions.
    I lie down among those who devour humans.
        Their teeth are spears and arrows;
        their tongues are sharpened swords.
⁵ Exalt yourself, God, higher than heaven!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!
⁶ They laid a net for my feet to bring me down;
    they dug a pit for me,
    but they fell into it instead! Selah

⁷ My heart is unwavering, God—
    my heart is unwavering.
I will sing and make music.
⁸     Wake up, my glory!
    Wake up, harp and lyre!
    I will wake the dawn itself!
⁹ I will give thanks to you,
my Lord,
    among all the peoples;
I will make music to you among the nations
¹⁰     because your faithful love
        is as high as heaven;
    your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
¹¹ Exalt yourself, God, higher than heaven!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!

³ The wicked backslide from the womb;
    liars go astray from birth.
⁴ Their venom is like a snake’s venom—
    like a deaf cobra’s—one that shuts its ears
⁵         so it can’t hear the snake charmer’s voice
        or the spells of a skillful enchanter.

⁶ God, break their teeth out of their mouths!
    Tear out the lions’ jawbones, Lord!
⁷ Let them dissolve like water flowing away.
    When they bend the bow,
    let their arrows be like headless shafts.^[b]
8 Like the snail that dissolves into slime,
    like a woman’s stillborn child,
    let them never see the sun.
⁹ Before your pots feel the thorns,
    whether green or burned up,
    God will sweep them away!^[c]

¹⁰ But the righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done,
    when they wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹ Then it will be said:
“Yes, there is a reward for the righteous!
    Yes, there is a God who judges people on the earth.”