Psalms 7

1LORD my God, I take refuge in you. Save me from all who chase me, and rescue me,

2Or they will tear me apart like a lion, ripping me to pieces, with no one to rescue me.

3LORD my God, if I have done this — if there is guilt on my hands —

4If I have repaid my friend with evil, or plundered my enemy without cause,

5Then let my enemy chase me and catch me; let my enemy trample my life to the ground and lay my honor in the dust. Pause and think.

6Rise up, LORD, in your anger; stand up against the rage of my enemies. Wake up for me; you have decreed a judgment.

7Let the assembly of nations gather around you, while you rule over them from on high.

8The LORD judges the nations; judge me, LORD, according to my righteousness, according to the integrity that is in me.

9Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous — you, the righteous God, who test hearts and minds.

10God is my shield, who saves the honest in heart.

11God is a righteous judge, a God who is angry with the wicked every day.

12If a person does not repent, God will sharpen God's sword; God has strung God's bow and made it ready.

13God has also prepared deadly weapons; God tips God's arrows with fire.

14See how the wicked person is pregnant with evil, conceives trouble, and gives birth to lies.

15That wicked person digs a hole and hollows it out, and falls into the pit that wicked person has made.

16That wicked person's trouble comes back on that person's own head; that wicked person's violence falls on that person's own skull.

17I will praise the LORD because of the LORD's righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.