Psalm 7

1    O Lord my God, in you I take refuge;  

save me from all who pursue me, and deliver me,

2    Lest they rend me like a lion and tear me in pieces  

while there is no one to help me.

3    O Lord my God, if I have done these things:  

if there is any wickedness in my hands,

4    If I have repaid my friend with evil,  

or plundered my enemy without a cause,

5    Then let my enemy pursue me and overtake me,  

trample my life to the ground,

    and lay my honour in the dust.

6    Rise up, O Lord, in your wrath;

    lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies.  

Awaken, my God, the judgement that you have commanded.

7    Let the assembly of the peoples gather round you;  

be seated high above them: O Lord, judge the nations.

8    Give judgement for me

    according to my righteousness, O Lord,  

and according to the innocence that is in me.

9    Let the malice of the wicked come to an end,

    but establish the righteous;  

for you test the mind and heart, O righteous God.

10    God is my shield that is over me;  

he saves the true of heart.

11  God is a righteous judge;  

he is provoked all day long.

12  If they will not repent, God will whet his sword;  

he has bent his bow and made it ready.

13  He has prepared the weapons of death;  

he makes his arrows shafts of fire.

14  Behold those who are in labour with wickedness,  

who conceive evil and give birth to lies.

15  They dig a pit and make it deep  

and fall into the hole that they have made for others.

16  Their mischief rebounds on their own head;  

their violence falls on their own scalp.

17  I will give thanks to the Lord for his righteousness,  

and I will make music to the name of the Lord Most High.

 

Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is included here,
is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2000 and published by Church House Publishing.

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