¹ Keep me safe, Lord, from the evil man.
Protect me from the violent man,
² who plans evil in his heart.
Every day they gather for battle.
³ They sharpen their tongues like a snake. Interlude
The poison of vipers is under their lips.
⁴ Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked.
Protect me from the violent man, who plans to trip my feet.
⁵ The proud have hidden a snare for me, and ropes. ^[1]
They have spread out a net along my route. Interlude
They have set traps for me.

⁶ I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”
Hear, O Lord, the sound of my cry for mercy.
⁷ O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation,
you cover my head on the day for weapons.
⁸ Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked.
Do not let their scheme succeed when they rise up. ^[2] Interlude

⁹ May the trouble caused by their lips
    fall on the heads of those who surround me.
¹⁰ Let burning coals fall on them.
Cause them to fall into the fire,
or into pits from which they will never rise.
¹¹ Do not let the slanderer ^[3] be established in the land.
As for the man of violence—
may evil hunt him and beat him down.

¹² I know that the Lord will provide justice for the oppressed,
    judgment for the poor.
¹³ Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name.
The upright will live in your presence.

¹ Lord, I call to you. Hurry to me.
Turn your ear toward my voice when I call to you.
² May my prayer linger before you like incense,
the lifting up of my hands like an evening offering.

³ Set a guard over my mouth, Lord.
Keep watch over the door of my lips.
⁴ Do not let my heart turn toward anything evil,
to take part in wicked deeds with men who do evil.
Let me not taste their delicacies.

⁵ Let a righteous man strike me—it is mercy.
Let him rebuke me—it is lotion ^[4] on my head.
My head will not refuse it.

But my prayer is still against their evil deeds.
⁶ Their rulers will be thrown down by the sides of the cliff,
and they will hear that my words were pleasant.
⁷ They will say, ^[5] “As one splits and breaks up the earth,
so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.”

⁸ But my eyes look to you, Lord God. ^[6]
In you I take refuge. Do not take away my life.
⁹ Keep me from the snares they have set for me,
    from the traps of the evildoers.
¹⁰ Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.