4. Those who hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head; those who would cut me off and destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully, are many and mighty. I am [forced] to restore what I did not steal. [John 15:25.]
5. O God, You know my folly and blundering; my sins and my guilt are not hidden from You.
6. Let not those who wait and hope and look for You, O Lord of hosts, be put to shame through me; let not those who seek and inquire for and require You [as their vital necessity] be brought to confusion and dishonor through me, O God of Israel.
7. Because for Your sake I have borne taunt and reproach; confusion and shame have covered my face.
8. I have become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to my mother's children. [John 7:3-5.]
9. For zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches and insults of those who reproach and insult You have fallen upon me. [John 2:17; Rom. 15:3.]
10. When I wept and humbled myself with fasting, I was jeered at and humiliated;
11. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword (an object of scorn) to them.
12. They who sit in [the city's] gate talk about me, and I am the song of the drunkards.
13. But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord. At an acceptable and opportune time, O God, in the multitude of Your mercy and the abundance of Your loving-kindness hear me, and in the truth and faithfulness of Your salvation answer me.
14. Rescue me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from those who hate me and from out of the deep waters.
15. Let not the floodwaters overflow and overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up nor the [dug] pit [with water perhaps in the bottom] close its mouth over me.
16. Hear and answer me, O Lord, for Your loving-kindness is sweet and comforting; according to Your plenteous tender mercy and steadfast love turn to me.
17. Hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress; O answer me speedily!
18. Draw close to me and redeem me; ransom and set me free because of my enemies [lest they glory in my prolonged distress]!
19. You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor; my adversaries are all before You [fully known to You].
20. Insults and reproach have broken my heart; I am full of heaviness and I am distressingly sick. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
21. They gave me also gall [poisonous and bitter] for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar (a soured wine) to drink. [Matt. 27:34, 48.]
22. Let their own table [with all its abundance and luxury] become a snare to them; and when they are secure in peace [or at their sacrificial feasts, let it become] a trap to them.
23. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually [from terror, dismay, and feebleness].
24. Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let the fierceness of Your burning anger catch up with them.