1. Give ear to my prayer, O God,and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
2. Attend to me, and answer me;I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
3. because of the noise of the enemy,because of the oppression of the wicked.For they drop trouble upon me,and in anger they bear a grudge against me.
4. My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5. Fear and trembling come upon me,and horror overwhelms me.
6. And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!I would fly away and be at rest;
7. yes, I would wander far away;I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
8. I would hurry to find a shelterfrom the raging wind and tempest.”
9. Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues;for I see violence and strife in the city.
10. Day and night they go around iton its walls,and iniquity and trouble are within it;
11. ruin is in its midst; oppression and frauddo not depart from its marketplace.
12. For it is not an enemy who taunts me—then I could bear it;it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—then I could hide from him.
13. But it is you, a man, my equal,my companion, my familiar friend.
14. We used to take sweet counsel together;within God’s house we walked in the throng.
15. Let death steal over them;let them go down to Sheol alive;for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.
16. But I call to God,and the Lord will save me.
17. Evening and morning and at noonI utter my complaint and moan,and he hears my voice.
18. He redeems my soul in safetyfrom the battle that I wage,for many are arrayed against me.