I Take Refuge in You A Shiggaiona of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite. 1O LORD my God, I take refuge in You; save me and deliver me from all my pursuers, 2or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me. 3O LORD my God, if I have done this, 4if I have rewarded my allyb with evil, if I have plundered my foe without cause, 5then may my enemy pursue me and overtake me; may he trample me to the ground and leave my honor in the dust. 6Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies. Awake, my God, and ordain judgment. 7Let the assembled peoples gather around You; take Your seat over them on high. 8The LORD judges the peoples; vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and integrity. 9Put an end to the evil of the wicked, but establish the righteous, O righteous God who searches hearts and minds.c 10My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. 11God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation each day. 12If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow. 13He has prepared His deadly weapons; He ordains His arrows with fire. 14Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood. 15He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making. 16His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head. 17I will thank the LORD for His righteousness and sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. Footnotes: 1 a Shiggaion is probably a musical or liturgical term. 4 b Hebrew the one at peace with me 9 c Hebrew hearts and kidneys |