Psalm 7

Psalm 7

A Prayer for Justice

1 O Lord, my God, I come to you for protection;

    rescue me and save me from all who pursue me,

2 or else like a lion they will carry me off

    where no one can save me,

    and there they will tear me to pieces.

3-4 O Lord, my God, if I have wronged anyone,

    if I have betrayed a friend

    or without cause done violence to my enemy—

    if I have done any of these things—

5 then let my enemies pursue me and catch me,

    let them cut me down and kill me

    and leave me lifeless on the ground!

6 Rise in your anger, O Lord!

    Stand up against the fury of my enemies;

    rouse yourself and help me!

Justice is what you demand,

7     so bring together all the peoples around you,

    and rule over them from above.

8 You are the judge of all people.

    Judge in my favor, O Lord;

    you know that I am innocent.

9  You are a righteous God

    and judge our thoughts and desires.

Stop the wickedness of evildoers

    and reward those who are good.

10 God is my protector;

    he saves those who obey him.

11 God is a righteous judge

    and always condemns the wicked.

12 If they do not change their ways,

    God will sharpen his sword.

He bends his bow and makes it ready;

13     he takes up his deadly weapons

    and aims his burning arrows.

14 See how wicked people think up evil;

    they plan trouble and practice deception.

15 But in the traps they set for others,

    they themselves get caught.

16 So they are punished by their own evil

    and are hurt by their own violence.

17 I thank the Lord for his justice;

    I sing praises to the Lord, the Most High.

Good News Translation

Just three weeks ago I started going through the Book of Psalms, thinking that I would make my life easy for the next three years, and share a Psalm with you every Sunday. If you are observant and follow my blog faithfully, you may have noticed that I skipped a couple chapters. That is because I am concentrating on being thankful this month, so have jumped to chapters which include the word “thanks” or “thankfulness”. It is amazing how many times those words are in the Bible. And for good reason, don’t you think? 

(And doesn't that male lion look like a big baby, as if he would never harm a fly? His paws are the size of dinner plates. I think I will stay in the safari van, thank you very much.)