Prayer for Justice

¹Lord my God, I seek refuge in you;[#7:1 Ps 11:1; 31:1; 71:1]

save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,

²or they will tear me like a lion,[#7:2 Lit he]

ripping me apart with no one to rescue me.

³Lord my God, if I have done this,

if there is injustice on my hands,

⁴if I have done harm to one at peace with me[#7:4 Ps 55:20]

or have plundered my adversary without cause,

⁵may an enemy pursue and overtake me;

may he trample me to the ground

and leave my honour in the dust. Selah

⁶Rise up, Lord , in your anger;

lift yourself up against the fury of my adversaries;

awake for me; ,

you have ordained a judgement.

⁷Let the assembly of peoples gather around you;[#7:7 Ps 22:27]

take your seat on high over it.

⁸The Lord judges the peoples;[#7:8 Ps 96:13; 98:9]

vindicate me, Lord ,

according to my righteousness and my integrity.

⁹Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,[#7:9 Ps 94:23]

but establish the righteous.

The one who examines the thoughts and emotions

is a righteous God.

¹⁰My shield is with God,[#7:10 2Sm 22:3; Ps 18:2; 144:2]

who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹God is a righteous judge

and a God who shows his wrath every day.

¹²If anyone does not repent,

he will sharpen his sword;

he has strung his bow and made it ready.

¹³He has prepared his deadly weapons;

he tips his arrows with fire.

¹⁴See, the wicked one is pregnant with evil,

conceives trouble, and gives birth to deceit.

¹⁵He dug a pit and hollowed it out

but fell into the hole he had made.

¹⁶His trouble comes back on his own head;

his own violence comes down on top of his head.

¹⁷I will thank the Lord for his righteousness;

I will sing about the name of the Lord Most High.