A Prayer for Vindication

71 O Lord my God, I put my faith in you; take me out of the hands of him who is cruel to me, and make me free; 2 So that he may not come rushing on my soul like a lion, wounding it, while there is no one to be my saviour. 3 O Lord my God, if I have done this; if my hands have done any wrong; 4 If I have given back evil to him who did evil to me, or have taken anything from him who was against me without cause; 5 Let my hater go after my soul and take it; let my life be crushed to the earth, and my honour into the dust. (Selah.) 6 Come up, Lord, in your wrath; be lifted up against my haters; be awake, my God, give orders for the judging. 7 The meeting of the nations will be round you; take your seat, then, over them, on high. 8 The Lord will be judge of the peoples; give a decision for me, O Lord, because of my righteousness, and let my virtue have its reward. 9 O let the evil of the evil-doer come to an end, but give strength to the upright: for men's minds and hearts are tested by the God of righteousness.

10 God, who is the saviour of the upright in heart, is my breastplate. 11 God is the judge of the upright, and is angry with the evil-doers every day. 12 If a man is not turned from his evil, he will make his sword sharp; his bow is bent and ready. 13 He has made ready for him the instruments of death; he makes his arrows flames of fire. 14 That man is a worker of evil; the seed of wrongdoing has given birth to deceit. 15 He has made a hole deep in the earth, and is falling into the hole which he has made 16 His wrongdoing will come back to him, and his violent behaviour will come down on his head. 17 I will give praise to the Lord for his righteousness; I will make a song to the name of the Lord Most High.

The LORD Is My Light and My Salvation

271 The Lord is my light and my salvation; who is then a cause of fear to me? the Lord is the strength of my life; who is a danger to me? 2 When evil-doers, even my haters, came on me to put an end to me, they were broken and put to shame. 3 Even if an army came against me with its tents, my heart would have no fear: if war was made on me, my faith would not be moved. 4 One prayer have I made to the Lord, and this is my heart's desire; that I may have a place in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, looking on his glory, and getting wisdom in his Temple. 5 For in the time of trouble he will keep me safe in his tent: in the secret place of his tent he will keep me from men's eyes; high on a rock he will put me. 6 And now my head will be lifted up higher than my haters who are round me: because of this I will make offerings of joy in his tent; I will make a song, truly I will make a song of praise to the Lord.

7 O Lord, let the voice of my cry come to your ears: have mercy on me, and give me an answer. 8 When you said, Make search for my face, my heart said to you, For your face will I make my search. 9 Let not your face be covered from me; do not put away your servant in wrath; you have been my help: do not give me up or take your support from me, O God of my salvation. 10 When my father and my mother are turned away from me, then the Lord will be my support. 11 Make your way clear to me, O Lord, guiding me by the right way, because of my haters. 12 Do not give me into their hands, because false witnesses have come out against me, and men breathing destruction. 13 I had almost given up my hope of seeing the blessing of the Lord in the land of the living. 14 Let your hope be in the Lord: take heart and be strong; yes, let your hope be in the Lord.

A Profession of Trust

311 In you, O Lord, have I put my hope; let me never be shamed; keep me safe in your righteousness. 2 Let your ear be turned to me; take me quickly out of danger; be my strong Rock, my place of strength where I may be safe. 3 For you are my Rock and my strong tower; go in front of me and be my guide, because of your name. 4 Take me out of the net which they have put ready for me secretly; for you are my strength. 5 Into your hands I give my spirit; you are my saviour, O Lord God for ever true. 6 I am full of hate for those who go after false gods; but my hope is in the Lord. 7 I will be glad and have delight in your mercy; because you have seen my trouble; you have had pity on my soul in its sorrows; 8 And you have not given me into the hand of my hater; you have put my feet in a wide place.

9 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; my eyes are wasted with grief, I am wasted in soul and body. 10 My life goes on in sorrow, and my years in weeping; my strength is almost gone because of my sin, and my bones are wasted away. 11 Because of all those who are against me, I have become a word of shame to my neighbours; a cause of shaking the head and a fear to my friends: those who saw me in the street went in flight from me. 12 I have gone from men's minds and memory like a dead man; I am like a broken vessel. 13 False statements against me have come to my ears; fear was on every side: they were talking together against me, designing to take away my life. 14 But I had faith in you, O Lord; I said, You are my God. 15 The chances of my life are in your hand; take me out of the hands of my haters, and of those who go after me. 16 Let your servant see the light of your face; in your mercy be my saviour. 17 Let me not be shamed, O Lord, for I have made my prayer to you; let the sinners be shamed, and let their mouths be shut in the underworld. 18 Let the false lips be shut, which say evil against the upright, looking down on him in their pride.

19 O how great is your grace, which you have put in store for your worshippers, and which you have made clear to those who had faith in you, before the sons of men! 20 You will keep them safe in your house from the designs of man; in the secret of your tent will you keep them from angry tongues. 21 May the Lord be praised, because he has made clear to me the wonder of his grace in a strong town. 22 And as for me, I said in my fear, I am cut off from before your eyes; but you gave ear to the voice of my prayer, when my cry went up to you. 23 O have love for the Lord, all you his saints; for the Lord keeps safe from danger all those who are true to him, and gives the workers of pride their right reward. 24 Put away fear and let your heart be strong, all you whose hope is in the Lord.

Praise for Deliverance from Troubles

341 I will be blessing the Lord at all times; his praise will be ever in my mouth. 2 My soul will say great things of the Lord: the poor in spirit will have knowledge of it and be glad. 3 O give praise to the Lord with me; let us be witnesses together of his great name. 4 I was searching for the Lord, and he gave ear to my voice, and made me free from all my fears. 5 Let your eyes be turned to him and you will have light, and your faces will not be shamed. 6 This poor man's cry came before the Lord, and he gave him salvation from all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord is ever watching over those who have fear of him, to keep them safe. 8 By experience you will see that the Lord is good; happy is the man who has faith in him. 9 Keep yourselves in the fear of the Lord, all you his saints; for those who do so will have no need of anything. 10 The young lions are in need and have no food; but those who are looking to the Lord will have every good thing.

11 Come, children, give attention to me; I will be your teacher in the fear of the Lord. 12 What man has a love of life, and a desire that his days may be increased so that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from words of deceit. 14 Be turned from evil, and do good; make a search for peace, desiring it with all your heart. 15 The eyes of the Lord are on the upright, and his ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to take away the memory of them from the earth. 17 The cry of the upright comes before the Lord, and he takes them out of all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near the broken-hearted; he is the saviour of those whose spirits are crushed down. 19 Great are the troubles of the upright: but the Lord takes him safely out of them all. 20 He keeps all his bones: not one of them is broken. 21 Evil will put an end to the sinner, and those who are haters of righteousness will come to destruction. 22 The Lord will be the saviour of the souls of his servants, and no one who has faith in him will be put to shame.

The Futility of Boastful Wickedness

521 Why do you take pride in wrongdoing, lifting yourself up against the upright man all the day? 2 Purposing destruction, using deceit; your tongue is like a sharp blade. 3 You have more love for evil than for good, for deceit than for works of righteousness. (Selah.) 4 Destruction is in all your words, O false tongue. 5 But God will put an end to you for ever; driving you out from your tent, uprooting you from the land of the living. (Selah.)

6 The upright will see it with fear, and will say, laughing at you: 7 See, this is the man who did not make God his strength, but had faith in his goods and his property, and made himself strong in his wealth. 8 But I am like a branching olive-tree in the house of God; I have put my faith in his mercy for ever and ever. 9 I will give you praise without end for what you have done; I will give honour to your name before your saints, for it is good.