Psalms 31:2-21

²Let 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.

³For you are my Rock and my strong tower; go in front of me and be my guide, because of your name.

⁴Take me out of the net which they have put ready for me secretly; for you are my strength.

⁵Into your hands I give my spirit; you are my saviour, O Lord God for ever true.

⁶I am full of hate for those who go after false gods; but my hope is in the Lord.

⁷I 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;

⁸And you have not given me into the hand of my hater; you have put my feet in a wide place.

⁹Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; my eyes are wasted with grief, I am wasted in soul and body.

¹⁰My 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.

¹¹Because 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.

¹²I have gone from men's minds and memory like a dead man; I am like a broken vessel.

¹³False 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.

¹⁴But I had faith in you, O Lord; I said, You are my God.

¹⁵The chances of my life are in your hand; take me out of the hands of my haters, and of those who go after me.

¹⁶Let your servant see the light of your face; in your mercy be my saviour.

¹⁷Let 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.

¹⁸Let the false lips be shut, which say evil against the upright, looking down on him in their pride.

¹⁹O 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!

²⁰You 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.

²¹May the Lord be praised, because he has made clear to me the wonder of his grace in a strong town.