5As chaff before wind may they be, with the Lord's angel pursuing them.
6Slippery and dark be their way, with his angel thrusting them on.
7For they wantonly hid their net for me, and dug a pit to destroy me.
8Upon them may ruin come unawares; may the net which they hid catch themselves, and into the pit may they fall.
9Then I will exult in the Lord, and be joyful because of his help;
10and all my being will say, “Who, O Lord, is like you, who save the helpless from those too strong for them, the poor and the helpless from those who despoil them?”
11Violent witnesses rise, and ask of me things that I know not.
12Evil for good they requite me, leaving me inwardly comfortless.
13But when they were sick, I put on sackcloth, and chastened myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed low,
14as if for my friend or my brother. I went about bowed and in mourning, as one who laments his mother.
15When I stumbled, they gleefully gathered, strangers gathered around me, and tore at me without ceasing,