1. O Lord God, You to Whom vengeance belongs, O God, You to Whom vengeance belongs, shine forth!
2. Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render to the proud a fit compensation!
3. Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph and exult?
4. They pour out arrogant words, speaking hard things; all the evildoers boast loftily. [Jude 14, 15.]
5. They crush Your people, O Lord, and afflict Your heritage.
6. They slay the widow and the transient stranger and murder the unprotected orphan.
7. Yet they say, The Lord does not see, neither does the God of Jacob notice it.
8. Consider and understand, you stupid ones among the people! And you [self-confident] fools, when will you become wise?
9. He Who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He Who formed the eye, shall He not see?
10. He Who disciplines and instructs the nations, shall He not punish, He Who teaches man knowledge?
11. The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vain (empty and futile–only a breath). [I Cor. 3:20.]
12. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law,
13. That You may give him power to keep himself calm in the days of adversity, until the [inevitable] pit of corruption is dug for the wicked.
14. For the Lord will not cast off nor spurn His people, neither will He abandon His heritage.
15. For justice will return to the [uncompromisingly] righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17. Unless the Lord had been my help, I would soon have dwelt in [the land where there is] silence.
18. When I said, My foot is slipping, Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, held me up.
19. In the multitude of my [anxious] thoughts within me, Your comforts cheer and delight my soul!
20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with You–they who frame and hide their unrighteous doings under [the sacred name of] law?
21. They band themselves together against the life of the [consistently] righteous and condemn the innocent to death.
22. But the Lord has become my High Tower and Defense, and my God the Rock of my refuge.
23. And He will turn back upon them their own iniquity and will wipe them out by means of their own wickedness; the Lord our God will wipe them out.