16. Now answer me, God, because you love me;Let me see your great mercy full-face.
17. Don’t look the other way; your servant can’t take it.I’m in trouble. Answer right now!
18. Come close, God; get me out of here.Rescue me from this deathtrap.
19. You know how they kick me around—Pin on me the donkey’s ears, the dunce’s cap.
20. I’m broken by their taunts,Flat on my face, reduced to a nothing.I looked in vain for one friendly face. Not one.I couldn’t find one shoulder to cry on.
21. They put poison in my soup,Vinegar in my drink.
22. Let their supper be bait in a trap that snaps shut;May their best friends be trappers who’ll skin them alive.
23. Make them become blind as bats,Give them the shakes from morning to night.
24. Let them know what you think of them,Blast them with your red-hot anger.
25. Burn down their houses,Leave them desolate with nobody at home.
26. They gossiped about the one you disciplined,Made up stories about anyone wounded by God.
27. Pile on the guilt,Don’t let them off the hook.
28. Strike their names from the list of the living;No rock-carved honor for them among the righteous.
29. I’m hurt and in pain;Give me space for healing, and mountain air.
30. Let me shout God’s name with a praising song,Let me tell his greatness in a prayer of thanks.
31. For God, this is better than oxen on the altar,Far better than blue-ribbon bulls.
32. The poor in spirit see and are glad—Oh, you God-seekers, take heart!
33. For God listens to the poor,He doesn’t walk out on the wretched.
34. You heavens, praise him; praise him, earth;Also ocean and all things that swim in it.