Psalm 17:1-15
A prayer of David.
17 Do hear what is righteous, O Jehovah; do pay attention to my entreating cry;+Do give ear to my prayer without lips of deception.+
2 From before you may my judgment go forth;+May your own eyes behold uprightness.+
3 You have examined my heart, you have made inspection by night,+You have refined me; you will discover [that] I have not schemed.+My mouth will not transgress.+
4 As for the activities of men,*By the word of your lips I myself have watched against the paths of the robber.+
5 Let my steps take hold* on your tracks,+[In which] my footsteps will certainly not be made to totter.+
6 I myself do call upon you, because you will answer me, O God.*+Incline your ear to me. Hear my saying.+
7 Make your acts of loving-kindnesses* wonderful,+ O Savior of those seeking refugeFrom the revolters against your right hand.+
8 Keep me as the pupil of the eyeball,+In the shadow of your wings may you conceal me,+
9 Because of the wicked who have despoiled me.The enemies against my soul themselves keep closing in upon me.+
10 They have enclosed [themselves] with their own fat;+With their mouth they have spoken in haughtiness;+
11 As regards our steps, now they have surrounded us;+They fix their eyes to incline to the earth.+
12 His likeness is that of a lion that yearns to tear to pieces+And that of a young lion sitting in concealed places.
13 Do rise up, O Jehovah; do confront him to the face;+Make him bow down; do provide escape for my soul from the wicked one with your sword,+
14 From men, [by] your hand, O Jehovah,+From men of [this] system+ of things,* whose share is in [this] life,+And whose belly you fill with your concealed treasure,+Who are satisfied with sons+And who do lay up for their children what they leave over.+
15 As for me, in righteousness I shall behold your face;+I will be satisfied when awakening [to see] your form.*+
Footnotes
^ Lit., “earthling man.” Heb., ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ Lit., “Let there be a taking hold by my steps.” The Heb. verb in this phrase is in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl.
^ Lit., “your loving-kindnesses.”
^ “Of [this] system of things.” Or, “of the duration of life.” Heb., me·cheʹledh.
^ Or, “awakening as to your form,” M; by a correction, “looking at your form”; LXX, “your glory is seen.”
