Book 2
   6    ^noteOh that I had the wings of a dove
    to fly away and be at rest!
   7   I should escape far away
    and find a refuge in the wilderness;
   8   soon I should find myself a sanctuary
    from wind and storm,
   9   from the blasts of calumny, O Lord,
    from my enemies' contentious tongues.
I have seen violence and strife in the city;
   10   day and night they encircle it,
    all along its walls;
  it is filled with trouble and mischief,
     11   alive with rumour and scandal,
  and its public square is never free
    from violence and spite.
   12   It was no enemy that taunted me,
    or I should have avoided him;
  no adversary that treated me with scorn,
    or I should have kept out of his way.
   13   It was you, a man of my own sort,
    my comrade, my own dear friend,
   14    15   with whom I kept pleasant company
    in the house of God.


    May death strike them,
  and may they ^note perish in confusion,
  may they go down alive into Sheol;
    for their homes are haunts of evil!


   16   But I will call upon God;
    the Lord will save me.
   17   Evening and morning and at noon
    I nurse my woes, and groan.
   18   He has heard my cry, he rescued me
    and gave me back my peace,
  when they beset me like archers, ^note
    massing against me,
   19   like Ishmael and the desert tribes
    and those who dwell in the East,
  who have no respect for an oath
    nor any fear of God.
   20   Such men do violence to those at peace with them

Book 2
    and break their promised word;
   21   their speech is smoother than butter
    but their thoughts are of war;
  their words are slippery as oil
    but sharp as drawn swords.


   22   Commit your fortunes to the Lord,
    and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous be shaken.
23   Cast them, O God, into the pit of destruction;
    bloodthirsty and treacherous,
  they shall not live out half their days;
  but I will put my trust in thee.

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