| 140:1 | For the director of music. A psalm of David. Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; protect me from men of violence,
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| 140:2 | who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day.
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| 140:3 | They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent's; the poison of vipers is on their lips. Selah
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| 140:4 | Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from men of violence who plan to trip my feet.
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| 140:5 | Proud men have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path. Selah
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| 140:6 | O LORD, I say to you, "You are my God." Hear, O LORD, my cry for mercy.
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| 140:7 | O Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle--
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| 140:8 | do not grant the wicked their desires, O LORD; do not let their plans succeed, or they will become proud. Selah
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| 140:9 | Let the heads of those who surround me be covered with the trouble their lips have caused.
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| 140:10 | Let burning coals fall upon them; may they be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, never to rise.
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| 140:11 | Let slanderers not be established in the land; may disaster hunt down men of violence.
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| 140:12 | I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.
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| 140:13 | Surely the righteous will praise your name and the upright will live before you.
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| 141:1 | A psalm of David. O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you.
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| 141:2 | May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
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| 141:3 | Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.
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| 141:4 | Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies.
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| 141:5 | Let a righteous man strike me-- it is a kindness; let him rebuke me-- it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it. Yet my prayer is ever against the deeds of evildoers;
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| 141:6 | their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs, and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.
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| 141:7 | [They will say,] "As one plows and breaks up the earth, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave."
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| 141:8 | But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge-- do not give me over to death.
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| 141:9 | Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, from the traps set by evildoers.
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| 141:10 | Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.
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| 142:1 | A maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer. I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy.
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| 142:2 | I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.
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| 142:3 | When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me.
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| 142:4 | Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.
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| 142:5 | I cry to you, O LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."
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| 142:6 | Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.
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| 142:7 | Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
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