or to governors as those he commissions ¹  to punish wrongdoers and praise ²  those who do good.

Yes, ¹  wild dogs surround me – a gang of evil men crowd around me; like a lion they pin my hands and feet. ² 

So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. ¹  In fact, those who challenge ²  God escape!’”

¹ The sinful nation is as good as dead, ²  the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children ³  who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. ⁴  They are alienated from him. ⁵ 

and maintain good conduct ¹  among the non-Christians, ²  so that though ³  they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears. ⁴ 

You will not be buried with them, ¹  because you destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again.

Arrogant people cannot stand in your presence; ¹  you hate ²  all who behave wickedly. ³ 

But the Lord opposes evildoers and wipes out all memory of them from the earth. ¹ 

The way of the Lord ¹  is like ²  a stronghold for the upright, ³  but it is destruction ⁴  to evildoers. ⁵ 

When evil men attack me ¹  to devour my flesh, ²  when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ³  they stumble and fall. ⁴ 

But ¹  he will reply, ²  ‘I don’t know where you come from! ³  Go away from me, all you evildoers!’ ⁴ 

Then ¹  they cry out – but he does not answer – because of the arrogance of the wicked.

You want to humiliate the oppressed, ¹  even though ²  the Lord is their ³  shelter.

Deliver me from evildoers! ¹  Rescue me from violent men! ² 

Do not enter the path of the wicked or walk ¹  in the way of those who are evil.

But I see the prophets of Jerusalem ¹  doing something just as shocking. They are unfaithful to me and continually prophesy lies. ²  So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil, with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. ³  I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom, and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah. ⁴ 

All those who behave wickedly ¹  do not understand – ²  those who devour my people as if they were eating bread, and do not call out to the Lord.

I gloat in triumph over those who tried to ambush me; ¹  I hear the defeated cries of the evil foes who attacked me. ² 

As for those who are bent on traveling a sinful path, ¹  may the Lord remove them, ²  along with those who behave wickedly! ³  May Israel experience peace! ⁴ 

Yet do it with courtesy and respect, ¹  keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you. ²