Or ‘Deliver me ¹  from the enemy’s power, ²  and from the hand of tyrants ³  ransom ⁴  me’?

I have seen ruthless evil men ¹  growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. ² 

“I will deliver you from the power of the wicked. I will free you from the clutches of violent people.”

A generous woman ¹  gains honor, and ruthless men ²  seize wealth. ³ 

All his days ¹  the wicked man suffers torment, ²  throughout the number of the years that ³  are stored up for the tyrant. ⁴ 

This is the portion of the wicked man allotted by God, ¹  the inheritance that evildoers receive from the Almighty.

O God, arrogant men attack me; ¹  a gang ²  of ruthless men, who do not respect you, seek my life. ³ 

So a strong nation will extol you; the towns of ¹  powerful nations will fear you.

like heat ¹  in a dry land, you humble the boasting foreigners. ²  Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, ³  so he causes the song of tyrants to cease. ⁴ 

But the horde of invaders will be like fine dust, the horde of tyrants ¹  like chaff that is blown away. It will happen suddenly, in a flash.

For tyrants will disappear, those who taunt will vanish, and all those who love to do wrong will be eliminated ¹  –

For foreigners ¹  attack me; ²  ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. ³  (Selah)

¹ I will punish the world for its evil, ²  and wicked people for their sin. I will put an end to the pride of the insolent, I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants. ³ 

For you are a protector for the poor, a protector for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm, a shade from the heat. Though the breath of tyrants ¹  is like a winter rainstorm, ² 

I am about to bring foreigners ¹  against you, the most terrifying of nations. They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom, ²  and they will defile your splendor.

He and his people with him, the most terrifying of the nations, ¹  will be brought there to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with corpses.

By the swords of the mighty warriors I will cause your hordes to fall – all of them are the most terrifying among the nations. They will devastate the pride of Egypt, and all its hordes will be destroyed.

Indeed,” says the Lord, “captives will be taken from a warrior; spoils will be rescued from a conqueror. I will oppose your adversary and I will rescue your children.

But the Lord is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior. ¹  Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me. They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed. Their disgrace will never be forgotten.

Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land ¹  have departed ²  from its shade and left it.