David's Cry for Rescue
A shiggaion of David, which he sang to our Father concerning Cush, a Benjamite.
Accused by Cush the Benjamite, David swears an oath: if he has repaid a friend with evil, let his enemy trample him into the dust. He asks his Father, the Judge who searches hearts, to act, and watches the violent fall into their own pit.
7 1O my Father, in you I take refuge; save me from all who pursue me, and deliver me, 2lest he tear me apart like a lion, ripping me to pieces with no one to rescue. 3O my Father, if I have done this—if there is wrong on my hands, 4if I have repaid my ally with evil, or plundered my enemy without cause, 5then let the enemy pursue me and overtake me, let him trample my life to the ground and lay my honor in the dust.
6Arise, my Father, in your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies; wake up for me—you have appointed judgment. 7Let the assembly of peoples gather around you; take your seat on high over them. 8Our Father judges the peoples. Vindicate me, my Father, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. 9Bring the evil of the wicked to an end, but uphold the righteous—you who search minds and hearts, O righteous Father. 10My shield is my Father, who saves the upright in heart. 11Our Father is a righteous judge, a God who is indignant every day. 12If anyone does not repent, our Father will sharpen his sword; he has drawn his bow and made it ready. 13He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes his arrows into flaming shafts. 14See how the wicked man is pregnant with evil; he conceives trouble and gives birth to lies. 15He digs a pit and hollows it out, but falls into the hole he has made. 16His trouble comes back on his own head; his violence comes down on his own skull. 17I will give thanks to my Father for his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of my Father, the Most High.
