Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – Tom Culbertson

1 O Lord my God, I take refuge in you; *
save and deliver me from all who pursue me;

2 Lest like a lion they tear me in pieces *
and snatch me away with none to deliver me.

3 O Lord my God, if I have done these things: *
if there is any wickedness in my hands,

4 If I have repaid my friend with evil, *
or plundered him who without cause is my enemy;

5 Then let my enemy pursue and overtake me, *
trample my life into the ground,
and lay my honor in the dust.

6 Stand up, O Lord, in your wrath; *
rise up against the fury of my enemies.

7 Awake, O my God, decree justice; *
let the assembly of the peoples gather round you.

8 Be seated on your lofty throne, O Most High; *
O Lord, judge the nations.

9 Give judgment for me according to my righteousness, O Lord, *
and according to my innocence, O Most High.

10 Let the malice of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous; *
for you test the mind and heart, O righteous God.