[1] God, listen to me. My enemy threatened me. Protect my life from him!
[2] Protect me from the secret plans of my enemies. Hide me from those wicked people.
[3] They have told many bad lies about me. Their tongues are like sharp swords, their bitter words like arrows.
[4] Then suddenly, without fear, they shoot from their hiding places, at a simple, honest man.
[5] They encourage each other to do wrong. They talk about setting their traps. They tell each other, ”No one will see the traps!”
[6] They have hidden their traps. They are looking for victims. (People can be very tricky. It is hard to know what people are thinking.)
[7] But God can shoot his “arrows” too! And before they know it, the evil people are wounded.
[8] Evil people plan to do bad things to other people. But God can ˻ruin their plans,˼ and make those bad things happen to them. Then everyone that sees them will shake their heads in amazement.
[9] People will see what God has done. They will tell other people about him. Then everyone will learn more about God. They will learn to fear and respect him.
[10] A good person is happy ˻to serve˼ the Lord. He depends on God. And when good honest people ˻see what happens˼, they praise the Lord!