[1] Lord, you are a God that punishes people. You are a God who comes and brings punishment to people.
[2] You are the judge of the whole earth. Give proud people the punishment they deserve.
[3] Lord, how long will wicked people have their fun? How much longer, Lord?
[4] How much longer will those criminals brag about the bad things they did?
[5] Lord, they hurt your people. They made your people suffer.
[6] Those bad people kill widows and foreigners living in our country. They murder children that have no parents.
[7] And they say the Lord does not see them doing those bad things! They say the God of Israel doesn’t know what is happening.
[8] You bad people are foolish. When will you learn your lesson? You evil people are so stupid! You must try to understand.
[9] God made our ears, so surely he ˻has ears too, and˼ can hear what is happening! God made our eyes, so surely he ˻has eyes too, and˼ can see what is happening!
[10] God will discipline those people. God will teach people what they should do.
[11] God knows what people are thinking. God knows people are like a puff of wind.
[12] The man that the Lord disciplines will be very happy. God will teach that person the right way of living.
[13] God, you will help that person stay calm when trouble comes. You will help him stay calm until the evil people are put in their grave.
[14] The Lord will not leave his people. He will not leave them without help.
[15] Justice will return, and it will bring fairness. And then there will be good, honest people.
[16] No person helped me fight against the evil people. No person stood with me to fight against the people who do bad things.
[17] And if the Lord had not helped me, I would have been silenced by death.
[18] I know I was ready to fall, but the Lord supported his follower.
[19] I was very worried and upset. But Lord, you comforted me and made me happy!
[20] God, you don’t help crooked judges. Those bad judges use the law to make life hard for the people.
[21] Those judges attack good people. They say that innocent people are guilty and kill them.
[22] But the Lord is my place of safety high on the mountain. God my Rock, is my safe place!
[23] God will punish those evil judges for the bad things they did. God will destroy them because they sinned. The Lord our God will destroy those evil judges.