¹ Be my judge, O God, supporting my cause against a nation without religion; O keep me from the false and evil man.

¹ <Of David.> O Lord, be my judge, for my behaviour has been upright: I have put my faith in the Lord, I am not in danger of slipping.

¹⁵ After whom has the king of Israel come out? for whom are you searching? for a dead dog, an insect.

¹ <Of David.> O Lord, be on my side against those who are judging me; be at war with those who make war against me.

²⁴ Be my judge, O Lord my God, in your righteousness; do not let them be glad over me.

⁸ The Lord will be judge of the peoples; give a decision for me, O Lord, because of my righteousness, and let my virtue have its reward.

⁶ You will send destruction on those whose words are false; the cruel man and the man of deceit are hated by the Lord.

⁴ For I am not conscious of any wrong in myself; but this does not make me clear, for it is the Lord who is my judge.

⁹ I will undergo the wrath of the Lord, because of my sin against him; till he takes up my cause and does what is right for me: when he makes me come out into the light, I will see his righteousness;

¹¹ For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you.

²³ For the Lord will give support to their cause, and take the life of those who take their goods.

⁷ But God is the judge, putting down one, and lifting up another.

⁴ O my God, take me out of the hand of the sinner, out of the hand of the evil and cruel man.

³¹ And word came to David, saying, Ahithophel is among those who are joined to Absalom. And David said, O Lord, let the wisdom of Ahithophel be made foolish.

²³ To sharp words he gave no sharp answer; when he was undergoing pain, no angry word came from his lips; but he put himself into the hands of the judge of righteousness:

²⁰ Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give your opinion now, what are we to do?

²¹ And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to your father's women who are here looking after his house; then all Israel will have the news that you are hated by your father, and the hands of your supporters will be strong.

²² So they put up the tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father's women before the eyes of all Israel.

²³ In those days the opinions of Ahithophel were valued as highly as if through him a man might get direction from God; so were they valued by David as much as by Absalom.

¹ Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me take out twelve thousand men and this very night I will go after David:

² And I will come up with him when he is tired and feeble, and make him full of fear: and all the people with him will go in flight; and I will make an attack on the king only:

³ And I will make all the people come back to you as a bride comes back to her husband: it is the life of only one man you are going after; so all the people will be at peace.

⁴ And the saying was pleasing to Absalom and to the responsible men of Israel.