A Prayer for Deliverance

1In you, LORD, I take refuge;

let me never be humiliated.

2Rescue and deliver me,a because you are righteous.

Turn your ear to me and save me.

3Be my sheltering refuge where I may go continuously;

command my deliverance

for you are my rock and fortress.

4My God, deliver me from the power of the wicked

and the grasp of ruthless practicers of evil.

5For you are my hope, Lord GOD,

my security since I was young.

6I depended on you since birth,b

when you brought mec from my mother’s womb;

I praise you continuously.

7I have become an example to many

that you are my strong refuge.

8My mouth is filled with your praise

and your splendor daily.

9Don’t throw me away when I am old;

do not abandon me when my strength fails.

10For my enemies talk against me;

those who seek to kill me plot together

11and say, “God has abandoned him.

Run after him and seize him,

because there’s no deliverer.”

12God, do not be distant from me.

My God, come quickly to help me.

13Let my adversaries be ashamed and consumed;d

let those who seek my destruction

be covered with scorn and disgrace.

14As for me, I will hope continuously

and will praise you more and more.

15Ie will declare your righteousness

and your salvation every day,

though I do not fully understand

what the outcome will be.f

16Lord GOD, I will come in the power ofg your mighty acts,

remembering your righteousness—yours alone.

17God, you taught me from my youth,

so I am still declaring your awesome deeds.

18Also, when I reach old age and have gray hair,

God, do not forsake me,

until I have declared your power

to this generation

and your might to the next one.

19Your many righteous deeds,h God, are great,

20God, who can compare to you,

who caused me to experiencei troubles

that were numerous and disastrous?

You will return to revive me

and lift me up from the depths of the earth.

21You will increase my honor

and comfort me once again.

22I also will praise you with the harp;

because of your faithfulness, my God,

I will praise you with the lyre—

Holy One of Israel.

23My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you,

whose life you have redeemed.

24Moreover, my tongue will speak all day about your justice;

for those who seek my destruction will be utterly humiliated.