Exaudi Deus orationem.
A prayer in affliction, with confidence in God that he will bring to
nought the machinations of persecutors.
63:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David.
63:2. Hear O God, my prayer, when I make supplication to thee: deliver
my soul from the fear of the enemy.
63:3. Thou hast protected me from the assembly of the malignant; from
the multitude of the workers of iniquity.
63:4. For they have whetted their tongues like a sword; they have bent
their bow a bitter thing,
63:5. To shoot in secret the undefiled.
63:6. They will shoot at him on a sudden, and will not fear: they are
resolute in wickedness. They have talked of hiding snares; they have
said: Who shall see them?
63:7. They have searched after iniquities: they have failed in their
search. Man shall come to a deep heart:
A deep heart... That is, crafty, subtle, deep projects and designs;
which nevertheless shall not succeed; for God shall be exalted in
bringing them to nought by his wisdom and power.
63:8. And God shall be exalted. The arrows of children are their wounds:
The arrows of children are their wounds... That is, the wounds, stripes,
or blows, they seek to inflict upon the just, are but like the weak
efforts of children's arrows, which can do no execution: and their
tongues, that is, their speeches against them come to nothing.
63:9. And their tongues against them are made weak. All that saw them
were troubled;
63:10. And every man was afraid. And they declared the works of God, and
understood his doings.
63:11. The just shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in him: and
all the upright in heart shall be praised.