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.