Psalm 141

A psalm of David.

1O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry!

Listen when I cry to you for help!

2Accept my prayer as incense offered to you,

and my upraised hands as an evening offering.

3Take control of what I say, O Lord,

and guard my lips.

4Don’t let me drift toward evil

or take part in acts of wickedness.

Don’t let me share in the delicacies

of those who do wrong.

5Let the godly strike me!

It will be a kindness!

If they correct me, it is soothing medicine.

Don’t let me refuse it.

But I pray constantly

against the wicked and their deeds.

6When their leaders are thrown down from a cliff,

the wicked will listen to my words and find them true.

7Like rocks brought up by a plow,

the bones of the wicked will lie scattered without burial.*

8I look to you for help, O Sovereign Lord.

You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me.

9Keep me from the traps they have set for me,

from the snares of those who do wrong.

10Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

but let me escape.

Psalm 142

A psalm* of David, regarding his experience in the cave. A prayer.

1I cry out to the Lord;

I plead for the Lord’s mercy.

2I pour out my complaints before him

and tell him all my troubles.

3When I am overwhelmed,

you alone know the way I should turn.

Wherever I go,

my enemies have set traps for me.

4I look for someone to come and help me,

but no one gives me a passing thought!

No one will help me;

no one cares a bit what happens to me.

5Then I pray to you, O Lord.

I say, “You are my place of refuge.

You are all I really want in life.

6Hear my cry,

for I am very low.

Rescue me from my persecutors,

for they are too strong for me.

7Bring me out of prison

so I can thank you.

The godly will crowd around me,

for you are good to me.”