- Lord save me from the evil man,
- and from the cruel wights,
-
- 2 Deliver me, which evil do
- imagine in their spirits.
-
- 3 Which make on me continual war,
- their tongues lo have they whet,
- Like Serpents, underneath their lips
- is adder's poison set,
-
- 4 Keep me O Lord from wicked hands,
- preserve me to abide
- Free from the cruel man, that means
- to cause my steps to slide.
-
- 5 The proud have laid a snare for me,
- and they have spread a net
- With cords in my pathways, and gins
- for me eke have they set.
-
- 6 Therefore I said unto the Lord,
- thou art my God alone:
- Hear me O Lord, O hear the voice,
- wherewith I pray and moan.
-
- 7 O Lord my God, thou only art
- the strength that saveth me:
- My head in day of battle hath
- been covered still by thee.
-
- 8 Let not O Lord the wicked have
- the end of his desire:
- Perform not his ill thought, least he
- with pride be set on fire,
-
- 9 Of them that ‘compass me about,
- the chiefest of them all:
- Lord let the mischief of their lips
- upon themselves befall:
-
- 10 Let coals fall on them let him cast
- them in consuming flame:
- And in deep pits, so as they may
- not rise out of the same.
-
- 11 For no backbiter shall on earth,
- be set in stable plight:
- And evil to destruction still
- shall haunt the cruel wight.
-
- 12 I know the Lord th’afflicted will
- revenge, and judge the poor:
- The just shall praise thy name, just shall
- dwell with thee evermore.
