1 For the end, a Psalm of David.
2 Hear my prayer, O God, when I make my petition to thee; deliver my soul from fear of the enemy. 3 Thou hast sheltered me from the conspiracy of them that do wickedly; from the multitude of them that work iniquity; 4 who have sharpened their tongues as a sword; they have bent their bow maliciously; 5 to shoot in secret at the blameless; they will shoot him suddenly, and will not fear. 6 They have set up for themselves an evil matter, they have given counsel to hide snares; they have said, Who shall see them? 7 They have searched out iniquity; they have wearied themselves with searching diligently, a man shall approach and the heart is deep, 8 and God shall be exalted, their wounds were caused by the weapon of the foolish children, 9 and their tongues have set him at nought, all that saw them were troubled; 10 and every man was alarmed, and they related the works of God, and understood his deeds. 11 The righteous shall rejoice in the Lord, and hope on him, and all the upright in heart shall be praised.
About this text. This is Sir Lancelot Brenton’s 1851 translation of the Septuagint — the Greek Old Testament the Orthodox Church reads, rather than the Hebrew text behind most English Bibles. It is in the public domain. Words in italics are ones Brenton supplied that the Greek does not have; he marked them so that a reader could tell the difference, and they are kept that way here. The numbered notes are his own. Its English is Victorian, and does not match the modern English of the New Testament pages on this site.
On the numbering. The Psalms are numbered here as the Septuagint numbers them, which is how Orthodox service books cite them. From Psalm 10 onward that is one behind a Hebrew-numbered Bible: Psalm 50 here is the Psalm 51 of most English Bibles. The Septuagint also carries a hundred and fifty-first Psalm, which those Bibles do not.