Lord, listen to my complaint: Oh, preserve my life from the conspiracy of these wicked men, these gangs of criminals.
   They cut me down with sharpened tongues; they aim their bitter words like arrows straight at my heart. They shoot from ambush at the innocent. Suddenly the deed is done, yet they are not afraid. They encourage each other to do evil. They meet in secret to set their traps. "He will never notice them here," they say. They keep a sharp lookout for opportunities of crime. They spend long hours with all their endless evil thoughts and plans.
   Their mouths are full of profanity and lies and fraud. They are always boasting of their evil plans. They lurk in dark alleys of the city and murder passersby. Like lions they crouch silently, waiting to pounce upon the poor. Like hunters they catch their victims in their traps. The unfortunate are overwhelmed by their superior strength and fall beneath their blows. " God isn't watching," they say to themselves; "He'll never know!"
   But the Lord is still in His holy temple; He still rules from heaven. He closely watches everything that happens here on earth. He puts the righteous and the wicked to the test; He hates those loving violence. He will rain down fire and brimstone on the wicked and scorch them with His burning wind. For God is good, and He loves goodness; the godly shall see His face.
   O my God, blow them away like dust; like chaff before the wind - as a forest fire that roars across a mountain. Chase them with Your fiery storms, tempests and tornados. Utterly disgrace them until they recognize Your power and name, O Lord. Make them failures in everything they do; let them be ashamed and terrified until they learn that You alone, Jehovah, are the God above all gods in supreme charge of all the earth.
   . . . God Himself will shoot them down. Suddenly His arrow will pierce them. They will stagger backward, destroyed by those they spoke against. All who see it happening will scoff at them. Then everyone shall stand in awe and confess the greatness of the miracles of God; at last they will realize what amazing things He does. And the godly shall rejoice in the Lord, and trust and praise Him.

Taken from Psalms 64, 10, 11, 83, The Living Bible. For free Lifescope book,
write to Box 1575, Carlsbad, NM 88221. Please send $1.00 for postage and handling.