1: Open your ears, God, to my prayer; don't pretend you don't hear me knocking.
2: Come close and whisper your answer. I really need you. I shudder
3: at the mean voice, quail before the evil eye, As they pile on the guilt, stockpile angry slander.
4: My insides are turned inside out; specters of death have me down.
5: I shake with fear, I shudder from head to foot.
6: "Who will give me wings," I ask--"wings like a dove?" Get me out of here on dove wings;
7: I want some peace and quiet. I want a walk in the country,
8: I want a cabin in the woods. I'm desperate for a change from rage and stormy weather.
9: Come down hard, Lord--slit their tongues. I'm appalled how they've split the city Into rival gangs prowling the alleys
10: Day and night spoiling for a fight, trash piled in the streets,
11: Even shopkeepers gouging and cheating in broad daylight.
12: This isn't the neighborhood bully mocking me--I could take that. This isn't a foreign devil spitting invective--I could tune that out.
13: It's you! We grew up together! You! My best friend!
14: Those long hours of leisure as we walked arm in arm, God a third party to our conversation.
15: Haul my betrayers off alive to hell--let them experience the horror, let them feel every desolate detail of a damned life.
16: I call to God; GOD will help me.
17: At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh deep sighs--he hears, he rescues.
18: My life is well and whole, secure in the middle of danger Even while thousands are lined up against me.
19: God hears it all, and from his judge's bench puts them in their place. But, set in their ways, they won't change; they pay him no mind.
20: And this, my best friend, betrayed his best friends; his life betrayed his word.
21: All my life I've been charmed by his speech, never dreaming he'd turn on me. His words, which were music to my ears, turned to daggers in my heart.
22: Pile your troubles on GOD's shoulders--he'll carry your load, he'll help you out. He'll never let good people topple into ruin.
23: But you, God, will throw the others into a muddy bog, Cut the lifespan of assassins and traitors in half. And I trust in you.