⁸ Understand, O dullest of the people!
    Fools, when will you be wise?
⁹ He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
¹⁰ He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
He who teaches man knowledge—
¹¹     the Lord—knows the thoughts of man,
    that they are but a breath.^[a]

¹² Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord,
    and whom you teach out of your law,
¹³ to give him rest from days of trouble,
    until a pit is dug for the wicked.
¹⁴ For the Lord will not forsake his people;
    he will not abandon his heritage;
¹⁵ for justice will return to the righteous,
    and all the upright in heart will follow it.

¹⁶ Who rises up for me against the wicked?
    Who stands up for me against evildoers?
¹⁷ If the Lord had not been my help,
    my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
¹⁸ When I thought, “My foot slips,”
    your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
¹⁹ When the cares of my heart are many,
    your consolations cheer my soul.
²⁰ Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
    those who frame^[b] injustice by statute?
²¹ They band together against the life of the righteous
    and condemn the innocent to death.^[c]
22 But the Lord has become my stronghold,
    and my God the rock of my refuge.
²³ He will bring back on them their iniquity
    and wipe them out for their wickedness;
    the Lord our God will wipe them out.