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Psalm 4
A conversation of Solomon with the Men-pleasers.
1Wherefore sittest thou, O profane man, in the council of the pious,
Seeing that thy heart is far removed from the Lord,
Provoking with transgressions the God of Israel?
2Extravagant in speech, extravagant in outward seeming beyond all men,
Is he that is severe of speech in condemning sinners in judgement.
3And his hand is first upon him as though he acted in zeal,
And yet he is himself guilty in respect of manifold sins and of wantonness.
4His eyes are upon every woman without distinction;
His tongue lieth when he maketh contract with an oath.
5By night and in secret he sinneth as though unseen,
With his eyes he talketh to every woman of evil compacts.
6He is swift to enter every house with cheerfulness as though guileless.
7Let God remove those that live in hypocrisy in the company of the pious,
Even the life of such an one with corruption of his flesh and penury.
8Let God reveal the deeds of the men-pleasers,
The deeds of such an one with laughter and derision;
9That the pious may count righteous the judgement of their God,
When sinners are removed from before the righteous,
Even the man-pleaser who uttereth law guilefully.
10And their eyes are fixed upon any man's house that is still secure,
That they may, like the Serpent, destroy the wisdom of . . . with words of transgressors,
11His words are deceitful that he may accomplish his wicked desire.
He never ceaseth from scattering families as though they were orphans,
Yea, he layeth waste a house on account of his lawless desire.
12He deceiveth with words, saying, There is none that seeth, or judgeth.
13He fills one house with lawlessness,
And then his eyes are fixed upon the next house,
To destroy it with words that give wing to desire.
14Yet with all these his soul like Sheol, is not sated.
15Let his portion, O Lord, be dishonoured before thee;
Let him go forth groaning, and come home cursed.
16Let his life be spent in anguish, and penury, and want, O Lord;
Let his sleep be beset with pains and his awaking with perplexities.
17Let sleep be withdrawn from his eyelids at night;
Let him fail dishonourably in every work of his hands.
18Let him come home empty-handed to his house,
And his house be void of everything wherewith he could sate his appetite.
19Let his old age be spent in childless loneliness until his removal by death.
20Let the flesh of the men-pleasers be rent by wild beasts,
And let the bones of the lawless lie dishonoured in the sight of the sun.
21Let ravens peck out the eyes of the hypocrites.
22For they have laid waste many houses of men, in dishonour,
And scattered them in their lust;
23And they have not remembered God,
Nor feared God in all these things;
But they have provoked God's anger and vexed Him.
24May He remove them from off the earth,
Because with deceit they beguiled the souls of the flawless.
25Blessed are they that fear the Lord in their flawlessness;
The Lord shall deliver them from guileful men and sinners,
And deliver us from every stumbling-block of the lawless (men).
26Let God destroy them that insolently work all unrighteousness,
For a great and mighty judge is the Lord our God in righteousness.
27Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon all them that love Thee.