Psalms 34:13-17

34:13 Then make sure you don’t speak evil words ¹ 

or use deceptive speech! ² 

34:14 Turn away from evil and do what is right! ³ 

Strive for peace and promote it! ⁴ 

34:15 The Lord pays attention to the godly

and hears their cry for help. ⁵ 

34:16 But the Lord opposes evildoers

and wipes out all memory of them from the earth. ⁶ 

34:17 The godly ⁷  cry out and the Lord hears;

he saves them from all their troubles. ⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “guard your tongue from evil.”

² tn Heb “and your lips from speaking deception.”

³ tn Or “do good.”

⁴ tn Heb “seek peace and pursue it.”

⁵ tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord [are] toward the godly, and his ears [are] toward their cry for help.”

⁷ tn Heb “the face of the Lord [is] against the doers of evil to cut off from the earth memory of them.”

⁹ tn Heb “they” (i.e., the godly mentioned in v. 15).

¹⁰ tn The three perfect verbal forms are taken in a generalizing sense in v. 17 and translated with the present tense (note the generalizing mood of vv. 18-22).