<p class="poetry">Do you listen in on God&#8217;s secret council?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Do you limit<n id="2" /> wisdom to yourself?p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s loyal followers receive his guidance,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and he reveals his covenantal demands to them.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">All my closest friends<n id="1" /> detest me;p> <p class="poetry">and those whom<n id="2" /> I love have turned against me.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">just as I was in my most productive time,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">when God&#8217;s intimate friendship<n id="2" /> was experienced in my tent,p>

<p class="poetry">Hide me from the plots of evil men,p> <p class="poetry">from the crowd of evildoers.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">They carefully plot<n id="1" /> against your people,p> <p class="poetry">and make plans to harm<n id="2" /> the ones you cherish.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">for one who goes astray<n id="1" /> is an abomination<n id="2" /> to the <sc>Lord,sc>p> <p class="poetry">but he reveals<n id="3" /> his intimate counsel<n id="4" /> to the upright.p>

<p class="poetry">The one who goes about slandering others<n id="1" /> reveals<n id="2" /> secrets,p> <p class="poetry">but the one who is trustworthy<n id="3" /> conceals a matter.p>

<p class="poetry">Plans fail<n id="1" /> when there is no counsel,p> <p class="poetry">but with abundant advisers they are established.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The one who goes about gossiping<n id="1" /> reveals secrets;p> <p class="poetry">therefore do not associate<n id="2" /> with someone who is always opening his mouth.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">When you argue a case<n id="1" /> with your neighbor,p> <p class="poetry">do not reveal the secret of another person,<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">We would share personal thoughts with each other;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">in God&#8217;s temple we would walk together among the crowd.p>

<p class="poetry">a God who is honored<n id="1" /> in the great angelic assembly,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and more awesome than<n id="3" /> all who surround him?p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Praise the <sc>Lordsc>!p> <p class="poetry">I will give thanks to the <sc>Lordsc> with my whole heart,p> <p class="poetry">in the assembly of the godly and the congregation.p>

<p class="poetry">I did not spend my time in the company of other people,p> <p class="poetry">laughing and having a good time.p> <p class="poetry">I stayed to myself because I felt obligated to you<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and because I was filled with anger at what they had done.p>

<p class="poetry">But if they had stood in my inner circle,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they would have proclaimed my message to my people.p> <p class="poetry">They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked waysp> <p class="poetry">and stop doing the evil things they are doing.p>

<p class="poetry">O my soul, do not come into their council,p> <p class="poetry">do not be united to their assembly, my heart,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">for in their anger they have killed men,p> <p class="poetry">and for pleasure they have hamstrung oxen.p>

<p class="poetry">Yet which of them has ever stood in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s inner circle<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">so they<n id="2" /> could see and hear what he has to say?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?p>

<p class="poetry">Certainly the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.p>

<p class="poetry">I am as full of anger as you are, <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I am tired of trying to hold it in.&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> answered,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Vent it, then,<n id="3" /> on the children who play in the streetp> <p class="poetry">and on the young men who are gathered together.p> <p class="poetry">Husbands and wives are to be included,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.p>