1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. Do not keep silent, O God of my praise! |
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful Have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. |
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without a cause. |
4 In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer. |
5 Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, And hatred for my love. |
6 Set a wicked man over him, And let an accuser stand at his right hand. |
7 When he is judged, let him be found guilty, And let his prayer become sin. |
8 Let his days be few, And let another take his office. |
9 Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow. |
10 Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg; Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places. |
11 Let the creditor seize all that he has, And let strangers plunder his labor. |
12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him, Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children. |
13 Let his posterity be cut off, And in the generation following let their name be blotted out. |
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. |
15 Let them be continually before the LORD, That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth; |
16 Because he did not remember to show mercy, But persecuted the poor and needy man, That he might even slay the broken in heart. |
17 As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him. |
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, So let it enter his body like water, And like oil into his bones. |
19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, And for a belt with which he girds himself continually. |
20 Let this be the LORD'S reward to my accusers, And to those who speak evil against my person. |
21 But You, O GOD the Lord, Deal with me for Your name's sake; Because Your mercy is good, deliver me. |
22 For I am poor and needy, And my heart is wounded within me. |
23 I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust. |
24 My knees are weak through fasting, And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness. |
25 I also have become a reproach to them; When they look at me, they shake their heads. |
26 Help me, O LORD my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy, |
27 That they may know that this is Your hand--That You, LORD, have done it! |
28 Let them curse, but You bless; When they arise, let them be ashamed, But let Your servant rejoice. |
29 Let my accusers be clothed with shame, And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle. |
30 I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude. |
31 For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, To save him from those who condemn him. |