Psalms 109
1 For the music director. A psalm of David. God, the one I praise, please don't remain silent,
Hold not your peace, O God of my praise;
2 because wicked and deceitful people are attacking me, telling lies about me.
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They surround me with words of hate, fighting against me for no reason.
They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
4 I love them, but they respond with hostility towards me, even while I'm praying for them!
For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
5 They pay me back with evil instead of good, with hatred instead of love.
And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 “Appoint someone wicked over him. Have someone stand as an accuser against him.
Set you a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged and sentenced, may he be found guilty. Let his prayers be counted as sins.
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
8 May his life be short; let someone else take over his position.
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
9 May his children be left fatherless, and his wife become a widow.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be homeless, wandering beggars, driven from their ruined houses.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11 May creditors seize all that he owns; may strangers take all that he worked for.
Let the extortionist catch all that he has; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
12 May no one be kind to him; may no one take pity on his fatherless children.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants die; may his family name be wiped out in the next generation.
Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 May the Lord be reminded of the sins of his fathers; may his mother's sins not be blotted out.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 May their sins be constantly before the Lord; may his name be totally forgotten by people.
Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 For he didn't think to be kind to others, instead he harassed and killed the poor, the needy, the brokenhearted.
Because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.
17 He loved to put a curse on others—let it come back on him. He had no time for blessings—so may he never receive any.
As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 He cursed as often as he got dressed. May his curses go into him like the water he drinks, like the olive oil he rubs on his skin that enters his bones.
As he clothed himself with cursing like with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
19 May his curses stick to him like clothing, may they be pulled tight around him like a belt.”
Let it be unto him as the garment which covers him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20 May all this be the punishment of the Lord on my enemies, on those who speak evil of me.
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.
21 But treat me well, Lord God, because of your own reputation. Save me because you are faithful and good.
But do you for me, O GOD the Lord, for your name's sake: because your mercy is good, deliver you me.
22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is breaking.
For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am fading away like an evening shadow; I am like a locust that is shaken off.
I am gone like the shadow when it declines: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
24 I am so weak from lack of food that my legs give way; my body is just skin and bones.
My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh fails of fatness.
25 People ridicule me—they look at me and shake their heads!
I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shook their heads.
26 Help me, Lord my God; save me because of your trustworthy love.
Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to your mercy:
27 May they recognize that this is what you are doing—that you are the one who saves me.
That they may know that this is your hand; that you, LORD, have done it.
28 When they curse me, you will bless me. When they attack me, you will defeat them. And I, your servant, will be happy.
Let them curse, but bless you: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let your servant rejoice.
29 May those who accuse me be clothed with disgrace; may they cover themselves with a cloak of shame.
Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
30 But I will keep on thanking the Lord, praising him to everyone around me.
I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
31 For he takes a stand to defend the needy, to save them from those who condemn them.
For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.
