Psalms 109
1 For the music director. A psalm of David. God, the one I praise, please don't remain silent,
“To the chief musician, by David, a psalm.” O God of my praise, do not keep silence.
2 because wicked and deceitful people are attacking me, telling lies about me.
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit are opened against me: they have spoken with me with the tongue of falsehood.
3 They surround me with words of hate, fighting against me for no reason.
Also with words of hatred have they encompassed me, and they fight against me without a cause.
4 I love them, but they respond with hostility towards me, even while I'm praying for them!
In recompense for my love are they my accusers, while I have nothing but prayer.
5 They pay me back with evil instead of good, with hatred instead of love.
And they impose evil on me in recompense for good, and hatred in lieu of my love.
6 “Appoint someone wicked over him. Have someone stand as an accuser against him.
Appoint thou a wicked man over him: and let an accuser 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 is to be judged, let him go forth guilty, 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 moving about, and beg, and let them seek [their bread] out of their ruined places.
11 May creditors seize all that he owns; may strangers take all that he worked for.
Let the creditor lay snares after all that he hath, and let strangers plunder his labor.
12 May no one be kind to him; may no one take pity on his fatherless children.
Let him have none that extendeth kindness, and let there be none that is gracious to 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: in another generation 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 by the Lord, and let the sin of his mother not 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 from the earth their memory.
16 For he didn't think to be kind to others, instead he harassed and killed the poor, the needy, the brokenhearted.
For the reason that he remembered not to show kindness; but persecuted the poor and needy man, and the grieved in heart to put him to death.
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 over him: and 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.
And he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, and it cometh like water within him, 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 a garment in which he wrappeth himself, and for a girdle let him be continually girded with it.
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 my accusers from the Lord, and of those 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 thou, O Eternal Lord, deal with me for the sake of thy name: because thy kindness is good, deliver thou me.
22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is breaking.
For poor and needy am I, and my heart is deeply wounded within me.
23 I am fading away like an evening shadow; I am like a locust that is shaken off.
Like the shadow when it declineth do I hasten away: I am driven suddenly off like the locusts.
24 I am so weak from lack of food that my legs give way; my body is just skin and bones.
My knees stumble through fasting, and my flesh faileth of fatness.
25 People ridicule me—they look at me and shake their heads!
And I am become a reproach unto them: when they see me, they shake their head.
26 Help me, Lord my God; save me because of your trustworthy love.
Help me, O Lord my God: O save me according to thy kindness:
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 thy hand: that thou, Lord, hast truly 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 then curse, but do thou bless: when they arise, let them be made ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.
29 May those who accuse me be clothed with disgrace; may they cover themselves with a cloak of shame.
Let my accusers be clothed with confusion, and let them wrap themselves, as with a mantle, in their own shame.
30 But I will keep on thanking the Lord, praising him to everyone around me.
I will thank the Lord greatly with my mouth, and in the midst of many will I praise him.
31 For he takes a stand to defend the needy, to save them from those who condemn them.
For he ever standeth at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those that judge his soul.
