Psalms 109
1 To the Chief Musician. David’s. A Melody. O God of my praise, do not be silent;
God, you are the one whom I praise, [So please] answer [my prayer],
2 For, the mouth of the lawless one and the mouth of the deceiver, against me, are open, They have spoken to me with false tongue;
because wicked people slander me and tell [MTY] lies about me.
3 And, with words of hatred, have they surrounded me, and have made war upon me without cause:
They are constantly saying that they hate me, and they say evil things about me for no reason.
4 For my love, they have been accusing me, while, I, was at prayer:
I show them that I want to be their friends and I pray for them, but [instead of being kind to me], they say that I have done evil things.
5 Yea they have returned unto me—Evil for good; and, Hatred for my love.
In return for my doing good things for them and loving them, they do evil things to me and hate me.
6 Set in charge over him, one who is lawless, and let, an accuser, stand at his right hand;
They said, “Appoint a wicked [judge] who will judge him, and bring in one of his enemies who will stand up and accuse him.
7 When he is judged, let him go out condemned, and let, his own petition, become a sin;
And cause that when the trial [ends], [the judge will] declare that he is guilty, and that [even] his prayer will be considered to be a sin.
8 Let his days become few, his overseership, let another take;
[Then], cause that he will soon die and that someone else will have his job/work (OR, possessions).
9 Let his children become fatherless, and his wife a widow;
Cause that his children will not have a father any more and that his wife will become a widow.
10 Let his children, wander about, and beg, Let them be driven out of their ruins;
Cause that his children will be forced to leave the ruined homes that they have been living in and wander around begging for food.
11 Let the creditor take aim at all that he hath, and let strangers prey on the fruit of his toil;
Cause that all the people to whom he owed money will seize all his property; Cause that strangers will take away everything that he worked to acquire.
12 Let him have no one to continue lovingkindness, and there be none to favour his fatherless children;
Cause that [while he is still living] no one will be kind to him, and [after he dies], cause that no one will pity his children.
13 Let his posterity be for cutting off, In another generation, let their name be wiped out;
Cause that all his descendants will die and that his grandchildren will not remember who he [MTY] was.
14 Remembered be the iniquity of his fathers against Yahweh, and, the sin of his mother, let it not be wiped out;
Yahweh, remember [and do not forgive] his ancestors for the evil things that they did, and do not [even] forgive the sins that his mother committed;
15 Let them be before Yahweh continually, and let the memory of them, be cut off out of the earth.
think about his sins continually, and cause that his name will be completely forgotten.
16 Because that he remembered not to show lovingkindness, but pursued the man that was oppressed and needy, that, the downhearted, he might slay.
He never was kind to anyone; he (persecuted/cause problems for) poor and needy [people] and even killed helpless [people].
17 Because he loved cursing, May it have come upon him, Because he delighted not in blessing, May it have kept far from him;
He liked to curse [people]. [So] cause those terrible things that he requested to happen to others to happen to him! He did not want to bless [others], [so] cause that no one will bless him!
18 Because he clothed himself in cursing as his outer garment, therefore may it have entered like water into his inward part, and like oil into his bones;
He cursed other people [as often/easily] as he put on his clothes [SIM]; cause that the terrible things that he wanted to happen to others will [happen to him and] enter his body like water [that he drinks] [SIM], like [olive] oil soaks into a person’s bones [when it is rubbed on his skin] [SIM].
19 Be it his, as a garment he shall wrap round him, and for a girdle he shall, at all times, gird on:
Cause that those terrible things will cling to him like his clothes and be around him like the belt that he wears every day.”
20 This, be the reward of mine accusers, from Yahweh, even of them who are speaking wrongfully against my life.
Yahweh, I want you to punish all my enemies that way, those who say evil things about me.
21 But, thou, Yahweh, Adonay, deal effectually with me, for the sake of thy Name, Since good is thy lovingkindness, O rescue me;
But Yahweh, my God, do good things for me in order that I may honor you; rescue me [from my enemies] because your faithfully loving me is good.
22 For, oppressed and needy, I am, and, my heart, is wounded within me.
[I ask you to do this] because I am poor and needy and my inner being is (full of pain/very troubled/discouraged).
23 As a shadow when it stretcheth out, I am gone, I am shaken off like the locust;
[I think that] my time [to remain alive] is short, like an evening shadow [that will soon disappear] [SIM]. I will be blown away like a locust/grasshopper is blown [by the wind].
24 My knees, tremble from fasting, and, my flesh, faileth of fatness:
My knees are weak because I have (fasted/abstained from eating food) very often, and my body has become very thin.
25 So, I, am become a reproach for them, They see me, they shake their head.
The people who accuse me make fun of me; when they see me, they [insult me by] shaking their heads [at me as though I were an evil man].
26 Help me! O Yahweh my God, Save me, according to thy lovingkindness:
Yahweh, my God, help me! Because you faithfully love [me], rescue me!
27 That they may know that, Thine own hand, this is, Thou, Yahweh, hast done it.
[When you save me], cause my enemies to know that you are the one who has done it!
28 They, may curse if, thou, wilt bless, —Mine assailants, shall be ashamed, but, thy servant, shall rejoice;
They may curse me, but I ask that you bless me. Cause those who (persecute/cause problems for) me [to be defeated and as a result] to be disgraced/ashamed, and cause me to be glad/happy!
29 Mine accusers shall be clothed with confusion, and shall wrap about them, like a cloak, their own shame.
Cause those who accuse me to be completely disgraced; cause [other people to see] that they are disgraced, as [easily as they see] the clothes that they wear [SIM]!
30 I will thank Yahweh loudly with my mouth, Yea, in the midst of multitudes, will I praise him;
But I will thank Yahweh very greatly; I will praise him [when I am] among the crowd [of people who are worshiping him].
31 Because he standeth at the right hand of the needy, To save, from them who would pass sentence on his life.
[I will do that] because he defends [MTY] needy [people like me], and saves us from those who have decided/declared that we must be executed.
