< Psalms 109 >
1 God, you are the one whom I praise, [So please] answer [my prayer],
Hold not your peace, O God of my praise;
2 because wicked people slander me and tell [MTY] 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 are constantly saying that they hate me, and they say evil things about me for no reason.
They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
4 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.
For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
5 In return for my doing good things for them and loving them, they do evil things to me and hate me.
And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 They said, “Appoint a wicked [judge] who will judge him, and bring in one of his enemies who will stand up and accuse him.
Set you a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
7 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.
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
8 [Then], cause that he will soon die and that someone else will have his job/work (OR, possessions).
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
9 Cause that his children will not have a father any more and that his wife will become a widow.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10 Cause that his children will be forced to leave the ruined homes that they have been living in and wander around begging for food.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11 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.
Let the extortionist catch all that he has; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
12 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.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
13 Cause that all his descendants will die and that his grandchildren will not remember who he [MTY] was.
Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 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;
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 think about his sins continually, and cause that his name will be completely forgotten.
Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 He never was kind to anyone; he (persecuted/cause problems for) poor and needy [people] and even killed helpless [people].
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 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!
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 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].
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 Cause that those terrible things will cling to him like his clothes and be around him like the belt that he wears every day.”
Let it be unto him as the garment which covers him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20 Yahweh, I want you to punish all my enemies that way, those who say evil things about me.
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.
21 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.
But do you for me, O GOD the Lord, for your name's sake: because your mercy is good, deliver you me.
22 [I ask you to do this] because I am poor and needy and my inner being is (full of pain/very troubled/discouraged).
For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
23 [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].
I am gone like the shadow when it declines: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
24 My knees are weak because I have (fasted/abstained from eating food) very often, and my body has become very thin.
My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh fails of fatness.
25 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].
I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shook their heads.
26 Yahweh, my God, help me! Because you faithfully love [me], rescue me!
Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to your mercy:
27 [When you save me], cause my enemies to know that you are the one who has done it!
That they may know that this is your hand; that you, LORD, have done it.
28 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!
Let them curse, but bless you: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let your servant rejoice.
29 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]!
Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
30 But I will thank Yahweh very greatly; I will praise him [when I am] among the crowd [of people who are worshiping him].
I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
31 [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.
For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.