Psalms 109
1 God, you are the one whom I praise, [So please] answer [my prayer],
For the leader. Of David, a psalm. O God whom I praise, keep not silence;
2 because wicked people slander me and tell [MTY] lies about me.
for their wicked mouths they have opened against me, they speak to me with tongues that are false,
3 They are constantly saying that they hate me, and they say evil things about me for no reason.
they beset me with words of hatred, and fight without cause against me.
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.
My love they requite with hostility, while for them I lift up my prayer.
5 In return for my doing good things for them and loving them, they do evil things to me and hate me.
Evil for good they reward me, 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 over him one who is godless,’ they say, ‘an opponent 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.
From his trial let him come forth guilty, may his prayer be counted as sin.
8 [Then], cause that he will soon die and that someone else will have his job/work (OR, possessions).
Grant that his days may be few, that his office be seized by another.
9 Cause that his children will not have a father any more and that his wife will become a widow.
Grant that his children be fatherless, and that his wife be 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.
Up and down may his children go begging, expelled from their desolate home.
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.
May all that he owns be seized by the creditor may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil.
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.
‘May none extend to him kindness, or pity his fatherless children.
13 Cause that all his descendants will die and that his grandchildren will not remember who he [MTY] was.
His descendants be doomed to destruction! Blotted out be his name in one generation!
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;
May his father’s guilt be remembered, and his mother’s sin not blotted out:
15 think about his sins continually, and cause that his name will be completely forgotten.
on record always before the Lord, and his memory root from the earth;
16 He never was kind to anyone; he (persecuted/cause problems for) poor and needy [people] and even killed helpless [people].
for he gave no thought to show kindness, but pursued the poor and the needy, drove the downhearted to death.
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!
‘May the curses he loved light upon him, may the blessings he loathed be afar.
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].
Like a garment he clothed him with curses; may they pierce to his inwards like water, and cling to his bones like oil.
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 them be like the robe he wraps round him, like the belt he wears every day.’
20 Yahweh, I want you to punish all my enemies that way, those who say evil things about me.
Be this the reward of my adversaries, of those who speak evil against me.
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 you, Lord my God, be true to your name, deal kindly with me; in your gracious kindness save 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 a lengthening shadow, I am shaken off like a 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 totter from fasting, my flesh is shrivelled and spare.
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].
They heap insults upon me: when they see me, they shake their head.
26 Yahweh, my God, help me! Because you faithfully love [me], rescue me!
Help me, O Lord my God, and save me in your kindness.
27 [When you save me], cause my enemies to know that you are the one who has done it!
Teach them that this is your hand, and your own doing, O Lord.
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, if only you bless. Put my assailants to shame, and make your servant glad.
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]!
My opponents be clothed with dishonour, and wrapped in a robe of shame.
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 give thanks to you, Lord, with loud voice, I give praise in the midst of the throng;
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 stands by the poor, at his right hand, to save them from those who condemn them.
