¹A Psalm of David.

O Lord, contend with my adversaries;

Do battle with those who do battle with me.

²Take hold of buckler and shield,

And rise up to my assistance.

³And draw out the spear,

And close in on those who pursue me.

Say to my being,

“I am your salvation.”

⁴Let those who seek my life

Be ashamed and suffer ignominy;

Let those who devise my harm

Be driven back and be disgraced.

⁵Let them be like chaff before the wind,

With the angel of the Lord driving them.

⁶Let their way consist of darkness and slippery places,

With the angel of the Lord pursuing them.

⁷For they secretly prepared without cause

A pit with their net for me.

Without cause they dug it for my life.

⁸Let destruction come upon him,

Which he will be unaware of,

And let his net which he hid

Catch him.

Let him fall into it

To his destruction.

⁹Then my being will rejoice in the Lord;

It will exult in his salvation.

¹⁰All my bones say,

“O Lord, who is like you?

– Delivering the afflicted

From him who is stronger than he,

And the afflicted and poor

From him who exploits them.”

¹¹False witnesses rise up

And interrogate me concerning things

Which I do not know about.

¹²They repay me evil for good,

Leaving me destitute.

¹³Whilst I, when they were sick,

Wore sackcloth for my clothing.

I afflicted myself with fasting,

But my prayer returned to my own bosom.

¹⁴I conducted myself as to a friend or as to a brother of mine;

I was downcast in melancholy,

As one mourning for his mother.

¹⁵When I keeled over,

They rejoiced,

And slanderers gathered themselves against me more and more.

And I did not recognize their accusations

As they tore at me without stopping,

¹⁶With profane cake mockers,

Who gnash their teeth at me instead.

¹⁷O Lord^*, how long will you look on?

Rescue my life from their devastations;

Rescue my most dear from the lion cubs.

¹⁸I will give you thanks in a great convocation;

I will praise you among a numerous people.

¹⁹Do not let my enemies rejoice over me on the basis of falsehood,

Nor let those who hate me without cause gloat over me.

²⁰For they do not speak peace,

But they conceive deceitful words

Against those who are quiet in the land.

²¹And they have railed at me;

They have said,

“Ha, ha! Our eye has seen it.”

²²You have seen it, O Lord;

Do not be silent.

O Lord^*, do not be far from me.

²³Rouse yourself

And awaken to my case,

O God of mine and my Lord

– For my cause.

²⁴Judge me according to your righteousness,

O Lord my God,

And do not let them rejoice over me.

²⁵Do not let them say in their heart,

“Ha, we have our desire.”

Do not let them say,

“We have swallowed him up.”

²⁶Let those who rejoice in me being harmed

Be completely put to shame and disgraced.

And let those who triumph over me

Be clothed in shame and ignominy.

²⁷Let those who delight in my justice

Shout for joy and rejoice

And continually say,

“Let the Lord, who delights in his servant's peace,

Be magnified.”

²⁸And my tongue will utter your righteousness

And your praise, all day long.

Reference(s) in Chapter 35: v.19 ↔ John 15:25.