¹To the choirmaster.↑

A Psalm of David.

O God of my praise,

Do not be silent.

²For a wicked mouth

And a deceitful mouth

Have opened against me.

They have spoken against me

With a lying tongue.

³And words of hatred surround me,

And they battle against me gratuitously.

⁴In return for my love they oppose me,

And I am all prayer.

⁵And they have plotted wickedness against me in return for goodness,

And hatred in return for my love.

⁶Appoint a wicked one over him,

So that Satan stands at his right hand.

⁷When he is judged,

Let condemnation be pronounced,

And let his prayer become sin.

⁸May his days be few;

⁹May his sons become orphans,

And his wife a widow.

¹⁰May his sons wander about unremittingly

And beg,

And seek their needs from their desolate places.

¹¹May the creditor ensnare everything he has,

And may foreigners plunder his hard-earned wealth.

¹²May there not be anyone who extends him kindness,

And let there not be anyone showing compassion to his orphans.

¹³May his posterity be destined to be cut off;

May their name be obliterated in the next generation.

¹⁴May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the Lord,

And may the sin of his mother not be wiped out.

¹⁵May they be before the Lord continually,

And may he cut off memory of them from the earth,

¹⁶Because he did not remember to show kindness,

And he pursued a poor and needy man,

And one of dejected heart,

To have him put to death.

¹⁷Now he loved cursing,

So let it come over him,

And he did not take delight in a blessing,

So let it be far from him.

¹⁸And he clothed himself in cursing as in his vesture,

So let it come like water into his innards,

And like oil into his bones.

¹⁹Let it be to him

Like a garment that covers him,

And like a girdle

So that he constantly girds himself with it.

²⁰These are the wages from the Lord

Of those who oppose me

And of those who speak evil

About my character.

²¹But you, O Lord my Lord,

Act with me for your name's sake,

For your kindness is good,

And deliver me,

²²For I am poor and needy,

And my heart is wounded inside me.

²³I am passing away

Like a shadow when it becomes long.

I am thrown about

Like a locust.

²⁴My knees are languid from fasting,

And my flesh is wasting away losing fatness.

²⁵And I have become a reproach to them;

They see me,

And they shake their head.

²⁶Help me, O Lord my God;

Save me according to your kindness,

²⁷So that they may know that this is your hand at work

– That you the Lord brought it about.

²⁸They may curse,

But you bless.

When they rise up,

Let them be ashamed,

But let your servant be glad.

²⁹May those who oppose me

Be clothed in ignominy

And be covered in their shame

Like a robe.

³⁰I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth,

And in the midst of many,

I will praise him.

³¹For he will stand on the right hand side of the poor

To save him from those who judge the capital case against him.

Reference(s) in Chapter 109: v.8 ↔ Acts 1:20.