| 1 | To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. Do not keep silent, O God of my praise! | |
| 2 | For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful Have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. | |
| 3 | They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without a cause. | |
| 4 | In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer. | |
| 5 | Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, And hatred for my love. | |
| 6 | Set a wicked man over him, And let an accuser stand at his right hand. | |
| 7 | When he is judged, let him be found guilty, And let his prayer become sin. | |
| 8 | Let his days be few, And let another take his office. | |
| 9 | Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow. | |
| 10 | Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg; Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places. | |
| 11 | Let the creditor seize all that he has, And let strangers plunder his labor. | |
| 12 | Let there be none to extend mercy to him, Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children. | |
| 13 | Let his posterity be cut off, And in the generation following let their name be blotted out. | |
| 14 | Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. | |
| 15 | Let them be continually before the LORD, That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth; | |
| 16 | Because he did not remember to show mercy, But persecuted the poor and needy man, That he might even slay the broken in heart. | |
| 17 | As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him. | |
| 18 | As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, So let it enter his body like water, And like oil into his bones. | |
| 19 | Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, And for a belt with which he girds himself continually. | |
| 20 | Let this be the LORD'S reward to my accusers, And to those who speak evil against my person. | |
| 21 | But You, O GOD the Lord, Deal with me for Your name's sake; Because Your mercy is good, deliver me. | |
| 22 | For I am poor and needy, And my heart is wounded within me. | |
| 23 | I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust. | |
| 24 | My knees are weak through fasting, And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness. | |
| 25 | I also have become a reproach to them; When they look at me, they shake their heads. | |
| 26 | Help me, O LORD my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy, | |
| 27 | That they may know that this is Your hand--That You, LORD, have done it! | |
| 28 | Let them curse, but You bless; When they arise, let them be ashamed, But let Your servant rejoice. | |
| 29 | Let my accusers be clothed with shame, And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle. | |
| 30 | I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude. | |
| 31 | For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, To save him from those who condemn him. | |