Vengeance Invoked upon Adversaries.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1O God of my praise!

Do not keep silent,

2For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me;

They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

3They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,

And have fought against me without a cause.

4In return for my love, they attack me,

But I am in prayer.

5They have repaid me evil for good,

And hatred for my love.

6Appoint a wicked man against him,

And let an attacker stand at his right hand [to kill him].

7When he enters into dispute, let wickedness come about.

Let his prayer [for help] result [only] in sin.

8Let his days be few;

And let another take his office.

9Let his children be fatherless

And his wife a widow.

10Let his children wander and beg;

Let them seek their food and be driven far from their ruined homes.

11Let the creditor seize all that he has,

And let strangers plunder the product of his labor.

12Let there be no one to extend kindness to him,

Nor let anyone be gracious to his fatherless children.

13Let his descendants be cut off,

And in the following generation let their name be blotted out.

14Let the wickedness of his fathers be remembered by the LORD;

And do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.

15Let them be before the LORD continually,

That He may cut off their memory from the earth;

16Because the man did not remember to show kindness,

But persecuted the suffering and needy man,

And the brokenhearted, to put them to death.

17He also loved cursing, and it came [back] to him;

He did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.

18He clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,

And it seeped into his inner self like water

And like [anointing] oil into his bones.

19Let it be to him as a robe with which he covers himself,

And as a sash with which he is constantly bound.

20Let this be the reward of my attackers from the LORD,

And of those who speak evil against my life.

21But You, O GOD, the Lord, show kindness to me, for Your name’s sake;

Because Your lovingkindness (faithfulness, compassion) is good, O rescue me;

22For I am suffering and needy,

And my heart is wounded within me.

23I am vanishing like a shadow when it lengthens and fades;

I am shaken off like the locust.

24My knees are unsteady from fasting;

And my flesh is gaunt and without fatness.

25I also have become a reproach and an object of taunting to others;

When they see me, they shake their heads [in derision].

26Help me, O LORD my God;

Save me according to Your lovingkindness--

27And let them know that this is Your hand;

You, LORD, have done it.

28Let them curse, but You bless.

When adversaries arise, let them be ashamed,

But let Your servant rejoice.

29Let my attackers be clothed with dishonor,

And let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.

30I will give great praise and thanks to the LORD with my mouth;

And in the midst of many I will praise Him.

31For He will stand at the right hand of the needy,

To save him from those who judge his soul.