| 1 | For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent, | |
| 2 | for wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues. | |
| 3 | With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause. | |
| 4 | In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer. | |
| 5 | They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship. | |
| 6 | Appoint an evil man to oppose him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. | |
| 7 | When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him. | |
| 8 | May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. | |
| 9 | May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. | |
| 10 | May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. | |
| 11 | May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. | |
| 12 | May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. | |
| 13 | May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation. | |
| 14 | May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out. | |
| 15 | May their sins always remain before the LORD, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. | |
| 16 | For he never thought of doing a kindness, but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted. | |
| 17 | He loved to pronounce a curse--may it come on him; he found no pleasure in blessing--may it be far from him. | |
| 18 | He wore cursing as his garment; it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil. | |
| 19 | May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him. | |
| 20 | May this be the LORD'S payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me. | |
| 21 | But you, O Sovereign LORD, deal well with me for your name's sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me. | |
| 22 | For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. | |
| 23 | I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust. | |
| 24 | My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt. | |
| 25 | I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads. | |
| 26 | Help me, O LORD my God; save me in accordance with your love. | |
| 27 | Let them know that it is your hand, that you, O LORD, have done it. | |
| 28 | They may curse, but you will bless; when they attack they will be put to shame, but your servant will rejoice. | |
| 29 | My accusers will be clothed with disgrace and wrapped in shame as in a cloak. | |
| 30 | With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD; in the great throng I will praise him. | |
| 31 | For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life from those who condemn him. | |