Psalm 109
O God of my praise, do not be silent
: for evil and deceitful mouths are opened against me.
They speak of me with lying tongues
: they surround me with words of hatred, they fight against me without cause.
In return for my friendship they oppose me
: and that for no fault of mine.
They repay me evil for good
: and hatred for my affection.
[Appoint an evil man to stand against him
: and let an adversary be at his right hand.
When he is judged, let him be found guilty
: let his prayer for help be counted as sin.
Let his days be few
: and let another take what he has hoarded.
Let his children be made fatherless
: and his wife become a widow.
Let his children be vagabonds and beggars
: let them seek alms far from their own homes.
Let the usurer exact all that he has
: and let strangers plunder the fruit of his toil.
Let no man be loyal to him
: and let no one have pity on his fatherless children.
Let his line become extinct
: in one generation let their name be blotted out.
Let the sins of his fathers be remembered by the Lord
: and his mother’s iniquity not be wiped away.
Let their sins be constantly before the Lord
: may he root out their memory from the earth.
For he was a man that did not remember to show loyalty
: but he persecuted the humble, the poor and the crushed in spirit,
and sought to put them to death.
He loved to curse
let curses fall on him :
he took no pleasure in blessing, so let it be far from him.
He clothed himself in cursing like a garment :
so let it seep like water into his body and like oil into his bones.
Let it be as the clothes he wraps about him :
or like the girdle that he wears each day.
This is the Lord’s recompense to those that oppose him :
to those that speak evil against me.]
Act for me, O Lord my God, for your name’s sake :
and deliver me, as your steadfast love is good.
For I am poor and needy :
and my heart writhes within me.
I fade like a lengthening shadow :
I am shaken off like a locust.
My knees are weak from fasting :
my flesh grows lean and shrunken.
I have become the scorn of my enemies :
and when they see me, they toss their heads in derision.
Help me, O Lord my God :
and save me for your mercy’s sake,
That men may know it was your hand :
that you, O Lord, have done it.
Though they curse, yet give me your blessing :
and those that come against me will be put to shame,
and your servant shall rejoice.
Let those that oppose me be covered with disgrace :
let them wear their shame as a garment.
And I will give the Lord great thanks with my mouth :
and praise him in the midst of a multitude.
For the Lord will stand at the right hand of the poor :
to save him from those that would condemn him.