Psalm 35
Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me
: fight against those that fight against me.
Take up shield and buckler
: and arise, arise to help me.
Draw the spear and bar the way against those that pursue me
: say to me ‘I am your deliverer.’
Let those that seek my life be put to shame and disgraced
: let those that plot my destruction be turned back and confounded.
Let them be like chaff before the wind
: with the angel of the Lord driving them;
Let their way be dark and slippery
: with the angel of the Lord pursuing.
For without cause they have secretly spread a net for me
: without cause they have dug a pit to entrap me.
Let sudden disaster strike them
: let the net that they have hidden catch them,
let them fall to their destruction.
Then shall my soul be joyful in the Lord
: and I will rejoice in his deliverance.
All my bones shall say ‘Lord, who is like you?
: for you deliver the poor man from him that is too strong for him,
the poor and needy from him that would despoil them.’
Malicious witnesses rise up against me
: I am questioned about things of which I know nothing.
They repay me evil for good
: I am as one bereaved of his children.
Yet when they were sick, I put on sackcloth
: I afflicted myself with fasting.
And if my prayer returned unanswered to my bosom
: I went about mourning as though for a brother or a companion;
I was bowed down with grief
: as though for my own mother.
But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together,
they gathered together against me
: as though they were strangers I never knew,
they tore at me without ceasing.
When I slipped, they mocked me
: and gnashed at me with their teeth.
Lord, how long will you look on?
: take me from the evil they intend,
take me from amidst the lions.
And I will give you thanks in the great congregation
: I will praise you in the throng of the people.
Let not those that wrongfully are my enemies
triumph over me
: let not those that hate me without cause
mock me with their eyes.
For they speak words that do not make for peace
: they invent lies against those that are quiet in the land.
They stretch their mouths to jeer at me, and say
: ‘Aha, aha! We have seen all that we wish!’
And you also have seen, O Lord; do not be silent
: O God, go not far from me.
Bestir yourself, awake to do me right
: to plead my cause, O Lord my God.
Judge me, O Lord my God, according to your righteousness
: and let them not rejoice over me.
Let them not say in their hearts ‘We have our wish’
: let them not say ‘We have destroyed him.’
Let those that rejoice at my hurt
be disgraced and confounded altogether
: let those that lord it over me
be clothed in shame and dishonour.
But let those that long for my vindication
shout for joy and rejoice
: let them say always that the Lord is great,
who takes such delight in his servant’s good.
And my tongue shall speak of your righteousness
: and of your praise all the day long.