| 1
| Fight those who fight me, O LORD; *
attack those who are attacking me.
|
| 2
| Take up shield and armor *
and rise up to help me.
|
| 3
| Draw the sword and bar the way against those
who pursue me; *
say to my soul, "I am your salvation."
|
| 4
| Let those who seek after my life be shamed
and humbled; *
let those who plot my ruin fall back and be dismayed.
|
| 5
| Let them be like chaff before the wind, *
and let the angel of the LORD drive them away.
|
| 6
| Let their way be dark and slippery, *
and let the angel of the LORD pursue them.
|
| 7
| For they have secretly spread a net for me
without a cause; *
without a cause they have dug a pit to take me alive.
|
| 8
| Let ruin come upon them unawares; *
let them be caught in the net they hid;
let them fall into the pit they dug.
|
| 9
| Then I will be joyful in the LORD; *
I will glory in his victory.
|
| 10
| My very bones will say, "LORD, who is
like you? *
You deliver the poor from those who are too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them."
|
| 11
| Malicious witnesses rise up against me; *
they charge me with matters I know nothing about.
|
| 12
| They pay me evil in exchange for good; *
my soul is full of despair.
|
| 13
| But when they were sick I dressed in sack-cloth
*
and humbled myself by fasting.
|
| 14
| I prayed with my whole heart,
as one would for a friend or a brother; *
I behaved like one who mourns for his mother,
bowed down and grieving.
|
| 15
| But when I stumbled, they were glad and gathered
together;
they gathered against me; *
strangers whom I did not know tore me to pieces and would not
stop.
|
| 16
| They put me to the test and mocked me; *
they gnashed at me with their teeth.
|
| 17
| O Lord, how long will you look on? *
rescue me from the roaring beasts,
and my life from the young lions.
|
| 18
| I will give you thanks in the great congregation;
*
I will praise you in the mighty throng.
|
| 19
| Do not let my treacherous foes rejoice over
me, *
nor let those who hate me without a cause wink at each other.
|
| 20
| For they do not plan for peace, *
but invent deceitful schemes against the quiet in the land.
|
| 21
| They opened their mouths at me and said,
*
"Aha! we saw it with our own eyes."
|
| 22
| You saw it, O LORD; do not be silent; *
O Lord, be not far from me.
|
| 23
| Awake, arise, to my cause! *
to my defense, my God and my Lord!
|
| 24
| Give me justice, O LORD my God,
according to your righteousness; *
do not let them triumph over me.
|
| 25
| Do not let them say in their hearts,
"Aha! just what we want!" *
Do not let them say, "We have swallowed him up."
|
| 26
| Let all who rejoice at my ruin be ashamed
and disgraced; *
let those who boast against me be clothed with dismay and shame.
|
| 27
| Let those who favor my cause sing out with
joy and be glad; *
let them say always, "Great is the LORD,
who desires the prosperity of his servant."
|
| 28
| And my tongue shall be talking of your righteousness
*
and of your praise all the day long.
|
