OEBcth - Psalms - 109

109:1  O God whom I praise, keep not silence; for their wicked mouths they have opened against me, they speak to me with tongues that are false,

109:3  they beset me with words of hatred, and fight without cause against me.

109:4  My love they requite with hostility, while for them I lift up my prayer.

109:5  Evil for good they reward me, and hatred for my love.

109:6  “Set over him one who is godless,” they say, “an opponent at his right hand.

109:7  From his trial let him come forth guilty, may his prayer be counted as sin.

109:8  Grant that his days may be few, that his office be seized by another.

109:9  Grant that his children be fatherless, and that his wife be a widow.

109:10  Up and down may his children go begging, expelled from their desolate home.

109:11  May all that he owns be seized by the creditor may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil.

109:12  May none extend to him kindness, or pity his fatherless children.

109:13  His descendants be doomed to destruction! Blotted out be his name in one generation!

109:14  May his father’s guilt be remembered, and his mother’s sin not blotted out:

109:15  on record always before the Lord, and his memory root from the earth;

109:16  for he gave no thought to show kindness, but pursued the poor and the needy, drove the downhearted to death.

109:17  May the curses he loved light upon him, may the blessings he loathed be afar.

109:18  Like a garment he clothed him with curses; may they pierce to his inwards like water, and cling to his bones like oil.

109:19  Let them be like the robe he wraps round him, like the belt he wears every day.”

109:20  Be this the reward of my adversaries, of those who speak evil against me.

109:21  But you, Lord my God, be true to your name, deal kindly with me; in your gracious kindness save me.

109:22  For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.

109:23  I am gone like a lengthening shadow, I am shaken off like a locust.

109:24  My knees totter from fasting, my flesh is shrivelled and spare.

109:25  They heap insults upon me: when they see me, they shake their head.

109:26  Help me, O Lord my God, and save me in your kindness.

109:27  Teach them that this is your hand, and your own doing, O Lord.

109:28  Let them curse, if only you bless. Put my assailants to shame, and make your servant glad.

109:29  My opponents be clothed with dishonour, and wrapped in a robe of shame.

109:30  I give thanks to you, Lord, with loud voice, I give praise in the midst of the throng;

109:31  for he stands by the poor, at his right hand, to save them from those who condemn them.