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1O God of my praise,
do not remain silent.
2 For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me;
with lying tongues they speak against me.
3 They surround me with words of hate,
and attack me without cause.
4 In return for my love they accuse me,
but I give myself to prayer.
5 They repay me with evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
6 Appoint a wicked man to oppose him;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is tried, let him be condemned,
and let his prayer be counted as sin.
8 Let his days be few,
and let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children wander around and beg,
and let them be driven from their ruined homes.
11 Let a creditor seize all he has,
and let strangers plunder the fruits of his labour.
12 Let there be none to show him kindness,
or any to take pity on his fatherless children.
13 Let his descendants be cut off,
and let his name be blotted out in the next generation.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
and let the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
15 Let their sins remain before the Lord,
that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 For he never thought to show kindness;
he hounded the poor and the needy
and the broken-hearted to the death.
17 As he loved to pronounce a curse,
so let it come against him;
and as he did not delight in blessing,
so let it be far from him.
18 He wore his cursing like a garment,
so let it enter into his body like water,
and soak like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be like a cloak wrapped around him,
and like a belt that he always wears.
20 Let this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,
to those who speak evil against my life.
21 But You, O Lord my Lord,
deal well with me for Your name’s sake;
deliver me, for Your faithful love is good.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I have faded like a shadow towards evening;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become thin and gaunt.
25 I have become an object of scorn to my accusers,
when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God;
save me according to Your faithful love.
27 Let them know that this is Your hand,
and that You, O Lord, have done it.
28 Let them curse, but You will bless;
when they attack, let them be put to shame,
but let Your servant rejoice.
29 Let my accusers be clothed with disgrace;
let them wear shame like a cloak.
30 With my mouth I will extol the Lord;
I will praise Him in the midst of the throng.
31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy,
to deliver his life from those who condemn him.