Psalm 109

Help Me, O Lord My God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

¹Be not silent, O God of my praise!

²For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,

speaking against me with lying tongues.

³They encircle me with words of hate,

and attack me without cause.

⁴In return for my love they accuse me,

but I give myself to prayer.

⁵So they reward me evil for good,

and hatred for my love.

⁶Appoint a wicked man against him;

let an accuser stand at his right hand.

⁷When he is tried, let him come forth guilty;

let his prayer be counted as sin!

⁸May his days be few;

may another take his office!

⁹May his children be fatherless

and his wife a widow!

¹⁰May his children wander about and beg,

seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!

¹¹May the creditor seize all that he has;

may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!

¹²Let there be none to extend kindness to him,

nor any to pity his fatherless children!

¹³May his posterity be cut off;

may his name be blotted out in the second generation!

¹⁴May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,

and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!

¹⁵Let them be before the Lord continually,

that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!

¹⁶For he did not remember to show kindness,

but pursued the poor and needy

and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.

¹⁷He loved to curse; let curses come upon him!

He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him!

¹⁸He clothed himself with cursing as his coat;

may it soak into his body like water,

like oil into his bones!

¹⁹May it be like a garment that he wraps around him,

like a belt that he puts on every day!

²⁰May this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord,

of those who speak evil against my life!

²¹But you, O God my Lord,

deal on my behalf for your name's sake;

because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!

²²For I am poor and needy,

and my heart is stricken within me.

²³I am gone like a shadow at evening;

I am shaken off like a locust.

²⁴My knees are weak through fasting;

my body has become gaunt, with no fat.

²⁵I am an object of scorn to my accusers;

when they see me, they wag their heads.

²⁶Help me, O Lord my God!

Save me according to your steadfast love!

²⁷Let them know that this is your hand;

you, O Lord, have done it!

²⁸Let them curse, but you will bless!

They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!

²⁹May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;

may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!

³⁰With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord;

I will praise him in the midst of the throng.

³¹For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,

to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.