Psalm 35

¹Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;

fight against those who fight against me!

²Take hold of shield and buckler,

and rise up to help me!

³Draw the spear and javelin

against my pursuers;

say to my soul,

“I am your salvation.”

⁴Let them be put to shame and dishonor

who seek after my life.

Let them be turned back and confounded

who devise evil against me.

⁵Let them be like chaff before the wind,

with the angel of the Lord driving them on.

⁶Let their way be dark and slippery,

with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.

⁷For without cause they hid their net for me;

without cause they dug a pit for my life.

⁸Let ruin come on them unawares.

And let the net that they hid ensnare them;

let them fall in it—to their ruin.

⁹Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord,

exulting in his deliverance.

¹⁰All my bones shall say,

“O Lord, who is like you?

You deliver the weak

from those too strong for them,

the weak and needy from those who despoil them.”

¹¹Malicious witnesses rise up;

they ask me about things I do not know.

¹²They repay me evil for good;

my soul is forlorn.

¹³But as for me, when they were sick,

I wore sackcloth;

I afflicted myself with fasting.

I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,

¹⁴as though I grieved for a friend or a brother;

I went about as one who laments for a mother,

bowed down and in mourning.

¹⁵But at my stumbling they gathered in glee,

they gathered together against me;

ruffians whom I did not know

tore at me without ceasing;

¹⁶they impiously mocked more and more,

gnashing at me with their teeth.

¹⁷How long, O Lord, will you look on?

Rescue me from their ravages,

my life from the lions!

¹⁸Then I will thank you in the great congregation;

in the mighty throng I will praise you.

¹⁹Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me,

or those who hate me without cause wink the eye.

²⁰For they do not speak peace,

but they conceive deceitful words

against those who are quiet in the land.

²¹They open wide their mouths against me;

they say, “Aha, Aha,

our eyes have seen it.”

²²You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent!

O Lord, do not be far from me!

²³Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defense,

for my cause, my God and my Lord!

²⁴Vindicate me, O Lord, my God,

according to your righteousness,

and do not let them rejoice over me.

²⁵Do not let them say to themselves,

“Aha, we have our heart’s desire.”

Do not let them say, “We have swallowed you up.”

²⁶Let all those who rejoice at my calamity

be put to shame and confusion;

let those who exalt themselves against me

be clothed with shame and dishonor.

²⁷Let those who desire my vindication

shout for joy and be glad,

and say evermore,

“Great is the Lord,

who delights in the welfare of his servant.”

²⁸Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness

and of your praise all day long.