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 for my help!

³Draw the spear and javelin

against my pursuers!

Say to my soul,

“I am your deliverance!”

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 upon them unawares!

And let the net which they hid ensnare them;

let them fall therein to ruin!

⁹Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord,

exulting in his deliverance.

¹⁰All my bones shall say,

“O Lord, who is like thee,

thou who deliverest the weak

from him who is too strong for him,

the weak and needy from him who despoils him?”

¹¹Malicious witnesses rise up;

they ask me of things that I know not.

¹²They requite me evil for good;

my soul is forlorn.

¹³But I, 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 my friend or my brother;

I went about as one who laments his mother,

bowed down and in mourning.

¹⁵But at my stumbling they gathered in glee,

they gathered together against me;

cripples whom I knew not

slandered me without ceasing;

¹⁶they impiously mocked more and more,

gnashing at me with their teeth.

¹⁷How long, O Lord, wilt thou look on?

Rescue me from their ravages,

my life from the lions!

¹⁸Then I will thank thee in the great congregation;

in the mighty throng I will praise thee.

¹⁹Let not those rejoice over me

who are wrongfully my foes,

and let not those wink the eye

who hate me without cause.

²⁰For they do not speak peace,

but against those who are quiet in the land

they conceive words of deceit.

²¹They open wide their mouths against me;

they say, “Aha, Aha!

our eyes have seen it!”

²²Thou hast seen, O Lord; be not silent!

O Lord, be not far from me!

²³Bestir thyself, and awake for my right,

for my cause, my God and my Lord!

²⁴Vindicate me, O Lord, my God, according to thy righteousness;

and let them not rejoice over me!

²⁵Let them not say to themselves,

“Aha, we have our heart’s desire!”

Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”

²⁶Let them be put to shame and confusion altogether

who rejoice at my calamity!

Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor

who magnify themselves against me!

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 thy righteousness

and of thy praise all the day long.