¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O God of my praise, be not silent.

² For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me; they speak against me with lying tongues.

³ They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause.

⁴ In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.

⁵ They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

⁶ Set over him a wicked man; let an accuser stand at his right hand.

⁷ When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayer be regarded as sin.

⁸ May his days be few; may another take his position.¹

1. Cited in Acts 1:20

⁹ May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

¹⁰ May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance¹ far from their ruined homes.

1. Hebrew; LXX may they be driven

¹¹ May the creditor seize all he owns, and strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

¹² May there be no one to extend kindness to him, and no one to favor his fatherless children.

¹³ May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.

¹⁴ May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and the sin of his mother never be blotted out.

¹⁵ May their sins always remain before the LORD, that He may cut off their memory from the earth.

¹⁶ For he never thought to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and brokenhearted, even to their death.

¹⁷ The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.

¹⁸ The cursing that he wore like a coat, may it soak into his body like water, and into his bones like oil.

¹⁹ May it be like a robe wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him.

²⁰ May this be the LORD’s reward to my accusers, to those who speak evil against me.

²¹ But You, O GOD, the Lord, deal kindly with me for the sake of Your name; deliver me by the goodness of Your loving devotion.

²² For I am poor and needy; my heart is wounded within me.

²³ I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.

²⁴ My knees are weak from fasting, and my body grows lean and gaunt.

²⁵ I am 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 loving devotion.

²⁷ Let them know that this is Your hand, that You, O LORD, have done it.

²⁸ Though they curse, You will bless. When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.

²⁹ May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.

³⁰ With my mouth I will thank the LORD profusely; I will praise Him in the presence of many.

³¹ For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the condemners of his soul.