1My God, whom I praise,

do not remain silent,

2for people who are wicked and deceitful

have opened their mouths against me;

they have spoken against me with lying tongues.

3With words of hatred they surround me;

they attack me without cause.

4In return for my friendship they accuse me,

but I am a man of prayer.

5They repay me evil for good,

and hatred for my friendship.

6Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;

let an accuser stand at his right hand.

7When he is tried, let him be found guilty,

and may his prayers condemn him.

8May his days be few;

may another take his place of leadership.

9May his children be fatherless

and his wife a widow.

10May his children be wandering beggars;

may they be driven ^a from their ruined homes.

11May a creditor seize all he has;

may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

12May no one extend kindness to him

or take pity on his fatherless children.

13May his descendants be cut off,

their names blotted out from the next generation.

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

may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.

15May their sins always remain before the Lord,

that he may blot out their name from the earth.

16For he never thought of doing a kindness,

but hounded to death the poor

and the needy and the brokenhearted.

17He loved to pronounce a curse—

may it come back on him.

He found no pleasure in blessing—

may it be far from him.

18He wore cursing as his garment;

it entered into his body like water,

into his bones like oil.

19May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,

like a belt tied forever around him.

20May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,

to those who speak evil of me.

21But you, Sovereign Lord,

help me for your name’s sake;

out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.

22For I am poor and needy,

and my heart is wounded within me.

23I fade away like an evening shadow;

I am shaken off like a locust.

24My knees give way from fasting;

my body is thin and gaunt.

25I am an object of scorn to my accusers;

when they see me, they shake their heads.

26Help me, Lord my God;

save me according to your unfailing love.

27Let them know that it is your hand,

that you, Lord, have done it.

28While they curse, may you bless;

may those who attack me be put to shame,

but may your servant rejoice.

29May my accusers be clothed with disgrace

and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.

30With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;

in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.

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

to save their lives from those who would condemn them.