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¹ To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Be not silent, O God of my praise!² For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues.³ They beset me with words of hate, and attack me without cause.⁴ In return for my love they accuse me, even as I make prayer for them.⁵ So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

⁶ Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser bring him to trial.⁷ When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin!⁸ May his days be few; may another seize his goods!⁹ May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow!¹⁰ May his children wander about and beg; may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit!¹¹ May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!¹² Let there be none to extend kindness to him, nor any to pity his fatherless children!¹³ May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation!¹⁴ May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!¹⁵ Let them be before the LORD continually; and may his memory be cut off from the earth!¹⁶ For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted to their death.¹⁷ He loved to curse; let curses come on him! He did not like blessing; may it be far from him!¹⁸ He clothed himself with cursing as his coat, may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones!¹⁹ May it be like a garment which he wraps round him, like a belt with which he daily girds himself!²⁰ May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, of those who speak evil against my life!

²¹ But thou, O GOD my Lord, deal on my behalf for thy name's sake; because thy steadfast love is good, deliver me!²² For I am poor and needy, and my heart is stricken within me.²³ I am gone, like a shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust.²⁴ My knees are weak through fasting; my body has become gaunt.²⁵ I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they wag their heads.²⁶ Help me, O LORD my God! Save me according to thy steadfast love!²⁷ Let them know that this is thy hand; thou, O LORD, hast done it!²⁸ Let them curse, but do thou bless! Let my assailants be put to shame; may thy servant be glad!²⁹ May my accusers be clothed with dishonor; may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a mantle!³⁰ With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD; I will praise him in the midst of the throng.³¹ For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who condemn him to death.