1Do not keep silent, O God whom I praise.
2For the wicked and the deceitful have opened their mouths against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3They surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me for no reason.
4In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer.
5They have paid me back evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6Set a wicked man over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand.
7When he is judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer become sin.
8Let his days be few, and let another take his office.
9Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10Let his children always wander and beg. Let them look for bread far from their ruined homes.
11Let the money-lender seize all that he has. Let strangers plunder what he worked for.
12Let there be no one to show him mercy, and no one to be kind to his fatherless children.
13Let those who come after him be cut off. In the next generation let their name be wiped out.
14Let the sin of his fathers be remembered by the LORD, and let his mother's sin not be wiped out.
15Let them be before the LORD always, so that he may cut off their memory from the earth.
16For he did not remember to show mercy. He hunted down the poor and needy man, to kill the one who was broken in heart.
17He loved cursing, so let cursing come to him. He took no delight in blessing, so let blessing stay far from him.
18He put on cursing like a coat, so let it come into his body like water, and like oil into his bones.
19Let it be to him like the clothing that covers him, and like a belt he always wears.
20Let this be what the LORD gives back to those who accuse me, and to those who speak evil against my soul.
21But you, O GOD the Lord, act for me, for your name's sake. Because your mercy is good, rescue me.
22For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded inside me.
23I am gone like a shadow when it fades. I am shaken off like a locust.
24My knees are weak from fasting, and my body is thin and without strength.
25I also became a thing of shame to them. When they looked at me, they shook their heads.
26Help me, O LORD my God. Save me, as your mercy is great,
27so that they may know that this is your hand, that you, LORD, have done it.
28Let them curse, but you bless. When they rise up, let them be ashamed, but let your servant be glad.
29Let those who accuse me be clothed with shame. Let them wrap their own disgrace around them like a cloak.
30I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth. Yes, I will praise him among the crowd.
31For he will stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those who condemn his soul.