[1] 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 encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause.
[4] In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer.
[5] So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
[6] Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand at his right hand.
[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 take his office!
[9] May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow!
[10] May his children wander about and beg, seeking food far from 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, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!
[16] For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.
[17] He loved to curse; let curses come upon him! He did not delight in 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 that he wraps around him, like a belt that he puts on every day!
[20] May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, of those who speak evil against my life!
[21] But you, O GOD my Lord, deal on my behalf for your name's sake; because your 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, with no fat.
[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 your steadfast love!
[27] Let them know that this is your hand; you, O LORD, have done it!
[28] Let them curse, but you will bless! They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!
[29] May my accusers be clothed with dishonor; may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
[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 one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.