Psalm 109
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Psalm 109 For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
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O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent,
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for wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
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With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause.
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In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.
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They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship.
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Appoint [1] an evil man [2] to oppose him; let an accuser [3] stand at his right hand.
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When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him.
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May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.
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May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
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May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven [4] from their ruined homes.
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May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
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May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children.
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May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation.
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May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
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May their sins always remain before the LORD, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
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For he never thought of doing a kindness, but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted.
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He loved to pronounce a curse-- may it [5] come on him; he found no pleasure in blessing-- may it be [6] far from him.
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He wore cursing as his garment; it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil.
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May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him.
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May this be the LORD's payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me.
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But you, O Sovereign LORD, deal well with me for your name's sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
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For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
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I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
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My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt.
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I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.
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Help me, O LORD my God; save me in accordance with your love.
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Let them know that it is your hand, that you, O LORD, have done it.
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They may curse, but you will bless; when they attack they will be put to shame, but your servant will rejoice.
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My accusers will be clothed with disgrace and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
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With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD; in the great throng I will praise him.
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For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life from those who condemn him.
  1. [6] Or [They say:] "Appoint (with quotation marks at the end of verse 19)
  2. [6] Or the Evil One
  3. [6] Or let Satan
  4. [10] Septuagint; Hebrew sought
  5. [17] Or curse, and it has
  6. [17] Or blessing, and it is