Great Is the Lord
Of David.
Contend, O Lord, with those who acontend with me;
bfight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of ashield and buckler
and rise for my help!
3 Draw the spear and javelin
against my pursuers!
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation!”
4 aLet them be bput to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life!
Let them be cturned back and disappointed
who devise evil against me!
5 Let them be like achaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them away!
6 Let their way be dark and aslippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!
7 For awithout cause bthey hid their net for me;
without cause they dug ca pit for my life.
8 Let adestruction come upon him bwhen he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall into it—to his destruction!
9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord,
aexulting in his salvation.
10 All my abones shall say,
“O Lord, bwho is like you,
delivering the poor
from him who is too strong for him,
the poor and needy from him who robs him?”
11 aMalicious witnesses rise up;
they ask me of things that I do not know.
12 aThey repay me evil for good;
my soul is bereft.
13 But I, awhen they were sick—
I bwore sackcloth;
I cafflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed dwith head bowed on my chest.
14 I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
I abowed down in mourning.
15 But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
they gathered together against me;
awretches whom I did not know
tore at me without ceasing;
16 like profane mockers at a feast,
they agnash at me with their teeth.
17 How long, O Lord, will you alook on?
Rescue me from their destruction,
bmy precious life from the lions!
18 I will thank you in athe great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19 aLet not those rejoice over me
who are bwrongfully my foes,
and let not those cwink the eye
who dhate me ewithout cause.
20 For they do not speak peace,
but against those who are quiet in the land
they devise words of deceit.
21 They aopen wide their mouths against me;
they say, b“Aha, Aha!
Our eyes have seen it!”
22 aYou have seen, O Lord; bbe not silent!
O Lord, cbe not far from me!
23 Awake and arouse yourself for bmy vindication,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 aVindicate me, O Lord, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and blet them not rejoice over me!
25 Let them not say in their hearts,
a“Aha, our heart’s desire!”
Let them not say, b“We have swallowed him up.”
26 Let them be aput to shame and disappointed altogether
who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be bclothed with shame and dishonor
who cmagnify themselves against me!
27 Let those who delight in my righteousness
shout for joy and be glad
aand say evermore,
b“Great is the Lord,
who cdelights in the welfare of his servant!”
28 Then my atongue shall tell of your righteousness
and of your praise all the day long.