Plea for Judgment of False Accusers
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
Doa not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a alying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me awithout a cause.
4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.
5 Thus athey have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him,
And let aan accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And alet his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be afew,
And blet another take his office.
9 aLet his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places.
11 aLet the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 aLet his posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their bname be blotted out.
14 aLet the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
And let not the sin of his mother bbe blotted out.
15 Let them be continually before the Lord,
That He may acut off the memory of them from the earth;
16 Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the abroken in heart.
17 aAs he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it aenter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
20 Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.
21 But You, O God the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone alike a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My aknees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
25 I also have become aa reproach to them;
When they look at me, bthey shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,
27 aThat they may know that this is Your hand—
That You, Lord, have done it!
28 aLet them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, let them be ashamed,
But let bYour servant rejoice.
29 aLet my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.
30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
Yes, aI will praise Him among the multitude.
31 For aHe shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
To save him from those who condemn him.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved.