1 God whom I praise, do not be silent!
2 For a wicked mouth and a deceitful mouth have opened against me; they have talked to me with a lying tongue.
3 With hateful words they surround me and attack me for no reason.
4 In return for my love they act as my accusers—but I am all prayer.
5 They have laid evil on me in exchange for good, and hatred in exchange for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him; let an accuser stand at his right.
7 When he is tried, may he come out guilty, and may his prayer be counted as sin.
8 May his days be few; may someone else take his office.
9 May his children become orphans and his wife a widow.
10 May his children wander on and on and beg, seeking a living far from their ruins.
11 May the creditor lay a snare for all he owns, and may strangers plunder what he has toiled for.
12 May no one continue kindness to him, nor anyone take pity on his orphans.
13 May his descendants be cut off; in the next generation may their name be erased.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and may his mother's sin never be erased.
15 May they always be before the LORD, and may he cut off their memory from the earth,
16 because he did not remember to show kindness but hounded the poor and needy and the brokenhearted, to kill them.
17 He loved cursing, and it has come to him; he had no delight in blessing, and it has stayed far from him.
18 He put on cursing like his robe; it seeped into his body like water, and like oil into his bones.
19 May it be like a cloak he wraps around him, like a sash he always ties on.
20 May this be the LORD's payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil against my soul.
21 But you, O GOD the Lord, act on my behalf for the sake of your name; since your steadfast love is good, rescue me.
22 For I am afflicted and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
23 Like a shadow when it stretches out I fade away; I am shaken out like a locust.
24 My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and has lost its fat.
25 I have become an object of scorn to them; when they look at me, they wag their heads.
26 Help me, LORD my God; save me in keeping with your steadfast love,
27 so they will know that this is your hand, that you, LORD, have done it.
28 They may curse, but you will bless; when they rise up they will be ashamed, but your servant will be glad.
29 May my accusers be dressed in disgrace and wrapped in their shame as in a cloak.
30 With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD; among the multitude I will praise him.
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from those who pass sentence on his soul.