Psalm 35
1 Fight those who fight me, O LORD; *
attack those who are attacking me.
2 Take up shield and armor *
and rise up to help me.
3 Draw the sword and bar the way against those who pursue me; *
say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
4 Let those who seek after my life be shamed and humbled; *
let those who plot my ruin fall back and be dismayed.
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, *
and let the angel of the LORD drive them away.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery, *
and let the angel of the LORD pursue them.
7 For they have secretly spread a net for me without a cause; *
without a cause they have dug a pit to take me alive.
8 Let ruin come upon them unawares; *
let them be caught in the net they hid;
let them fall into the pit they dug.
9 Then I will be joyful in the LORD; *
I will glory in his victory.
10 My very bones will say, “LORD, who is like you? *
You deliver the poor from those who are too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them.”
11 Malicious witnesses rise up against me; *
they charge me with matters I know nothing about.
12 They pay me evil in exchange for good; *
my soul is full of despair.
13 But when they were sick I dressed in sack-cloth *
and humbled myself by fasting.
14 I prayed with my whole heart,
as one would for a friend or a brother; *
I behaved like one who mourns for his mother,
bowed down and grieving.
15 But when I stumbled, they were glad and gathered together;
they gathered against me; *
strangers whom I did not know tore me to pieces and would not stop.
16 They put me to the test and mocked me; *
they gnashed at me with their teeth.
17 O Lord, how long will you look on? *
rescue me from the roaring beasts,
and my life from the young lions.
18 I will give you thanks in the great congregation; *
I will praise you in the mighty throng.
19 Do not let my treacherous foes rejoice over me, *
nor let those who hate me without a cause wink at each other.
20 For they do not plan for peace, *
but invent deceitful schemes against the quiet in the land.
21 They opened their mouths at me and said, *
“Aha! we saw it with our own eyes.”
22 You saw it, O LORD; do not be silent; *
O Lord, be not far from me.
23 Awake, arise, to my cause! *
to my defense, my God and my Lord!
24 Give me justice, O LORD my God,
according to your righteousness; *
do not let them triumph over me.
25 Do not let them say in their hearts,
“Aha! just what we want!” *
Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up.”
26 Let all who rejoice at my ruin be ashamed and disgraced; *
let those who boast against me be clothed with dismay and shame.
27 Let those who favor my cause sing out with joy and be glad; *
let them say always, “Great is the LORD,
who desires the prosperity of his servant.”
28 And my tongue shall be talking of your righteousness *
and of your praise all the day long.
