Psalm 109 (NIV)

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    For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
¹ O God, whom I praise,
   do not remain silent,
² for wicked and deceitful men
   have opened their mouths against me;
   they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
³ With words of hatred they surround me;
   they attack me without cause.
⁴ In return for my friendship they accuse me,
   but I am a man of prayer.
⁵ They repay me evil for good,
   and hatred for my friendship.
 ⁶ Appoint an evil man to oppose him;
   let an accuser stand at his right hand.
⁷ When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
   and may his prayers condemn him.
⁸ May his days be few;
   may another take his place of leadership.
⁹ May his children be fatherless
   and his wife a widow.
¹⁰ May his children be wandering beggars;
   may they be driven from their ruined homes.
¹¹ May a creditor seize all he has;
   may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
¹² May no one extend kindness to him
   or take pity on his fatherless children.
¹³ May his descendants be cut off,
   their names blotted out from the next generation.
¹⁴ May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD;
   may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
¹⁵ May their sins always remain before the LORD,
   that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
 ¹⁶ For he never thought of doing a kindness,
   but hounded to death the poor
   and the needy and the brokenhearted.
¹⁷ He loved to pronounce a curse—
   may it come on him;
he found no pleasure in blessing—
   may it be far from him.
¹⁸ He wore cursing as his garment;
   it entered into his body like water,
   into his bones like oil.
¹⁹ May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
   like a belt tied forever around him.
²⁰ May this be the LORD’s payment to my accusers,
   to those who speak evil of me.
 ²¹ But you, O Sovereign LORD,
   deal well with me for your name’s sake;
   out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
²² For I am poor and needy,
   and my heart is wounded within me.
²³ I fade away like an evening shadow;
   I am shaken off like a locust.
²⁴ My knees give way from fasting;
   my body is thin and gaunt.
²⁵ I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
   when they see me, they shake their heads.
 ²⁶ Help me, O LORD my God;
   save me in accordance with your love.
²⁷ Let them know that it is your hand,
   that you, O LORD, have done it.
²⁸ They may curse, but you will bless;
   when they attack they will be put to shame,
   but your servant will rejoice.
²⁹ My accusers will be clothed with disgrace
   and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
 ³⁰ With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD;
   in the great throng I will praise him.
³¹ For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
   to save his life from those who condemn him.


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New International Version 1984 (NIV1984) - Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica