Revised Standard Version RSV
Good News Translation GNT
1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Be not silent, O God of my praise!
1
I praise you, God; don't remain silent!
2 For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues.
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Wicked people and liars have attacked me. They tell lies about me,
3 They beset me with words of hate, and attack me without cause.
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and they say evil things about me, attacking me for no reason.
4 In return for my love they accuse me, even as I make prayer for them.
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They oppose me, even though I love them and have prayed for them.
5 So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
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They pay me back evil for good and hatred for love.
6 Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser bring him to trial.
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Choose some corrupt judge to try my enemy, and let one of his own enemies accuse him.
7 When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin!
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May he be tried and found guilty; may even his prayer be considered a crime!
8 May his days be few; may another seize his goods!
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May his life soon be ended; may someone else take his job!
9 May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow!
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May his children become orphans, and his wife a widow!
10 May his children wander about and beg; may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit!
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May his children be homeless beggars; may they be driven from the ruins they live in!
11 May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!
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May his creditors take away all his property, and may strangers get everything he worked for.
12 Let there be none to extend kindness to him, nor any to pity his fatherless children!
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May no one ever be kind to him or care for the orphans he leaves behind.
13 May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation!
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May all his descendants die, and may his name be forgotten in the next generation.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!
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May the Lord remember the evil of his ancestors and never forgive his mother's sins.
15 Let them be before the LORD continually; and may his memory be cut off from the earth!
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May the Lord always remember their sins, but may they themselves be completely forgotten!
16 For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted to their death.
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That man never thought of being kind; he persecuted and killed the poor, the needy, and the helpless.
17 He loved to curse; let curses come on him! He did not like blessing; may it be far from him!
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He loved to curse - may he be cursed! He hated to give blessings - may no one bless him!
18 He clothed himself with cursing as his coat, may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones!
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He cursed as naturally as he dressed himself; may his own curses soak into his body like water and into his bones like oil!
19 May it be like a garment which he wraps round him, like a belt with which he daily girds himself!
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May they cover him like clothes and always be around him like a belt!
20 May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, of those who speak evil against my life!
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Lord, punish my enemies in that way - those who say such evil things against me!
21 But thou, O GOD my Lord, deal on my behalf for thy name's sake; because thy steadfast love is good, deliver me!
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But my Sovereign Lord, help me as you have promised, and rescue me because of the goodness of your love.
22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is stricken within me.
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I am poor and needy; I am hurt to the depths of my heart.
23 I am gone, like a shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust.
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Like an evening shadow I am about to vanish; I am blown away like an insect.
24 My knees are weak through fasting; my body has become gaunt.
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My knees are weak from lack of food; I am nothing but skin and bones.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they wag their heads.
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When people see me, they laugh at me; they shake their heads in scorn.
26 Help me, O LORD my God! Save me according to thy steadfast love!
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Help me, O Lord my God; because of your constant love, save me!
27 Let them know that this is thy hand; thou, O LORD, hast done it!
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Make my enemies know that you are the one who saves me.
28 Let them curse, but do thou bless! Let my assailants be put to shame; may thy servant be glad!
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They may curse me, but you will bless me. May my persecutors be defeated, and may I, your servant, be glad.
29 May my accusers be clothed with dishonor; may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a mantle!
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May my enemies be covered with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.
30 With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD; I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
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I will give loud thanks to the Lord; I will praise him in the assembly of the people,
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who condemn him to death.
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because he defends the poor and saves them from those who condemn them to death.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.