To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1O God of my praise, do not keep silent,

2For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

3And they surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.

4In return for my love they are my adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer.

5And they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love.

6Set a wicked man over him, and let an adversary stand at his right hand,

7When he is judged, let him be condemned; and let his prayer become sin.

8Let his days be few; let another take his office.

9Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

10Let his children always beg and be vagabonds, and seek food out of their desolate places.

11Let the creditor seize all that is his; and let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.

12Let there be none to give mercy to him, nor any to be gracious unto his fatherless children.

13Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following, let their name be blotted out.

14Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

15Let them be always before the LORD, that He may cut off their memory from the earth

16Because he did not remember to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, and sought to kill the brokenhearted.

17Yea, he loved cursing, so let it come unto him; he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.

18As he clothed himself with cursing, as with his robe, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.

19Let it be to him as the robe which covers him, and for a girdle with which he is always clothed.

20Let this be the reward of my foes from the LORD, and of them who speak evil against my soul.

21But You, O GOD the Lord, deal kindly with me for Your name's sake because Your mercy is good, deliver me,

22For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.

23As a shadow when it is stretched out, I am gone; I am shaken off like the locust.

24My knees are weak from fasting, and my flesh has become gaunt.

25And I also became a reproach to them when they looked upon Me; they shook their heads.

26Help me, O LORD my God; save me according to Your steadfast love;

27So that they may know that this is of Your hand; that You, LORD, have done it.

28They will curse, but You will bless; when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let Your servant rejoice.

29Let my accusers be clothed with confusion, and let them wrap themselves in their own shame, as with a cloak.

30I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise Him among the multitude,

31For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those who condemn his soul.