Psalms 109

109 ¹O Father of my praise, do not be silent, ²for wicked and deceitful mouths have opened against me; they speak against me with lying tongues. ³With words of hatred they surround me, and they attack me without cause. ⁴In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. ⁵They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

⁶Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. ⁷When he is judged, let him come out guilty; let his prayer become sin. ⁸May his days be few; may another take his office. ^a a v8 Peter applied this verse to Judas Iscariot when the apostles chose Matthias to replace him — Acts 1:20. ⁹May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. ¹⁰May his children wander and beg, driven from their ruined homes. ¹¹May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruit of his labor. ¹²May there be no one to extend kindness to him, nor anyone to pity his fatherless children. ¹³May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out in the next generation. ¹⁴May the guilt of his fathers be remembered before our Father, and may the sin of his mother not be blotted out. ¹⁵May their sins be before our Father continually, that he may wipe out their memory from the earth.

¹⁶For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and brokenhearted, to put them to death. ¹⁷He loved cursing; let it come back on him. He took no delight in blessing; may it stay far from him. ¹⁸He clothed himself with cursing as his garment; may it seep into his body like water, like oil into his bones. ¹⁹May it be like a garment he wraps around himself, like a belt he wears continually. ²⁰May this be the reward of my accusers from our Father, of those who speak evil against my soul.

²¹But you, O Sovereign Father, deal kindly with me for your name's sake; because your covenant love is good, deliver me. ²²For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. ²³I fade like a shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust. ²⁴My knees are weak from fasting; my body has grown gaunt and thin. ²⁵I have become an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.

²⁶Help me, O my Father; save me according to your covenant love. ²⁷Let them know that this is your hand, that you, my Father, have done it. ²⁸Let them curse, but you will bless. When they rise up they will be ashamed, but your servant will rejoice. ²⁹May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may they wrap themselves in their shame as in a robe.

³⁰With my mouth I will give great thanks to our Father; in the midst of the crowd I will praise him. ³¹For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who condemn his soul.