1Do not keep silent, O God of my praise!

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

3They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without a cause.

4In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer.

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

6Set a wicked man over him, And let an accuser stand at his right hand.

7When he is judged, let him be found guilty, And let his prayer become sin.

8Let his days be few, And let another take his office.

9Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow.

10Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg; Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places.

11Let the creditor seize all that he has, And let strangers plunder his labor.

12Let there be none to extend mercy to him, Nor let there be any to favor 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 before the LORD, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

15Let them be continually before the LORD, That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;

16Because he did not remember to show mercy, But persecuted the poor and needy man, That he might even slay the broken in heart.

17As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.

18As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, So let it enter his body like water, And like oil into his bones.

19Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.

20Let this be the LORD's reward to my accusers, And to those who speak evil against my person.

21But You, O GOD the Lord, Deal 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.

23I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust.

24My knees are weak through fasting, And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.

25I also have become a reproach to them; When they look at me, they shake their heads.

26Help me, O LORD my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy,

27That they may know that this is Your hand-- That You, LORD, have done it!

28Let them curse, but You bless; When they arise, let them be ashamed, But let Your servant rejoice.

29Let my accusers be clothed with shame, And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.

30I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; Yes, 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 him.