A psalm written by David for the choir director

109 God, you are the one whom I praise,

So please answer my prayer,

2 because wicked people slander me

and tell [MTY] lies about me.

3 They are constantly saying that they hate me,

and they say evil things about me for no reason.

4 I show them that I want to be their friends

and I pray for them,

but instead of being kind to me, they say that I have done evil things.

5 In return for my doing good things for them and loving them,

they do evil things to me and hate me.

6 They said, “Appoint a wicked judge who will judge him,

and bring in one of his enemies who will stand up and accuse him.

7 And cause that when the trial ends,

the judge will declare that he is guilty,

and that even his prayer will be considered to be a sin.

8 Then, cause that he will soon die

and that someone else will have his job/work (OR, possessions).

9 Cause that his children will not have a father any more

and that his wife will become a widow.

10 Cause that his children will be forced to leave the ruined homes that they have been living in

and wander around begging for food.

11 Cause that all the people to whom he owed money will seize all his property;

Cause that strangers will take away everything that he worked to acquire.

12 Cause that while he is still living no one will be kind to him,

and after he dies, cause that no one will pity his children.

13 Cause that all his descendants will die

and that his grandchildren will not remember who he [MTY] was.

14 Yahweh, remember and do not forgive his ancestors for the evil things that they did,

and do not even forgive the sins that his mother committed;

15 think about his sins continually,

and cause that his name will be completely forgotten.

16 He never was kind to anyone;

he ◄persecuted/cause problems for► poor and needy people

and even killed helpless people.

17 He liked to curse people.

So cause those terrible things that he requested to happen to others to happen to him!

He did not want to bless others,

so cause that no one will bless him!

18 He cursed other people as often/easily as he put on his clothes [SIM];

cause that the terrible things that he wanted to happen to others will happen to him and enter his body like water that he drinks [SIM],

like olive oil soaks into a person’s bones when it is rubbed on his skin [SIM].

19 Cause that those terrible things will cling to him like his clothes

and be around him like the belt that he wears every day.”

20 Yahweh, I want you to punish all my enemies that way,

those who say evil things about me.

21 But Yahweh, my God, do good things for me

in order that I may honor you;

rescue me from my enemies

because your faithfully loving me is good.

22 I ask you to do this because I am poor and needy

and my inner being is ◄full of pain/very troubled/discouraged►.

23 I think that my time to remain alive is short,

like an evening shadow that will soon disappear [SIM].

I will be blown away like a locust/grasshopper is blown by the wind.

24 My knees are weak because I have ◄fasted/abstained from eating food► very often,

and my body has become very thin.

25 The people who accuse me make fun of me;

when they see me, they insult me by shaking their heads at me as though I were an evil man.

26 Yahweh, my God, help me!

Because you faithfully love me, rescue me!

27 When you save me,

cause my enemies to know that you are the one who has done it!

28 They may curse me, but I ask that you bless me.

Cause those who ◄persecute/cause problems for► me to be defeated and as a result to be disgraced/ashamed,

and cause me to be glad/happy!

29 Cause those who accuse me to be completely disgraced;

cause other people to see that they are disgraced, as easily as they see the clothes that they wear [SIM]!

30 But I will thank Yahweh very greatly;

I will praise him when I am among the crowd of people who are worshiping him.

31 I will do that because he defends [MTY] needy people like me,

and saves us from those who have decided/declared that we must be executed.